CURRICULUM OUTLINE Residency Overview
Session #1 - What is dance?
Session #2 - Moving different parts of our bodies
Session #3 - Developing Original Movement
Session #4 - Movement Qualities
Session #5 - Movement Variation
Session #6 - Rhythm and Timing
Session #7 - Revise and Review/Duet Building
Session #8 - Performance Planning
Session #9 Rehearsal
Session #10 - Culminating Event
Main Objective: Students will cultivate basic movement skills and work together to create an original dance performance.
Guiding Question: How can we think and work together like dancers?
Session #1 - What is Dance?
Main Objective: Students will learn the structure of our movement class and basic improvisation skills.
Guiding Question: What do we do in a dance class? How is this different or the same as what we do in other places?
Word of the Day: Dance
Opening Notes: This class begins with discussion of ground rules for safety and respect.
Activity # 1 - Circle Warm-up (5 min)
Micro Objective: Students will learn a variety of movement skills as a large group by following along with movements and listening to instructions.
Guiding Question: How do we prepare our bodies and minds to dance?
Activity: In a circle, students follow a sequence of movements that include stretches, balances, locomotor movements, and isolations.
Notes: These movements will be revisited and developed from week to week in a similar structure.
Materials: Music
Vocabulary: Warm-up, stretch, isolation, balance, jump, travel.
Activity # 2 - Name Dance (5 min)
Micro Objective: Students will create individual movements.
Guiding Question: What one movement expresses your personality and/or your name?
Activity: In a circle, each student in turn says his/her name and does a stationary movement. The group echoes the name and movement.
Discussion Questions: Describe some movements you saw. How did people's movements go with their names or their personalities? How did you choose your movement?
Materials: Music
Vocabulary: Improvisation, movement, stationary.
Transition Activity - Shrinking space/Respecting Personal Space (10 min)
Micro Objective: Students will learn to move safely and respectfully through the general space.
Guiding Question: How can we move through the general space without bumping or touching?
Activity: Students will move continuously through the general space without touching each other. Using tape on the floor to delineate the boundaries of the dance area, I will shrink the space.
Discussion Questions: How did you manage to keep moving without touching each other as the space got smaller? Why is personal space important in dance class?
Materials: Music, Masking Tape
Vocabulary: General space, personal space, respect, responsible, safety.
Activity # 3- Round-town and Straight-ville Improvisation (20 min)
Micro Objective: Students will learn the rules of improvisation within a clear structure and practice being respectful and observant audience members.
Guiding Question: How do we make up movement as we go along without stopping?
Activity: Half of the group sits down to observe. The other half is divided into 2 groups on 2 sides of the room. Group A's task is to perform curved, round movements, while Group B must perform straight, angular movements. Both groups must freeze when the music stops. Different commands and suggestions are offered throughout the improvisation. The second half of the class then comes up and participates. Time permitting everyone visits both towns.
Discussion Questions: How did round-town movement look from the audience and feel to dance? How did straight-town movement look from the audience and feel to dance? In which town did you prefer dancing? Which town did you prefer watching? Why? How did you show respect to the dancers when you were observing?
Vocabulary: Improvisation, angle, line, curve, round, freeze, shape, movement, audience.
Closing Notes: On a big poster board, everyone writes as many movements as they can remember doing that day. Do you do these movements anywhere else? When you are not in dance class start to try and notice if you do any of these movements.
Performance Prep Discussion: We will be having a performance on the last day of our class, you are responsible for being observers as we go along, telling me what you see and what you think you might want to include in the performance.
Closing Circle (1 min): Students follow me in a guided cool down of deep breathing and sustained movements. We will thank ourselves, and each other. This will be our closing ritual for each class.
FOR TEACHERS -- Until next week:
- Reinforce personal space, looking for the empty spaces around each other.
- Notice and verbalize if someone does a movement or mentions a concept from class.
Session #2 - Moving Different Parts of our Bodies
Main Objective: Students will identify different body parts and explore how they move differently. Students will also begin to practice safe touching.
Guiding Question: How does movement change when we change the body parts doing the movement?
