Dance History Curriculum
Course outline: This semester-long dance history course will cover both historical and modern dance figures and combine hands-on learning through multimedia, presentations, and dance exploration projects, and lecture style learning through power-points filled with notes, pictures, and videos. The course outline is designed for students who meet with this class three to four days a week in fifty five minute blocks, but may be adjusted if the class has a varied meeting schedule.
What you will see on this page
Below you will see descriptions of many of the units in this semester long course, followed by a detailed example of one of the units including PowerPoints and worksheets.
Unit 1: Personal Dance History
3 Classes
Students will explore their own personal history with dance, both socially and academically. Students will then create a powerpoint slide that they will present to their classmates and teacher as their formal introduction to the class space.
Unit 2:Paying Respects to Our Indigenous Lands
8 classes
Students will learn of the different Indigenous tribes of the state of Massachusetts (may be adjusted for your state) and how dance impacts their culture. During this unit students will investigate the lands that have been claimed, the people who dwelled on them before colonization, and how they used dance in their daily lives.
Unit 3:Tap, Then and Now
8 classes
Students will explore taps origins, how it was influenced from different cultures, and how it has progressed over the years. Students will explore artists such as Bill, Bojangles Robinson, Shirley Temple, Savion Glover, anc Chloe Arnold. Student projects for this unit will be based on a social media scavenger hunt to see how sites such as TikTok and Instagram have helped to revive the popularity of Tap dance.
Unit 4:Modern Dance, Who are Their Pioneers?
10 classes
Many dancers already know the pioneers of Modern dance: Fuller, Duncan, and Dennis (Dennishawn), as well as the common techniques of the second generation such as Horton, Limon, and Graham, but how did they create their movement quality? In this eight class unit students will compare and contrast the movement qualities of the pioneers of dance with cultural movements that these pioneers may have been able to experience and imitate to create their movement vocabulary. By the end of this unit each student will have a full investigative journal entry based on one pioneering artist and their creative motivations.
Unit 5: Transcultural Blending: When two styles become one
10 classes
Through articles and video analysis students will learn about dance companies such as Contre-Tiempo, Ballet Hispanico, and Hiplet and how they create fusion of multiple dance styles as a representation of themselves. After viewing these companies and reading articles both for and against these melting pot styles of dance, students will work with partners to create their own fusion dance style to present to the class.
Unit 6: Dance as Form of Activism
14 classes
In the final unit of the semester, students will learn how they can use their art to make noise. The first week will explore choreographers of the past who used the stage as a space tonsured their messages and promote important social cause for change. As the unit carries students will learn how protest dance has changed with the growth of social media, videos, and the formation of 'Site Specific' dance. The final project for this class will be based on students working in small groups to create their own short concept video that speaks to a social cause that they believe in. The class will view these videos together and hold discussions during the final classes of the semester.
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To view a sample of the first week's lesson of this unit, please CLICK HERE