Dance 1: An introduction to the elements of dance

As a warm up, we traveled around the room to music in random patterns: straight lines with sharp corners, curved pathways, backwards and leading with different body parts. To get the heart rate up we also did a dynamic isolated body part warm up to music. As a lead-in to dance and to get our performance confidence up, we divided into groups. To music, each row walks in unison toward mirror with a walk, then with a basic walk and turn, then with a choreographed step sequence. This was easy to see individual’s sense of timing, coordination, unison etc… without feeling like you were performing.

The next activity was moving around the space based on given parameters, like move with “two feet”, “one foot two hands”, “no hands or feet”, “make letters of the alphabet”. This served as a brainstorming method, as we then formed groups and devised and performed a piece to music using these parameters. We used our bodies to spell out the letters of our names, which we then performed to a partner and then to the class. I was surprised how the letter formations constitute such unusual dance movements, without even thinking of it as choreography!

In all of the activities, we almost implicitly considered the elements of dance like levels, space, travel, timing and so on. The structure of activities (working in groups) eliminated the feeling of self-consciousness and reserve we would usually feel in a performance space.