Word of the Day: Isolation
Opening Notes: We form a circle. I ask everyone to raise his/her hand. Then I ask them to raise their foot. Continue with more body parts getting sillier and more unusual. Then I will ask them to write their name with their finger in the air in front of them, and we will practice writing our names in the space with different body parts (elbow, chin, shoulder, etc.)
Activity #1: Warm-up (10 min)
Micro Objective: Students will review basic movements from week one and incorporate them into a set warm-up with a focus on body parts.
Guiding Question: How can we stretch, balance, turn, twist, reach, etc. with different body parts?
Activity: As we dance the warm-up, we specify which body parts initiates the motion.
Discussion Questions: What movements could easily be done on different parts of the body? Which were harder to do with multiple parts?
Materials: Music
Vocabulary: Warm-up, vocabulary from week one, body parts such as head, shoulders, belly, feet, etc.
Activity #2: Body Part Improvisation/Magic Strings (10 min)
Micro Objective: Students will review the rules of improvisation and practice moving particular body parts.
Guiding Question: How can different body parts lead our movements?
Activity: In large groups, students practice initiating movements from different body parts as cued. I will give the image of a magic string being attached to the part of them that is pulling them through space. We will experiment with getting pulled in different directions.
Discussion: With which body parts were you able to create interesting, unique, and original movements?
Vocabulary: Improvisation, shape, various body parts, initiate, direction, forward, backward, left, right, up, down.
Transition Activity: Connecting Parts/Safe and Respectful Touch (5 min)
Micro Objective: Students will practice safe and gentle contact as well as create new shapes.
Guiding Question: What shapes can we make by connecting different body parts to each other?
Activity: I will call out different body parts for them to connect those parts to each other. Examples: In your self-space can you connect your elbow to your knee? Nose to wrist? Freeze in that shape. Now can you keep that connection and move through the space? Now connect your knee to a fellow dancer's knee, back-to-back, etc. Can you move through space together and stay connected?
Discussion: What new and interesting shapes did you make? Did you connect anything you had never connected before? Was it challenging to move through space connected to another person? How did you touch each other without getting hurt?
Vocabulary: freeze, shape, and teamwork, gentle.
Activity #3: Human Machine/Building it Together (15 min)
Micro Objective: Students will practice repeating and combining movements together to create a human machine.
Guiding Question: How can you interconnect your movement with other movements in the machine in a creative way?
Activity:
1. The class sits except for one student.
2. One student begins doing one repetitive movement with a corresponding noise.
3. One at a time, each student adds him/herself onto the group doing his/her own movement & noise. Students are encouraged to connect the physical shapes by adding on under, over, and around other students. The end result is a human machine with many different parts working in tandem. We repeat this several times in different sized groups.
4. As cued, students freeze and re-start their movements, speed up, and slow down.
Discussion: What part of the machine were you? What interesting and original movements of your classmates did you observe? What do you think our machine(s) can do?
Vocabulary: Isolation, initiation, repetition, relationship, over, under, around, through, beside, between, near, far, speed, fast, slow, medium speed.
Transition Activity: Write your name across the entire floor with your toe on your way over to the discussion poster board.
Closing Notes: Discussion: How does moving just one body part look and feel different than using the whole body? What makes a movement an isolation movement? Words from the day (body parts) go up on the poster board.
Performance Prep: What movement or shape did you make today that you would like to include in our performance? Show it. Let's all do it and make it the opening shape for our dance.
Closing Song and Circle: (3 min) "Oooh, I feel so good." Students will learn this short rhythmic song and we will repeat it over and over putting the rhythm in different parts of our bodies from the poster board. We will do our final breathing and closing movements, thank each other and ourselves and say goodbye.
FOR TEACHERS -- Until next week:
- Everybody practice freezing in his or her opening shape for the performance.
- Practice and refer to the skills for safe and respectful touch as often as needed.
Session #3 - Developing Original Movement
Main Objective: Students will invent their own movements using nature as inspiration.
Guiding Question: How can we create dance movements from the different development stages of a caterpillar/butterfly?
Word of the Day: Phrase
Activity #1: Warm-up (8 min)
Micro Objective: Students do the warm-up with a focus on clarity of movement.
