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-The body communicated by giving and receiving messages.

-Movement stems from the interdependence of body, mind, and spirit.

-Three basic movement principles:

(1) What people move

(2) How people move

(3) Where people move

-4 categories of movement:

(1) Body

(2) Effort

(3) Shape

(4) Space

-Laban's 8 efforts of movement: press, punch, slash, wring, dab, glide, flick, float

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This framework could be applied to so many different activities in the classroom! You could challenge students to incorporate these movements into choreographed dances, tableaus, freeze dance, etc.

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Curriculum Connection: Grade 4 - A2.2 identify, using dance vocabulary, the elements of dance used in their own and others’ dance pieces and explain how each helps communicate ideas and feelings (p. 101).

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Directions Framework - My Personal Dance Vocabulary

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Directions Framework - My Personal Dance Vocabulary

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Curriculum Connection: Grade 4 - A2.1 demonstrate an understanding of how the language of dance can clarify and highlight ideas, images, and characters from familiar stories (e.g., explain how gestures and actions reveal and express the mood or personality or social position of a character) (p. 101).

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I loved the element of personal choice and creativity associated with this activity! I would similarly have students select their own personal shell, but I think I would allow them to write less structured poems describing their shells (i.e., does not have to be made up only of adjectives). After writing their poems, I would put students in groups, have them focus on one poem, and create a series of tableaus with transitions in between to physically represent the poem's content. Finally, I would have the author of the poem read it aloud as students were moving to the words to add an auditory element to this activity.

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Images --> Observe + Extract = Replication

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Curriculum Connection: Grade 5 - A1.1 translate into movement sequences a variety of images and ideas from other classroom subjects, including the arts

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Using Verb Chains to Represent Scientific Events

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Using Verb Chains to Represent Scientific Events

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I love the idea of using verb chains to demonstrate scientific process because I think it could be used as a great memory device. If a student is trying to remember, for example, the stages of plant growth, associating each stage with not only one word, but also one action, provides multiple memory tools and ways of deeper understanding the scientific processes occurring.

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Curriculum Connection: Grace 5 - A2.2 identify the elements of dance used in their own and others’ dance pieces and explain how they help communicate a message 

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Space in its entirety is a challenging element of dance to teach, as it involves teaching about all of the individual features of space: level, size, pathways, direction, and positive and negative space. I feel that the above photo provides a great example of the use of positive and negative space simultaneously, as the dancers are taking up positive space in their lines, while facing inwards towards a clear section of empty/negative space.

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Curriculum Connection: Grade 4 - A3.2 identify and describe the different roles of dance in their lives and in communities around the world 

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The Scientific Method could serve as a great foundation for a Dance-based activity, where students are tasked with discovering and experimenting with style of dance that is new to them using the steps laid out by the Scientific Method. For example, a student could explore Bollywood Dance using this method as such:

(1) Purpose: "I am learning more about Bollywood Dance to increase my awareness of dance practices and traditions across various cultures".

(2) Research: The student finds various videos, pictures, and articles discussing Bollywood Dance.

(3) Hypothesis: The student develops a statement/opinion on Bollywood Dance. Foe example, "I think that Bollywood Dance will be difficult to do because of all the fast, intricate footwork".

(4) Experiment: The student tests their hypothesis by learning a Bollywood Dance routine from an instructional video.

(5) Analysis: The student writes down their thoughts, reflections, struggles, and successes as they learn the dance.

(6) Conclusion: The student determines whether or not their hypothesis was correct and explains why.

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Guiding Theory: Root-Bernstein's Theory of Creativity

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Guiding Theory: Root-Bernstein's Theory of Creativity

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13 Thinking Tools:

(1) Observing

(2) Imaging

(3) Abstracting

(4) Recognizing Patterns

(5) Forming Patterns

(6) Analogizing

(7) Body Thinking

(8) Empathizing

(9) Dimensional Thinking

(10) Modeling

(11) Playing

(12) Transforming

(13) Synthesizing

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Curriculum Connection: Grade 8 - A1.3 determine the appropriate choreographic form and create dance pieces for a specific audience or venue

This was my favourite activity that we completed throughout this course! I found this activity accessible and not anxiety inducing at all, as as the movements were very simple and clear. I would absolutely use this activity in the classroom as a way to link Dance and Geometry (Math), as I think it adds a fun twist to both subject areas.

