Dance: Choreography and Improvising
- Grade level: 4th and up- good for introduction to dance with kids who never had dance
- Includes survey questions and post evaluations
- Take this and add in the styles of dance and music the students are interested in
- Show videos of the examples
Course Objectives: Students will demonstrate their understanding of the fundamentals of dance composition by composing original pieces; they will articulate elements and qualities of their own and each other’s movements and explore to create dance movement and will have mastered basic yoga poses as part of their daily warm up.
Assessment: By the end of the residency, the students will have learned basic and advanced (depending on skill level) vocabulary, improvisation skills, composition through a choreographic structure, resulting in a choreographed dance that they will perform.
Dance Objectives:
Arts Making:
Sensory Elements
- Identify body parts and basic locomotor and nonlocomotor movements.
- Explore personal and shared space, directions, levels, size of movement, and body shapes.
- Identify quick/slow, strong/light movements.
Skills
- Perform basic locomotor and nonlocomotor movements.
- Imitate body shapes (stretched, curled, angular, twisted).
- Explore factors of the spatial elements (personal and shared space, levels, directions, size of movement)
- Explore time elements (fast/slow, tempos, beat & rhythms)
- Explore force/energy elements (strong/light) in response to verbal cues.
- Students demonstrate the following movement skills and explain the underlying principles: alignment, balance, initiation of movement, articulation of isolated body parts, weight shift, elevation and landing, fall and recovery
Use of body creating dance
- Balance/Coordination
- Distinction of space, personal and shared
- Traditional and non traditional movement
- Abilities to express emotion
- Tempo slow/fast
- Directions of space; left/right/front/back
- Levels
- Expressing character in mood and movement
Making Connections
- demonstrate understanding of the basic elements of performance (kinesthetic and spatial awareness, focus, clarity of movement)
- Understand the fundamentals of dance vocabulary (plié, relevé, sauté, etc.)
- listen to constructive criticism and respond in a positive way
- demonstrate accurate memorization and reproduction of movement sequences
- describe the action and movement elements observed in a dance, using appropriate movement/dance vocabulary
Basic Vocabulary and Skills
Shapes
Focus
Pathways/Directions
Levels
Personal/Shared Space
Sequencing
Phrasing