Guiding Question: How do the different movements in our warm-up express meaning?
Activity: Practice warm-up dance with a focus on the expression of each movement.
Discussion: What makes something a dance? Describe some movements from the warm-up dance. If the movements of our warm up told a story, what would they tell?
Materials: Music
Activity #2: Story Dances/Working Independently and Staying Focused (30 min)
Micro Objective: Students will use the narrative of the development from caterpillar to butterfly to create short movement phrases.
Guiding Question: How can we make original movements for each stage of the caterpillar/butterfly story?
Activity: This is a several-part activity that comprises the majority of the day's lesson.
1. Begin by looking at pictures of a caterpillar, a cocoon, and a butterfly. Discuss how the 3 stages are different in terms of movement. Under each picture, generate a list of movement words that describe it.
2. Do a full-class improvisation with verbal cues to do each of the words generated in the brainstorm. Lead a brief discussion about the difference between improvisation and choreography. Explain that the next task is choreography.
3. Each student creates a short movement phrase that explores the 3-butterfly/caterpillar stages. Students are encouraged to make clear movement choices, to repeat them in the same way, and to begin and end in a set, still shape.
4. Students perform their solos in small groups.
Discussion Questions: What were some different choices people made? How did you remember the movement? How did you go about choosing your movements? Who used their whole bodies, traveled, changed levels, etc? How did you know when their dance was over? How did it feel to dance at the same time as other people? Were you aware of them?
Materials: Poster board with caterpillar pictures, markers or pens, music.
Vocabulary: Sequence, story, beginning, middle, end, transition, phrase, shape, stillness.
Closing Notes/Performance Prep: Like the different parts/stages of the caterpillar's development, what are the different parts/stages of a performance? How does it begin? Who is involved? What happens? How does it end? What will we include from today's class in the performance?
Closing Circle: Cool down and Thank yous.
FOR TEACHERS -- Until next week:
- Have students close their eyes and think through their opening shape and the movement we chose for the performance.
Session #4 - Movement Qualities
Main Objective: Students will understand, identify, and perform different qualities of movement.
Guiding Question: How do our movements change when we do them with different qualities?
Word of the Day: Quality
Opening Notes: Students form a circle for the warm-up.
Activity #1: Warm-up (5 min)
Micro Objective: Students explore movement qualities through familiar movements.
Guiding Question: How can we describe some of the movements in our warm-up?
Activity: A guided warm-up that incorporates descriptive vocabulary such as wobbly, sharp, soft, tense, slow, calm, excited, bouncy, etc. The concept of variation is introduced - with changing quality as an example of variation. Students repeat the same movement with different qualities, i.e. angry marching vs. excited marching.
Discussion Questions: What words describe movement? How do quality words add specificity to your description of a movement?
Materials: Music
Vocabulary: Quality, various quality names such as the above.
Activity #2: Quality Masks/Reading Body Language (15 min)
Micro Objective: Students will explore different movement qualities in their faces and then in their whole bodies, in self-space and through the general-space.
Guiding Question: How can we shape and move our bodies to show different movement qualities?
Activity:
Part 1. Standing in a circle we will stir up a batch of magic clay. Everyone will take a scoop of it to spread on his or her faces. We will practice molding our faces into expressions of different qualities and looking around at the different masks people have made. Then we will wake up our masks and move our faces in that quality. We will do this with a few qualities. Then we will spread the clay over the rest of our bodies and make a whole body quality mask.
Part 2. We will divide into pairs and do a shadow/shape dance. I will call out a quality and partner A will make a frozen whole body shape that expresses that quality. Partner B will copy that shape, when the music starts partner A will dance through the space in that quality and partner B will shadow them. When the music stops I will call out a new quality and A and B will switch leader roles.
Discussion Questions: How does a person's movement quality affect how we perceive their character, personality, or mood? How was it to put the quality in just your face vs. your whole body? Was one easier than another? What was it like to be another person's shadow? Did you prefer being the dancer or the shadow?
Materials: I will bring in a few masks that I have that express different qualities. Music.
Vocabulary: Quality, character, emotion, words generated by students, shadow, copy.
