Classroom Resource

Elements of Dance

Subject Area

Arts Education

Grade(s)

6, 7, 8

Overview

In this lesson, students will choreograph simple dances in small groups and perform them for the class. Students will learn elements of dance and vocabulary by demonstrating various movements. Students will create a K-W-L chart about dance.  They will share in pairs and report findings to the class.  They will work in pairs to choreograph a 64 beat dance.  

Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 6 - Dance

AE17.D.6.5

Use collaboratively-developed artistic criteria to revise dance compositions, and explain reasons for revisions and how choices were made related to artistic intent.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.D.6.5

Vocabulary

  • prompts
  • movement vocabulary
  • artistic expression
  • movement vocabulary
  • choreography
  • utilize elements of dance
  • dance study
  • artistic intent
  • choreographic devices
  • structure
  • artistic criteria
  • dance study
  • concept, impact and inspiration for choreography
  • feedback and revise
  • notation

Essential Questions

EU: Choreographers analyze, evaluate, refine, and document their work to communicate meaning.
EQ: How do choreographers use self-reflection, feedback from others, and documentation to improve the quality of their work?

Skills Examples

  • Create a movement phrase and explore the movement to different sounds of music. Compare how the music changed the way the movement was performed.
  • Listen as the teacher plays different kinds of music. Create and perform movement that suits a particular piece of music. Then create and perform movement that contrasts with (does not suit) the music; discuss the difference.
  • Discuss the way that movements are suited to different social events (i.e., by comparing spectators doing the wave at a sporting event to students walking in pairs down the aisle at their graduation ceremony).
  • Implement practices such as fall and recover, pop and lock, contract and release into a movement phrase.
  • Create dances using choreographic devices, such as expansion, diminution, and reverse.
  • Choreograph a narrative dance that shows relationships, such as friendship.
  • Use inversion to create a dance about opposition.
  • Invent a simple system (such as a = jump, b = skip, and c = reach); then, mix up the order of the letters to explore the sequencing.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 3: Refine and complete artistic work.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 7 - Dance

AE17.D.7.1

Develop choreography using a variety of prompts through relating similar or contrasting ideas.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.D.7.1

Vocabulary

  • choreography
  • prompts
  • codified movement
  • choreography
  • dance terminology
  • artistic intent
  • dance study
  • choreographic devices
  • artistic criteria
  • dance study

Essential Questions

EU: Choreographers use a variety of sources as inspiration and transform concepts and ideas into movement for artistic expression.
EQ: Where do choreographers get ideas for dances?

Skills Examples

  • Use Music, observed dance, literary forms, notation, natural phenomena, personal experience/ recall, current news, or social events to create movement.
  • Examine how the choreographic process parallels the writing process and how the characteristics of writing relate to the characteristics of dance.
  • Apply dance-related vocabulary/ terminology to compare and discuss the choices made by different choreographers as they sought to express the same theme.
  • Choose an emotion (such as happiness) and apply the elements of dance to perform movements that communicate the emotion to an audience.
  • Apply the elements of dance to perform movements that communicate the idea that they have just received a gift.
  • Draw at random pieces of paper on which devices have been written—draw one from a bowl of ideas, and one from a bowl of emotions (the bowls and papers having been prepared in advance by the teacher); then, perform movements in sequence to convey what is written on one's pieces of paper.
  • Explore the effect of variations in tempo by performing a dance three times; then, identify any parts that could be improved. Use this evaluation to differentiate between what needs more practice and what needs to be changed.
  • Discuss free-and-controlled-flow and sustained-and-percussive-energy when identifying and critiquing qualities of energy in a dance.
  • Examine Labanotation or Benesh movement notation.
  • Research Labanotation or Classical Ballet terminology.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 8 - Dance

AE17.D.8.3

Collaborate to select and apply a variety of choreographic devices to create an original dance study and document the process.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.D.8.3

Vocabulary

  • prompts
  • movement vocabulary
  • artistic expression
  • choreography
  • dance terminology
  • choreographic devices
  • dance study
  • structure
  • artistic criteria
  • artistic intent
  • feedback and revision
  • notation

Essential Questions

EU: The elements of dance, dance structures, and choreographic devices serve as both a foundation and a departure point for choreographers.
EQ: What influences choice-making in creating choreography?

Skills Examples

  • Create a dance phrase with a specific source of inspiration (music, observed dance, literary forms, notation, natural phenomena, personal experience/recall, current news, or social events).
  • Consider the different ways that a jump is used and performed in different genres of dance (i.e., ballet and jazz dance).
  • Create movements to express words or concepts supplied by the teacher (for example, generate a movement in response to the word "wave" or "jump"); then, compare one's own movement to movements made by other students to express the same word.
  • Participate in a collaborative dance-building exercise in which the students.
    • The group should first decide on a theme, then stand in a circle, and take turns offering a different movement.
  • Choreograph a dance with specific reference to one's own culture, hobby, or interest.
  • Create dances using the choreographic devices of transposition, opposition, and accumulation.
  • Create variations on a dance that one learned and explain the choices that one made when selecting the changes.
  • Create a movement study then document the process by using video, Laban, journals, or list.
  • Observe a dance sequence (created by the teacher) in which something is not quite right; respond by critiquing the sequence and making suggestions for improvements.
  • Use Labanotation to record one's own choreographed dance.
  • Document a movement phrase using basic labanotation symbols, motif writing, Classical Ballet vocabulary or Video Collaboratory.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.
Link to Resource
https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/resources-for-educators/classroom-reso…

CR Resource Type

Lesson/Unit Plan

Resource Provider

The Kennedy Center
Accessibility
License

License Type

Custom

Custom License Type (URL)

https://www.kennedy-center.org/terms-conditions/

Approved Date

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