Dance party
I have a friend who recently worked as a long-term substitute music teacher in an elementary school. She not only brought a deep love of music and a big heart for children to this job, but a whole lot of creativity. I loved hearing how she fostered a love and knowledge of music in her students.
One of the students’ favorite activities was what she called a “Newspaper Dance Party.” She’d give each student a piece of a newspaper to spread on the floor, which they stood on with both feet. When the music started, the kids danced however they wanted, but they had to stay on their newspaper. When the music stopped, they froze in place until the next song started. My teacher-friend played various kinds of music to share about different genres, rhythms, and moods, all while the children danced on their small, rectangular dance floors.
I keep thinking about this delightful bit of pedagogy not just because of the joy it brings me to think of kids dancing in their music class. But it’s a lesson about how we, as people of faith, can live in this world. It teaches us, reminds us, to pay attention to the little corner of the world that we’ve been given to love, and to use our own unique gifts and abilities to make God’s goodness known.
We won’t be able to fix every problem of every headline found on those pieces of newsprint. We can’t respond to every sentence which speaks of the suffering in the world. We can’t control much beyond our own selves. But each of us can do what is ours to do, in the places we find ourselves standing. We can discern how we, with our own signature moves, using our particular gifts and commitments, can work for a better world, at least in our corner of it. We can’t do it all, but we can dance in our own little squares of influence to live with integrity, compassion, and goodness.
The Talmud says, quoting Micah 6:8, “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly now, love mercy now, walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.” With undaunted courage and moved by the rhythms of God’s unstoppable love for this world, we keep dancing.
We can be bearers of love and mercy in this world, in the spaces where God has placed us. Our moves will be different, but together it adds up to a fabulous dance party, where news of justice and joy finds wide circulation.
Sheila Mesick
Sara thank you for sharing this creative and practical way for children to experience dance to a variety of music. The words of Micah help direct me to my place of dance even in my wheelchair.
Vicki Felger
Oh dear Sara, so perfectly appropriate for today! Not sure how graceful my dance steps might be but I’ll keep on trying! Thank you!
Audrey Keneey
Something good to think about right now!! “The good we can do in our small space.” Thank you for this and for the reminder of the words in Micah.
Sue Grove
I love this idea, Sara. When I find a great buy at a thrift store for kids at Madison, I do my happy dance over this little bit of love we share in our little corner of the world.