Activity #3: Dances with Quality Variations (20 min)
Micro Objective: Students will perform original movement phrases from last session while exploring movement qualities.
Guiding Question: What were the qualities in the different movements of our caterpillar/butterfly dances? How does changing the quality change your dance?
Activity: Students show their caterpillar dances from the previous week in groups. The audience groups name the qualities that they observe. I will give a piece of paper to each group with a specific quality on it, students will have a chance to practice their dances with that new quality, and then perform the quality studies for each other.
Discussion Question: How did you change your movement to express a different quality?
Materials: Music, Qualities written on pieces of paper.
Vocabulary: Quality, character, emotion, words generated by students, variation.
Closing Notes/Performance Prep: Students will write all of the quality words that they remember on the poster board. What qualities would we like to include in our performance? Which version of your dance phrase, the original or the quality study? Or both?
Closing Circle: Cool down and Thank yous.
FOR TEACHERS -- Until next week:
- Make a quality mask that shows something about how you are feeling.
Session #5 - Movement Variation
Main Objective: Students will learn to use different variation tools to expand their creative skills when inventing movement.
Guiding Question: What are ways to change a movement?
Word of the Day: Variation
Opening Notes: A magic remote control is used to control/direct students' movements.
Activity #1: Warm-up with Speed Variations (8 min)
Micro Objective: Students will repeat sections of the warm-up with a focus on executing the movement at different speeds.
Guiding Question: What are different speeds we can do our warm-up?
Activity:
1. We do our set warm-up once at its usual tempo.
2. Then I hit 'slo-mo' on the remote and we do the whole warm-up really slowly.
3. Then I hit 'fast forward' on the remote and we do it at high speed.
4. Ultra challenge - What happens when I press rewind?
Materials: Music, remote control.
Vocabulary: Tempo, speed, variation.
Transition Activity: Variation Freeze Dance/Self-Management (5 min)
Micro Objective: Students will explore variations on speed, level, size, and direction.
Guiding Question: How can we improvise and freeze in different variations?
Activity: Students will move and freeze with the music? During the freezes I will call out different variations or combinations of variations for them to incorporate.
Materials: Music
Vocabulary: Low, Medium Level, High, Big, Medium size, Small, Near Reach, Far Reach, Slow, Medium Speed, Fast, Forward, Backward, Left, Right, Up, Down.
Activity #2: Magic Remote/Duets (25 min)
Micro Objective: Students will explore a series of variations on a set movement phrase, ultimately creating short duets.
Guiding Question: What other buttons can we invent for our remote?
Activity:
1. We brainstorm as a class what other 'buttons' we can invent for our remote based on our freeze dance experience, i.e. other ways of doing movements differently besides tempo (level, direction, size, body part, order, quality).
2. We will create an 8-count accumulation phrase using movements from the group. The entire class learns the phrase together at a moderate tempo.
3. We will split the group into three smaller groups (or four, according to the number of adults in the room) and each group dances the phrase several times, responding to various 'buttons' on the remote. Students take turns being their group's remote presser.
5. After a few minutes of experimenting, each group must choose at least 4 variations to apply to the phrase.
6. Groups share their work and discuss.
Discussion Questions: What variations were more challenging? Why? Were certain variations well suited to certain movements? How did your group choose what to do? Did you find yourself speaking up more and leading, or following and supporting other people's ideas more? What were some ways that people helped their groups to do the assignment? How might this way of playing with movements be useful when making up other dances?
Vocabulary: Size, tempo, level, energy, direction, variation, duet, vocabulary generated by the students.
Closing Notes/Performance Prep: Students write words we identified during the lesson on the poster board. In a performance what happens if someone does something unexpected? What happens if you do something unexpected?
Closing Circle: Cool down and Thank yous.
FOR TEACHERS -- Until next week:
- Practice the remote control variations in class where possible and fun (lining up in slow motion, sharpening your pencil on a high level, etc.)
Session #6 - Rhythm and Timing
Main Objective: Students will practice responding to rhythmic cues in their physical bodies.
Guiding Question: How can we create a rhythm in our bodies?
