The artists create and perform dances based on movements such as walking, jumping, skipping and gesturing. One program segment demonstrates how modifying the elements of dance in a handshake change the meaning and feeling communicated in the gesture. Students explore the function of various elements of dance through hand movements. Students learn the vocabulary of dance throughout the assembly. Connections are drawn between Mexican folk dance and history.
Students learn how to speak several words in Spanish.
The program is designed to build pride among Hispanic youth. Dance creation How to create a dance is the theme of a program presented by a six-member dance company. The program consists of several contrasting modern-dance sections interspersed with discussions, demonstrations, and audience participation. Elements of choreographic tools such as unison, counterpoint, canon, accumulation, theme and variation, partnering, and the use of music are explained and demonstrated. Through showing students how the elements are employed in building a dance, the assembly inspires students with new creative ideas and demonstrates that discipline and abstraction can be fun.