DANCE - Viewing and Responding to Dance

Along with creating and performing, the Australian Curriculum details viewing and responding to dance as an essential element of arts education. By watching dancers at work, children will gain an appreciation for both the physical and emotional elements involved in dance, as well as developing an understanding of the language of dance. It is also important to expose children to the scope of dance genres and sub-genres used today. As Schiller & Meiners state:

To know what a dance is, the learner has to see it. In ‘seeing’ it, there is also a

response to the dance by taking pleasure in the visual design, the costumes,

the rhythmic patterning and the observed skills of the dancers.

(Schiller & Meiners, 2012, p. 101)

As an educator choosing how children view dances, a few options must be considered:

• What are my learning intentions for the children?

• What genre or culture of dance would best fit these learning intentions?

• Will the viewing be of a live performance, or a pre-recorded video?

During a particular lecture with Linda Knight, we were shown YouTube clips of dances based on the traditional dance of various cultures. As with Sound Infusion (see Music – Sound Infusion (Cultural Infusion)), this can be a very effective and engaging way of introducing children to different cultures. Dances may also be chosen based on genre or style, such as hip hop, ballet, contemporary, ballroom, or broadway. This would be particularly effective if certain children have shown interest in one genre of dance.

Once children have viewed a dance, they must then be supported to respond in increasingly knowledgeable ways. This is where the role of the teacher really comes in! When discussing dance with children, it is important to use correct terminology, and to reflect on the elements of dance (time, space, relationships, dynamics). This will help to build children’s dance literacy, and support them to create their own dances. First and foremost though, children’s emotional reactions to the dance must be discussed and considered. How did the dance make them feel? What did it remind them of? Did they want to dance along with it? These emotions in children will build their passion for dance, and encourage them to actively pursue further dance experiences in the future.

Key curriculum links:

Australian Curriculum: The Arts (Dance)

• ACADAR004 – respond to dance and consider where and why people dance, starting with dances from Australia including dances of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples

Early Years Learning Framework

• Outcome 5.2 – Children engage with a range of texts and gain meaning from these texts

• Outcome 5.4 – Children begin to understand how symbols and pattern systems work

Ballet Dancer (2009)

Greek dancing at Paniyiri (2015)