Digital @ The Arts Unit Creative Classes – Disco dancing

Digital @ The Arts Unit Creative Classes

Disco dancing

Creating dance with a disco-inspired theme

Student dance resource developed by The Arts Unit

Kindergarten to Year 6 dance

What will I learn?

Today we are heading to the disco for some 1970s-inspired dancing fun!

You will be learning from choreographer Virginia Ferris. She likes to be called Gin. A choreographer is a person who creates dance.

You will:

learn movement sequences to create a dance
develop locomotor and non-locomotor movement skills, disco-style shapes and expressive qualities
explore the elements of dance to vary movement sequences
perform dance sequences to music.

Welcome to the class

Duration: 00:31

Video full screen - Welcome to the class
Video transcript – Welcome to the class

Before you begin

Set up your dance space so you have lots of room to move and dance safely.

Make sure there is nothing on the floor to get in your way.

If you are dancing with others, make sure you have enough room so you don't run into each other.

Warm up

Are you ready to have some fun?

Before we dance, we always warm up to get our heart pumping and our bodies ready for action.

Watch the video and join in with Gin as she gets us warmed up.

Warm-up

Duration: 03:12

Video full screen - Warm-up
Video transcript – Warm-up

2. Get inspired!

Let’s get inspired for disco dancing!

Watch this video of John Travolta dancing in Saturday Night Fever. This movie was a 1970s hit that created many classic disco moves.

Look at the groovy dance moves, disco shapes and expressive qualities as he performs his dance.

Which dance shapes did you like the most?

Pose in your 4 favourite disco dance shapes from the video.

Make sure you remember your poses, as you will use these in the disco dance you are about to learn!

John Travolta – You Should be Dancing

Duration: 02:25

3. Learn

Now it’s time to head to the disco!

Are you ready to learn some fun disco moves?

Watch the video and join in with Gin as she teaches us the movements.

Be sure to listen to Gin's instructions as she will give you great tips and ideas to allow you to make each move your own.

You can also look at the images below to help you.

Learning the movements

Duration: 03:17

Video full screen - Learning the movements
Video transcript – Learning the movements

Big John (as in Travolta)

Big John pose – 1 arm up finger pointing, 1 arm down finger pointing

Little John

Roly-poly arms

Roly-poly pose – arms roll in front of body

Cool dude – comb the hair

Comb hair (cool dude) pose – run a pretend comb through hair

Spin around the disco ball

Spin – turn around pointing at pretend mirror ball in the air

Disco pose

4. Develop and explore

Now let's combine the movements and try doing them all together. This is called a movement sequence.

Watch the video and copy Gin as she takes us through the actions.

Putting it together

Duration: 01:47

Video full screen - Putting it together
Video transcript – Putting it together

Fantastic! You are a great dancer. Are you ready to dance it out?

Dance it out

Duration: 01:34

Video full screen - Dance it out
Video transcript – Dance it out

Schools Spectacular Finale 2014

School Spectacular, Photo: Anna Warr

Watch the video as Gin explains how the same movement sequence can be changed by adding other variations to our movements.

Adding elements

Duration: 00:58

Video full screen - Adding elements
Video transcript – Adding elements

You could:

face a partner – do your movements facing a partner. You could mirror each other
use travelling sequences – you could do a groovy walk, skip, boogie or travel in your wheelchair. Change direction or make a conga formation (follow the leader)
use levels – use different levels such as high or low to make your poses and movements
change tempo – move in slow motion or at a very fast speed
change shape sizes – make movements bigger or smaller
use emotions – use facial expressions to explore emotions as you dance.