With a partner, have your students do a
mirror exercise. The students should sit and face each other,
with one student acting as the leader and the other as the
follower. The leader should use hand, arm, face and upper
body motions. Make sure each student has a chance to be
the leader. After a short practice time, turn on some music
(soothing and slow at first) and have them do the exercise
to the beat of the music. Change the music at least once
so they have to change the pace of their motions.
Questions to ask at the end of this exercise:
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Was it easy to follow the other person?
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Did they do the movements to fast or
to slow?
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How did the movements change when the
music changed?
Students should be guided to the conclusions that dance
involves body movement, may involve moving to music, and
can be taught and learned.
Show the TV program - Music Made Visible: Dance
Introducing the elements of dance: space, time and force.
Space
Divide the class into pairs. One person is going to be
clay and the other is going to be the sculptor. The sculptor
is to place the other person (clay) into a body position
and then mirror the position. They will be sculpting three
body positions that they should be able to remember so
they can recreate them later in the class.
Position 1: Put the “clay” in a high level position.
Which, for example, would require the person to stand
on tiptoes with arms extend above their head. The sculptor
then mirrors the clay’s position.
Position 2: Trade jobs and have the sculptor put the
clay in a mid level position, which might be standing,
crouching or kneeling. The sculptor then mirrors the clay’s
position.
Position 3: Trade jobs again and have the sculptor puts
the clay in a low-level position, such as seated or lying
down. The sculptor again mirrors the clay’s position.
Time
Introduce time by having the students hold each of their
positions for a number of beats that you count out. For
example, count to 4 then have them change positions (1
?2 ? 3 ? 4 change, 1 ?2 ? 3 ? 4 change). Do different
beat patterns of eight counts, three counts, and then
two counts. Once they have the idea, use music with different
beats and have them do their poses counting to the time
of the music.
Force
Have the students melt from their high-level position
to their mid-level position and then to their low-level
position. Do the changes using 32 counts, 16 counts, 8
counts, and 4 counts. Point out that the quicker beat
creates a sharper body movement and the slower beat creates
a more fluid body movement. Have the students do the melting
exercises to three different pieces of music. Make sure
each piece of music has a different tempo.
At this stage of the activity you should point out that
they have choreographed a dance composition.
1. The elements can now be named:
-
Step 1 equals space or how dancers create
shapes that take up space.
-
Step 2 equals time or how changing the
duration of the poses affects speed.
-
Step 3 equals force or how melting equates
to using less muscle power and how sharper movements
equates to using more muscle power.
2. Space, time and force are interrelated. For example,
the less time you use for each movement the more speed
and force you will use.
3. These elements, or terms, are used by the choreographer
and dancer as a common language to express verbally how
the dance should look and feel.
4. Dance conveys a message to an audience through the
elements of movement. Most often the movements are united
with music to increase the impact on the audience. A choreographer
combines movement and music so the audience is using two
senses, sight and hearing, to receive the message.
5. The movements that the students have choreographed
may be compared to a pedestrian walking while professional
dancers are Olympic runners. Olympians are trained and
polished to a much higher level in the following areas:
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Balance
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Flexibility
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Strength
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Stamina
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Grace
6. It should also be pointed out that there are different
types of artistic dance:
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Jazz
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Ballet
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Modern
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Tap
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Folk
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Ballroom
