Recess! Media

Brief sound clip

That’s the Temptations, a drum machine, and the rest of the gang, with the title song for Kids In Motion –a CD and video project from the duo, Greg and Steve. The other performers on the CD include Cat Miller, Babyface, Kevin Quinn, Julie Weissman, and the actor, Scott Baio. The goal of their collective efforts is to provide a context and the kinetic energy for children to practice what’s called “creative movement.” For example, one of the song lyrics is about balancing, and it asks children to play along and pretend to be a giraffe, an easy chair, a mountain. Other tracks set Christina Rossetti’s “What is Pink?” and Robert Louis Stevenson’s “My Shadow,” to music and encourage the listener to physically interpret key words in the poems. Then there’s the “Tummy Tango,” in which kids act at being foods like “wiggly spaghetti” or take the shape of an apple. This is mostly an American approach to creativity and to exercise: it’s done to a rock beat, with lots of “common everybodies.” But there’s something toe-tappingly infectious about it. And for a nation whose children have become increasingly sedentary and increasingly overweight — it’s a good move. ‘Scuse me while I go do some shadow dancing’:

Brief sound clip