Dance Lesson Plans

In this lesson students study introductory history and cultural purposes of selected Japanese dance forms. They analyze the philosophical beliefs, social systems, and movement norms that influence the function and role of Japanese dance in the lives of its people.

Students share dance moves that reflect their personalities or depict how they are feeling, explore popularity of recreational and competitive social dancing by reading and discussing the article "Follow the Flying Feet," present examples of social dancing, research dance forms performed in class, and reflect on which dance styles they like best.

In this lesson learners become familiar with dance steps of colonial dances through pictures.  In this colonial dance step lesson, learners view photographs in a multimedia presentation and describe the dance steps.

In this lesson students celebrate the Chinese New Year and listen to the story behind the Chinese Lion Dance.  In this Chinese New Year lesson, students research the geography and culture of China.  In this lesson students create puppets, dance the Lion Dance and find China on the map. 

Students view video and become familiar with the type of movement in jazz dance.  In this jazz dance lesson, students write a cinquain about jazz dance.  Students recognize the elements of jazz dance and the type of music associated with it.

Students recognize a Ceili as an Irish dance of celebration and investigate Ireland while studying the dance.  In this Irish dance lesson, students search the geography of Ireland, read poetry, identify costumes, draw and perform a dance.

In this lesson students create their own line dance, which must have a minimum of 4 parts, each part goes to a count of 4. They may select parts from the Create a Line Dance cards to use for their dance, or they may create their own parts.

In this lesson 4th graders perform and demonstrate locomotor and non-locomotor movements, while using various dance pathways and levels, incorporating the element of space.

In this lesson students watch a video of a performance choreographed by Paul Taylor. They research the Great Depression and issues facing teenagers today. They create a dance that shows a historic period of the United States.

In this lesson students conduct research on Hawaiian culture, chants, and dances. They watch a video, create an illustrated storybook of the production, conduct research on Hawaiian legends, and create a booklet with suggestions for using the arts to preserve culture.