11-12, 6th grade
This class is made up of first year dance students who have been dancing as a group four periods a week, for one week. During that time they have been working on learning the rules and classroom procedures of Ms. Domoracki's dance class. They have also been introduced to modern dance vocabulary through a technique based warm-up.
The dance session takes place on the stage of the school's auditorium or in an empty classroom.
Construction paper cut-outs of abstract shapes, and pictures of people making shapes with their bodies cut out from magazines and newspapers, brought in by students. Tambourine and rap stick for teacher to play rhythms, in addition to taped music and tape recorder.
The children will learn that they can create dances by manipulating shapes with their bodies.
Students will learn to differentiate between moving in personal and general space.
Students will explore the concept of stillness vs. motion.
Personal and General Space, Motion and Stillness, Shapes, Selected Non-locomotor movements (eg. reach, stretch, circle), Selected Locomotor Movements (eg. walk, run), and Levels in Space (eg. high and low).
1. The students are asked to gather in a designated area and sit on the floor to take off their shoes and socks. They are instructed to put their socks inside their shoes and place their shoes against the wall. (Many of the students will not want to take their shoes off. The teacher might try to sing a song about taking shoes off to make it more of a game. Any student who refuses to take off his of her shoes should not be forced to do so, but should be invited to watch the other students in the dance class.)
2. The students are asked to form a circle in the space by joining hands. The teacher asks the students what they know about circles, then directs them to walk around the circle without letting go of the hands, in order to define the shape of the circle.
3. The students are asked to spread out in the space so that they have enough room to extend their arms out to the side without hitting any other students. The students are asked to take out their imaginary magic crayons, and make an imaginary space bubble with their crayon by drawing all around themselves. The teacher tells the students that when they are inside their magic space bubbles they cannot touch any on and no one can touch them, which means no hitting or bumping into each other.
1. The students are given a chance to "try out" their space bubbles by walking around to the music. (The students will probably bump into each other but the teacher should not discipline because they have not learned the concept of personal and general space yet. This concept should be reinforced be repeatedly by returning to the circle to remake the space bubbles, throughout the remainder of the class.)
2 The teacher asks the students if they know what the word "freeze" means, of what it mean to be frozen. If they do not then the teacher should direct them to imagine that they are an icicle or a snow man, and that they are frozen and cannot move.
3. The students are asked if they can freeze in a shape. The teacher points out those children who are frozen in a shape and what is special about their shape (eg. high, low, curved, pointy).
1. The students are directed to run when the music is going, but freeze in a shape when the music stops. (When the students bump into each other, or get too rowdy, have them return to the circle to remake their space bubbles, after they have frozen.)
2. The students are asked to return to the circle and then the teacher leads a reflection by asking if any of them can tell her what they did in dance class that day.
Angela McDonnell
Teachers College
Columbia University
February 1993