I thought, in the spirit of the Christmas season, that it would be fun for Mrs. Larson's class to learn about the Nutcracker ballet. I was able to find a beautifully illustrated version of the story at BYU's library, and I found a recording of some excerpts on NAXOS music database.
To begin class, we reviewed the two songs I've taught them so far: "Pat-a-Pan" and "Carol of the Bells". After reviewing the songs, I brought out the book of the Nutcracker and read it to the class. The children were so attentive and seemed interested in the story. Afterwards, I showed them different excerpts of the music, explaining how each correlated with a part of the story. They especially liked the energetic "Trepak" or Russian dance. Some even couldn't contain themselves and got up and started dancing like Russians, kicking their legs high and folding their arms. For the last song, "Waltz of the Flowers", we all formed a circle to dance like ballet dancers to the music. We each took turns doing follow the leader with different dance moves inspired by the music. It was so fun, and I was so impressed with their creativity. Some even knew some real ballet steps. My goal in all of this was to get them to experience a little bit of what the Nutcracker is and use their own creativity to interpret the music they heard into their own dancing. It was so much fun!
