Our Dance Program

In Lower School students move creatively through explorations of time, space, shape, and energy, while developing their body awareness and large motor skills. The dance curriculum is at times connected to course material from other classes, such as when Second Graders explore the movement of the water cycle, and make dances based on ocean animals they are researching in science. Third graders develop their choreographic skills, and create a dance based on a Haudenosaunee story, and fourth graders collaborate to create and perform the annual Halloween Dance.

The Family Folk Dance, held in January each year, is sponsored by the PAT and the Performing Arts Department. More than 200 members of the Brooklyn Friends School community participate in the dance, with students from every Lower School grade demonstrating dances.

BFS families can log into the school’s website and view current dance-related news posts here. To view archived photos and videos from previous years, click here.

Starting in Middle School, students learn Language of Dance symbols to write dance actions, explore the difference between action and energy in Egyptian myths, study Chinese dance and martial arts, Classical and Folk Indian Dance and Yoga, and Greek Folk Dance. The focus in sixth grade dance class shifts to the development of original choreography. Students study West African dance forms to understand their influences on American dance. Students learn about key American choreographers, explore different inspirations for dance-making, and create and perform their own dances.

The focus of the seventh and eighth grade dance curriculum is to study how dance related to social change and activism. Key components of the curriculum include Hip-Hop, the development of Jazz dance from the 1920s to musical theater and music videos, Latin Ballroom, Modern dance, and a community dance project with students from the Brooklyn International High School.  7/8th graders also participate in the Dance Concert.

Dance in our Upper School is offered both as a Physical Education course and a more rigorous exploration of the physical, creative, and intellectual components of dance. Students study the techniques of Katherine Dunham (Afro-Caribbean/Modern), West African, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Horton (Alvin Ailey), contemporary modern, yoga, Pilates, and Barteneiff Fundamentals. Concepts include cultural appropriation, improvisation, site-specific choreography, and more.

International Baccalaureate (IB) dance students apply themselves as choreographers, performers, and dance scholars. They use the vibrant dance community of New York City as a resource, conducting research at the New York Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center and attending several professional performances at The Joyce Theater and other venues. Students choreograph a self-portrait solo, learn choreography from two guest artists, research a choreographer of their choice, and more.