Suggested Accommodations: For students with dexterity or fine motor struggles, provide groups with the option of using their feet positioned at various angles to create their kaleidoscopes!

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Curriculum Connection: Grade 6 - A1.1incorporate the use of props and materials (e.g., fabric, chairs, hats, hula hoops, balls, sticks) into dance pieces they create 

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Create flashcards with one of the provided Action Words on each card. Students will each randomly choose one flash card. Using their choice of math manipulatives (ex: base 10 blocks, cubes, tiles, graph paper, fraction strips, etc.), students must represent their chosen action word. Similar to charades, other students will try to guess the depicted movement from the provided list.

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Curriculum Connection: Grade 6 - A1.4 combine the elements of dance in different ways to communicate a variety of ideas 

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Dance Phrases/Sequences in the Math Classroom

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Dance Phrases/Sequences in the Math Classroom

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Challenge students to represent their learning from a math lesson using a sequence of dance moves! This could serve as a sort of exit ticket to verify student understanding!

Suggested Accommodations: For students with physical disabilities that prevent movement, students with performance anxiety, or students with cultural restrictions surrounding dance, allow them to draw out their proposed dance sequence on the form of a storyboard/comic strip!

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I feel that the Personal Safety and Injury Prevention strand of the Health Curriculum across each grade level is the perfect strand to integrate with the Dance curriculum, as elements of dance such as body, space, and relationships all need intense considerations of safety and injury prevention to execute correctly. For example, a dancer must be hyper aware of the space around them, their distance from the edge of the stage, and their proximity to other dancers and props on stage to prevent falls and collisions.

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Curriculum Connection: Grade 8 - A1.3 determine the appropriate choreographic form and create dance pieces for a specific audience or venue

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I enjoyed using "The Machine" Dance strategy to represent different body systems - which could easily be connected to the Healthy Eating section of the Health Curriculum. "The Machine" provided the perfect way to represent the interconnectedness of all elements of human body system; such physical representations could help students visualize, memorize, and intricately understand the function of various organs and parts of different body systems.

Extension Activity Suggestion: How would your machine/body system react if one part/organ was missing or malfunctioning? For example, if students were representing the digestive system, prompt the student(s) acting as the stomach to remove themselves from the machine, and see how the food being digested and neighbouring body parts react. This could serve as a jumping-off point for discussions of injuries and illnesses, as students would be able to see what happened to a whole interconnected system if one body part was compromised.

Suggested Accommodations: For students with disabilities that prevent them from physically participating, allow them to be the narrator for their group! In this role, they can verbally what is happening at each part/stage of their body system to increase class comprehension.

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To illustrate how cells, nerves, DNA strands, organs, etc. are connected within the body, students will create a chain reaction! Have students hold hands or link arms to create one long chain. The person at one end of the chain will start a movement, which will ripple across the chain of cells, nerves, DNA, etc., illustrating the 'cause and affect' processes that occur within the human body. Once complete, have the leader of the chain join the opposite end, allowing the next person in line to begin the chain reaction. Repeat this process until all students have a chance to lead.

This could be used as a Minds On activity to get everyone comfortable and warmed up!

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Reflection on Class Activity: Move Like Natural Disasters

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Reflection on Class Activity: Move Like Natural Disasters

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While I enjoyed the base of this activity (i.e., representing various natural phenomena using choreography/our bodies), I actually disagree with argument that providing 'context' (i.e., linking our movements to real world natural disasters) is beneficial in the classroom. I feel that doing this could (1) trigger students who may have personal connections with such natural disasters, and (2) that it minimizes the horrific nature of such real disasters. For example, the devastation of the current L.A. wildfires simply CANNOT be effectively communicated in a 30 second movement piece, and I think that it is somewhat insulting to suggest that adding this 'context' to vague movement pieces is at all beneficial. I feel there are other, more responsive ways, to encourage students to add energy and enthusiasm into their works.

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Curriculum Connection: Grade 6 - A1.2 use dance as a language to interpret and depict central themes in literature

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Have groups of students extrapolate the events from a current news article and represent them using dance sequences/choreographed movements!

Alternately, slowly read a news article aloud to the whole class and have them slowly change their improvised movements to represent the emotions/events discussed during various sections of the article.