BC Education - Dance 11 and 12

Choreography 12: Elements of Movement

This sub-organizer contains the following sections:

Prescribed Learning Outcomes
Suggested Instructional Strategies
Suggested Assessment Strategies
Recommended Learning Resources

Prescribed Learning Outcomes

It is expected that students will:

improvise movement:
- to extend understanding of the elements of movement
- to expand known movement vocabulary in new applications
apply principles of movement to dance exploration
apply an understanding of fitness, health, and safety to choreography
use appropriate terminology to describe movement and staging

Suggested Instructional Strategies

Have students work in groups to select and apply particular elements of movement and to improvise as broad a range of movement as possible within those elements. Ask groups to teach their movement ideas to one another and discuss how they can be combined and expanded.
Invite each student to improvise movement based on one of the principles of movement. Then ask students to continue to work individually, in pairs, or in groups to develop sequences based on their improvisations. Share results as a class and discuss the best and safest ways to develop and apply the various principles of movement.
Challenge each student to create a two-week rehearsal plan for teaching one of her or his compositions to a group of performers. Remind students to include warmups and cooldown s appropriate to the movements used in their dances. Encourage them to also include opportunities for "warming up the mind" (e.g., guided visualizations). Provide opportunities for students to put their plans into action.
Invite a health or dance practitioner from the community to discuss health, fitness, and safety issues related to choreography. Students could pose questions related to how these issues vary when creating movement for different performers (e.g., younger students, professionals), in various types of choreography (e.g., group size, genre), and in different environments.
Ask each student to produce outlines for the same piece of choreography in two types of staging (e.g., proscenium and round). Encourage students to create dioramas to illustrate the stagecraft elements for the two productions, incorporating accurate movement and theatre terminology. Have students present both of their versions, and discuss as a class the similarities and differences.

Suggested Assessment Strategies

Provide students with many opportunities to improvise movement while applying principles of movement. Observe students and pose questions such as:
How has the exploration expanded your range of possibilities?
How has your understanding of the elements of movement expanded?
How have the principles of movement helped you?
Invite students to imagine they are up-and-coming choreographers seeking to work with a specific dance company. Ask them to pretend the company director likes their work but wants to ensure that their creative and unconventional styles of movement will not injure the dancers. Before their interviews, give them the following question to respond to in writing: In what ways can choreographers minimize the risk of injury to the dancers they are working with? Collect their responses and look for evidence that students are able to effectively apply principles of fitness, health, and safety to dance.
Have students reflect on their experiences with choreography by reviewing their dance portfolios. Work with them to develop requirements and criteria. Periodically conference with them to review their dance portfolios and look for evidence of:
- consistent self-assessment of effort
- accurate records of dance activities
- use of appropriate terminology to describe movement and staging
- awareness of personal strengths and weaknesses
- long- and short-term goals
- commitment to the process of becoming a choreographer
- analysis of personal attitudes toward becoming a choreographer
- response to a range of stimuli as inspiration