Word of the Day: Rhythm
Opening Notes: Call and response clapping and stomping, where I do a rhythm and the students repeat it back to me.
Activity #1: Warm-up
Micro Objective: Students dance the warm-up with a focus on rhythm and musicality.
Guiding Question: How does our warm-up go with the music?
Activity:
1. Dance standard warm-up, focusing on the counts and rhythms.
2. Repeat the warm-up several times varying the tempo and meter.
Discussion Questions: How does counting help us to stay together? What movements work better slowly or quickly?
Materials: Music
Vocabulary: Counts, tempo, rhythm, meter, half-time, double-time.
Activity #2: Rhythm Houses/Working Together to Follow the Cues
Micro Objective: Students respond to rhythmic cues.
Guiding Question: How do you tell one rhythm from another?
Activity:
1. Students are broken into 4 groups and each stand in a corner of the room. I stand in the center with a tambourine.
2. Each group is assigned a movement and a corresponding rhythm. When I play a particular group�s rhythm, that group does its movement in the center of the room. Specific sounds cue each group to return to their houses.
3. Moving Day - rotate rhythm houses.
Discussion Questions: What was challenging about knowing when to go? How did each movement relate to each rhythm? How did your house work as a team?
Materials: Drum or tambourine.
Vocabulary: Rhythm, beat, even beat, uneven beat, cue.
Activity #3: Music Exploration
Micro Objective: Students learn to react with improvisational movement to different tempos, rhythms, and qualities of music.
Guiding Question: How do we make our movements go with different types of music?
Activity: Revisit the structure of Round-town and Straight-ville from week one. Students improvise in groups. Students are guided through different qualities of movement, and meters, tempos that correlate to the music. Movement qualities from earlier classes are revisited.
Discussion Questions: How do music and dance go together? When you hear particular types of music, how do you feel like moving?
Vocabulary: Rhythm, tempo, meter, beat, quality-related vocabulary.
Closing Notes/Performance Prep: Students write words and performance suggestions from the day on the poster board. Discuss the musical cues from the session and talk about using them in the performance.
Closing Circle: Cool down and Thank Yous.
FOR TEACHERS -- Until next week:
- Practice and notice musical cues for certain activities and bring the students' attention to it. (When the bell rings what do you do? When I clap three times it will be time to put your folders away, etc.)
Session #7 - Revise and Review/Duet Building
Main Objective: Students will review the dance skills and vocabulary from previous sessions, use them to revise their original movement from week 3, and teach movement to another dancer.
Guiding Question: How can we show the different 'Words of the Day' in our bodies?
Words: Revise and Build
Opening Notes: Students are placed in pre-set lines for the warm-up to prepare for an audience.
Activity #1: Warm-up (8 min)
Micro Objective: Students begin to solidify their memory of the warm-up for performing.
Guiding Question: How can we remember our steps when we cannot see everyone in the room?
Activity: Students dance the warm-up in lines.
Discussion Question: How do you do a movement differently when you are performing it for someone else versus doing it only for yourself?
Materials: Music
Vocabulary: Spatial formation, front, audience.
Activity #2: Review of Posters and Dances/Self-Accountability (15 min)
Micro Objective: Students will review the past class activities, words of the day and vocabulary.
Guiding Question: What are the dance skills and elements that we have explored so far?
Activity:
1. Brief verbal and physical review of each of the words of the day. Class defines each word.
2. We will review/revisit the original dances from week 3. How would you revise your dance to add more of something you like? Do it! Set it! Make sure you can do it the same every time.
Vocabulary: All words of the day and definitions, Review, Revisit, Revise.
Activity #3: Duet Projects (15 min)
Micro Objective: Students will teach their dances to a partner and they will combine their dances to make a new dance.
Guiding Question: How can you work with your partner to make creative choices?
Activity:
1. Students are broken into pairs to teach each other their choreography.
2. Each pair creates a short dance combining their original dances. Have mid-way check-in about different ways to do this (first do one and then the other, do the first move from one and then the first move from the other and so on, unison, canon, etc.)
3. Students will perform duets, a few at a time.
Discussion Questions: What are some of the different choices people made in combining their material? What dance elements did you notice in the duets? What was it like to make choices together? Did you have to compromise?
