In this lesson, students will use a picture book as a springboard to examine how dance can be used to communicate emotions.

Lesson Overview

Estimated Time: 1-2 class periods.

Learning Goals

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to

  • Explore how emotions can be conveyed through movements
  • Explore how movement can convey one's lived experiences and emotional journey
Readiness

Students should be familiar with the elements of dance. Consider using the Exploring Dance Elements unit to pre-teach the elements of dance. Students should have some experience using the elements of dance to communicate ideas and should know the difference between dancing and miming. You may wish to use the Communicating Ideas unit prior to teaching this unit.

Terminology
Materials

Minds On

Whole Class > Brainstorming

Select a picture book to read to students depending on their interests and readiness (see Appendix 4 for a list of suggestions). Invite the students to reflect on the feelings of the main character. Depending on readiness, you may choose to re-read the text more than once.

Teacher Prompt: How did the main character feel at the beginning of the story? Why do you think that? What ideas and examples from the story support your ideas?

Create a feelings/emotions anchor chart, documenting the students ideas about feelings identified in the text. Invite students to brainstorm any other emotions they can think of outside of the text or from their own experience. 

Action

Whole Class > Exploring Emotion

Identify to students that all of those feelings listed on the chart can be communicated without using words.  

Teacher prompt:

  • What clues might tell us how someone is feeling if they don’t tell us?
  • How might we show someone how we are feeling without saying anything?

Teacher Note: It is important to contextualize this conversation with a reminder that what someone looks like on the outside might not be the whole story and the only way to know for sure how someone is feeling is to ask them. In the same way, we can’t rely on using clues to show other people how we feel. If we need support from them, we have to tell them about our needs and feelings. When we try to use clues to figure out someone’s thoughts or feelings, we will likely make mistakes, because every person has their own way of expressing themselves and it could be different from the way that makes sense to us.

Share a variety of images of different facial expressions (see Materials for suggested sources). Invite students to infer which emotion is being conveyed for each. Ask them to provide evidence from the imagery. (E.g., “I think that person might be feeling angry because their arms are crossed and they have a frown on their face…”)

Next, share with students samples of different music (See Materials for suggested songs). Invite students to determine the emotion providing proof from the example as they did previously. Discuss with the class how different tempos, rhythms, and instruments can create feelings. Ask students how each piece makes them feel and why.

Tell students that these feelings can also be conveyed using movement and not just expression.  Model this by moving in the space demonstrating an emotion and invite students to determine what you are feeling.

Teacher prompt: When I feel angry, will my movements be soft or strong?

Whole Class > Exploring Movements

Invite students to find an individual space in the learning environment. Tell students that they will explore and understand how movement can express various emotions.

Begin by referring back to the original list of emotions and invite students to explore the emotions listed in the chart through movement. Begin by inviting movement without music and then add in the music to act as a stimulus for movement.

Small Group >  Exploration

Divide students into small groups. Assign each group a specific emotion to explore through movement as they did individually (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 their movements can vary in energy, speed, and force 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.

Instruct students to use the entire space and think about their positioning in relation to one another. Select one of the following as the focus for student creation and reflection: 

  • Formations
  • Levels (high, medium, low)
  • Directions
  • Relationship

Give students enough time to experiment with movements and combine them into a cohesive sequence. Encourage them to have a clear beginning and ending (e.g. have a clear starting and ending pose, or freeze at the beginning and ending of the sequence) ensuring that the emotion is evident throughout the dance

Depending on time available and the readiness level of students, they can share their pieces with a partner group, or with the whole class.  

Extension

Emphasize the importance of how dancers interact with each other to portray the emotion. This could involve mirroring each other or leading and following. As an extension, students could explore specific dance formations, such as flocking.

Differentiation

Remember to be mindful of the students' emotional comfort and create a safe space for expression. Honour students’ right to leave and to return. Students who are not dancing in a group could explore facial expressions or hand gestures on their own, for example.

Determine whether students prefer to use music or not for this group exploration. If using music, encourage students to listen to the rhythm and melody to align their movements with the musical expression of the emotion.

Depending on their experience with dance, they may need more guidance and modeling. Demonstrate how a particular emotion might look in movement or provide descriptive words to inspire them. 

Consolidation

Whole Class/Individual > Reflection

Bring students together as a group and invite them to discuss their experience using the following prompts:

  • 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?

Following the class discussion, invite students to reflect using the visible thinking strategy “Connect, Extend, Challenge” to document their experience.  

  • 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?

This reflection can be done on an exit card or in students’ reflection journals. Scribe for any students who may require support for written communication or conference with documentation if oral responses are preferred. Alternatively, students can record their oral responses. 

Assessment for Learning
  • Observation of students' participation and understanding of the elements of dance
  • Exit card informs next steps and planning.