This sub-organizer contains the following sections:

It is expected that students will:

• evaluate the purpose of dance in a given social, historical, or cultural context
• demonstrate the skills and attitudes necessary to participate as a dance performer within society:
  
  • assuming leadership roles in a variety of context s
  • actively seeking and applying constructive criticism
  • refining personal goals for performance
  • practising individual and group rights and responsibilities in dance performance
  • respecting diversity
• assess the influence of the work of various artists on students' own dances
• evaluate career opportunities in dance performance

• Ask students to scan the entertainment sections of local, national, and trade periodicals to find and list the jobs required to produce the various productions mentioned. Then have them search the employment opportunities sections for jobs related to careers in dance performance. Invite them to research (e.g., using the Internet, career resource centre) the skills required and training programs available for each and to share their findings. Discuss the short- and long-term economic and social advantages for a community in hosting an arts production.
• Challenge students to produce an Evening of Dance, showcasing their work. Have them establish a production plan and assume responsibility for all aspects of the event. Suggest that they keep journals to reflect on the tasks they performed, their performance goals, and their leadership responsibilities.
• Ask students to name their favourite artists from a variety of media and art forms (e.g., singers, composers, actors, cartoonists, dancers). Form groups and suggest that each group select one artist to research, then set up a station displaying her or his work and background. Invite students to circulate around the stations, recording how various artists' works might influence their own dances.
• Set up a network of performance-critique partnerships (pairs, small groups, or both). Establish a routine in which students critique one another's performances within this network.
• Invite students in groups to imagine that they are performance groups in other historical and cultural settings. Have them prepare dance demonstrations appropriate for those settings, ensuring that a range of genres and purposes are represented (e.g., ceremonial, theatrical, recreational). Ask them to record the specific historical and cultural aspects they considered (e.g., gender and status roles, societal values) and present their dances in a History of Dance showcase.

• As students work in groups to research and report on careers in dance performance, assess the extent to which they include relevant, accurate, clear, and well-organized information about:
  
  • why they chose to investigate a particular dance career
  • the skills required and training programs available
  • the requirements and qualifications needed
  • the nature of the career, including salary and working conditions
• Following the Evening of Dance production, have students self-assess their work in terms of tasks performed, performance goals, and leadership responsibilities. Ask them to respond in their journals to statements such as:
  
  • During the Evening of Dance production, I assumed a leadership role when _________.
  • I was responsible for_________.
  • I actively sought and applied feedback when_________.
  • The production plan worked well when_________.
  • The production plan could have been improved by_________.
  • My strengths as a dancer are_________.
  • My strengths as a group member are_________.
  • A personal goal I am working on is_________.
• When students have researched dance in another era and performed dance demonstrations based on their research, note the extent to which they:
  
  • accurately articulate the historical and cultural settings and make logical connections to how these are represented in their dances
  • effectively reconstruct dances from other eras and include relevant and accurate special historical and cultural considerations
  • accurately evaluate the purpose of the dances in those context s

Print Materials

• Ballet & Modern Dance
• Dance Education Initiative
• Dance: The Art of Production
• Form Without Formula
• Moon Magic
  

Video

• Ballet Class Intermediate-Advanced
• Baryshnikov Dances Sinatra
• Carmen
• Dance at Court
• Dance Centerstage
• Dancing in One World
• Denishawn
• Dido and Aeneas
• Fonteyn And Nureyev
• Giselle
• Hoop Dancing
• The Individual and Tradition
• Karen Kain
• Lord of the Dance
• Lost in the Shuffle
• New Worlds, New Forms
• Points In Space
• The Power of Dance
• Sex and Social Dance
• Sleeping Beauty
• La Sylphide
• W5: The Boom In Ballroom Dancing
  

Multimedia

• The Ballroom Dance Pack
• Teaching Beginning Dance Improvisation

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