Materials: Music
Vocabulary: All words of the day and definitions, duet, collaboration, unison, canon, facing, performance.
Closing Notes/Performance Prep: Students write important things to remember when performing on the poster board.
Closing Circle: Cool down and Thank Yous.
Session #8 - Performance Planning
Main Objective: Students will learn the elements of our performance and proper performance protocol.
Guiding Question: What happens at a performance?
Word of the Day: Performance
Opening Notes: Students are asked to get to their preset lines from last week as if it were a performance and they could not talk to each other.
Activity #1: Rehearsing Performance Material
Micro Objective: Students will learn the structure of the final presentation and their specific role(s).
Guiding Question: How is dancing for an audience different than dancing them in class?
Activity: Activities are converted into performance material with clear spacing, starting and ending positions, and roles. Dances from previous week are also included. Students repeat material to remember the structure with a focus on clear starting positions, entrances, endings, exits, and staying in character.
Discussion Questions: Revisiting the questions: What do you do if you make a mistake? If someone else does? How does the audience know when you are starting and finishing?
Vocabulary: Audience, entrance, exit, starting position, ending position, bow.
Activity #3: Mock Performance/Being good audiences for each other
Micro Objective: Students will practice performance and audience skills.
Guiding Question: What makes a good performer? What makes a good audience member?
Activity:
1. The class is divided in half.
2. Half of the students sit down to be the audience while the other half performs the performance material.
3. Groups switch.
4. Discussion.
Discussion Questions: What was challenging about doing things for an audience? What made the performances good? What could have made them stronger?
Vocabulary: Audience, entrance, exit, starting position, ending position, bow, applause.
Activity 4: Creating Visual Materials
Micro Objective: Students will create visual materials for our culminating event
Guiding Question: How shall we decorate the programs so our audience is excited about what we are doing?
Activity: Students decorate pre-made programs and vocabulary signs.
Materials: Pre-made programs, posterboard, markers/crayons
Closing Notes: Journaling, students draw or write a map of their part in the class performance.
Closing Circle: Cool down and Thank Yous.
Session #9 - Rehearsal
Main Objective: Students will gain confidence and rehearse their final performance.
Guiding Question: How do dancers get ready to do a show?
Word of the Day: Rehearsal
Opening Notes: Arrange for class to be held in the auditorium.
Activity #1: Warm-up (8 min)
Micro Objective: Students will do the warm-up in rehearsal mode, concentrating on being focused, not stopping or fidgeting, and gathering a calm energy.
Guiding Question: How can our warm-up help us to feel ready to perform?
Activity: Students perform the warm-up in rehearsal mode, concentrating on being focused, not stopping or fidgeting, and gathering a calm energy.
Discussion Questions: How can we avoid fidgeting and talking onstage? Why is it important to focus before performing?
Materials: Music
Vocabulary: Focus, performance.
Activity #2: Rehearsal (15 min)
Micro Objective: Students will practice what we're going to share with a chance to clear up any issues.
Guiding Question: What is the purpose of rehearsing?
Activity:
1. I explain that in a rehearsal we do our dances exactly as we would in the show. We clean up mistakes, but ask questions at the end as we try to stop as little as possible. I explain that the director/choreographer takes notes during the rehearsal to help the dancers improve their performance.
2. Students run through their material while I take notes.
3. I give notes and give students a chance to voice any issues.
Discussion Questions: Questions are generated based on rehearsal.
Vocabulary: Director, notes, rehearsal.
Activity #3: Run-through of the Order of the Show (15 min)
Micro Objective: Students will practice a dress rehearsal exactly as it will be in the performance.
Guiding Question: What are some important things to do, listen for, and not do during the performance?
Activity: We run through the performance several times, with an emphasis on excellent backstage and onstage behavior, keeping going if we make mistakes, energy, focus, smiling, and speaking loudly to the audience.
Vocabulary: Backstage, on stage, audience.
Closing Notes: Students decorate their final poster board with any of their favorite words from the entire residency.
Closing Circle: Cool down and Thank Yous.
