Resource Portal: Educators
Resource Portal: Educators
- Introduction
- Resources by Topic
- Repertoire
- Online Discussions
- In-Person Gatherings
- Other Resources
- Dance It Yourself
- Introduction
- Resources by Topic
- Repertoire
- Online Discussions
- In-Person Gatherings
- Other Resources
- Dance It Yourself
Introduction
Don't miss Dance It Yourself, our multigenerational dance video series! The Teacher's Guide is now available to download.
This section of the CDSS Resource Portal contains resources for teachers/educators of school-aged participants. Look across the tabs for resources organized by topic, opportunities to connect online with other educators, and much more.
We are looking for community input to expand this section of the resource portal!
- Do you know of a resource that we could add? Maybe even something created by you? Let us know through this form.
- Is there a resource in the portal that should be updated? Let us know through this form.
- Have comments regarding the portal? Email portal@cdss.org.
- The CDSS Online Store also carries a wide range of resources of interest to educators. View those resources here. Depending on your interests, you may also be interested in the other sections of the store.
Note: Many of the other sections of the Portal contain resources that will likely be of interest to educators. We highly recommend that you take a look! For instance...
- The Families section offers resources for families with children, many of whom are learning at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The Dance Organizers section contains a vast array of resources on how to organize dance events, including a whole section focused on topics relating to youth.
- The Song section contains tips on leading traditional song, links to many traditional song collections, and much more.
- The Dance Musician section contains tips on how to lead open dance bands (great for kids), links to dance tunes, and much more.
- The Callers section contains a wide range of how-to resources on calling, links to many online dance collections, and much more.
- The Ritual Dance section contains links to specific dances, and more.
The resources above can complement your learning. For instance, you may be visiting the Portal because you want to start calling dances for your Grade 4 class. In that case, start by looking at the caller resources within the Educators section. However, you may want to learn even more. In that case, look at some of the resources in the Callers section, as they will provide additional information on how to clearly teach a dance, how to prompt/deliver the calls, etc.
Resources by Topic
This section includes a wide range of resources organized by topic.
If you want to learn even more, look at the Resources by Topic pages for callers, singers, dance musicians, and ritual dancers. They contain how-to information for a broader audience with a fair bit being useful for the classroom setting.
The CDSS Online Store also carries a wide range of resources of interest to educators. View those resources here. Depending on your interests, you may also be interested in the other sections of the store.
Pedagogy
These resources focus on the pedagogy (method and practice) of teaching traditional dance, music and song to school-aged participants.
Title | More information |
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Crankies in the Music Classroom |
CDSS News: Spring 2020 Eleanor Lincoln This article outlines how Eleanor learned about crankies and started using them in her elementary classroom. It also includes tips to support other teachers in doing so! |
Adapting for Young Children |
CDSS News: Spring 2020 Marian Rose This article provides some fantastic calling tips as well as suggestions for dances to do when accommodating young children as part of your dancing community. |
Family and Community Dances |
1999: CDSS Booklet Lots of useful information on creating, programming, and organizing a family dance from contributors Dudley Laufman, Andy Davis, Bob Dalsemer, Marian Rose, and Joan Shimer. With extensive resource list. This resource is free for CDSS members and is available for purchase through the CDSS Online Store. |
Dancing In Schools |
2001: CDSS Booklet Wondering how to bring the next generation to dance and song? Read these collected reprints from the Country Dance and Song NEWS recounting readers' experiences, success stories and practical advice for teaching traditional country and ritual dance in school settings. This resource is free for CDSS members and is available for purchase through the CDSS Online Store. |
Dinah, Put Down Your Horn: Blackface Minstrel Songs Don’t Belong in Music Class |
Medium: 2019 Dr Katya Erolaeva In this article, the author puts forward the need to remove racist songs from school music programs and discusses a number of songs with racist messaging. |
Folklore and Folk Songs—Some Suggestions for Teachers | CDSS News Winter 2016-2017 Jeff Warner In this article, Jeff provides a wide range of tips for teachers who want to include folklore and folk songs into their teaching practice. |
Traditional Barn Dances |
