Learning Goals
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to …
- use body movement and shapes to show my feelings and ideas through dance.
Materials
- Music player/device
- Different instrumental music for tempo, beat, rhythm - examples from previous lessons: New Age music by Ray Lynch, Dave Grusin or Shadowfax or Penguin Cafe Orchestra is great background music. Geoff Bennet’s Music for BiPedal Movement and Next of Skin are also good options)
- Chart paper/white board and markers
- Elements of Dance Posters
- PDF #1 Dance Checklist
Terminology
Minds On
Whole Class > Read Aloud
Select a read aloud from the suggestions below, or another book about emotions you feel would resonate with them. Read your selected book to the class.
Whole Class > Brainstorm
Following the read-aloud, invite the students to reflect on different feelings and emotions described or experienced by the characters in the book. Brainstorm additional emotions and character traits. Record and display these for student reference
Examples of emotions or character traits:
- Angry
- Shy
- Heroic
- Excited
- Bored
- Amazed
- Cool
- Confident
- Disappointed
- Giant
- Sad
- Confused
- Contented
- Magical
- Strange
- Unbelievable
- Superhero
- Intelligent
- Party animal
- Slow motion
Whole Class > Move and Freeze
Instruct the students to move around the general space of the room freely, going in any direction they wish in a quiet, relaxed manner. Remind them that students should not be talking to or touching each other
As they are traveling, continue to give direction. Prompt: move quickly, slowly, change direction etc. Instruct students that when you call freeze, they are to freeze in their positions.
Next, direct students to add an emotion to the movement (e.g., happy, sad, angry, bored). Encourage students to incorporate their whole bodies when reflecting the emotion, not just show it on their face. Again, when a freeze is called and the students freeze in their movement that shows an emotion.
Teacher tip: Encourage students to use the elements of dance as they are creating their movements.
Action
Individual > Experimenting with Music
Play instrumental music that evokes an emotion (e.g., fast tempo in a major key, slow tempo in a minor key, percussion music, orchestral music, solo instrumental etc.). See list of materials for music suggestions.
Suggested Prompts:
- Move around the room, and listen to how you think the music wants you to feel.
- What emotion do you think this piece of music is trying to communicate? Why?
- Move your body around the space, showing these feelings.
- When the music changes, your own way of moving changes too.
- How do you travel through space?
- How do your arms dance? Shoulders? Toes?
- When you're feeling happy, what do your arms look like? Your face? Your hips?
- Give me a huge happy jump with your arms in the air.
- What are your legs doing during your happy dance?
- How does your body look when it is sad?
- How do your shoulders dance?
- What does your head do?
- Your feet? What do your fingers do?
- What level do you most want to dance on when you are sad?
- Do a sad jump. How is it different from other jumps?
- How do you walk when you're sad?
- What does your peaceful dance look like?
- How do your arms move? Do they feel light or heavy?
After students have a chance to experiment with movement that they feel matches the music, discuss how they felt when they danced to it.
Prompt: What locomotor movement would you choose to show that you are happy?
Small Group > Exploration
Divide students into small groups. Assign each group a specific emotion to explore through movement (e.g., happiness, sadness, anger, etc.). You can either choose these emotions or have students draw them randomly. Make sure to vary the emotions so that a wide range of feelings are represented.
Encourage students to think about how they can use the elements of dance to express the assigned emotion. For example, sharp, quick movements might represent anger, while flowing, graceful motions might represent happiness. Post the Elements of dance anchor chart for student reference.
Each group will share its movements with another group (or the whole class if there is time.) They could choose to keep the emotion secret and invite the audience to guess which emotion they were depicting.
Consolidation
Whole Class > Reflection
Bring students together as a group and invite them to discuss their experience.
Key questions for discussion:
- How did it feel to dance different emotions? What were the challenges?
- What did you discover about expressing emotions through movement?
- How can dance communicate feelings without words?
Assessment as Learning (AaL)
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Following the class discussion, invite students to reflect using the visible thinking strategy “Connect, Extend, Challenge” to document their experience. Depending on the readiness of the class, you could do this as a whole group, or have students work in small groups to share ideas.
- Connect - How did using movement to communicate feelings connect to what you already know?
- Extend - What new learning did you gain from today’s lesson?
- Challenge - What challenges/puzzles you about communicating through movement?
Assessment for Learning (AfL)
Observation of students' participation and understanding of the elements of dance using PDF #1 Dance Checklist.
