Dance: Music for Dancers

Levels I-II

Creating

Performing

Responding

Connecting

Read and notate music.

Demonstrate an understanding of dance and/or music as a form of communication.

Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.

Understand and model dance etiquette as a classroom participant, performer, and observer. 

Understand and apply music concepts to dance.

Select, analyze, and interpret artistic work using musical forms.

Demonstrate critical and creative thinking in all aspects of dance.

Perceive and analyze artistic work.

Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between dance and music throughout history and in various cultures.

Identify the connections between music and dance, and between musician and dancer. 

Identify the elements of music (e.g. rhythm, melody, harmony, timbre, form, texture, dynamics).

Identify standard notation symbols (e.g. pitch, rhythm, dynamics, tempo, articulation, expression, key signatures).

Notate music on a staff using staff paper or notation software.

Identify the importance of music notation and dance notation. 

Recognize and identify how music is used to communicate or enhance a theme in dance.

Create music individually and collaboratively with a group using basic techniques (e.g. percussion, voice, body percussion) in pre-planned or improvisational settings.

Create a dance phrase paired with a different musical phrase and assess the experience.

Develop an artistic statement for an original dance study or dance.

Discuss how the use of music and movement elements serve to communicate the artistic statement. 

Demonstrate attentiveness, focus, concentration, initiative, and self-discipline when participating in the dance learning environment.

Demonstrate concentration and focus, and help to maintain a respectful performance environment for others.

Investigate syncopation, polyrhythms counterpoint, and call-response within instructed and created dance phrases.

Phrase movements artistically, aesthetically, and musically.

Identify and demonstrate musical forms and dance forms (e.g. AB, ABA, AABA).

Use syncopation and accent movements related to different tempi. 

Take rhythmic cues from different aspects of accompaniment.  

Identify and demonstrate understanding of the structure and elements of music (e.g. rhythm, pitch, form). 

Engage in self-reflection and self-assessment as creator and performer. 

Identify gestures of music (e.g. phrasing, attack, sustain) and how they express a composer’s intentions in a piece of music.

Analyze dance works and their accompaniment from a variety of dance genres and styles, and explain how their relationships create well-structured and meaningful partnerships. 

Describe in music terms (e.g. tempo, dynamics, texture) a musical composition, and relate it to the style, mood, and content of a dance work.

Describe how other art disciplines are integrated into dance performances.

Identify and explain the historical and cultural significance of specific music as related to dance.

Discuss and justify the function of music in the dance cultures of various ethnic, social, and religious groups.

Compare and contrast the benefits of using musicians for a live performance versus a prerecorded performance.  

Identify the parallels between preparing for a dance performance and a musical performance.

Compare and contrast the importance of using music with dance.

Explore the use of media and technology using a musical accompaniment to enhance a dance performance (e.g. digital instruments to accompany dance class).