CURRICULUM

In dance class, students will have fun and learn while warming-up, playing games, learning dance routines, creating dances, practicing dance technique in various styles, and exploring dance in many ways.

Performances: Performances are a natural part of the dance process.  Each class will receive the opportunity to perform in one of the three Showcases (Fall, Winter or Spring) throughout the school year.  Information with details on dates and times will be sent home with students.  
The Ravenswood dance program is aligned to the National Core Arts Standards, the Illinois Learning Standards for Dance, and the Chicago Public School’s Guide to Teaching and Learning in the Arts.  See below to find more information on the goals of the dance program.

Pre-K through 2nd Grade

Creating:
  • Explore movement inspired by a variety of sensory stimuli (i.e. music, text, objects, images, etc.).
  • Explore a variety of locomotor (traveling) and non-locomotor (non-traveling) movements, and combine movements into a dance phrase while manipulating the elements of dance (time, space and energy).
  • Choose movements that express a main idea or emotion, or follow a musical phrase.

Performing:
  • Demonstrate directionality and intent when performing various movements.
  • Identify the length of time needed to perform dance movements and correlate music phrasing with music phrasing.
  • Demonstrate kinesthetic awareness while dancing movements with various characteristics.

Responding:
  • Demonstrate and describe movements in dances from different genres and cultures.
  • Observe movement, describe movement and identify meaning in movement.
  • Use simple dance terminology to describe and discuss dance movement.

Connecting:
  • Describe, create, and/or perform a dance that expresses personal meaning.
  • Respond to a dance work using an inquiry-based set of questions (for example, See, Think, Wonder). 
  • Observe a dance and relate the movement to the people or environment in which the dance was created.

3rd Grade through 5th Grade

Creating:
  • Build content for choreography using several different stimuli (i.e. music, text, literary forms, current news, social events, etc.).
  • Construct and solve movement problems to develop dance and manipulate or modify a variety of movements.
  • Take feedback from others to explore movement vocabulary and movement changes, and to expand choreographic possibilities. 

Performing:
  • Integrate various shapes, pathways, relationships and rhythmic responses into dance sequences. 
  • Explore different energies used in dance (including free and bound movements) and describe movements using adverbs and adjectives.
  • Recall and perform a series of dance phrases using fundamental dance skills.

Responding:
  • Understand and demonstrate various dance genres and their differences and various cultural dance forms and their differences.
  • Interpret the meaning of a dance base don its movements.
  • Understand and define characteristics that make a dance artistic and meaningful.

Connecting:
  • Compare dances with similar or contrasting themes.
  • Study and create dances expressing an idea from another subject area.
  • Understand and describe how movements in specific dance styles communicate ideas and perspectives of the culture, historical period or community from which the dance was created.

6th Grade through 8th Grade

Creating:
  • Implement movement and create original dance from a variety of stimuli (i.e. observed dance, literature, personal experience, etc.).
  • Collaborate with others to create dance that utilizes various dance structures and shows clear artistic intent.
  • Revise choreography collaboratively or independently based on artistic criteria, self-reflection and feedback from others.

Performing:
  • Perform dance that designs body shapes using a variety of spatial characteristics, responds to various tempos, and directs energy in dynamic ways.
  • Embody technical skills (i.e. balance, weight shift, clarity of movement, etc.) and discover strategies for achieving performance accuracy, clarity and expressiveness.
  • Demonstrate leadership qualities and performance etiquette during preparation, in performance and post performance.

Responding:
  • Demonstrate and discuss how the elements of dance are used in a variety of genres, styles or cultural movement practices to communicate intent.
  • Demonstrate ability to explain how artistic expression is achieved in dance work.
  • Use artistic criteria to determine what makes an effective performance

Connecting:
  • Investigate dance works with similar or contrasting themes using a variety of research methods and create a dance study exploring these ideas.
  • Analyze and discuss, how dances from a variety of cultures, societies, historical periods, or communities reveal the ideas and perspectives of the people.