Schools incorporate movement to show importance of community

SLIDESHOW: Folk Dances

BOUNTIFUL -- Muir Elementary School fourth-graders swung their parents as they finished up their folk dance program Tuesday.

Parent Danielle Butterfield sat out the Virginia reel only, she said, because "I'm 61âÑ2 months pregnant."

Her twin sons, Jared and David Butterfield, chose to be each other's partners.

"They loved it," Danielle Butterfield said about the dance program.

For the past several weeks the two boys, along with the other fourth-graders, have practiced pioneer, Greek, Jewish, Native American and Chinese dances for the program.

Dance is a part of the curriculum at Muir Elementary in Bountiful because of the Beverly Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program. It is just one of 56 Utah schools and four schools in the Davis district that have the program. Its funding comes from the Legislature as a separate budget line item.

Principal Jan Rawlins joined the parents and students for the Virginia reel.

"It's not often we have audience participation, and that was fun," Rawlins said.

The program is important because students learn more than just dance. The dance reinforces the core curriculum.

If funding is cut for the program, it is uncertain whether schools would receive the program or whether fewer classes in those schools would be involved.

Tina Misaka is the dance specialist at Muir Elementary. She works with teachers to integrate dance with their core curriculum, Rawlins said.

Fourth-grade social studies include learning about Utah's early settlers. Outside of the multipurpose room, students displayed artwork they had created about the early settlers.

Ellie Duce, a fourth-grader, said she wasn't too sure the program would be successful.

"We kept messing up at our practices," Ellie said.

The dance she enjoyed the most was the Chinese dragon dance, "because it's like fighting, but not real," Ellie said.

Students, running and jumping, waved long, colored streamers.

Her friend, Maycie Dalley, said she enjoyed learning a Jewish folk dance because, "It's just fun to dance in a group."

The group clapped, sang, skipped and jumped to the beat of the music.

Jared and David said they also liked the Chinese dragon dance.

What did the twins think of the square dance? "It was hard," David said.

But both agreed learning to dance was, in Jared's words, "a lot of fun."