Fifteen small bodies lie on their backs on the dance studio floor, knees bent, arms folded over their eyes. The members of Arthur Hall's childen's class at the Belfast dance studio are taking a break from learning a dance which originates in Ghana. In rhythmic gesture, the children re-enact plowing, planting, growth of the seed into a plant, they pray for a successful harvest, and then they reap the crop.
Actually, the break is only physical. The steps are being impressed on their memory by the mental review. The technique works. They are all more proficient the next time they run through it.
"You're going to have to perform this without me," warns Hall. "Learn to rely on yourselves. Listen to the drums, they are talking to you."
Aislinn Williams is three years old. Her father, Bruce, is a photographer and filmmaker who has produced videotapes of Hall teaching children basic dance exercises and traditional African dances.
Some of the footage for Hall's children's exercise tape [Tche Tche Kule] was shot in Townshend, Vermont, where Aislinn lives. As her father edited the tape, Aislinn often looked over his shoulder, trying to see some of her friends. When her father was nearly finished editing the tape, Aislinn decided to try some of the movements.
A short time later she and her father attended the first family class that Hall taught in Belfast, and Aislinn was suddenly a young star. She was able to do practically every movement. By the second class she was demonstrating the exercises to 9-year-olds.
"The first time we took the family class," says Bruce Williams, "I was in tears watching Aislinn's concentration and her ability. Seeing this teeny little person full of the joy of working and achieving."
Originally Hall and Williams had planned the exercise tape for school-age children; now they intend to include a section for pre-schoolers with Aislinn demonstrating their proficiency.
"This kind of movement has great charm for chidren," says Bruce Williams, "and even pre-schoolers can benefit from the exercises. There is no question that they are extraordinarily important for developing large motor and small motor coordination and the ability to isolate movement.
"The tapes allow children to learn from other children as well as Arthur. Children are so eager to attend Arthur's classes. A few minutes before one in Belfast was scheduled to start, there were fifteen kids in position, silent, waiting for Arthur."
At the end of a subsequent class a boy walked up to Hall and said to him, "You know something, you are a great dancer."
Hall replied, "Well, you know, I try."