Teaching and Learning how to Dance

Mariah Ryce


Week six of SSP was very fun and productive. Elise and I are super close to finishing our choose-your-own-adventure book and can’t wait to present it to everyone. But this week the day that stood out to me the most was Tuesday. On Tuesday at 1:30 p.m we went to go volunteer at the South Chicago YMCA. Octavia, Chris, and Carl taught basketball while Elise and I taught dance, and Danny took pictures of everybody. I had a lot of fun teaching the “ Move Your Body” dance by Beyonce to the girls. In the dance there is constant movement. The basic move in the dance is running. Many of the girls got tired within the first few steps. And I don’t blame them because the first time I learned this dance freshman year, I was super exhausted.


But the good thing is that they were quick learners and enjoyed doing the dance. Once we were finished teaching them the entire dance, we did a cool-down stretch to get their heart rates back to normal. Instead of leaving right away, the girls showed us two of their own dances. One dance was to “Take Care” by Drake and Rihanna and the other dance was to “Snapbacks and Tattoos”. I’m not really sure who the artist is because I really do not listen to alot of rap music at all. Then we convinced Danny to dougie for them and Octavia as well.


We left and they thanked us for our time. It was a great experience teaching a dance class and actually it was my first one that I have ever taught. I would definitely like to go back and teach again.