Arabesque Treasure Chest

by on Sep 14 '16

We are so excited to be back to dance and launch our newly revamped Twirl preschool program – a fun + fancy approach to class for our tiniest dancers! (If you aren’t familiar with Twirl, you can read about it here!)

DSC_0020

One of the lessons in our Twirl Pink book is Arabesque Treasure Chest. If you have a copy of our brochure (from our super cute booth at Dance Teacher Summit or electronically), we gifted this activity page to you! We included the actual page from the Twirl Pink book, as well as the excerpt from our Twirl Pink Teacher Guide. Don’t have the brochure? No worries! Just request a copy by e-mail, and we’ll send it right away!

OK, enough background…now on to the fun part!

To sprinkle some extra inspiration to the activity, we want to show you how we translated the Arabesque Treasure Chest lesson in our class!

DSC_0133

Class Prep

We are all about fun +  fancy, so we like to go all out! That being said, prep for this activity was pretty simple. Here are the steps we followed:

  • First, we always reference the Twirl book and read the poem again. It’s a great source of  inspiration, and it reminds/familiarizes us with the activity. We also review the suggestions in the Teacher Guide, but don’t be limited by them…be inspired!
  • Next, we decided on the props we want to include. For this one, we decided on three things:

Magical Treasure Chest: We found a dome-shaped box at Party City and decorated it with peel-and-stick glitter foam sheets and stickers purchased from Michaels. We simply cut out designs to make it fun and sparkly!

Sparkling Jewels: No treasure chest is complete without jewels and gems! We purchased affordable, bright pink shimmery beads and fairy necklaces from Oriental Trading. We also brought a few extra fun necklaces from home.

Pipe Cleaner Princess Tiaras: Using pink, silver and gold pipe cleaners, we crafted a sparkly crown so our dancers could wear tiaras. We also brought plenty of bobby pins to class so we could pin them to our dancers’ hair. And, for health safety, the dancers each kept their crown as a fun souvenir of their day!

  • The teacher guide provides great suggestions for music to use in class, but you can use any music you have and love!

DSC_0423DSC_0008

Time to Twirl!

After prepping our fun props, now it’s time to have fun in class! Following the lead from the Twirl Pink Teacher Guide, our imaginative ballerina-princess-of-everything-fairytale teacher Miss Anna read the Arabesque Treasure Chest poem to the dancers to get them inspired and excited. As she read the “Arabesque Rules,” the dancers repeated each line after her. They were really excited to become magical princesses and especially eager to take a peek into the bedazzled treasure chest!

DSC_1014DSC_0031

After reciting the Arabesque Rules, Miss Anna split the class into two groups, lining them up on each side of the room. Each dancer chose a beautiful jewel from the treasure chest before gracefully dancing to meet their partner at center stage, joining hands for balance, and practicing their arabesque. Before traveling back to line, they curtsied to each other before the next two dancers began their turn.

DSC_0099

DSC_0076

After that fun activity was complete, the dancers then followed Miss Anna around in a circle around the treasure chest, demonstrating bourré, chassé and simply walking on their toes. Next, they held hands and practiced tendu toward the beautiful treasure chest!

DSC_0067

 

And, of course we finished our class with a little confetti on the dance floor – it’s always sure to bring a happy smile to everyone’s face!

DSC_0404

Spread the Inspiration!

If you are already a Twirl studio, we would LOVE to see pictures from your Twirl classes! Post your photos on social media, tag us @confettionthedancefloor and use our hashtag #confettionthedancefloor so others (including us!) can be inspired by you!

If you want to become a Twirl studio, it’s not too late! To learn more about the four levels of the Twirl preschool program, visit our website then place your order here! Hurry, our special pricing ends TOMORROW (September 15th)! 

Happy Twirling!

DSC_0338

 

Save

Save

Save

Save

22 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

like what you just read?

sign up for our email list!

more from the confetti crew