Grade 8 - Creation and Composition

PRESCRIBED LEARNING OUTCOMES

It is expected that students will:

• create movement in response to the expressive elements of sound and music
• transform a given dance sequence for a specific purpose
• choreograph a movement sequence for a variety of environments and purposes
• apply the creative process to revise and refine dance

To view the prescribed learning outcomes for Creation and Composition in other grades click on an icon below.

SUGGESTED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

• Improvise to music suitable for a selected dance style (e.g., hip-hop, rap, funk, world beat), then create movements appropriate to that style in a variety of groupings, using exercises such as mirroring, shadowing, or flocking.
• Develop steps for a specific dance genre or style by adapting steps from another (e.g., adapting tap steps for hip-hop). Discuss what makes steps interesting or effective. Students refine their steps, incorporating advice from peers.
• Brainstorm and discuss guidelines for developing a co-operative, trusting, and reflective environment where students are able to take creative risks. Students create a poster or rule book for these guidelines, and use their journals to record their plans for applying them.
• In small groups, students create, refine, and present short movement sequences. Each group teaches its sequence, then combines it with another and identifies the resulting choreographic form (AB).
• Individually or in groups, students change a dance learned by altering a given element (e.g., do the original steps, but in different directions, or do the dance with a percussive quality instead of sustained). After all students have demonstrated their transformations, discuss the ways an element can be altered and the effects of each.
• Given a non-traditional dance space (e.g., under a desk, behind a table, in a doorway), students improvise movements to fit that environment.
• Listen to or sing a piece of music, then identify an element of the music (e.g., rhythm, melody), and create movements in response to this element. Apply the creative process (exploration, selection, combination, refinement, and reflection) to create a sequence or dance.
• Identify a rhythm or pattern in the natural or human-made world (e.g., waves hitting the shore, ceiling fan slowly revolving), and improvise a sequence to that pattern.

SUGGESTED ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

When students create movement sequences appropriate to a given style or genre, look for evidence of the extent to which they:

• use the steps of the creative process (exploration, selection, combination, refinement, reflection)
• follow the conventions or requirements of the style or genre
• use elements of movement appropriately
• articulate reasons for the decisions and choices they make

• effective use of space
• inventiveness in solving problems and creating new movements
• use of elements of the creative process
• development of a structure

Have students work with a partner or small group to devise an effective means of self-assessment that involves using advice and feedback from themselves, their peers, and the teacher to refine their own work. Look for evidence of:

• open attitude
• clear strategic plan (e.g., identifies goal(s), tasks to be completed)
• understanding of relevant criteria and requirements
• progress toward goals
• understanding of skill level attained

RECOMMENDED LEARNING RESOURCES

• Creative Dance for All Ages
• Form Without Formula: A Concise Guide to the Choreographic Process
• Movement Improvisation: In the Words of a Teacher and Her Students
• The Young Dancer

• Dance at Court
• The Making of a Dancer
• The Power of Dance

• The Creative Dance Keys Kit
• Dance Education Initiative
• Teaching Beginning Dance Improvisation

• Contrast and Continuum: Music for Creative Dance, Volume I
• Contrast and Continuum: Music for Creative Dance, Volume II

Table of Contents

Province of British Columbia
Ministry of Education
Curriculum Branch © 1995 Copyright

Maintained by: Fine Arts Coordinator - Dance

Revised: January 25, 1999

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