Pones: Laboratory of Movement
Pones: Laboratory of Movement promotes dance as a starting point to explore creativity, self-expression, and transforming ideas into action.
All Pones programs are currently available virtually (live and/or pre-recorded) and in-person.
ARTS ADVOCACY: IDEAS IN ACTION
Curriculum: Dance, English/Language Arts, Social Emotional Learning, Theatre.
Students will use the art of movement to advocate for changes they want to make in their lives and communities. Students are transformed into performance artists through a fun and exciting workshop led by professionals. They will engage their creative sides and think critically about issues and topics relevant to their own lives while creating, rehearsing, and performing an original piece all their own.
By the end of the program students will have learned:
- Basic theatre and dance concepts
- Effective communication
- Respectful collaboration
- How to stand up for what they believe in / become an activist
Students will perform their work as empowered individuals, and create something completely unique, meaningful, and fun.
Example: A class of eighth grade students voices a list of issues that are significant to them: acceptance, recycling, college, sports, and school uniforms. Collectively, they select ‘sports’ as the topic to focus on for their production. Specifically, they have noticed that extracurricular sports are too expensive to participate in once travel costs, uniforms, equipment, and fees have been calculated. They investigate ideas that will make sports more affordable so that everyone who wants to participate is able to do so. In small groups they utilize provided composition worksheets to guide their examination of how to create positive change in sports. The students are challenged to funnel their discussion into action by creating a piece that uses multiple art forms – theatre, dance, spoken word, visual arts – to express their ideas. Students perform their original work for their peers at the end of the workshop.
Recommended Grades: 6-12
Maximum Audience: 30
Length: 60 minutes each workshop; minimum 3 days
Cost: $369 for 3 workshops (minimum)/$123 each additional workshop
Max #Sessions per Day: 5
Core Creativity: Learning through Dance
Curriculum: Dance, English/Language Arts, Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies, STEM
Combine arts and humanities with core content in an exciting dance workshop that will inspire students to take an active role in their own learning while engaging in aligned, standards-based activities. Perfect for the kinesthetic learner, this workshop helps to put ideas in the body and, therefore, cement them in the mind. This program is arts integration at its best and can be aligned and tailored to any grade level and content. Workshops offer students the opportunity to experience grade-appropriate curriculum in a fun, kinesthetic, and engaging way.
Core Creativity workshops will promote:
- Critical thinking skills
- Physical fitness
- Self-confidence
- Collaborative activities
- Creative expression
- Deep absorption of content
Core Creativity familiarizes students with key dance elements while igniting their imagination, and interacting through activities involving critical thinking and movement. This workshop is designed to reinforce learning and reflect upon student knowledge.
Examples: Students could physically experience what it might feel like to become the water cycle and see what evaporation, condensation, precipitation, transpiration, infiltration, and collection might look like if it were a dance. Once students feel these movements in their own bodies, they may better understand how the water cycle works and remember this information for years to come. Students may learn to count by 5s and 10s while learning about tap rhythms, beat, syncopation, and syllables.
NOTE: Core Creativity requires communication with the teacher, prior to the workshop, about how the curriculum will be integrated.
Recommended Grades: K-12
Maximum Audience: 30
Length: 60 minutes each workshop
Cost: $123/class, $246/ 2 classes, $369/3 sessions, $492/4 sessions, etc.
Max #Sessions per Day: 5​
DANCE 101: EXPLORE YOUR EXPRESSION
Curriculum: Cultural Connections, Dance, Social Studies, STEM
Dance 101 is a workshop for everyone – from novice to advance – and no special shoes are required. Students can explore various styles of recreational, cultural, and social dance with this introductory course to the basic terms, steps, and concepts of each style.
Dance 101 will help students:
- Discover a fun way to stay healthy
- Communicate with others
- Express themselves
- Build confidence and a positive body image
This workshop can be a sample of different dance styles or focus on any style of dance, such as hip hop, ballet, salsa, or African. Please let us know preference when ordering program.
Recommended Grades: K-12
Maximum Audience: 30
Length: 60 minutes
Cost: $123/class, $246/ 2 classes, $369/3 sessions, $492/4 sessions, etc.
