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Lesson plan for seated dancers

This is an excerpt from Creative Dance for All Ages 3rd Edition With HKPropel Access by Anne Green Gilbert.

Relationship

Ages: 8 to older adults

This lesson is designed for students who have balance and mobility challenges and choose to take class in a chair. Additionally, dancers who prefer to stand and travel can participate fully in this lesson.

Music suggestions are from Music for Creative Dance (MCD), Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Music for the Combining Movements section may be found on the Internet.

Length

60 minutes

Warming Up

BrainDance: Dancers perform the BrainDance seated or standing, focusing on relationship while using a prop. Props could include two small scarves approximately one square foot (.09 square meters), two small squares cut from plastic tablecloth, two cloth napkins, or two sturdy paper napkins.

• Breath—Hold the two props in front of your face and exhale, blowing the prop as though you were blowing out candles on a cake. Inhale, allowing the prop to come to stillness. Repeat, exhaling and inhaling five to six times.
• Tactile—Hold the props in one or both hands. Use the prop like a washcloth patting, dabbing, and brushing all body parts.
• Core–Distal—Hold a prop in each hand. Curl into your core, bringing the props together near your navel, then stretch your limbs apart, reaching the props far from each other. Repeat several times.
• Head–Tail—Hold a prop in each hand. Twist and rotate your spine around. Try to look at the prop behind you to aid in rotation. Bend your spine to one side as your arms hang by your side so one prop touches the floor. Then bend to the other side, switching your gaze to look at the prop touching the floor. Roll your spine forward and down toward the floor so that the props are touching or almost touching the floor, then roll up and lay the props in your lap.
• Upper-Lower—Hold a prop in each hand. Dance with the upper body, imagining painting all the space around you—in front, behind, above, below, and beside the torso. Place the props on the floor. Put each foot on a prop and move the prop on the floor in front, beside, and around.
• Body-Side—Keep the right foot on the prop and hold the other prop in the right hand. Move the limbs on the right side far and near the chair in different directions. Try rotating the right side inward and outward. Reach the right arm above your head then below to touch the prop on the floor. Repeat on the left side without using the prop.
• Cross-Lateral—Step on one of the props with the right foot and hold the other in the left hand. Reach opposing limbs forward and back and out and across. Wiggle them. Then repeat with the left foot and right arm without the prop.
• Vestibular and Eye-Tracking—Hold a prop in each hand, and swirl the props around. Try to follow the props with your eyes until you get slightly dizzy (8-10 counts). Pause and breathe.

Introducing the Concept: Relationship—Over, under, around, through, beside, between, above, below, together, apart, behind, in front, on, off, in, out, across, along, and so on. See the beginning of this chapter for an explanation of relationship.

Exploring the Concept

The teacher verbalizes the couplets, giving time after each word for the dancers to respond with movement. A prop may be added.

Beside, between, above, below,

We can dance fast, we can dance slow.

Around, through, over, under,

We stamp and clap, creating thunder.

On, off, across, apart,

Dancing together makes us smart!

In front, behind, together, around,

We can dance freely, we can dance bound.

Under, over, through, along,

We can dance lightly, we can dance strong.

Around, across, far, and near,

We love to hide, then reappear!

Reflection

Using body parts or your prop, create a relationship that you enjoyed doing.

Developing Skills

Combining Movements: La Raspa from Mexico

This is a seated version. For the standing version, see Brain-Compatible Dance Education, Second Edition (Gilbert, 2019).

Section One: 32 counts

• Alternate tapping heels on the floor: right heel taps forward, switch feet as left heel taps forward, switch feet as right heel taps forward, pause or clap once (2 counts).
• Alternate tapping heels on the floor: left, right, left (6 counts), pause or clap once (2 counts).
• Repeat (16 counts). As you tap the heels, alternate the arms moving forward and back: the left arm reaches forward as the right elbow moves back, and the right heel taps the floor. The arm movements simulate the scraping motions of a rasp. For a less strenuous variation, the feet could step in place and the hands could slide back and forth on the thighs.

Section Two: 32 counts

• Shake invisible maracas above your head (4 counts) and beside your ears (4 counts).
• Shake invisible maracas between your knees (4 counts) and around your waist (4 counts).
• Repeat (16 counts).

Creating

Choreographing

The following couplet inspires a dance illustrating different relationships. The dancers, or a narrator, might recite the couplet slowly as the dance is performed, or the studies could be performed to music. A prop used earlier could be incorporated into the dance. Dancers may work as individuals or in pairs, small groups, or the whole class.

Off, on, out, and in,

We’re far apart and yet a twin.

Suggested Music: MCD, Volume 2, “Caribbean Leaps.”

Cooling Down

Sharing and Evaluating Choreography: The studies are performed, and dancers reflect through voice, movement, drawing, or writing on aspects they appreciated.

Closure: Dancers breathe deeply as relationship vocabulary is reviewed.

More Excerpts From Creative Dance for All Ages 3rd Edition With HKPropel Access

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