Lesson · Grades 5–8 · Physical Education · The Lindy Hop, the Charleston and the Savoy Ballroom

Move Like Harlem

Students will explore the physical vocabulary of Harlem Renaissance dance — the Lindy Hop, Charleston, and jazz movement — understanding these not as performance spectacle but as a form of cultural expression, community building, and joyful resistance. They will connect rhythmic movement to musical structure, develop coordination through partner and group patterns, and reflect on dance as embodied history.