Poetry in Motion:
Dance workshop
✓ Reception - Year 6
✓ Led by a professional West End Dancer
✓ Literacy
✓ Delivered in your school hall
Dance workshops for primary schools based on popular children's poems
Poetry in Motion workshops give children a unique insight into poetry as they explore the story and world behind the verse.
By bringing the words to life with music, movement and spoken word, children gain a fresh understanding of the poem. Each class works together to create an imaginative and visual retelling of the narrative through movement.
During the dance workshop our choreographer will work with each class, developing responses to your chosen poem. Schools can focus on just one poem for all the sessions, or choose a different option for different classes. Sessions are differentiated for each year group.
Choreography by:
Mairi Cowieson & Emma Cannon.
Find out more about our creatives.
Suitable for Reception, KS1 and KS2.
Voted the nation's most popular children's poem, Edward Lear's 1871 verse takes children on a vivid journey to sea in a beautiful pea-green boat.
Children will explore the whimsical language of the self-proclaimed nonsense poem, while recreating the fantastical land where the Bong-Tree grows. The movement and music will help them go beyond the words on the page and give them a new appreciation of storytelling.
Suitable for KS1 and KS2.
What a frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! Our Lewis Carroll-inspired dance workshop will give your school a great day to remember as we join with the children to bring Jabberwocky to life.
The children will gyre and gimble in the hall before they go galumphing back to class - with newfound confidence from exploring Carroll's famous language. The children's fear of complex and unusual vocabulary will diminish and they will develop their ability to interpret words by looking at the context of the story and to express themselves through movement and dance.
With KS2 classes we use the classic Kenneth Williams recording of the poem with music from Carnival of the Animals, whereas for KS1 we use the Sesame Street music with a narration by Big Bird!
- We work with individual classes for sessions of between 35 and 50 minutes.
- We can work with up to seven classes per day.
- To work with fewer classes we can visit for just an afternoon or morning session.
- To work with more than seven classes we can visit across multiple days.
- We will send you a suggested timetable when you enquire and we can work with you to create a timetable that works for your school day.
- Develop an understanding of the chosen poem by recreating the world and story from start to finish.
- Gain confidence in physical literacy and explore how physical vocabulary can express emotion.
- Develop creative ownership and the imagination by working alongside a professional dancer-choreographer.
- Collaborate with classmates by creating a shared retelling of the poem.
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