Dudley and Jacqueline Laufman This package is a one-stop resource containing everything instructors need to teach 53 dances to participants of all ages and abilities. A DVD and CDs are included as well as all the sheet music. They also cover dances in other formations and provide suggestions for including people in wheelchairs and those with varying abilities. This book also includes many tips for teaching traditional dance to children. Available for purchase through the CDSS Online Store. |
New England Dancing Masters |
Peter Amidon, Mary Alice Amidon, Andy Davis, & Mary Cay Brass New England Dancing Masters books and recordings are a treasure trove of traditional social dances and singing games from North America and the British Isles. They are specifically geared to dancers of diverse ages and abilities and are used by countless teachers, recreation leaders and dance callers. Recordings are available to accompany each book. These books also include many tips on teaching tips for teaching traditional dance to children. Available for purchase through the CDSS Online Store. |
Folklore Folk Songs in a School Setting: In-School Program - A Teacher's Guide | CDSS News Winter 2016-2017 Jeff Warner This is Jeff Warner's teachers guide for running an in-school folk song program. |
College Organizers Handbook | c. 2010 CDSS This handbook provides advice on how to create dance/music events on university and college campuses. It includes tips on programming, campus publicity, working with college administration, and much more. |
Kentucky Dance Institute (Teacher/Leader Resource) | 1960 Morehead State College This is a PDF of a dance leader/teacher manual created in 1960. The first section includes extensive information on leading dances and then the actual repertoire starts on page 18. The repertoire is split into sections appropriate for various school grades (e.g., Grades K-3). In addition to dances, this resource contains a small section of traditional/folk songs. |
Decolonizing the Music Room | This website provides research for music educators on unsung narratives in U.S. folk music, resources, and tools for decolonizing practices. |
School & Community Stories
This section contains many stories written by teachers & educators in both school and community settings. Not only do the articles provide inspiration but they also include some helpful how-to tips on leading traditional dance, music, and song in classrooms.
Title | More information |
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All Join Hands: The Many Joys of Community Dancing |
CDSS News: Summer 2020 Many community dance leaders share their thoughts regarding the joys of being involved in community dance. |
All Join Hands - Dispatches From the World of Community Dancing | CDSS News Fall 2018 This article provides great insight into how many callers/educators began (and great their experience) teaching dances to school-aged participants. |
Dance for College Credit! | CDSS News Spring 2017 Hilton Baxter Hilton describes his experience leading a college dance course including getting it approved, the goals of the course, and much more. |
Two Dancing Queens Take Princeton By Storm | CDSS News Nov/Dec 2008 Katherine Sanden This article describes how two friends (one of them a student) organized a dance on the college campus. |
Teaching Folk Music History—an interview with Jeff Warner | CDSS News Winter 2016-2017 Ralph Morang In this article, we learn about Jeff's experience teaching folk music history to children. |
Connecting the Dots with Tools and Support (Director’s Report) | CDSS News Winter 2013-2014 Rima Dael In this article, Rima provides a first-person account of how music and folk songs can be incorporated into the classroom. |
Country Dancing as a College Course | CDSS News September/October 2008 Brooke Friendly Brooke describes her experience leading an English and Scottish country dance college course, including getting the course approved, evaluating students, and more. |
Valley Gives—Engaging Families in Dance | CDSS Blog November 2013 Pat MacPherson This post describes how a classroom teacher who had been using traditional dance in his classroom organized a community dance for the families in the school. |
Dance Your Way Through American History | CDSS News Fall 2013 Glen Morningstar Glen provides a brief description of the three-day dance residency he leads at schools. |
Valley Gives—The Need for Teacher Support | CDSS Blog December 2013 Nils Fredland Nils describes his experience visiting an elementary school in Tennessee to talk about, and demonstrate how how participatory folk dance can be incorporated into classrooms. |
Magical Evening of English Dance | CDSS News Summer 2012 Mary Devlin In this article, Mary describes how an elementary school teacher taught her students how to English country dance and then they had an evening dance with families. |
“Just dance and love what you're doing”— Contra Dancing at UO | CDSS News Summer 2013 Miranda Arana In this article, Miranda describes how she teaches contra dancing as part of a university course. |
