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Advice for teachers -
Dance

Unit 2 - Area of Study 2: Choreography and performance

Outcome 2

Complete structured improvisations and choreograph and perform a solo, duo or group dance work.

Examples of lear​ning activities

  • Example icon for advice for teachers
    Undertake structured improvisations to explore contrasting qualities of movement in order to develop a personal movement vocabulary.
  • Listen to a variety of music (from the internet and other sources) in preparation for the making of a dance work.
  • Explore contrasting qualities of movement by improvising with a variety of body movements: suspension, sustained, swinging, percussive, vibratory, collapsing.
  • Explore Laban’s effort actions: dab, flick, float, glide, press, punch, slash, wring. Discuss the use of time, space (including shape) and energy in your own dance works.
  • Undertake improvisation, selection, arrangement and refining of movement, as well as linking of movement sections, to create a completed dance work that has a beginning, development/s and resolution.
  • Explore choreographic devices to manipulate and structure movement.
  • Discuss and document your understanding of the use of force and flow in dance composition.
  • Experiment with variation in the use of time, space (including shape) and energy in your own dance composition and discuss with other students.
  • Example icon for advice for teachers
    Create a solo, duo or group dance work.
Example icon for advice for teachers 

Detailed example 1

Three improvisations on contrasting qualities of movement

IMPROVISATION 1

In small groups, students respond to a recited poem that features a range of characters, such as Lewis Carroll’s ‘Jabberwocky’.

  • Teacher reads the poem aloud and students listen
  • Students discuss sounds and shapes of words from the poem before improvising initial movement ideas
  • Students research Lewis Carroll (e.g. his philosophy, background, the context for the poem) to provide further ideas for dance movements.

Students develop and refine initial movement ideas by, for example:

  • changing the speed of one or more motifs
  • combining a body shape with a travelling pathway
  • developing contrasting ways of moving.

Students evaluate each others’ work and discuss whether the characters were clear from the movement and timing choices made.

IMPROVISATION 2

Focusing on the element of space (including shape) and in small groups of two or three, students choose a combination of the following directions to explore within an improvisation:

  • travel using angular body shapes
  • travel using curved body shapes
  • straight floor pathways
  • curved pathways
  • straight air pathways
  • curved air pathways
  • straight air and curved floor pathways
  • curved air and straight floor pathways.

Students then develop and refine improvised movement by, for example:

  • developing several motifs from shapes and pathways explored
  • subtracting a motif
  • repeating one or more motifs
  • changing the direction of one or more motifs
  • changing the level of one or more motifs
  • adding one or more of the body actions (GEFTTS)
  • using swinging, suspended, sustained, vibratory, percussive and collapsing movements.

Students present their completed improvisation to the class.

Through class discussion or journal, students reflect on:

  • initial response to the task
  • ‘shapes’ that can be identified in the work
  • overall performance.

IMPROVISATION 3

Focusing on the element of energy, teacher shows students two objects that suggest contrasting movement; for example, a feather and a toy robot.

Students use these as a stimulus to improvise movements. Each student is allocated a specific movement quality. They then develop and refine their movement by, for example:

  • devising a phrase made up of their allocated movement quality
  • adding to the phrase: a run (sustained)
  • adding: falling (collapse), rising, vibrating.

Students perform their completed improvisation to the class.

Through class discussion or journal, students reflect on:

  • initial response to the task
  • qualities of movement identified in the improvisation
  • use of energy in the improvisation
  • overall performance of the task.

detailed example icon

Detailed example 2

Dance making: solo, duo or group dance

Timeframe
This task is completed over approximately 12 weeks.

Task
Using improvisation as a starting point, students select a range of movements to develop into a solo or group unified composition of approximately 3 minutes’ duration.

The dance should be performed with attention to safe dance practice.

Focus
Spatial organisation and manipulation of time space and energy

Method
Students create a choreographic structure that reflects an intention or varies in its use of time space and energy.
Students record and monitor the progress of their dance in writing or electronically.
Students perform their ‘work in progress’ three times:

  • after week 4 (approximately 1 minute) 
  • after week 8 (approximately 1.5 minutes)
  • after week 12 (approximately 2 minutes). 

Teacher and/or students record the dance at each of these performances. ​

Students evaluate the final dance work, using the following directions:

  • Describe the form of your dance work 
  • Outline the intention of your dance work
  • Describe your use of spatial organisation, and how and why you varied it
  • Discuss your use of time, space and energy
  • Discuss how you manipulated and structured your movements and phrases 
  • Identify challenges and achievements encountered in realising your intention for the dance work 
  • ​Critique your performance of the dance.