Post-It Notes Dance Exploration – Lesson Plan

by Victoria Reid, Dance Representative

Lesson Overview 

Inspired by the viral dance duo Cost n’ Mayor (@cost_n_mayor) and their off‑Broadway theatrical dance show 11 to Midnight, which features dynamic dance numbers using items like red solo cups, flashlights, brooms, phones and Post‑it notes. Watch their show trailer here. 

This lesson invites students to explore choreography using one of the simplest and most versatile props: Post‑it notes. Sticky notes become a catalyst for improvisation, composition, and creative storytelling. They offer endless opportunities for play, structure, and narrative, making them ideal for both short improvisation tasks and extended composition projects. This activity encourages dancers to experiment with an everyday object, discover new movement possibilities, and build choreography rooted in prop interaction. 

Materials 

• As many different kinds of sticky notes as you can find: 

  • Standard sticky notes 

  • Large sticky notes 

  • Accordion‑style/consecutive sticky notes (see photo below) 

    

• Sharpie markers for writing on notes 

  
  

Solo Improvisation and Exploration (~5–7 minutes)

• Lay out all the different kinds of sticky notes across the room on the floor in various arrangements.

• Have students spread out and begin exploring the sticky notes through different ways of moving and interacting with them. Encourage students to exhaust all the possibilities.

• Offer short timed prompts (1 minute each) such as:

  • Explore ways sticky notes can travel across the body

  • How sticky notes move through space

  • Create pathways on the floor or walls

  • How they attach, fall, flutter, or trail

  • Experiment with sticking, peeling, tossing, or layering

  • Use accordion‑style notes to create cascading or falling effects

Optional: play different kinds of music while students improvise and explore the prop

Group Exploration

• Divide students into small groups and provide each group with a generous stack of sticky notes.

• Give dancers time to freely explore the prop together.

  • Manipulate the notes individually or collectively

  • Explore ways sticky notes can travel across bodies

  • How can you pass, share the notes in different ways

• Give students time to discuss how this prop has inspired ideas for theme, music, style, movement, story, and character. Have students share these ideas and write them down in their dance notebooks.

  
  

Choreography Task

Groups develop a short composition (~30 seconds) inspired by their sticky‑note discoveries. Their piece may explore:

Themes:

• School or student life

• Business or office environments

• Organization vs. chaos

• Messages, communication, or memory

• Transformation or accumulation

Possible Uses of the Sticky Notes

• Written messages incorporated into the piece

• Notes stuck to dancers, props, or surfaces

• Notes used as a trail, pathway, or map

• Notes falling or peeling off as part of the choreography

• Notes used rhythmically or percussively

• Notes as costume elements or extensions of the body

Encourage students to consider how the prop can influence:

• Storytelling

• Character

• Spatial design

• Musicality

• Movement quality

This can also be extended into a long‑form choreography task, where students create a complete piece. This lesson can be adapted for any grade level and for other fine arts disciplines as well.

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions, want to connect, or if you use a version of this lesson in your class - I would love to hear how it went!

Keep shining,

Victoria 

victoria.reid@fineartsata.ca