Art and Sport

Celebrate National Physical Fitness and Sports Month by asking the question, which comes first: ‘art and sport’ or ‘sport and art’? In many instances, one relies on the other, or compliments the various relationships between the two. Learn how art and sport work together by investigating bike skills through drama, observing Olympic athletes and the visual arts, demystifying the myth that boys can’t dance, and—prepare to be astonished—watching rock climbing techniques and its correlation to ballet.

Lessons:

Basic systems and organs of the body are explained through movement exercises.

Students model bicycle and helmet safety through drama, dance, and music.

This lesson introduces students to the art of stage fighting.

Students experience street games of Harlem by learning about and playing established games.

This lesson looks at the male dancer and reinforces that dancing is beneficial for men and women.

Through the use of research, mock interviews, and tableau, students will learn about a selected Olympic athlete.

How-To's:

Arts educator Harlan Brownlee offers tips for managing student movement activities in your classroom.

Designing Teaching and Learning Activities

This is the fourth How-To in the series, Teaching for Understanding in the Visual and Performing Arts based on the principles of Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTigue.

Advocacy Essentials:

Why Arts Education Matters

Derek E. Gordon, Executive Director, Jazz at Lincoln Center and former senior vice president for the Kennedy Center, discusses the place of the arts in a comprehensive education.

Three Rs Are Essential, but Don’t Forget the A—the Arts

Advocating the implementation of the arts into the daily classroom, this article stresses the benefits of an art-enriched curriculum.

Look·Listen·Learn:

This interactive resource uses selections from a National Symphony Orchestra concert to illustrate musical extremes. Analyze the effect of extreme dynamics, tempo, and more through a variety of listening, reading, and movement activities.

This multimedia gallery brings to life the work of Project Bandaloop, a modern dance company that explores the boundaries between dance and sport. Using advance rock-climbing techniques, the company dances on builidngs, off cliffs and over the ocean.

How have artists, through the centuries, captured the body - particularly the body in motion? Through richly annotated paintings, sculptures, and photographs, students will discover the technical and creative advances which drove artistic renderings of the moving body – from the mathematical precision that formed the basis of Egyptian figures, to the complex systems and innovations at work in the art of the Hellenistic Greeks, to the dynamic surfaces of the Modern era.

Meet the Artist:

Burgess talks about his experiences blending Eastern and Western aesthetics in dance.

The members of Project Bandaloop dance company talk about their unique combination of dance and rock climbing.