Dance: Grades 5, 6, 7, 8

Movement Elements

Choreography

Dance and Meaning

Dance and Thinking Skills

Dance, History, and Culture

Dance and Personal Wellness

Dance and Other Disciplines

Students understand movement elements and skills in dance.

Students understand choreographic principles processes and structures.

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

Students apply critical and creative thinking skills in dance.

Students understand the historical development of dance and its relationship to various cultures.

Students understand the connection between dance and personal wellness.

Students understand the connections between dance and other disciplines.

Understand the characteristics of various dance movements and the underlying principles common to all movement.

Know basic dance steps, body positions, and spatial patterns for dances from various styles or traditions.

Understand the process of transferring a spatial pattern from the visual to the kinesthetic.

Understand the process of transferring a rhythmic pattern from auditory to kinesthetic.

Know a range of dynamics/movement qualities.

Use kinesthetic awareness, concentration, and focus in performing movement skills.

Use dance vocabulary to describe the action and movement elements in a dance.

Understand the relationship of principles of creative design to dance.

Understand the significance of the processes of reordering and chance.

Understand the importance of dance structures or forms.

Understand the importance of working cooperatively in a small group during the choreographic process.

Know partner dance skills.

Know performance etiquette and stage terms.

Understand the difference between pantomiming and miming.

Understand how different accompaniments can affect the meaning of dance.

Communicate feelings, ideas, and needs through dance.

Solve movement problems.

Know the critical elements that contribute to a dance in terms of space, time, and force.

Know the possible aesthetic criteria for evaluating dance.

Know the similarities and differences in steps and movement styles from various cultures.

Know social and theatrical dances from a broad spectrum of 20th Century America.

Know the role of dance in various cultures and time periods.

Know appropriate audience response to dance performances.

Know strategies to prevent dance injuries.

Understand the value of personal health goals for dance improvement.

Know how various dance concepts and principles relate to other disciplines.

Know the aesthetic impact of performance.