DANCE LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE

Topic: Indigenous Art and Dance

Context:
Who: Grade 6
When: After Lunch Session
Where: In hall
What: Using Art as inspiration for dance movement creation
Why: To expand student knowledge of Indigenous art and dance
Theme:
Elements of Movement Explored:
Time - Accent (intensity applied to movements on music accent), Speed (slow and fast movement), Stillness
between movements
Space Directions (upwards, downwards, forwards, backwards, sideways, circular, diagonal), Level (low,
medium and high), Shape of body is angular or curved
Energy Percussive (quick, jerky, angular movements strong and bound), depending on movements
created by students whether they will be of a swinging, suspended, vibratory, sustained or collapsing nature
Dance Design Explored:
Expressive Intention Literal (Theme being art), Non Literal (exploring movement quality and observation)
Movement Vocabulary Body Actions (gesture, locomotion, elevation, falling, turning and stillness),
Technical and Physical Skills (balance, coordination, muscular control, stamina, strength and transference
of weight), Genre/Styles (Indigenous Aboriginal Dancing)
I will endeavor to be inclusive of all abilities by providing activities that allow children to express their ideas and
feelings through their own movement interpretations. All students will also be delegated into groups of their choosing
to encourage active participation and engagement by whole class.
For the first half of the session students will only be focusing on unison between one another as that is the nature of
the activities. The concluding group activity allows for students to explore contrast and canon if they feel they are
confident in executing it into their performance.
Learning outcomes the children will be able.
To learn about Indigenous dance through basic movements and art
To explore the meaning and features of Indigenous art through dance
To create their own dance phrase influenced by Indigenous art and dance using elements of movement and
movement vocabulary
To work in pairs and as a small group
Assessment
Observing their engagement in activities and with their group
How movements created are related to given artwork
Whether Shake-A-Leg and Feet Stamping are used in dance work
How dance movements are adapted using elements of movement, body actions and physical skills
Movements are performed in a safe manner (use of space between group members and nature of
movements such as are they doing forward rolls on the floor? Etc.)
Dance Curriculum Levels 5 and 6 (Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority 2016)
Explore movement possibilities and choreographic devices using safe dance practice, the elements of
dance to create movement ideas, sequences and phrases (VCADAE029)
Develop technical and expressive skills in fundamental movements and body actions and use
choreographic devices to create dance sequences (VCADAD030)

WHAT - content

HOW strategies and approaches

Warm up Kinesthetic tune-up

Class discussion of Indigenous dance

Class Discussion will be 2mins and fairly brief. All

children will sit in a group on the floor and teacher will
be up the front.
All students should be listening and when they want to
contribute, their hand needs to be put up in the air.
Questions during discussion will be: has anyone seen
an Indigenous dance performed before? Where? Do
you remember some of the movements or what the
expressive intention of the dance was? Can you show
us a demonstration? What was the dance group
called? Do you know why they were dancing? How?

Video of real life examples of Shake-A-Leg and

Foot Stamping Movements
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb0uGGpfBIw
(Aboriginal Dances: Shake-A-Leg vs. Feet
Stamping 2012)

Video will take 8mins to watch. Children will sit in a

group on the floor with the teacher at the back
monitoring student behavior. No student should be
talking. They all should be listening and engaging with
video.

Children copying Shake-A-Leg and Foot

Stamping Movements from Video. Teacher will
first do movement and then proceed to let
students have a couple of minutes to practice it.

Activity will take 5mins and will be brief. Students will

stand anywhere in the room at a safe distance from
each other and objects. Teacher will be up the front
demonstrating move accompanied by verbal
instructions. Students will move when instructed and
stop when teacher pronounces. Children should try
complete movements with minimal talking.
Teacher will be checking whether head is looking up or
at feet, if there is a bend in the knees and the pupils
control of torso.

