Dance 2 to 3
Creation and Composition

It is expected that students will:

• move expressively to a variety of sounds and music
• create movement sequences based on patterns, characters, and stories

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

• Play a selection of music from a children's movie or TV program. Invite each student to imagine a setting for the music and then, in the role of one of the characters, move expressively in that setting. Students should change their characters' movements as the music changes and identify how the changes in music affect the way they move.
• Assign a letter of the alphabet to each student. Have students create movements to express their letters (e.g., scribing the shape of the letter in the air or on the floor, making the shape with their bodies). Encourage them to incorporate changes in level, direction, or energy as appropriate.
• Read a fable or fairy tale. Ask students to select a character from the story and create a movement sequence based on how that character would move. Encourage students to explore a number of options for movement (e.g., changes in pathways, relationships, and dynamics). Have students form pairs or groups to integrate their characters' movement sequences to create a narrative dance that tells the story.
• Place a collection of found instruments (e.g., boxes of toothpicks, garbage can lids, buckets, combs, spoons) in the centre of the floor. Have students take turns experimenting with the sounds made by each instrument while the rest of the class explores movement in response to these sounds. Divide the class into groups, with one student in each group playing one of the instruments while the rest of the group moves in response.
• Ask students to use a lead-and-follow technique such as flocking to explore movement combinations and sequences. Help them to explore a variety of ways of following one another and changing leaders. Repeat using another lead-and-follow technique.

Suggested Assessment Strategies

• During a fairy-tale theme, invite students to brainstorm their favourite characters. Ask small groups of students to each select one character and collaboratively develop movements and steps that reflect the character's identity. Have the groups practise their sequences and share them with the class, inviting their classmates to guess the characters they are portraying. As students practise their sequences, note the extent to which they:
  • revise and refine their movements
  • incorporate patterns into sequences
  • make logical connections between the characters and the movements
  • accurately explain their choice of movements
• Have students improvise movements that reflect the mood of various environments (e.g., forest, sea, outer space, sky). Then ask each student to choose an environment and create a painting that reflects its mood. Invite students to share their paintings with the class. Watch their movements and collect their paintings, looking for evidence of:
  • effective use of space
  • expressive movements that reflect the mood of each environment
  • artistic use of the elements of movement
  • logical connections among the environments, students' movements, and choices of colours and shapes in their paintings
• After several experiences in mirroring, ask pairs of students to create mirror sequences that include a locomotor movement and two non-locomotor movements. Have the pairs teach their sequences to the class. After each presentation, ask the audience to respond to the following questions:
  • What locomotor movements did you see?
  • What non-locomotor movements did you see?
  • What questions do you have for the presenters?

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