Choreography + Coding · Ballet Des Moines studio
A one-day field trip where students discover that a dance and a program are the same thing — sequences of clear, beautiful instructions, performed in order.
By the end of the day, every student has performed a piece of choreography they wrote — and written a program they performed.
Order matters. A dance is a list of moves performed in a specific order — the same way a program is a list of instructions executed in a specific order.
"Clap, jump, clap, jump" is the same idea as repeat 4 times. Students learn to spot repetition and use it on purpose.
When the dance doesn't look right, the fix is the same as in code: re-read your own instructions, find what's missing, try again.
Every group writes a piece of choreography together and performs it for the room. Logical thinking meets creativity meets the courage to share.
Three movements — from unplugged coding games, through writing dances on paper, to a final performance the room watches together.
Welcome dance, "Follow the Leader," and the Human Robot game — one student becomes a robot, others write the instructions. Build a shared vocabulary of moves: jump, spin, slide, clap, freeze.
Small teams write their own "dance programs" — sequences, loops, and a simple conditional (if music stops → freeze). After lunch, beginner tools like Scratch or Code.org let students animate a sprite to match a real-world dance step.
Each group performs their choreography as a "Dance Code Show". Audiences guess the pattern. Reflection circle closes the day: What was it like coding? What was it like dancing? How are they the same?
Every concept students meet in code, we name in dance — and the other way around. They leave with a mental bridge between the two.
The program runs in two parallel tracks so the activities match the room — picture cards for the youngest dancers, paper sequences and Scratch for the older ones.
For our youngest dancers, every concept lives in the body before it gets a word. Instructions stay short and visual. Repetition is the lesson.
Older students get the full vocabulary. Moves become letters, sequences become written code, and concepts like loops and conditionals come in explicitly.
Pi515 is a Des Moines nonprofit that introduces young people — especially those underrepresented in tech — to coding, computer science, and the confidence to build things. They bring the coding curriculum and tools; we bring the studio, the music, and the dancers.
Together, we run a day that wouldn't exist on either side alone.
Choreography + Coding runs as a single-day field trip for Girl Scout troops, classroom groups, summer programs, and out-of-school enrichment partners. Reach out to start the conversation.