SKYLINE FARMS: The New Deal in the Heart of Dixie

Lesson Activity: Square Dancing

Recommended Grade Level: 3-5th grade Overview: Students will learn and demonstrate basic steps in a square dance. Students will also understand the significance of square dancing in rural America. Tennessee Standards Physical Education Grades 3-5 Standard: Movement Forms/Motor Skills and Movement Patterns 1.1.3 perform selected rhythmic activities and dance sequences 1.2.5 create, refine and perform a dance using repeatable sequences with intentional changes in direction, speed and flow 1.2.6 properly execute traditional and popular dances Music3-5 6.4 Identify various styles and/or genres (vocal and instrumental) of music. Alabama Standards Physical Education 4th grade 4.) Perform multicultural rhythmic dances, including introductory square dance. 9.) Identify formations and steps associated with dance. 5th grade 4.) Demonstrate rhythmic dances, including modern, aerobic, and ethnic. Music 4th grade 13.) Recognize styles of twentieth-century music

Square Dance, Skyline Farms, Alabama Shahn, Ben, 1937

Materials: images of square dancing from the FSA/OWA collection (see image list), mp3 player, open space for a large group of children, photography analysis worksheet Procedure: Day One 1. Tell the class that you are about to play a song. Ask them to listen to the music and the lyrics. Play the mp3 recording of Gents Go Center from the Library of Congress digital collection. 2. Class discussion: What is your first reaction to the song? Have you ever heard this type of music before? Can you identify any of the instruments you hear? Does this sound similar to any music you listen to today? How is it different? Tell them this particular song was recorded in the 1930s (one reason why the sound quality is different than they are used to hearing.)

3. Explain to the students that this type of song is used for a specific dance. What do you think the dance would look like? Do you think people would dance individually or in groups to this type of music? Do you think the dance would be fast or slow? 4. Notice that the song lyrics are instructions on how to dance. A transcription of the lyrics can be found here. Pass out the song lyrics for the children to read. Then play the song again and have them read along. 5. Give an introduction of the history of square dancing (popular in rural America around World War II). The Americas Story from the Americas Library (childrens website of the Library of Congress) has a square dancing section. Did you know that square dancing is the official state folk dance of Alabama? (http://
www.archives.alabama.gov/emblems/st_dance.html )

6. Show the photographs of square dancing at Skyline Farms. Residents would gather every Friday night for the weekly dance. Men, woman, and children would participate. Fill out a photography analysis worksheet. 7. Class Discussionuse the worksheet as a guide to lead the discussion: What is happening in the photograph? What is the setting? Does squaring dancing look different than you imagined? Who participated? Do people dance in groups or individually? Day Two: 1. Show the class a short video demonstrating the basics of square dancing. 2. Tell the children to pick partners. Square dancing partners were typically a man and woman. (It is not necessary for them to dance in male/female partners, especially if there are an uneven number of children. 3. Demonstrate the basic steps of square dancing for the class: forward and back, dosado, swing, promenade. 4. Practice the steps individually, then try them together in a series. 5. Play a traditional square dancing song like Gents Go Center (beginner songs can be found online). Have the groups follow the basic steps of the song. Day Three: 1. Perform a square dance as a class. The class may perform in front of another class, school administrators, or at a school assembly. 2. After the dance, have a discussion with the group. Consider the following questions: Do you think the dances were fun for the people of the community? How would dancing bring a community together? How do you think square dances benefitted the new community of Skyline? Lesson Extension Review some photographs of square dancing at Skyline Farms. Having learned some basic steps, can you identify specific steps demonstrated in the pictures?

Suggested images from the from the Library of CongressUS Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Collection

Square Dance Skyline Farms, Alabama Ben Shahn. 1937.

Square Dance, Skyline Farms, Alabama Ben Shahn, 1937.

Square Dance, Skyline Farms, Alabama. Ben Shahn, 1937

Music for square dance, Skyline Farms, Alabama. Ben Shahn, 1937.

Spectators at square dance, Skyline Farms, Alabama. Ben Shahn, 1937.