Dance in the Classroom: Another Piece of the Logic Puzzle | CDSS News Fall 2009 Evo Bluestein This article describes how a kindergarten teacher began teaching traditional folk dance to her students and the reasons why she feels it's an important part of the curriculum. |
Dare to Teach Kids Dance—Thirty-Three Weeks in California Schools This Year! | CDSS News Summer 2008 Evo Bluestein Evo describes his experience running successful week-long folk dance residencies in schools. |
Special Dances for Special Kids | CDSS News Spring 2003 Becky Walker Becky describes her approach to week-long school residency working with students who had behavioral problems, learning disabilities, emotional challenges, and physical challenges. |
Dancing on College Campuses | CDSS News Sept/Oct 2002 Jenny Beer & Joanna Reiner This article describes how to start a dance group on a college campus - lots of tips are provided! |
Repertoire
This section of the Portal contains links to many dances, songs, and tunes specifically collected for use with school-aged participants.
As a reminder, look at the…
- Families section for videos and other resources for families with children
- Song section for additional songs
- Musician section for additional dance tunes
- Caller section for additional social dances
- Ritual dance section for additional ritual dances
Also - The CDSS Online Store carries a wide range of resources of interest to educators. View those resources here. Depending on your interests, you may also be interested in the other sections of the store.
Title | More information |
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Rusty Pickup Virtual Barn Dances |
Rusty Pickup offers family-friendly barn dances, as well as the occasional contra, international, or country line dance.
Submitted by Peggy Holmes |
Barn Dance! — A Musical Story Time |
Presented by Chillicothe (Illinois) Public Library and the Newport String Project. Enjoy a story with illustrations, lively music, and the chance to try out a dance or two! Submitted by Peggy Holmes |
Adapting for Young Children |
CDSS News: Spring 2020 Marian Rose This article provides some fantastic calling tips as well as suggestions for dances to do when accommodating young children as part of your dancing community. |
Community Dances Manual |
A classic, comprehensive and indispensable collection with instructions for more than 130 English and American traditional dances with 140 tunes. Detailed notes are included on formations, steps and figures in an easy-to-use spiral-bound format. Available for purchase through the CDSS Online Store. |
Longsword : An Intro. to the Longsword Dance Tradition of Yorkshire |
2001: Diana Jewitt Geared especially to schoolteachers, children and beginners, this practical, well-illustrated manual covers the Kirkby Malzeard, Sleights and Flamborough longsword dances. A companion CD is also available. Available for purchase through the CDSS Online Store. |
New England Dancing Masters |
Peter Amidon, Mary Alice Amidon, Andy Davis, & Mary Cay Brass New England Dancing Masters books and recordings are a treasure trove of traditional social dances and singing games from North America and the British Isles. They are specifically geared to dancers of diverse ages and abilities and are used by countless teachers, recreation leaders and dance callers. Recordings are available to accompany each book. These books also include many tips on teaching tips for teaching traditional dance to children. Available for purchase through the CDSS Online Store. |
Traditional Barn Dances |
Dudley and Jacqueline Laufman This package is a one-stop resource containing everything instructors need to teach 53 dances to participants of all ages and abilities. A DVD and CDs are included as well as all the sheet music. They also cover dances in other formations and provide suggestions for including people in wheelchairs and those with varying abilities. This book also includes many tips for teaching traditional dance to children. Available for purchase through the CDSS Online Store. |
Kentucky Dance Institute (Teacher/Leader Resource) | 1960 Morehead State College This is a PDF of a dance leader/teacher manual created in 1960. The first section includes extensive information on leading dances and then the actual repertoire starts on page 18. The repertoire is split into sections appropriate for various school grades (e.g., Grades K-3). In addition to dances, this resource contains a small section of traditional/folk songs. |
Education Resource Bank | English Folk Dance and Song Society This website contains resources for teachers, educators, youth ensembles, community choirs and more. The resources include song material, music, and dance - everything from beginner packages to resources divided by context (e.g., primary grades). This is one of the top resources out there for those working with school-aged participants. |
Online Discussions
Do you want to connect with educators involved in traditional dance, music and song? Then check out the following online groups. You can ask questions and get immediate responses from individuals throughout North America and beyond. These online communities are full of supportive people who share similar interests with you.
