Dance 4
Presentation and Performance

It is expected that students will:

• rehearse dance for presentation
• identify performance skills and audience etiquette appropriate to a given performance situation
• identify the feeling and mood portrayed in performances
• apply established criteria to analyse their work

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

• Teach students a set traditional dance that is related to a culture or theme being studied in another subject area. Use appropriate music and teach the dance in small segments, combining the segments as students master each one. Allow time for practice and refinement. Encourage students to identify ways of improving their individual contributions to the ensemble. Discuss the expectations for audience etiquette and performance skills, then have half the class perform the dance while the other half acts as the audience. Switch groups.
• Discuss as a class how good communication skills (e.g., using eye contact, appropriate body language, active involvement) relate to the skills needed in performing or responding to a dance. Ask if these are the same for all types of dance (e.g., cultural dances in which eye contact would not be appropriate).
• Have students working in groups create web charts of words related to mood and feeling. Then ask each group to select a mood and create a dance sequence to portray it. Encourage the groups to explore a variety of alternatives for the sequences, ensuring that all group members have a chance to provide input. Groups should consider how props or sets would enhance their choreography.
• Provide an opportunity for students to view a professional dance performance. Ask them to use guided response sheets to identify the feeling and mood portrayed in the dance. After the performance, ask students to identify which components of the dance (e.g., techniques, choreography, set, lighting, costumes) portrayed these feelings.
• Have students use learning logs to record ways of revising and refining their dance performances and to record plans for implementing these revisions.

Suggested Assessment Strategies

• When students have learned a set traditional dance, ask them to choose small segments that they especially enjoy and present them to the class. Invite the audience to give feedback to each presenter in the form of three compliments and two questions. Note the extent to which students in the audience:
  • demonstrate appropriate audience behaviour
  • make supportive and encouraging comments to each presenter
  • offer constructive feedback in an appropriate, sensitive manner Ask each student performer:
  • Why did you select that segment?
  • What is it about your selection that you enjoy?
  • How could you create your own dance sequence using elements from the selection you chose?
  • What helpful feedback did you receive? How was it helpful?
• Following a professional dance performance, ask students to create collages or posters that represent the feeling and mood portrayed and to present their works to the class. Collect and look for evidence that they are able to:
  • accurately represent the feeling and mood of the dance
  • include relevant details to support their interpretations
  • express their personal interpretations of dance through visual arts
  • logically relate the dance performance to their own experiences
• After students have worked in small groups to create dance sequences and have videotaped their sequences, have them perform them for a younger class. Ask students to self-assess their perform- ances by viewing the video and responding to sentence stems such as:
  • The feeling and mood we tried to create in our choreography was ---------- .
  • It appealed to us because ---------- .
  • Something I hadn't noticed before was ----------.
  • Next time we would revise ---------- .
  • We would do this by ---------- .
  • We are proud of ---------- .

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