Development - Exploration

Students use Shake-A-Leg and Foot Stamping

movements from video to move around the room.
Adaptation of movements is encouraged such as
changing level, direction etc. and is explained and
demonstrated prior to commencement of activity.
Indigenous music is played in the background
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1pDPuetPdg
(Australian Aborigines Australian Aboriginal
Music Australia 2013)

Activity length should be 5mins. The space provided

for students to move in would be determined by the
size of the hall. The space should provide enough
room for pupils to move around without hitting one
another. Teacher will move around in the space and
monitor all student contribution.
Students will be told that they can only move when the
music is playing, but must freeze when music stops to
listen to further instructions.
The teacher should be aware of the students
placement of the knees, locomotive patterns and the
way they use the space, either alone or close to peers.
Educators should also check the space for hazards
prior to student use to reduce the risk of injury. Teacher
also should raise awareness with the pupils about
looking out for other peers whilst moving in the space
to also reduce the risk of injury of running into each
other.
Throughout the activity or at the conclusion, the

educator should endeavor to highlight good examples

of some of the pupils movements accompanied by a
demonstration. Could also have a short discussion of
the elements of movement used.

Next activity is similar to above except instead of

the movement coming from a video, students use
an Indigenous art work to influence and create
movement around the room for example, if there
are swirls in the painting I could turn around in
circles. Again adaptation of elements of the
movement should be encouraged. The
Indigenous music will also be playing in the
background again.

Activity length should be 5mins. The space provided

for students to move in would be determined by the
size of the hall. The space should provide enough
room for pupils to move around without hitting one
another. Teacher will move around in the space and
monitor all student contribution.
Students will be told that they can only move when the
music is playing, but must freeze when music stops to
listen to further instructions.
The teacher should be aware of the students
placement of the knees, locomotive patterns and the
way they use the space, either alone or close to peers.
Teacher should raise awareness with the pupils about
looking out for other peers whilst moving in the space
to also reduce the risk of injury of running into each
other.
Throughout the activity or at the conclusion, the
educator should endeavor to highlight good examples
of some of the pupils movements accompanied by a
demonstration. Could have a short discussion of the
elements of movement used.

Activity is similar to the previous except instead of

completing the activity singular, students will get
into pairs (or threes depending on class number)
with one student nominated as leader and the
other/s follower/s. Leader does movements from
artwork around room whilst the follower/s copies.
When music stops, roles are reversed to provide
all students an equal opportunity at being the
leader. Indigenous music will be played in the
background. The activity provides students with
the opportunity to experience new movement
from peers that they can adapt to their own and
keep for future reference.

Activity length should be 5mins. The space provided

for students to move in would be determined by the
size of the hall. The space should provide enough
room for pupils to move around without hitting one
another. Teacher will move around in the space and
monitor all student contribution.
Students will be told that they can only move when the
music is playing, but must freeze when music stops to
listen to further instructions.
The teacher should be aware of the students
placement of the knees, locomotive patterns and the
way they use the space to interact or ignore other
partners. Teacher should raise awareness with the
pupils about looking out for other peers whilst moving
in the space to also reduce the risk of injury of running
into each other.
At conclusion discussion can occur where pupils can
demonstrate and describe a movement they liked
which their partner created.

Culminating Dance/Play - Presentation

The same pairs from the previous activity join

together with another pair to create a group of
four (or five depending on class numbers). Each
group is given an artwork and a small description
of what the painting represents. Together students

Rehearsal time should be 15mins with performance

time 5mins. Each group will be given a section of the
hall to work in so groups are not disruptive to one
another and they are all provided with an equal amount
of space to rehearse to prevent students from hitting or

have to create a small dance work that is

influenced by the artworks features and
description. Each pupil has to contribute two
movements which are all joint together to create
the dance work. The Shake-A-Leg and Foot
Stamping movements have to be included as
well. Indigenous music will be played in the
background. Two groups at a time will perform
their dance works to the class. This strategy helps
with shy students in the class as it diverts some of
the focus away from their group to the other group
performing.

