This was in a recent email from Code.org founder, Hadi Partovi.
Code your own dance party featuring Katy Perry, Madonna, and more! Katy Perry, Sia, Keith Urban, Madonna and more in #HourOfCode Dance Party tutorial! Who says computer science means just sitting at a desk and "nerding out"? For this year’s Hour of Code you’ll want to get up, pump up the volume, and dance! Code.org couldn’t be more excited to unveil our featured activity for the Hour of Code: Dance Party, a tutorial for students to code, get creative, and even dance, all at once. Code.org focuses on diversity in computer science, and we’re thankful to have had the support of Amazon Future Engineer*, a program to inspire and educate children and young adults from underserved communities, in building and launching this tutorial.
This is one you don’t want to miss – and an opportunity to engage students who don’t typically try coding. Expect many students to ask for more – which is why this tutorial has a Part 2 lesson. Be sure you have speakers or headphones, encourage your students to dance, and make a class video!
Students can choose from 30 hits like Katy Perry’s “Firework,” Sia’s “Cheap Thrills”, Ariana Grande’s “No Tears Left to Cry,” Lady Gaga’s “Born this Way,” Justin Bieber’s “Sorry”, or international hits such as J Balvin’s “Mi Gente”. The tutorial helps students code interactive dance moves and special effects as they learn basic CS concepts.
Your dance party can feature music by: Ace of Base, Aha, Aloe Blacc and Avicii, Anitta, Ariana Grande, Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson, Bruce Springsteen, Carly Rae Jepsen, Calvin Harris, Ciara, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Imagine Dragons, J. Balvin, Katy Perry, Keith Urban, Justin Bieber, Lady Antebellum, Lady Gaga, Los Del Rio, Luke Bryan, Macklemore, Madonna, MC Hammer, Miley Cyrus, Outkast, Selena Gomez, Sia, Village People, The Weeknd, will.i.am, and Yolanda Be Cool. (We’ll add even more artists and dance effects over the next few weeks). The Dance Party activity also features video tutorials by singer/songwriter/coder Aloe Blacc, computer scientist and iLuminate founder/producer Miral Kotb, as well as Amazon Future Engineer Maria Tracy. The Hour of Code is about creativity, and we can’t wait to see what you create! Please share student creations, photos, and videos on social media! Record your classroom coding a dance, or dancing the dance. Make your video special by adding one of these ending clips. On social media, use the hashtag #HourOfCode and tag Code.org. Bonus points for tagging the artist whose music your students used. We’ll re-share our favorite posts to our millions of followers. :-)
The big week for the Hour of Code is CS Education Week, December 3 - 9. If you’ve never hosted an Hour of Code, don’t worry. Check out the how-to guide or these five tips from experienced organizers! Anyone can host an Hour of Code – we even have an ”unplugged” Dance Party lesson for classrooms without internet or computers. Since 2013, hundreds of millions of students have tried the Hour of Code, making it the largest education campaign in history. ❤️️ Help us reach 1 billion, and sign up your Hour of Code here! Have fun, be fearless, and get ready to dance. We can’t wait to see what you create!
*Amazon Future Engineer is a comprehensive childhood-to-career program to inspire, educate, and train children and young adults from underserved and low-income communities to pursue careers in computer science. (Note: The artists whose music is used in this tutorial are not sponsoring or endorsing Amazon as part of licensing use of their music to Code.org.)