Step One: Starting points

Starting with Themes or Ideas Ideas to inspire dance-making can come from many sources: personal experiences and feelings, the environment, observation, the imagination, memories, current affairs, the other arts, and so on. Not all themes or ideas lend themselves to movement. Teachers and students should look for themes or ideas that have images suggesting movement. It should be noted that some themes or ideas might not seem to have potential for movement at first glance but may prove stimulating upon reflection and discussion. With a little experience, teachers and students will soon discover which themes or ideas inspire movement and are easily explored in dance.

Starting with Movement Ideas for dances need not begin with an external idea or theme. Some choreographers approach dance in a more formalistic way by manipulating and exploring movement itself. In this case, the choreographer's focus is on the elements and structures of dance. For example, instead of creating a dance using a theme such as "dreams", the choreographer might begin by using movement to explore "energy used to resist gravity".

Teacher Note The dance elements are the language of dance. For detailed information on the dance elements, see Appendix B.

Step Two : Brainstorming

When a starting-point has been chosen, teachers and students may use discussion and brainstorming to arrive at the movements they will explore.

Starting with a Theme or Idea If the teacher and students selected the starting-point of "dreams", for example, they would begin by brainstorming ideas about dreams. Dreams running mazes nightmares creatures monsters disconnected images black and white characters friends lacy fantasy gardens flying tangled swimming stories elevators colour falling people stairs places peaceful floating buildings

Starting with Movement When teachers and students are starting with movement, this step is usually unnecessary and planning begins with Step Three. However, the teacher and students might wish to begin with a discussion about the starting-point. For example, if they selected the starting-point of "energy used to resist gravity", they might begin with a discussion on gravity and how it affects movement.

Step Three: Finding the Movements for Exploration

Starting with a Theme or Idea Having decided on the theme or idea, the teacher and students can ask questions in order to make concept maps or webs of possible movements for further exploration over the next few dance-making lessons. The questions should ask students to associate core characteristics of the theme or idea with concepts related to the dance elements: actions, body, dynamics, relationships, and space. In doing this, students will be encouraged to go beyond mimicry in their movement explorations.

Starting with Movement When using movement as inspiration for dance-making, teachers and students may still ask questions in order to make concept maps or webs of possible movements to explore over the next few lessons. For example, if the teacher and students selected "energy used to resist gravity", they would then brainstorm movement ideas from that concept. Two sample concept webs follow in this column on the next page.

For example, if "nightmares" and "characters" were selected from the theme "dreams", students and teacher would then suggest action, body, dynamic, relationship, and space concepts associated with these words. Students could respond to questions such as, "What actions does the word nightmare make you think of? How do you think you would do the actions (dynamics)?" Teachers should note that students may not associate an idea or theme with every element. Although all elements are present, some elements may predominate for some themes. Two sample concept webs follow below.

Over the next few dance-making lessons, students should go on to improvise, explore, develop, and refine further their movements, working from the suggestions on the concept webs.

Step Four: Taking Stock

At this point, the teacher and students might need to focus on small parts of the concept webs of Step Three for further exploration in dance. This will be necessary if the concept webs have too many ideas to work with in a single lesson. The teacher will also need to determine learning objectives appropriate for the concept webs. Some learning objectives may have been determined previously. Other learning objectives, particularly those related to the elements of dance and the principles of composition, may be determined more easily at this point. After the learning objectives have been set, the teacher can design tasks specific to the objectives. The teacher might want to involve the students in this.

Planning from a Theme or Idea The learning objectives focusing on the element of dynamics and the composition principle of climax and resolution might be particularly appropriate for the "nightmares" concept web. Teachers may find other elements and principles that work just as well and would then select other learning objectives.

Planning from Movement The learning objectives focusing on the elements of dynamics and space might be particularly appropriate for the concept web exploring "energy used to resist gravity". Teachers may find other elements and principles that work just as well and would then select other learning objectives.

Before structuring the lesson, teachers may want to step back and consider the following:

instructional approaches, the Adaptive Dimension, learning resources, and evaluation.

Step Five: Structuring the Lesson

The teacher will now use the information from the concept maps to plan the following essential parts of the dance lesson. These five parts apply to all dance-making, whether the students are planning from a theme or idea, or from movements.

The Warm-up Exploration and Development Sequencing The Cool Down Time for Reflection

The Warm - up

The warm-up uses activities to:

• warm the body's muscles and joints
• encourage concentration and body awareness
• improve or teach new movement skills.

Both locomotor (travelling) and non-locomotor (non-travelling) actions are used in warm-up activities. The material derived from the concept webs can be used in the warm-up, although this is not necessary. Warm-up activities can be repeated or extended from lesson to lesson.

Exploration and Development

In this part of the lesson the students explore their starting-points based on the concept webs. Students should be encouraged to improvise, experiment with, and create their own movements in response to the tasks set by the teacher and students. The teacher acts as a guide and observer. He or she encourages the students' development of the movements, ensures that a movement is fully experienced, makes suggestions, and responds to what the students do.

Sequencing

At this stage, the movements explored and developed by the students are ordered and refined to create dance phrases and compositions. Not all the movements will be used, just the ones that best convey the students' intentions. Students should consider each movement and ensure that it contributes to the whole dance composition. When sequencing movements and dance phrases, the students should be encouraged to use their understanding of the principles of composition. Again, the teacher acts as a guide and observer, encouraging and responding to what the students do.

Sometimes several dance lessons may be needed for students to refine and complete their dance creations. Students should be given the opportunity to sequence their movements in every dance-making lesson, as this is essential in order for students' dance experiences to have meaning.

The Cool Down

The cool down uses slow, stretching activities to help the students' heart rates and concentration return to normal. Movements from the warm-up activities might be adapted for cool down activities. As in the warm-up, activities can be repeated from lesson to lesson.

Reflection

Reflection should occur throughout the lesson. Students should be given time to think about their own work, clarify their intentions, refine their work, and decide if they are satisfied with their work. Do they find that what they're doing is interesting to them? Do they think their expressions are clear to others? If not, how could they make their dance expressions more interesting for themselves or clearer to others?

At the end of the dance lesson, students should show their work to each other. They should be given the opportunity to look at, describe, and discuss their peers' work. This can be done in several ways: with half the class watching the other half, with small groups demonstrating to the class, with partners demonstrating to each other, etc.

Teacher Note To maintain objectivity, limit the students' comments to observations about the movement itself and discourage comments that judge the students. For example, the comment "I liked John's dance" would be better said as "I thought the jumps in John's dance were interesting". (See Discussing Student Work, found in Appendix C.)