PE_Guidelines_english0

Section 5 Approaches and methodologies
Creative dance
When planning the structure of a
creative dance lesson or series of
lessons it is useful to consider the
principles of movement.
The principles of movement which are
required by children to dance can be
grouped under the following headings:
• what the body can do (body action)
• how the body moves (dynamics)
• where the body moves (space)
• with whom or with what the movement
is taking place (relationships).
The principles are outlined and
expanded in Fig. 3, opposite. By helping
children to understand and use these
principles, the teacher will enable them
to develop a vocabulary of movement
which they can then call upon when
creating, performing and appreciating
dance. Initial lessons may focus on
developing an understanding of these
principles by using one or two of them
as the stimulus for the lesson.
– A lesson on body awareness may
involve exploration of the different
body actions – travel, turn, jump,
elevate, gesture, stillness – and
through this children create a
short dance linking two or three
of these actions together.
– A lesson on space may involve an
exploration of pathways, which
leads to the creation of a dance
based on contrasting pathways in
space.
In such lessons the stimulus for the
dance is movement itself.
Art work may be used as a stimulus for dance
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