Sports Dance

If focusing on Year 8, you could use the activities outlined below to build on units of work such as ‘What is Dance?’ or ‘Exploring the Six Dance Actions’. Alternatively, you could use them as stand alone two or three week activities in a school Olympic and Paralympic Celebration Event. You could use the final dance in the opening ceremony for Sports Day or as a piece for an Olympic and Paralympic-themed assembly or event in your school.

Activity

Lesson 1

Introduce the topic of dance by discussing your pupils’ own dance experiences. Explore the topic further by asking ‘What is dance?’ and having them suggest different types of dance.

Explain to your pupils that every dance consists of six main actions:

• travel;
• step;
• jump;
• turn;
• gesture; and
• stillness.

Warm up

Give your pupils the Examples of Dance Actions information sheet. Take each type of action in turn and demonstrate a move, for example:

Turn: step and turn

Ask the whole class to perform this example. Ask your pupils to find as many other ways as possible to turn safely on different parts of the body. They can do this individually or in pairs. Continue in the same way with each action until the pupils have experimented with all six dance actions.

Development

Pairs Number Task

Arrange the class into pairs and ask them to stand opposite each other. Each pair takes turns to count out loud alternately from one to five. Ask them to repeat this, but instead of counting a number replace it with a dance action:

• 1 = travel (including step movements)
• 2 = turn
• 3 = jump
• 4 = gesture
• 5 = stillness

Ask the pairs to practise and perform their one to five dance actions one after the other to make a phrase of movement. They should think about:

• the direction they are travelling in; and
• timing and how long will they perform each action: 1 - 8 beats or 2 - 8 beats?

Peer Teaching Task

Form the pairs into groups of four. Each pair must teach the other pair their phrase of movement.

Group Task

Reorder the numbers, for example 3, 1, 5, 2, 4. The group must create a new phrase of movement with dance actions corresponding to the new order of numbers. The group must include examples of dance actions that they have not previously used. Let the class practise without music at first and then practise to a suitable piece of music. Ask the groups to refine their phrases and then perform all three phrases to music.

Encourage pupils’ observation and evaluation skills by asking them to choose one group to watch and to consider the following:

• Did the pupils you were watching include all of the six dance actions? If not, which ones did they include/not include?
• Which dance action did they perform well?
• What did you like about their performance and how might they improve it?

Lesson 2

Discuss the variety and diversity of sports included in the Olympic and Paralympic Games in particular the 42 sports that will be featured in the 2016 Olympics. For more information on these go to the Rio 2106 website.

Recap the six dance actions and explain to your pupils that they are going to use these actions to create a dance based on the theme of the Olympic and Paralympic sports.

To introduce the activity you could use the number task from the previous lesson. Throw a dice and ask pupils to perform the action indicated by the number.

Choose a sport from the list of Olympic and Paralympic sports and use the six dance actions to create a movement sequence that represents that sport. Ask your pupils to learn this phrase and practise it to any piece of music with a lively beat.

Development

Print the Olympic and Paralympic Sports Cards and cut them out. Ask each pair of pupils to choose one. Each pair must then create their own movement sequence, representing that sport, using the six dance actions. Encourage the pupils to think about:

• using travelling movements and gestures that represent that sport;
• the direction they travel in; and
• timing: how long they will perform each movement within their sequence and how they will perform at the same time as their partner.

Ask your pupils to perform the teacher-led sequence followed by the sequence they have created.

Ask half the class to perform, while the other half observes and evaluates the performances. Repeat with the other half performing and first group now observing and evaluating the performances. Encourage pupils’ observation and evaluation skills: ask them to choose one pair to watch and to consider the following:

• can you identify the sport being represented by the pair you are watching?
• did the pair you were watching include all six dance actions?
• if not, which ones did they include/not include?

Additional Activities

Jigsaw

Divide the class into groups of four or five. These are the pupils’ home groups.

Ask each group to select an Olympic and/or Paralympic Sports Card and then create their own movement sequence to represent that sport, using the six dance actions. As in previous lessons, encourage your pupils to think about direction and timing.

Set the pupils a deadline by which they must all have learned the sequence and be able to perform it to music.

Once each home group has created, practised and learned their dance sequence, pupils should number themselves 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in their respective home groups. Reorganise the class so that all the number ones are now working together, all number twos are working together and so on.

Each pupil must now teach their own sports dance sequence (created in their home group) to their new group. Each new group must learn and perform each of the sports dance sequences one after the other to create a whole dance, showcasing a variety of sports from the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Ask two or three groups to perform at a time. If the class is more confident you could encourage individual group performances.

Encourage pupil observation and evaluation skills. Ask your pupils to choose one group to watch and try to identify the sports in the order they are being performed.