Digital @ The Arts Unit Creative Teachers
Improvisation for primary students
Teacher dance resource developed by The Arts Unit
Improvisation for primary students
There are many ways in which movement improvisation can be made interesting and attractive for primary school students in dance.
Here are some examples that can be adapted for younger students.
find and use tasks that you can present as games (adapt known games!)
using objects can often help. Hoops, elastic, poles, material, etc. can all help.
partner work where person A has control over person B seems to release creativity!
integration with other subject areas (including using dance improvisation to teach aspects of other subjects) can work very well.
The use of improvisation to explore a concept/intention and the subsequent repetition and refining of discovered movement is a great way to create remembered phrases/sequences.
Develop movement tasks where participants have the opportunity to select, repeat, refine and remember movements discovered via improvisation.
Movement improvisation guidelines
Teachers may find the following useful behaviours to encourage students when they improvise movement:
focus and concentration. The Golden Rule. Without these there's no worthwhile improvisation.
play. Improvisation is about playing with ideas and movements. Use your imagination - push the boundaries - challenge the status quo - ask yourself: "I wonder what would happen if..."
openness and flexibility. Arrive "open" that is "flexibly poised for change" - you don't know what will happen and that's exciting.
use others. Unless the exercise specifically precludes it, use other dancers whenever you wish. Other people can be a huge source of ideas.
don't block - go with the moment. Blocking is saying "no" - it usually is attention seeking, negative, diverting, undermining and counter-productive. instead, say "yes" and see what happens.
don't think - do! Don't plan, be spontaneous, concentrate wholly on the now, on what you are doing. Don't listen to the voice in your head telling you what to do.
no failure. In improvisation there's no right or wrong, so you can take risks and be vulnerable because you're safe!
push yourself. This means teasing out a movement problem until you can go no further - squeezing the last drop out of an idea.
role play. It may be useful to think of movement improvisation as a from of role-play so: don't talk unless talking is a required part of the exercise. Solve the problem with your body not your voice. Don't say "hello" to your fellow dancers. We know you know them but right now you are in an improvisation class not the playground. Remember the motto - serious fun! You need to take the exercise seriously, accept the task, and so what is asked - but, working your way towards a solution should be fun!
Basic movement experiences
Body action
It is possible to categorise all movement under one or more of the following:
gesture
step
jump
turn
locomotion
Body shape
The body can also be still which can lead to a consideration of body shapes. There are various ways of categorising shape including:
1, 2, 3 dimensions
angular/curved
symmetrical/asymmetrical
Body part
The whole body can move or a specific part can move:
head
arms
legs
torso
Where
Where does the movement take place? There are 2 space:
personal space
general space.
Personal space
Also known as the kinesphere or personal space. It is as if the body is inside a cube.
There are 2 main aspects of the kinesphere:
size
direction
General space
The space you are in: usually a room.
There are 3 main aspects to general space:
level
pathway
place
How
(For example: press, flick, punch, float, wring, dab, slash, glide).
How is energy applied to the movement? What is the quality of the movement?
This is referred to as either effort or dynamics.
The answers to the following questions give rise to these eight effort actions:
do I give way to or resist; gravity, inertia, external force?
do I select a long or short period of time to complete the movement?
do I choose an indulgent or restrictive quality using space?
With
With what or whom do I move?
As soon as you add another person (or more) to these movement experiences many other possibilities emerge, frequently centered upon:
copying
complementing
contrasting.
Third-party content attributions
Creative Arts K-6 Syllabus, © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2006, copied under s113P, accessed 9 October 2021.