Deeper Understanding of Dance

These concepts are great to look back to and five the teacher an overall understanding of dance.

Powerful Strategies for Dance

Movement Exploration: guided and improvised movement explorations with the intent to develop a movement vocabulary
Elements of Dance/Fundamental Concepts: using the fundamental components of dance, which include the following: body, energy, relationship, time, space
Choreographic Forms:using the structures that organize movements such as call and response, canon, rondo, ABA, etc.
Role of Dance in Various Cultures; exploring a variety of dance forms and styles from the past and present and understanding their social and/or community contexts

Dance Literacy; using Dance to communicate ideas/themes from other disciplines and from life (Interdisciplinary)

Elements of Dance
The Elements of Dance should be the framework for every dance unit. Focus of the lessons should progress from the ways the body moves, to ways in which the uses of time and energy are developed in every body action, to ways in which the body uses the space around itself and with others. I have posted these elements within the classroom before so students can reflect on them as the unit is in progress. 

Curriculum expectations: A1. Creating and Presenting: design and demonstrate compositions of movement sequences and short dance pieces, using the elements of dance to communicate feelings and ideas. 

BODY	The instrument of Dance. The term body may also refer to the body’s position or shape, and, how the body is moving.
SPACE	The physical area in which the body moves. It is also the surrounding area of the body.
TIME	Time involves rhythm, tempo, accent and duration. Time can be based on measured beats or on body rhythms such as breath, emotions and heartbeat.
ENERGY	The force with which the body moves.
RELATIONSHIP	The way in which two or more dancers/props/body parts are connected

These were some fantastic activity ideas that were given to us for the junior level: 

1. Exploring the Element of Energy through strong versus light and, sudden versus sustained.

·      Students walk around the room and respond to teacher commands of “hit the deck”, “run for your life”, “walk through jello”, “swing”, etc. with actions that are strong, light, sudden and sustained. (Exploring with the Creative Action Words stimulates great movement ideas in these categories.) Teacher can accompany the students with a tambourine or recorded music. Repeat frequently and alternate the commands while making the music length and strength correspond to the desired movement.

·      Have the students explore and choose their own actions that they will attach to each command and music prompt.

·      Students will then be asked to create a phrase of movement that will correspond to certain musical prompts determined by the teacher.  They will use the actions they have chosen earlier and link them together depending on the determined music prompt. Start with 3 prompts and build on that if and when the students are able. It may look like this: “run for your life”, “perch”, “walk through jello”.

·      Reflect with the students on how the movement is different as an observer and how the movement feels as a performer.

2. Dances created by being driven by a theme or storyline.

Theme/Storyline: A snowflake crystalizes, gets pick up by the wind, travels over rooftops and under tree branches, then finally settles on the ground.

·      Students are asked to show their most creative snowflake shape with their body. Ask them to play and experiment until they are happy with their chosen body shape.

·      Tell the students you are giving them 10 counts to go from lying on the floor to crystalizing into their snowflake shape. Have them practice that sequence.

·      For the next sequence of the snowflake travelling on the wind, have them practicing travelling lightly on the wind in various pathways around the room, changing level as they imagine they are going over rooftops and under tree branches.

·      Have them practice the first 2 sequences together.

·      Tell the students to explore reducing speed and settling in a zig zag pathway as they settle to the ground. Ask them to end on the ground in their snowflake shape.

·      Now put all 3 sequences together to dance the story of the snowflake.