Division: Middle School
Department: Fine and Performing Arts: Dance
Course Title/Code: Dance Technique and Performance
ARTDA100
(6th
grade, year-long/ 3 days per week)
Course Description: This class introduces
students to technical styles of dance and provides training
and practice to improve technical skills. Dancers also study
dance composition and create a dance that they perform.
Goals
Sixth grade modern dance is an introduction to dance as a
creative means of self-expression and communication.
Students will learn skills that strengthen the clarity of
the body (the dancer’s instrument), and they will be
introduced to the craft of choreography. Students will gain
an awareness of the body in space and how this physical self
relates to others. Through this study the student will be
encouraged to develop a positive self image.
Skills
-
Introduction
to and practice of basic modern dance movement
vocabulary
-
Understanding and ability to execute and to create
locomotor movement
-
Understanding and ability to execute and to create
gestural movement
-
Develop tools to commit movement to memory
-
Study dance as a part of a cultural expression: ritual,
social dancing and dance which is made as art
-
Introduction to dance in different disciplines (such as
ballet, jazz, hip-hop, African)
-
Learn the basic elements of choreography
-
Learn techniques of performance
Activities/Content
-
Students will practice dance technique regularly in
class
-
Students will learn set combinations created by the
instructor and designed to teach core movement
principles
-
Students will complete composition assignments requiring
them to use the creative process and to engage in
problem solving in groups and alone
-
Students will perform their work for each other and in a
formal concert setting
-
Students will keep a journal which contains journal
assignments given to stimulate creativity, to engage
critical thought and to record their own assessment of
the class
Assessment
· Students
receive a daily grade, based on class participation
(students must be wearing required dance attire to receive a
perfect daily grade)
-
Students are graded on composition projects. The method
of grading will be based on the components of the
project, including the performance. The instructor will
determine points allotted for each component of the
project.
-
Students are graded each trimester on their journal
entries
Students will be expected to purchase the designated
performance costume for dance concerts at an estimated price
of $65.00 per year.
Resources: printed, internet & intranet sites, computer
programs : Books: “Basic Concepts in Modern Dance” by Gay
Cheney, “ The Performer’s Guide to the Collaborative
Process” by Sheila Kerrigan, “Prime Movers” by Joseph Mazo