Max #Sessions per Day: 5
Dancing on the Globe
Curriculum: Dance, Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies, STEM
Students will learn how to use the basic elements of dance (body, energy, space and time) to communicate an environment and culture through non-verbal movements. They will look at the world in a new way, via the lens of dance in cultures from around the globe through original and learned choreography.
Dancing on the Globe will help students:
- Think globally and encourage cultural empathy
- Choose how their body will represent the landscapes, objects, or characters needed to tell a story using dance
- Learn dances from around the globe, such as, the Kakilambe from Guinea West Africa, Salsa from Cuba, and Bollywood from Mumbai
Recommended Grades: 3-12
Maximum Audience: 30
Length: 60 minutes
Cost: $123/class, $246/ 2 classes, $369/3 sessions, $492/4 sessions, etc.
Max #Sessions per Day: 5
Dancing Through the Ages
Curriculum: Dance, Social Studies, Visual Arts
While Dancing through the Ages students will explore various styles of recreational, cultural, and social dance from 1920s swing, 1950s sock hop, 1970s disco, and 1990s hip hop. Students also create a visual art project timeline, while learning about the events of the time periods they are discussing (ranging from women’s suffrage to the premiere of Star Wars).
Dancing through the Ages will help students:
- Discover a fun way to stay healthy
- Communicate with others
- Express themselves
- Learn about historical events in a new and fun way
- Build confidence and a positive body image
NOTE: This workshop can be a survey of different dance styles or focus on any time period or ideas. Please let us know preference when ordering the program.
Example: Students will start out the class learning about the decade (1920: Women Granted the Right to Vote in U.S., 1924: First Olympic Winter Games, 1927: Babe Ruth makes Home Run Record). They will create a visual timeline of pictures and their own drawings and also explore the style and culture of the time period. Lastly, the students would start to learn the choreography.
Recommended Grades: 3-10
Maximum Audience: 30
Length: 60 minutes (3-4 day workshop)
Cost: $123/class, $246/ 2 classes, $369/3 sessions, $492/4 sessions, etc.
Max #Sessions per Day: 5
Hip Hop and Respect
Curriculum: Dance, Social Emotional Learning
We use hip hop as a tool to discuss and discover how empowerment and respect are valuable parts of being a young person. How do these ideas go together? Hip hop is all about respect and we will focus on celebrating each other, and lifting each other up.
Example: Each week we will work with a different theme/topic, for example, building up our peers. As we talk about supporting one another, we will employ exercises such as imagining you are mentoring someone younger than you or playing the ‘Paper on the Back’ exercise. We will then start to build a dance about these compliments, using collaborative skills in dance and creating choreography as a group.
Recommended Grades: 4-12
Maximum Audience: 30
Length: 60 minutes
Cost: $123 per workshop (recommended 2 workshops minimum for $246)
Max #Sessions per Day: 5
Moving with the Movies
Curriculum: Dance, Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies, STEM
Students will learn the basic elements of dance (body, energy, space, time) to communicate characters and stories through non-verbal movement. They will learn to think from a new perspective as they experience different dances from movies across the globe and through history.
Moving with the Movies will help students:
- Think critically about different perspectives and encourage empathy
- Choose how their body will represent characters, cultures, and stories needed to portray a story through dance
- Learn dances from movies across the globe and through history, such as Bollywood dances from Indian movie musicals, modern choreography from Disney movie musicals, and golden era dancing from old Hollywood.
Recommended Grades: 3-12
Maximum Audience: 30
Length: 60 minutes
Cost: $123/class, $246/ 2 classes, $369/3 sessions, $492/4 sessions, etc.
Max #Sessions per Day: 5
See what people are saying about Pones!
“Pones is professional, fun, engaging, and positive with every student interaction. Students are inspired to try something new, and proud once they accomplish it. I have recommended Pones to many of my friends in education within the district and also other districts. It is always a pleasure, and my students love learning with Pones.”
“Working with Pones is always a great experience, both for us as organizers as well as for the attendees who join our events. The work you're doing is powerful, empowering, and accessible. And your team is professional, accessible, and easy to work with. Can't say enough good things about y'all!”
“We had so much fun, everyone wanted to keep dancing even after class was over. "One more time! One more time!" The students begged to keep dancing. What a great problem to have! Our students then went into the hallway to film the dances we just learned along with some other tricks and flips. I love seeing how inspired our new students are just from one class!”