Blog Post #4: How can dance be connected through the curriculum?

Dance can be connected through the curriculum in several ways. This can be planned as seen in this planning sheet.

Learning in Dance

Performing movement that crosses the midline has been proven to assist the connections between the right and left sides of the brain. This means that students can engage more of their brain for the task, hence performing the movements prior to the test will assist students in their ability to focus and recall the information they have learnt previously. This idea can be done when teaching new concepts as well.

Continuing the idea that movement helps learning, using dance for students to reinforce ideas or perspectives, dance is highly ideal in the use of other KLA’s. In terms of geography, watching cultural dances being performed allows students to appreciate and see key aspects and ideas of the culture in a real-life performance. To further this students can create their own dance that incorporates the elements of dance that make the movement recognisable as that cultures style of dance.

Making in Dance

Taking the key elements such as the energy, the use of the body and combining the actions to specific timing allows students to create their own dance that reflects the cultural traditions. For example using heavy movements in unison is reflective of an African cultural dance. The pattern is consistent and repetitive, this means that one action will be repeated for at least an 8 count beat. Here is a link of an example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbtaNl0fNcg&feature=youtu.be This example meets the Australian Curriculum throuhg the content descriptor ACHASSK088 – The importance of environments, including natural vegetation, to animals and people. This is due to dance being used to tell a story. In this example the story is about the use of water, process of waiting for it and the importance of it. This of course then needs to meet with the Australian Dance Curriculum Content Descriptor which is ACADAM007 – Perform dances using expressive skills to communicate ideas, including telling cultural or community stories. This also reflects the General Capability, Intercultural Understanding and Cross Curriculum Priority, Sustainability due to the story of the water.

Responding in Dance

After viewing the performance students can reflect and see the different emotions by the performers and the audience, this would further discussion about the culture.

However one issue that would arise with Cultural Dance is that people who are of a particular gender or not of the said Culture may not be allowed perform the dance. The benefit of this is that students are able to reflect on dance, this can be done through discussion, filling in a sheet or a combination of both. This means student will meet ACADAR008 – Identify how the elements of dance and production elements express ideas in dance they make, perform and experience as audience, including exploration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance. This also fits in well with the Cross Curriculum Priority, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures.

Even when not integrating KLA’s there is cross over. For example, having students count the beat or count the number of moves include mathematics.