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Types of Dance
Learning in Dance involves students engaging in dance experiences which explore different types of dance drawn from a variety of genres and styles including theatrical, traditional, social, ritual and other current dance styles.

Teaching Dance in Primary Schools as a generalist teacher

 

From the simplest dance students make to the most complex, they draw on the elements of dance and apply the principles of choreography to communicate meaning for an audience.
Focus on students making and responding to dance. As dancers and as audience for dance, students learn to understand and use dance to communicate ideas to other people.
It is our job as teachers of the arts to introduce our students to dance - to help them engage and become literate in dance as part of the arts.  There are a number of key factors to focus on in our work.

  • We must have clear purpose: be able to tell our students (and their parents) why we are doing this and how this is part of the curriculum.  We must develop programs that

    • engage students - invite them into dance experiences

    • build trust and confidence - both for individuals and as members of groups

    • build cohesion and focus - be purposeful, hang together [go beyond one-offs]

Effective dance programs in schools don’t happen by chance. They happen because you - the teacher - plans, teachers and assesses them.

Skills and Techniques of Dance
The Elements of Dance
Building on Fundamental Movement Skills, the Elements of Dance are space, time, dynamics and relationships.
Viewpoints
In both Making and Responding, students learn that meanings can be generated from different viewpoints and that these shift according to different world encounters. As students make, investigate or critique dances as choreographers, dancers and audiences, they may ask and answer questions to consider the choreographers’ and dancers’ meanings and the audiences’ interpretations. Meanings and interpretations are informed by an understanding of how the elements, materials, skills and processes are used in differing social, cultural and historical contexts. These questions provide the basis for making informed critical judgments about their own dance and the dance they see as audiences.
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