For this year’s Cedar Hill Prep School Living History presentation, Mrs. Callahan’s 6th grade Social Studies classes studied the political and social system of Apartheid in South Africa. The students studied the lives and speeches of famous South African activists. They also studied poems, songs, and dances that voiced the oppression of the people.
Students choreographed and original stepping dance routine led by Motu Odukoya. Stepping is a dance form that grew out of the mines in South Africa. Additionally, the students sang “Senzeni Na,” a Zulu protest song led by Jacob Toler. The students did an amazing job of telling the story of this period of racial segregation and discrimination for Black South Africans.
Cedar Hill Prep School 6th graders developed their own stepping routine. Several students spoke before the routine about the first stepping routines that were developed in the mines in South Africa as a form of communication. Stepping a percussive highly energetic art form first developed through the song and dance rituals performed by African- American fraternities and sororities. In stepping, the body becomes an instrument, using footsteps, claps, and spoken word to produce complex poly-rhythms. Stepping has been described as one of the most exciting dance forms created in the 20th century.
We are very proud of the amazing routine that our creative 6th graders put together to highlight our living history month.
