Objective
By the end of this lesson, Ember will be able to explore and select movements that express different ideas, feelings, or moods through dance. She will gain an understanding of body actions, space, dynamics, timing, and relationships in dance.
Materials and Prep
- No specific materials needed, just a comfortable space to move around.
- Ensure the area is safe and free from obstacles.
- Prepare a few ideas or themes for dance expressions (like happy, sad, excited, etc.).
Activities
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Feelings Dance: Ember will choose a feeling (like happy, sad, or angry) and create a dance that expresses that feeling. She can use different movements to show how the feeling makes her body move.
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Space Exploration: In this activity, Ember will move around the space in different ways. She can try moving high (jumping), low (crawling), and in different directions (forward, backward, sideways) to explore how space affects her dance.
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Dynamic Qualities: Ember will experiment with different qualities of movement, like fast vs. slow or strong vs. gentle. She can create a short dance that starts slow and becomes fast, or vice versa, to see how it feels.
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Dance Relationships: Ember can pretend she is dancing with a partner (even if it's just imaginary). She can explore how to move closer or further away, and how that changes the dance. She can also try mirroring movements as if she is dancing with a friend.
Talking Points
- "What does it feel like when you're happy? Can you show me that with your dance?"
- "How can you move your body to show us what being sad looks like?"
- "Let’s try moving high like a bird and low like a mouse! How does that change your dance?"
- "Can you make your dance slow like molasses and then fast like a cheetah? How does that feel?"
- "When you dance, how does it feel to be close to someone? What about when you dance far away?"
- "If you pretend to dance with a friend, what movements can you do together?"
- "Remember, every movement can tell a story! What story do you want to tell with your dance?"