Dancing Our Natural World

Schedule: 90 minutes

Teaching Artist: Adriana Wright

Grades: 2nd-4th grades

Students explore their own movement inspired by their analysis of different qualities of nature items. They use their analysis of the various items to choreograph a short ABC dance.

• Open space free of obstacles
• optional: safe items found in nature (leaf, flower, rock, etc.), writing utensils, paper/ notebook.

Nature is a dancer. Things in nature move according to their qualities.

• Students will learn to analyze the qualities of items in nature through a movement lens.
• Students will learn how to embody different nature items.

• Students are able to describe nature items using dance concepts such as level, size, and space.
• Students show contrasting qualities in their own movement by analyzing the different qualities of nature items.

Nature, movement, qualities, opposites, level (high, low), size (big, small), space (self, general).

It’s important to know that dancers use their bodies to express themselves (what they think, what they like). So today I will ask you to try and use your bodies to communicate first instead of your voices. Unless we are answering or asking questions!

• We are going to introduce ourselves by sharing our name, our grade, favorite season and why. I’ll go first!

Today, we are going to explore the concept of nature as a dancer. 

But first, we need to warm up our bodies. We will begin in a dancer ready position; with tall backs, strong belly muscles, and grounded body.

Warm-Up

• Brain Dance inspired.
• Dance steps: plie, releve, tendu, saute, chasse

We are going to explore the contrast in different dance concepts using a freeze dance.

• Dance Opposites Game / Freeze Dance (dance concepts and movements chart)
  • Explore the contrast in different dance concepts
  • high/low levels, big/small size, and self/general space

Did you know that items in nature dance?

A dandelion floats through the air, vegetables grow from a seed in a low level to a full grown vegetable in a middle level.

Getting Started

• We are going to analyze these nature items using the dance concepts of level, size, and shape.
  • Rock, rainwater, leaf, branch, flowery branch
• Think about where we would find these items, how big or small they are, and if they move from the place they grow without human interaction. 
• What other nature items dance in nature?

Activity 1:

• Explore moving with the qualities of each nature item in an improvisation score dance.

Activity 2:

• Choosing 3 nature items, choreograph a three part dance (ABC pattern). The dance will begin and end with a frozen shape and each part will have 16 counts.

Share/ Dance Detectives

• In class, divide into 2 or more groups to share their dances.
• Audience will share what they noticed (i.e. I saw someone dancing like a rock because they made a big shape in self space)

• What did we learn today?
• You can continue creating dances about nature. Go on a nature walk and gather different safe nature items as an inspiration!

Reverence - at the end of each class we say thanks to each other for the hard work and respect we gave in this space. You can do so with a reverence, ASL thank you, or an air high five!