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Tulsa Ballet Center for Dance Education visits Creekwood Early Childhood Center

November 16, 2016

This week the students at Creekwood Early Childhood Center (CWECC) engaged in dance and creative movement activities with their Partner in Education, The Tulsa Ballet - Hardesty Center for Dance Education, located at 1901 W. New Orleans St. in Broken Arrow. Before starting school in August, Andre Reyes, the Co-Principal at the Center started discussing ways to bring dance to the youngest learners in the district. CWECC was thrilled to bring this opportunity to the students. The Pre-K centers do not take fieldtrips, so they bring enrichment activities to the students.

Over four days in November, each classroom participated in a thirty minute class with Alexandra Bergman from the Tulsa Ballet. Alexandra joined Tulsa Ballet as an apprentice and was promoted to Soloist in 2001. She is on faculty with the Tulsa Ballet Center for Dance Education since retiring in May, 2013. 

Ms. Alexandra started the session with the children learning to welcome each other by playing a circle game. The children stretched their bodies to a variety of music, including the theme from the Pink Panther. The pre-k students also moved their arms like wings to the music of Swan Lake. One of the highlights of the lesson was a creative movement activity. The students made a circle, moved outward to the music, pretending they were a big balloon and popping. This resulted in giggles and smiles among the boys and girls. The end of the lesson included the children making a train and improvising their own movements through a portion of the music. 

Mrs. Snow, The Child and Family Resource Specialist hopes that this enrichment activity will be added to the yearly schedule at CWECC. She says through dance and movement the children learned how to listen, watch, and follow directions given by Ms. Alexandra. They were introduced to the art of dancing and the classes promoted health and exercise within the school.