You can also join other online discussions for callers, dance musicians, singers, and ritual dancers. While these lists aren’t specific to teachers/educators, there are teachers on most of the lists and teaching in schools comes up occasionally in the discussions. These lists love having new members including folks with little to no experience. So join, listen in on the conversation, and start asking questions!
Title | More information |
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Pourparler | Pourparler is a closed email group for educators & callers who have attended at least one Pourparler gathering. The rich discussion is very useful for those interested in teaching folk/ethnic/world/traditional dance to school-aged children. |
In-Person Gatherings
CDSS is currently recommending that no in-person events be held given the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we are maintaining a calendar of online events and have also included links to other virtual event listings on our calendar page. Check out the listing of online events here.
There are a number of in-person networking and learning opportunities for educators. These types of events are a great way to be inspired, gain answers to questions you may have, and learn about new techniques that you might want to try.
Check out some of the gatherings below and also check the listings of caller, musician, song, ritual dance, and organizer gatherings to find specific events for those communities - which you can join!
If you have an event to add, please email portal@cdss.org. Please note - events that are listed here need to to have a regional or national scope and include some level of training for educators. If you have a more local event, you can submit it to our events calendar.
And - Consider organizing your own learning/networking opportunity for educators interested in traditional dance, music and/or song! The dance organizers section of the Portal has some tips if you want to see how they tend to connect.
CDSS offers grants for weekend workshops and more. Grants are usually between $250-$500. Get in touch with us at resources@cdss.org if you have an idea that needs a little financial support to make into a reality.
Title | More information |
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CDSS Camps | Many of CDSS’s annual summer camp weeks are wonderful opportunities to learn new songs, dances, music for children (especially family weeks!). In addition, there is often an intensive (course) for educators that focuses on how to teach children traditional song, music, and dance. Scholarships are available! |
Pourparler | Pourparler is a yearly gathering of dance and music educators from North America who are dedicated to teaching folk/ethnic/world/traditional dance in schools and/or community events. There are many experienced educators who attend each year but teachers/educators/enthusiasts are always welcome. Much of the weekend is spent sharing dances. |
Other Resources
This section contains even more resources that may be of interest to teachers and educators.
Share your resources: Do you have a resource you think should be shared on The Portal? Fill out this easy form to let us know about it!
