Get In Touch

We'd love to hear from you!

BB&N Office of Communications communications@bbns.org

Freshmen Break the Mold Learning the Art of Dance

Jenny Lifson leads her 9th grade dance class through a standard warm-up.

Most of the boys in Jenny Lifson’s ninth grade class have danced around plenty of defenders on the court and the field. But when it comes to perfecting the famous, dazzling Prologue from West Side Story—calling for them to break into a highly stylized dance and then burst into a daring, high-stepping sequence to ready themselves for a gang brawl—they are definitely treading into uncharted territory. 

“I’m not sure I remember the Chicago routine,” one boy wearing a baseball cap says, moving to stand at the back of the room.

But as soon as Lifson runs them through a quick warm-up and breaks down the moves in the bluesy All That Jazz number from the award-winning musical Chicago, the entire class breaks into a routine that would give FOX’s Glee kids a run for their money.

“This is the most fabulous group of kids ever, and they work so unbelievably well together,” Lifson says. “I have boys in the class who are on varsity sports teams. For the most part it’s a beginner level, but they’ve gotten to the point now where they’re doing intermediate movements. And even the girls who have taken dance in the past are so supportive of everyone and really cooperate with each other.” 

Splitting the semester up into thirds, the 17 students (split just about 50/50 between boys and girls) go through a section of Hip Hop and Jazz, a Swing unit, and end with learning all about different genres of musical theater choreography. Each class starts out with a warm-up of proper isolation movements, followed by standard leaps, turns, and kicks. Lifson also notes the importance of working on overall strength and flexibility.

“We do some very basic hip hop dancing, but I also expose them to ballet…we even do pirouettes!” Lifson says, laughing. “It’s definitely a jazzier class. I find that it’s really important for them to get the technique of all the different dances. I also find that a lot of times the boys in the class are less inhibited than the girls.”

At the end of each class, the entire group does a combination based on the unit they are studying. For the swing section, the moves are primarily partner-based, and they mainly learn intricate footwork, lifts, and the importance of partner support. For the musical theater unit, the class focuses on different choreographers and styles that go into Broadway musicals. They recently learned All That Jazz from Chicago, and were split up into Jets and Sharks for the Prologue from West Side Story.

“I don’t grade them on ability, I grade them solely based on participation and effort,” Lifson said. “Most of these kids have never been in a play, and they’re not self conscious at all.”

Currently, the class is watching the movie version of West Side Story, and working on a one-page paper about a dance movie chosen from a list Lifson created (many of the boys have chosen to watch Gene Kelly’s classic Singin’ In the Rain). For their final project, students will work in partners and research a choreographer of their choice—they’ve picked people such as Alvin Ailey and Michael Jackson—and give an oral presentation to the class.

Lifson, who is in her first year of teaching at the Upper School but has been on BB&N’s Lower School campus teaching drama since 2005, says this class is definitely one of the highlights of her week.

“There are not too many areas where a lot of boys, and a lot of teenagers in general, get exposed to dance at this age unless their parents are really making an effort to take them to shows,” she says. “It’s amazing to be able to show them not only dance techniques, but to expose them to musicals, real choreographers, and actual steps where they don’t have to worry the pressure of costumes and getting up in front of the audience. They can actually just learn the art of dance.”