Dance and Social Studies

Social Studies... dancing through the history

It is easy to infuse dance into social studies for many different reasons. When teaching your students about culture, backgrounds, history, and traditions they can study these and express them through different movements.

Think back to your experience of social studies as a student, where do you think dance could have been connected or brought in? Whatever you're thinking of, you're probably right! Dance can enhance the learning experience of social studies in so many ways. Think of learning of our past and the eras. Social studies does not need to be just history books and memorizing facts, but instead can be an exploration of movements that bring the students into the events while at school.

Social Studies & Dance Integrating SSHG & The Arts Information Video

One great activity that can be done with students that is cross curricular with social studies and dance is Aboriginal and Indigenous Studies. Students can pick a form of dance that belongs to that culture and, with their group members, study it, study the history, background and importance of it and present the movements and the context of it to their classmates. This would be bringing the students into the culture as opposed to having them just read through the text and write a test on it. This makes the students move, makes them feel how indigenous peoples feel when dancing their traditional dances. If you, as an educator, have access to someone within the culture who could come in and share their experiences with the students, the students will be even more engaged and respectful towards the material. 

When students are learning about Residential Schools, in groups they can be provided with a piece of history on one individual who shared their experience. You could then have them, using their bodies and the action cards, create a series of movements that helps to share that individuals experience, through dance. http://www.cbc.ca/arts/telling-the-dark-story-of-canada-s-residential-schools-through-ballet-1.3640355

Another activity that can be done with both dance and social studies together could be looking at the different dances of the different eras. For example, each group could be given an era (1960s, 1990s) and have to study the dance of that era. They can then create a dance performance that includes the movements of the era but also their own, giving it a twist. 

Teachers can incorporate dance into geography by looking at the different styles of dances based on their locations and in pairs they could create their own dance while incorporating some of the movements from their chosen geographic point. 

Some extra resources about bringing dance and social studies together in the classroom. Students will only benefit from being able to see their history, traditions and culture through movement. 

https://education.byu.edu/sites/default/files/ARTS/documents/educational_movement.pdf


https://culturalmovement.weebly.com/teaching-social-studies-through-dance.html

Cannot wait for you to see what I post next! Until next post,

Emily