Crash Course Creative Dance Lesson Plan
Grade: 2nd Length: 45 minutes Written by: Chelsea Alley
Student Learning Outcome: By the end of this lesson, students will be able to demonstrate physically and verbally the foundational elements of Space, Shape, Size, and Energy in Creative Dance. They will gain an understanding of what creative movement entails.
Equipment Needed: Hand Drum; CD player; CD with creative dance music
Behavioral Expectations/Warmup: (5 minutes)
Head, Shoulders, Knees, Toes
Move each part to warm-up, then do the whole sequence five times as fast as you can!
Head: Think
Shoulders: Don’t bump other people
Knees: Have fun!
Toes: Foot away from the objects/walls, good shoes or barefoot
Eyes: Watch
Ears: Listen
Mouth: No Talking
Nose: Take a deep breath . . . Here we go!
Warmup:
Anne Green Gilbert’s Brain Dance to Creative Dance music
Experience/Identify: (10 minutes)
SPACE:
“Self space is the space your own body takes up. It is also called your kinesphere. Think of being inside a giant bubble. When you move around, this bubble travels with you. If you move too close to someone your bubble will pop. That is why dancers are very aware of the space around them. Within your self-space you can grow, shrink, rise, sink, twist, turn, balance, and lots of other things. Spread out and find a spot where you can have a full bubble all around you that won’t pop.
General space is the space we travel through as we move around the room. We usually share the general space with other people which is why we always remember to travel in our bubble to avoid bumping into each other. If you do bump into someone both of you can freeze for 5 counts. That will help you remember to look for empty space.
I will play some music now. Every time the music stops, freeze in a shape. If I say “self-space,” dance in one place when the music starts again. If I say “general space” dance all around the room until the music stops again.”
Explore/Investigate: (25 minutes)
Explore/Investigate: (25 minutes)
SHAPE:
“Your body can make many interesting shapes. Try making a CURVED shape. Think abut hugging a huge beach ball with your arms, legs, and back. Now try a STRAIGHT shape. Let your body parts stretch out into space so that nothing bends. Move into an ANGULAR shape by bending all of your joints, even your fingers and toes! Stretch back into a different straight shape. Now, feel as though someone were twisting both ends of your body like a wrapper and form a TWISTED shape.
Who has seen a kaleidoscope? There are a lot of shapes, but they continually change as you twist it. Make an interesting shape and listen to my prompts. Move continuously from one kind of shape to another. Angular . . . Straight . . .Curved . . . Twisted.
Half the class will make interesting statues. The other half will dance around the statues. When I say “Copy,” each dancer must find a statue to copy exactly. Then I will say, “Old statues dance away,” and the old statues will dance any way they want until I say “Copy” again.
Whoever you last copied is now your partner. Whoever is taller is partner number one. Partner one makes an interesting design with their body in self-space. Partner two will dance around, under, over, or through partner one’s shape in the general space. When I give the signal, switch roles.”
SIZE and LEVEL:
“Size is how spread out or how close to itself your body is in your self-space. Can you make your arms and legs stretch far away from your stomach? What SIZE shape are you? Now bring your arms and legs close to your stomach. What size are you now? I usually use REACH to describe the size. If I say near reach, I mean a small size, and if I say far reach, I mean a big size! But here’s a trick. Little size doesn’t mean short and big size doesn’t mean tall. They just mean close together or far apart in your own body. See if you can make a big shape on the floor, at a very low LEVEL. Now try a small size shape on a high level.
Start in a small shape on any level you want. Blow your shape up like a balloon. Fill your stomach, your arms, your legs with air. Keep blowing until you are a big shape. You’re a giant balloon, stretched until you might pop. Now, Pop! Let all the air out and shrink up into a small shape again. Blow up again. This time you have a small leak, let all the air out very slowly until you are in a little shape again. Blow up again – here comes the wind! It’s moving you around the room! How can you move in such a big shape? (levels, directions, speed)”
ENERGY:
“How does it feel to put your hand in paint and rub it around in your fingers? SMOOTH. You can keep moving your fingers without stopping. How do you think it feels to touh a cactus or a porcupine? SHARP! You hand touches, pulls away quickly and stops. We can move our bodies smoothly or sharply. In your self-space, imagine that you are covered in paint and you are painted your bubble. Do it with smooth movement. Now imagine you are a cactus. Show all those sharp spines with sharp movement!
This half of the room is Sharpland and this half is Smoothland. Only ghosts live in Smoothland, they float and glide and swirl smoothly. But only karate masters live in Sharpland. They slice and slash, and flick sharply through their space. You may travel from one land to the other, changing your energy when you cross over.”
Guided Dance Creation
Guided Dance Creation
“Find a partner. One partner make a smooth, curved shape and the other makes a sharp, angular shape. When I start the music, partner one will move smoothly or sharply and partner two will follow exactly what he/she does. When the music stops, make a new shape. This time when I start the music, partner two will lead and dance in either near reach or far reach while partner one follows. When the music stops, freeze in a new shape!”
Connect/Analyze: (5 minutes)
What was your favorite way to move today? Why? Where else in our world do we see smooth and sharp? Or small reach or big reach? Revisit terms to solidify.