Discussion Memory integration

Once each group is done performing, teacher asks
questions to audience about what they observed:
What were some of the physical skills you saw?
How do you know? Can you show us an
example? If teacher saw a physical skill which the
students havent mentioned, can add it to the
discussion.
What were some examples of body actions you
saw? How do you know? Can you show us an
example? If teacher saw a physical skill which the
students havent mentioned, can add it to the
discussion.
What were some examples of elements of
movement you saw? How do you know? Can you
show us an example? If teacher saw a physical
skill which the students havent mentioned, can
add it to the discussion.
Was the Shake-a-Leg and Foot Stamping
movements used in their performance? Were they
used in a way to express their intention or was it
put in because it was a requirement? How do you
know?
Did the group perform in a safe or unsafe
manner? Can anyone explain and/or demonstrate
how the group performed in a safe or unsafe
manner? What could they have done to increase
safety if they were using unsafe practices?
Can anyone guess what the groups expressive
intention was? How did you know? Can anyone
match the groups movements to the artwork by

running into each other by accident. Teacher will be

roaming the hall, monitoring student behaviour,
participation and providing assistance when required.
Students will be provided with 15mins of uninterrupted
rehearsal time unless a question is asked of a student
that the educator deems to be relevant to all class. If
teacher speaks to whole group, students are expected
to listen quietly.
The teacher should be aware of the students
placement of the knees, locomotive patterns and the
way they use the space to interact with one another.
Teacher should raise awareness with the pupils about
looking out for other peers whilst moving in the space
to reduce the risk of injury of running into each other.
Educators should go to every group to check in on their
progress. Why, How and Who? questions should be
asked to students to prompt deeper thinking and new
ideas. Teachers can also provide feedback to students
of what they liked and could do to enhance movement
intentions through verbal description, physical
demonstration or by asking students to imagine
examples in their heads.

Discussion should be 2mins each group (in total being

5 to 8mins), being very brief. Audience should be
sitting quietly and contributing when required.
Performers should be standing in dance space and
listening to feedback. Teacher sits in a chair next to the
audience to monitor student behaviour.
Teacher should be asking questions relevant to the
performance, listening to student responses and if
relevant, getting students to explain their answers
through demonstration and linking their reason to the
expressive intention of performance as this
demonstrates the pupils understanding of dance
terminology which they can link to the theme.

showing us examples? At end of discussion group

explains their expressive intention and can use
demonstrations if required.
Ask audience to provide any suggestions of
movements or patterns group could have done to
express their intention in a different way. Pupils
can show small demonstration.

Closure

A video is played of a man performing a kangaroo

dance. Pupils can either use movements learnt in
the lesson or movements from the video to move
around the room as a kangaroo. Video is played
in the background. Activity is just for fun and for
the children to relax whilst still engaging with the
Indigenous theme.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b-vI3Nf50g
(Kangaroo Dance 2012)

Activity will be 5mins. The space provided for students

to move in would be determined by the size of the hall.
The space should provide enough room for pupils to
move around without hitting one another. Teacher will
move around in the space and monitor all student
contribution.
There will be no interruptions whilst the video is played
as the activity is just for fun at the end of the session.
Teacher moves around the room monitoring student
behaviour.
Teacher should prior to commencement of activity,
raise awareness with the pupils about looking out for
other peers whilst moving in the space to reduce the
risk of injury of running into each other.
Prior to beginning activity educator should raise
awareness to the children of how the man in the video
moves his body to represent the movements of a
kangaroo and how they should attempt to resemble
that also.

Jacqui Dreessens, Lecturer in Primary Dance education

Reference List
Aboriginal Dances: Shake-A-Leg vs. Feet Stamping 2012, YouTube, Charles Sagigi, 28 December,
retrieved 26 April 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb0uGGpfBIw
Australian Aborigines Australian Aboriginal Music Australia 2013, YouTube, Nakharii, 27
November, retrieved 26 th April 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1pDPuetPdg
Kangaroo Dance 2012, YouTube, fintonm, 11 May, retrieved 26 April 2016,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b-vI3Nf50g
Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority 2016, 'Victorian Curriculum: Foundation-10', retrieved
25 March 2016, http://victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au/