NSW Department of Education and Training

Composing in dance

• Create original shapes that communicate intent
• Explore more complex aspects of the elements of dance e.g. 3-dimensional space, formations, contrasting and complementary relationships
• Use movement quality to communicate intent
• Explore ways to structure movement
• Reflect on, and refine own creative work

Appreciating in dance

• Describe dancer’s actions, elements of dance and visual and aural elements of the dance work
• Identify relationship between movement and meaning
• Use dance-specific terminology

• Perform locomotor and non-locomotor sequences that include more complex coordination of body parts
• Perform a range of dance types from different contexts, with confidence e.g. contemporary, popular, traditional
• Demonstrate a range of movement qualities
• Demonstrate safe dance practices

Whole body warm-up:
Begin moving around the room to raise body temperature – vary locomotor movements. Students stand in open parallel and progressively move large muscle groups and joints including: spine (forwards, sideways), circle shoulders, swing arms and legs, flex and extend joints such as knees and ankles.        

Teaching note

Students in Stages 1-3 should be able to participate in this activity. Develop student understanding of safe dance practices by talking to students about their bodies, how they move (with individual capacities and limitations), help them to focus on particular bones and muscles and correct alignment.

What is a choreographer?
Discuss with students the role of a choreographer. View short excerpts of dance works in a variety of styles to demonstrate that choreographers make different, often unique works. Ask students whether they know a choreographer. Ask students to list qualities of a good choreographer.

Students not achieving at Stage 3 level may not understand that dances are created by someone. Their understanding of dance is of the dancer, rather than the maker. Provide examples of work to aid this understanding.

Group task: structuring movement for meaning
Create and demonstrate 4 shapes based on the unit themes (e.g. 4 shapes based on winter). Ask students to learn the shapes but don’t share the meaning of the shapes. Ask students to consider the meaning of the shapes and then to organise the 4 shapes (in any order, with transitions) to communicate meaning. View each group’s sequence and discuss movement and meaning.

Students not achieving at Stage 3 level may have trouble explaining their interpretation of the shapes. When assessing student ability to structure shapes into a phrase of movement and to communicate meaning and intention through the phrase, ask students:What decisions did you make when linking movements? How did you interpret the meaning of the shapes Did everyone interpret the shapes in the same way? Why or why not?

Concept list: contrasts in nature
Discuss contrasts that occur in nature, e.g. day/night, summer/winter, natural/built environments. Provide stimulus images of natural and built environments. Discuss these contrasts in terms of colours, textures, movements, and shapes.  
   

Teaching note
Build student vocabulary by writing words on the board. Highlight dance terminology e.g.
stimulus
closed shape
open shape
level
direction
dynamic

Group task: creating shapes and structuring movement for meaning
In small groups, students choose words from the concept list and improvise shapes. Encourage experimentation with body shapes, e.g. winter may be interpreted using closed body shapes, while summer could be represented through sweeping, curved and open body shapes. Groups organise shapes into a phrase as in the previous task. View each group’s sequence and discuss movement and meaning.

Students who are not achieving at Stage 3 level will find this task difficult. It requires them to communicate an abstract concept using body shapes. Many students will create literal, mimetic shapes. Encourage them to manipulate literal shapes using the element of space e.g. change size, direction, focus. Encourage them to express ideas from the concept list in a more abstract way through lines of the body e.g. angular or curved.

The choreographer’s task
Select 8 students to work in pairs as choreographers. The choreographers will observe and notate movements of the other students during the following activity, which they will later use to shape a dance work. The choreographers could notate the movement using graphics, e.g. stick figures, shapes, patterns or descriptive words.
Download notation sheet.

Teaching note
Students who are not achieving at Stage 3 level will find this task difficult. It requires them to select and record from observations of shapes and movements. Develop notating skills by asking students to make quick sketches of shapes from previous tasks and to write descriptive words to help them to remember the shape or movement. Encourage them to use symbols if appropriate e.g. directional arrows.  

Class improvisation
Divide the remainder of the students into two groups:
- group A: improvise continuous movement that complements the ideas discussed in the movement brainstorm
- group B: individuals choose a dancer in group A to copy. When the teacher claps, they select someone else to copy.

Students who are not achieving at Stage 3 level may find the group A task difficult. It requires them to continuously move while exploring the concept. The use of appropriate music may aid focus. Encourage students to pause in a shape when they feel they are communicating the idea. Swap A and B roles continuously.

Creating the work
Between lessons, choreographers compose a short movement sequence based on their theme, using movement they have notated during the class improvisation exercise.

Select a group of students for each pair of choreographers to work with. Each group learns, rehearses and presents their work. Reflect on and discuss the process used by the choreographers to structure and shape a movement sequence. Discuss the success of the work. Students write about the process of composing and performing the movement sequence: self assessment.

Students who are not achieving at Stage 3 level may find both composing and performing aspects of this task a challenge.  In particular, the performance of the sequence should be controlled and consistent and individual students should be able to demonstrate movement qualities appropriate to the concepts and intention.

Encourage focused self-assessment to ascertain student understanding of their own achievement in relation to the demands of the task.