Directories and Calendars | |
The CDSS Affiliate Directory contains contact information of all of the organizations that are currently members of CDSS. It’s a great resource to find organizers with whom you might want to connect. |
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Umbrella Organizations | |
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Pourparler | Pourparler is an annual gathering of educators and other community dance enthusiasts where experienced and newer dance leaders share repertoire and talk shop. Pourparler also has a very active online discussion group for anyone who has attended at least one of their gatherings. |
English Folk Dance and Song Society | Based in England, EFDSS was founded in 1932 to preserve, promote, and develop the English folk arts (specifically songs, tunes, and dances). Activities supported by this incredibly active organization include advocacy, learning, participation, and performance and artists' development. They have taken on many initiatives to support local organizers. |
The Children’s Music Network | The Children’s Music Network is a nonprofit association with members across the United States and Canada. It celebrates the positive power of music in the lives of children by sharing songs, exchanging ideas and creating community. Members include artists, educators, and activists. |
Still More Resources | |
CDSS Caller Insurance | CDSS offers liability insurance to its individual members who are callers within the United States. Click the link to learn more! |
CDSS E-News | This is CDSS’s main e-newsletter with announcements, articles, and other news. You can browse through past issues and sign up to receive the news. |
CDSS News | CDSS News is our quarterly print publication, and in a slightly shorter format, an online publication. Each issue is full of fantastic articles as well as other content (e.g. songs; dances; announcements). You can browse through past issues. Become a CDSS member to receive the print publication. |
Country Dance + Song | CD+S is an online journal with articles that explore how Anglo-American dance and song traditions continue to reinvent and refresh themselves.. |
Country Dance and Song Archives | This webpage contains the 26 volumes of CDSS's Country Dance and Song publication which ran from 1968-1998. The articles are available free online and cover a wide range of topics from ritual dance to social dance to traditional song. |
The Country Dancer Archives | This webpage contains CDSS's Country Dancer Archives, which ran from 1940-1966. Many of the articles focus on news from the dance music and song community although there are articles on music/dance style, song contributions, and more. |
CDSS Library & Archives at the University of New Hampshire | The CDSS Library at UNH is a collection of nearly 3,000 books, 400 periodicals, pamphlets and sheet music, and close to 2000 recordings all about traditional dance, music and song. The CDSS Archives are another 64 boxes of manuscripts, personal papers of individuals prominent in the teaching and collection of American traditional dances and songs, microfiche recordings, and archival materials dating from CDSS's founding in 1915. |
Dance It Yourself
Download the Dance It Yourself Teacher's Guide (1.4 MB PDF)
Dance It Yourself, the CDSS multigenerational dance video series, is our response to dancing at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Are you a teacher or a homeschool parent, looking for resources to share with your students? Would you like them to be able to dance and sing at home, under your supervision? Would you like someone else to do all the teaching and explaining of the dances for you? You've come to the right place!
This series of six videos will be released throughout the next several months. We hope that you and your students will be able to share the love of traditional dance and music, even through the Zoom screen!
The Dance it Yourself series features well-known traditional dance callers, musicians, and a wide variety of dance styles, all of which can be done solo or in a couple.
Dances are demonstrated for you and your students dancing both singly and in pairs. All dances are done in small spaces, showing you how it can be done in your own homes.
Dance along with us—and dance it yourself!
What Music Teachers Are Saying
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“The CDSS Dance It Yourself video series is fabulous! I'll be using it to teach on-line Kodály training courses this summer. The classroom applications for post-COVID are immeasurable. Please keep making more!”
–Georgia A. Newlin, DMA
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“During this difficult time of COVID, it is so inspiring to see CDSS continuing their mission. So happy to be a member of CDSS and seeing a collaborative effort of musicians, callers, and dancers working together to offer these amazing opportunities. The joy I felt from watching the father and son dancing together warmed my heart. With the ongoing work of CDSS, I remain hopeful that dancing will happen soon.”
–Amy Krafchick
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“Thank you for your work on this! The absence of folk dance in my classroom is as bad as the absence of singing. This will help so much!”
–Nina Kindt Wilson
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“Thank you (Robbin L Marcus!) I find sharing a dance video where someone else teaches is the perfect breather I need to get through my online classes. Also evens the playing field when I have virtual and in-person students together.”
–L.D.
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“Thank you SO much!!! What a gift to our profession.”
–E.G.
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“How wonderful! This will definitely fill a need. It inspires me to do some of my own virtual folk dance videos, too!”
–Tracy Doty Ward
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“I'm watching the videos and I LOVE LOVE LOVE them!!!”
–David Macemon