4th Grade Dance Curriculum Standards

For use beginning Fall 2006

Standard 1.0 Elements and Skills

Students will identify and demonstrate movement elements and skills in performing dance.

Learning Expectations

The student will

1.1 Demonstrate and describe the following underlying principles of movement:  alignment, balance, initiation of movement, articulation of isolated body parts, weight shift, elevation and landing, and fall and recovery.

1.2 Demonstrate a combination of non-locomotor and locomotor skills in short movement patterns.

1.3 Transfer spatial patterns from the visual to the kinesthetic when working with a partner.

1.4 Develop a variety of rhythmic patterns and transfer to the kinesthetic.

1.5; Design and perform a variety of individual to group spatial relationships.

1.6 Memorize, reproduce and perform short dances.

Performance Indicators:  Evidence Standard is Met

The student is able to

Level 1

• Demonstrate and describe the following underlying principles of movement: initiation of movement and articulation of isolated body parts.
• Demonstrate a variety of combinations pairing non-locomotor and locomotor movements. (e.g., twisty walk, bursting leap, or floating run)
• Identify and describe spatial patterns in a given visual with a partner.
• Create and perform a movement phrase based on simple rhythmic patterns.
• Design an individual to group spatial relationship movement study.
• Memorize, reproduce, and perform a movement phrase.

Level 2

• Demonstrate and describe the following underlying principles of movement:  initiation of movement, articulation of isolated body parts, and alignment and balance.
• Demonstrate and perform a given combination of non-locomotor and locomotor skills.
• Create a movement phrase based on one spatial pattern and combine with a partner’s creation to form a duet.
• Create a series of rhythm patterns and corresponding movement.
• Design and perform an individual to group spatial relationship movement study.
• Memorize, reproduce, and perform one to two minute dances.

Level 3

• Demonstrate and describe the following underlying principles of movement:

initiation of movement, articulation of isolated body parts, alignment, balance,

weight shift, elevation and landing, and fall and recovery.

• Create and perform a short movement pattern that incorporates non-locomotor and locomotor skills.
• Create and perform a movement phrase based on one spatial pattern and combine with a partner’s creation to form a duet.
• Create and perform movement based on a variety of rhythmic patterns.
• Design an individual to group spatial relationship movement study and teach it to another dancer.
• Memorize, reproduce, and perform two to five minute dances.

Sample Performance Task

Using a paper cut-out from Matisse’s Jazz collection, students identify a spatial pattern/pathway/line in the artwork.  Students transfer this visual to the kinesthetic by creating a movement phrase showing this spatial pattern through locomotor and non-locomotor movements.  Students may teach an individual dance to another student and then perform as a duet for peers.  Or two students may perform their individual dances as a duet.

Assessment:  Teacher assesses through discussion of the results with students. (LE 1.3; 1.4; 1.7)

Integration/Linkages

Physical Education, Math, Language Arts (Vocabulary), Problem Solving, Music

Standard 2.0  Choreography

Students will understand choreographic principles, processes, and structures.

Learning Expectations

The student will

2.1 Create sequences or simple dances that demonstrate repetition.

2.2 Demonstrate the following partner skills:  giving and taking weight.

2.3 Categorize and compare the choreographic elements of space, time and energy.

2.4 Choreograph movement that demonstrates the structures or forms of AB, ABA, canon, and call and response.

2.5 Describe and reproduce the choreographic structure of a dance viewed in class, in the theatre, or on video/DVD.

Performance Indicators:  Evidence Standard is Met

The student is able to

Level 1

• Create a simple sequence or dance.
• Improvise with a partner using the concept of giving and taking weight.
• Categorize and compare the choreographic elements of space and time.
• Choreograph two movement phrases and combine them in the forms of AB, ABA, and call and response.
• Describe the choreographic structure viewed in a dance.

Level 2

• Create a sequence or dance that demonstrates repetition.
• Demonstrate three ways of giving and taking weight with a partner.
• Categorize and compare the choreographic elements of space, time, and energy.
• Choreograph movement phrases and combine them in the forms of AB, ABA, canon, and call and response.
• Describe and reproduce (taking care to be experience appropriate) the choreographic structure viewed in a dance.

Level 3

• Create and perform a sequence or dance that demonstrates repetition.
• Create and perform a sequence that incorporates three ways of giving and taking weight.
• Design and create dances focusing on the choreographic elements.
• Choreograph, perform and critique movement phrases that have been combined in forms of AB, ABA, canon, and call and response.
• Examine the choreographic structure in the reproduction of a dance viewed.

