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Training: Where the Wild Things Are

Every Bringing Books To Life dance workshop should begin with a retelling of the story via an Active Storytelling from the facilitator.

You will need to read the book before you deliver these workshops.

Workshop structure

Introduction - 1minute - Short introduction to the topic.

Warm up - 2-3 minutes - Physical warm up.

Storytelling - 3-5minutes - Interactive bringing the story to life.

Game - 5 minutes - Implementing some choreography and structure from dance.

Dance - 20 minutes - Teaching choreography and performing the dance.

INTRODUCTION -

Introduce yourself and tell them that you are a professional dancer/ choreographer and work in the theatre etc. 

  • You love working in theatre as you get to tell stories, discover different cultures and traditions and create incredible worlds through dance. 

  • Today, you are here to help them create a dance that explores a story.

  • Why you love books and do they have a favourite?

  • What story we are discovering/ exploring today?


    Keep this introduction short and use it to help understand the groups needs and abilities.

WARM UP -

Ask the group to find a space. 

  • Explain that before any rehearsals, you always have to warm up to make sure your body and brain are ready. 

  • Tell them to copy everything you do! 2-3 min Physical warm up. 

  • Do a high energy, aerobic warm up, ensuring you warm up all the different areas of the body. 

    • Try to keep it full of imagery and fun story telling, to wake up brains and to make them excited. 

    • If you are able then introduce some of the trickier choreography from the dance.

ACTIVE STORYTELLING

  • Get them into a circle. 

    • Establish how much they know about the book before you start and adjust your delivery accordingly. 

    • Deliver the story, with plenty of energy and interaction. 

    • Involve the group by using call and response, giving characters actions and gestures (use physicality from choreography)

    • If they know it well then allow them to fill in some gaps.

    • You have to tell the story for the dance to make sense, and so in shorter sessions you can cut 1 or 4, or save time by using the shorter game and keeping the warm up short.

    • Every Bringing Books To Life dance workshops should include a retelling of the story via an Active Storytelling from the facilitator.

This is a picture book so you can just take your copy of it with you to the school and read it aloud, showing the pictures as you go.

CHARACTER MOVEMENT - WILD THINGS

Once you have set up each of the characters, pop on some music and run it like a call and response game.

  • This needs a lot of guidance from you, it isn’t a test, you need to aid them to remember the characters by embodying them yourself in an over the top way. When they are getting into the shapes/ positions, count them down and act like you are amazed by how quickly they did it. These are characters and moments from the choreography but should be used here in an energised free game. You do not have to use all of them and should adjust your workshop to the groups needs/ability.

Wild Things - Making up their own wild thing. Big or small,Heavy or light, claws etc

Trees/Furniture - Growing from the ground, twisting and turning into a tall tree. What furniture do you find in a bedroom?

Max the King - Standing, royal wave.

Hungry - Rubbing tummies, looking sad.

Row your boat - Sit on the floor and row

Go to sleep - Lie down and sleep

DANCE

Reception, Year 1 & Year 2

Talk briefly about book and show them.
Explain how story starts in Max’s bedroom and we are going to create the furniture that’s in his room
Ask What furniture they could be and get them to make the shape with their bodies.
Then we work through story all doing the same.

4x8 To change from their bedroom furniture into Trees
2x8 To run to a partner make a boat and row to the Island

1x8 Hatch into Wild Things
3x8 Moving as Wild things (discuss different sizes, levels etc..)
1x8 Put on crown as Max is made King
2x8 Walking giving the royal wave

Into Choreographed Section

2x8 Thriller section into over the puddle!
3x8 Lonely & sad, looking for home
1x8 Sniffing the soup
1x8 Rub tummy, give back crown

1x8 Run back to boat (on own)
1x8 Row back home (different speeds)
1x8 Eat soup
1x8 Yawn and go to sleep

Talk about “Dress Rehearsal” then get Teachers to watch as audience. They all take bow at end.

 

Year 3 Upwards

At end of 10 Second Game have them in number so that there can be 6 groups (this means they can perform to each other at the end)
2 groups become Group 1, 2, & 3.

1         2         3

1         2         3

Explain bit about story and how going to tell the story between us.
Each group makes a freeze frame of each part of the story

  • Group 1 = The furniture in Max’s room that turn to trees

  • Group 2 = Max moving around in his bedroom then getting into bed

  • Group 3 = Wild Things

Group 1 have:

  • 3x8 Move from furniture into trees

Group 2 have:

  • 1x8 Wander into Bedroom (group 1) thinking

  • 2x8 Rowing in boat over to Island

Group 3 have:

  • 1x8 To become Wild Things

  • 2x8 To start moving as Wild Things

All Groups:

  • 1x8 All move as Wild Things

  • 1x8 Put on Crown

  • 2x8 Royal waving and all bow

Into Choreographed Section.

PERFORMANCE

  • Tell them it’s their final chance to perform the dance. 

  • Close their eyes, imagine they are on stage - what does their costume look like? What does the set look like?

  • Perform the dance to their teacher. 

COOL DOWN

  • If you have time! 

  • Ask them to find a space. 

  • DO a slow controlled stretch, using their breath, physically moving through some shapes of the characters.

  • Sit down. 

  • Well dones, thank you and hand back to the teacher.

Training Videos

Where the wildtings are 2024 training

Where The Wild Things Are - KS1 Video with Choreography Voice Over

Where The Wild Things Are KS1 - Training 2023

Where The Wild Things Are KS2 - Training 2023

Where The Wild Things Are - KS1 No voice over

Where The Wild Things Are - KS2

Track List

We have more tracks than usual in the Wild Things album. (This was the first workshop we made, and we've tried to simplify things since then. There is a warm up track, two tracks for games (you’ll normally only have time to use one), and then tracks 4, 5 and 6 are the ones that have been mixed together to make the final track you dance to (called “Aquarium Knights Fossils”).

Warm up:
1.    Pack up – warm up

Two tracks for games:
2.    Nirvana – if you have time this can be used for the space game getting them to move as Wild things or use dance of the knights
3.    Benny Hill – wild thing to wild thing game

The three constituent tracks for the dance:
4.    Carnival of the Animals, Aquarium – section 1 furniture turning into trees and into the boats or individual boats. This track is useful for KS1 to give them more time to explore and get into their boats.
5.    Dance of the Knights – section for the Wild Rumpus dance, you can also use this for space game
6.    Carnival of the Animals, Fossils – last section from rolling up with a sad face

The final dance track:
7.    Aquarium Knights Fossils – The whole dance