Sample Performance Task

This lesson addresses the concept of giving and taking weight which is the foundation of contact improvisation and Pilobolus Dance Theater.  Students view sections of the Pilobolus Dance Theater video which shows how this company works cooperatively using the concept of giving and taking each other’s weight to create inventive lifts, shapes, and movements.  After viewing the video, students explore different ways to create partner shapes that lean toward, pull away, and include lifting and being lifted.  Students then choose and demonstrate with a partner three ways of giving and taking weight.  Divide the class and have each group perform for the rest of the class.  With this information, students create a simple dance based on these three shapes and adding transitional movements between the shapes.  Duets perform for the rest of the class taking turns until all have performed. 

Assessment:  In an open discussion, teacher and students positively critique the performances. (LE 2.2)

Integration/Linkages

Physical Education, Language Arts, Cooperative Learning, Communication Skills

Standard 3.0 Creativity and Communication

Students will understand dance as a way to create and communicate meaning.

Learning Expectations

The student will

3.1 Demonstrate the difference between pantomiming and creating abstract meaning through dance movement.

3.2 Create a dance that successfully communicates a chosen theme and teach to another dance student.

Performance Indicators:  Evidence Standard is Met

The student is able to

Level 1

• Create a pantomime and abstraction of an idea.
• Create, perform and discuss the meaning of a dance based on a chosen theme.

Level 2

• Create and perform a pantomime and an abstraction of an idea.
• Revise the dance to successfully communicate the chosen theme and teach it to another dancer.

Level 3

• Create, perform, and compare a pantomime and an abstraction of an idea.
• Perform the revised dance as individuals and/or as partners.

Sample Performance Task

Students view parts of the video Ted Shawn and His Men Dancers that shows the work the dancers did on the farm, Jacob’s Pillow.  Discuss how Ted Shawn wanted to create dances showing men’s work and men’s play.  Have students make a list of some of the tasks that might need to be done on a farm.  Explore these tasks using pantomime.  Have students choose one task (perhaps painting a house) to pantomime and vary one of the elements of dance such as timing or size or body part.  Students are now beginning to abstract the idea of painting so that it might now look like a dance about up-and-down and side-to-side movement.  Students have now discovered the essence of painting.  Have each student choose a task and perform a theme in variation form.  The theme is the pantomime of the task and the variation is the abstraction of that task.  Students perform their creations for peers.

Assessment:  Students and teacher discuss and critique performances. (LE 3.1)

Integration/Linkages

Problem Solving, Cooperative Learning, Physical Education, Communication Skills

Standard 4.0 Criticism

Students will apply and demonstrate critical and creative thinking skills in dance.

Learning Expectations

The student will

4.1 Establish and utilize aesthetic criteria for evaluation of dance.

Performance Indicators:  Evidence Standard is Met

The student is able to

Level 1

• Formulate essential questions that will establish criteria for a performance critique.

Level 2

• Apply essential questions to critique a dance performance.

Level 3

• Compose a written critique of a dance performance.

Sample Performance Task

Brainstorm with students what they think the essential questions should be when evaluating a dance.  Have students then compare their list to that of Anne Green Gilbert from her book Creative Dance for All Ages (appendix).  After a group discussion, have students revise their list creating a new list that the class will use.  Students watch pantomime/abstract dances (Performance Task from Standard 3) and write critiques of these dances.  Students may critique one or more dances as determined by the teacher.  Students should turn in their essential question checklist of the dance they viewed and the written critique in paragraph form.  Depending on the writing level, critiques can be limited to one or two essential questions or students may work in pairs to address these.

Assessment:  Teacher assesses the written critiques.

Integration/Linkages

Problem Solving, Communication Skills, Language Arts, Creative Thinking

Standard 5.0 Cultural/Historical

Students will demonstrate and understand dance in various cultures and historical periods.

Learning Expectations

The student will

5.1 Perform and compare folk and social dances from various cultures and historical periods.

5.2 Explain how dance is a reflection of its culture.  

Performance Indicators:  Evidence Standard is Met

The student is able to

Level 1

• Perform two social dances and two folk dances and identify the cultures and time periods in which they were created.
• List and illustrate the various cultural factors that contributed to the evolution of a dance form and discuss how this is a reflection of its culture.

Level 2

• Perform given social and folk dances from various cultures and historical periods and compare their structures and origins.
• Illustrate and demonstrate how two cultural elements are represented by a dance from the culture.

Level 3

• Perform given social and folk dances and chart their cultural and historical similarities, differences, and origins.
• Perform a dance that is reflective of its culture and discuss with peers why this dance was chosen.

Sample Performance Task

Create a bulletin board that shows pictures of and information about classical ballet from the 19^th century and about Isadora Duncan.  Explain to students that ballet had become artificial and formulaic with too many rules.  There was a trend in the art world during this time in history to make the arts more realistic and accessible to the people, particularly the growing middle class.  Isadora Duncan rejected the rules of ballet and created her own dance that later became known as modern dance.  After viewing and discussing videos (the PBS Dancing series of videos is a good resource) and the bulletin board, have students compare Isadora Duncan’s dance to ballet, listing differences.  Divide the class into two groups with one group creating a short dance illustrating a few of the characteristics of 19^th century ballet and the other group creating a short dance illustrating a few of the characteristics of Isadora Duncan’s dance.  Each group then performs for the other and the entire class discusses the differences between the performances.

Assessment:  Teacher assesses student understanding through the class discussion. (LE 5.2)

Integration/Linkages

Social Studies, Communication Skills

Standard 6.0 Health

Students will make connections between dance and healthful living.

Learning Expectations

The student will

6.1 Describe how muscles relate to dance.

6.2 Design a health plan that will enhance one’s ability to dance.

6.3 Explain how dance has improved one’s personal health and wellness.

Performance Indicators:  Evidence Standard is Met

The student is able to

Level 1

• Identify basic muscles common to dance training.
• List components that should be included in a health plan.
• Explain one way in which dance has improved one’s personal health and wellness.

Level 2

• Describe how the basic muscles common to dance training work.
• Design a health plan for dancers using the predetermined list of components.
• Explain two ways in which dance has improved one’s personal health and wellness.

Level 3

• Discuss how the basic muscles move the skeletal structure.
• Implement the designed health plan for a specified length of time.
• Explain various ways in which dance has improved one’s personal health and wellness.

Sample Performance Task

Students should be familiar with bones of the skeleton and movements that occur at different types of joints.  The teacher should now use a variety of resources to introduce specific muscles that create those actions.  Discuss the location of the main muscle groups and how they work in movement.  For example, the abdominals for spine flexion, the hamstrings and quadriceps for leg flexion and extension, hip flexors, gluteus maximus and minimus for hip extension, rotators for hip rotation, back extensors for back extension, and biceps and triceps for arm flexion and extension.  Students practice flexing and extending and rotating joints as they feel their muscles tighten (contract) and relax (lengthen). 

Assessment:  Teacher assesses by observation. (LE 6.1)

Integration/Linkages

Health, Problem Solving, Communication Skills

Standard 7.0 Interdisciplinary Connections

Students will make connections between dance and other disciplines.

Learning Expectations

The student will

7.1 Demonstrate how dance and other art forms share the same themes and concepts.

7.2 Examine the connections between dance and other academic disciplines.

Performance Indicators:  Evidence Standard is Met

The student is able to

Level 1

• Analyze a piece of art or music and describe it in terms of space, time, energy and subject or theme.
• Create and perform a dance that develops a specific concept in math, language arts, science or social studies, and discuss the discoveries with the audience.

Level 2

• Construct a dance or structured improvisation that represents a particular theme found in a teacher selected piece of music or art.
• Verbally examine and compare two student dances that portray a specific concept in math, language arts, science or social studies.

Level 3

• Construct a dance or structured improvisation that represents a particular theme found in a teacher selected piece of music, theater or art and perform for peers.
• Document the constructed dance or structured improvisation for future performances.

Sample Performance Task

This lesson transfers the characteristics of a type of painting or drawing of inanimate objects called “Still Life” to dance.  Discuss the characteristics found in the chosen still life.  The teacher will need to accumulate an assortment of props, one for each student.  It is best to do this improvisation with half the class at a time while the other half observes the process.  (At some point prior to this lesson, there should have been a discussion of the term “aesthetic”.)  Creative process:  Each dancer enters the stage space with a prop and places it in an aesthetically pleasing relationship with the other props.  Each dancer enters to change one part of the still life in order to make it more aesthetically pleasing in his or her eyes.  About half of the dancers enter and add their bodies to the still life creating a shape that relates to the props.  The other dancers now enter the stage area making any desired changes in the still life and then add their bodies to it.  The still life now comes alive and moves.

Following this improvised still life, students create music or sound to accompany the dance.  Since half of the class is observing, those students can perform the music/sound accompaniment for the performance.

Assessment:  Teacher assesses through observation of the creative work and class discussion. (LE 7.1)

Integration/Linkages

Problem Solving, Creative Thinking, Language Arts