Purpose
The expression of ideas and emotions is an innate human activity. Ranging from a continuum of simple gestures to complex movements, dance utilizes the human body as its form of expression. Just as a writer manipulates letters, words, sentences, and paragraphs to organize ideas, the dancer works with time, space, shape, movement and energy to achieve the same goal; expression of self.
Engaging students in understanding and experiencing the language of dance is important to individual development. Body awareness and kinesthetic learning experienced through dance provides students with knowledge about themselves and the world around them that cannot be understood through intellectual pursuits alone. Dance aids the fulfillment of the entire person: physically, intellectually, and emotionally.
Dance education, as described in this framework, requires teachers and students to use a problem-solving approach to learning. Methodologically, students are challenged to use their knowledge of dance concepts to provide solutions to movement problems. This method of presentation promotes dance content as a vehicle for experiencing, practicing and applying the processes needed to think creatively and critically. For example, students in grade six may be asked to create a movement sequence that begins in a closed group shape, extends slowly across the room, has sixteen counts of high energy, individual movement, and concludes with the group exiting the space in the same direction. Here, observing and collecting data, forming and testing hypothesizes, drawing conclusions and posing questions become part of the learning environment. Furthermore, participation in the creative process facilitates students' discoveries of their own movement potential, fosters the development of their individual ideas and their capacity to respect the expressions of others, and provides opportunities for collaboration.
The eight curriculum standards that comprise the dance framework guide educators in providing New Hampshire students with personal and active experiences as dancers, choreographers, and audience members. The Proficiency Standards progress from a creative movement base to refined dance technique, reflecting the many forms, styles, and genres of dance. Throughout the framework, students are asked to create, perform and respond to dance in different settings and methods. The standards outline sequential skills in dance performance and choreography, and connect dance with healthful living. The framework in dance supports an understanding of the important cultural, social, and artistic roles that dance plays in this and other societies. The standards prepare students for adult lives in which they will view dance as a means of individual expression and personal fulfillment.
Curriculum Standard 1 |
Identify and demonstrate movement elements and skills in performing dance. |
End of Grade 4 |
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End of Grade 8 |
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End of Grade 12 |
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Demonstrate axial movement
Demonstrate the eight basic locomotor movements of walk, run, hop, jump, leap, skip, gallop, slide, while moving forward, backward, sideward, diagonally and turning.
Create shapes at low, middle, and high levels.
Demonstrate the ability to define and maintain personal space.
Demonstrate movements in straight and curved pathways.
Demonstrate accuracy in moving to a musical beat and responding to changes in tempo.
Demonstrate concentration, focus and kinesthetic awareness (a sense of movement internalized by the muscles), in performing movement skills.
Observe and describe the action and movement elements of space, time, and energy, in a brief movement study. |
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Demonstrate the following movement skills and explain the underlying principles: alignment, balance, initiation of movement, articulation of isolated body parts, weight shift, elevation and landing, fall and recovery.
Identify and demonstrate basic dance steps, positions, and patterns for dance from various styles.
Transfer a spatial pattern from the visual to the kinesthetic.
Transfer a rhythmic pattern from the aural to the kinesthetic.
Identify and demonstrate a range of dynamics or movement qualities.
Demonstrate increasing concentration, focus and kinesthetic awareness in performing movement skills.
Reproduce movement phrases of varying length, dynamic qualities, and technical skill.
Analyze action and movement elements observed in a dance. |
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Refine appropriate body alignment, body-part articulation, strength, flexibility, agility, and coordination in locomotor and axial movements.
Identify and demonstrate longer and more complex movement.
Demonstrate rhythmic acuity.
Improve performance of movement and technical skills by using a broad dynamic range.
Additional Proficiency Standards Gr. 9-12
Improve dance technique through self-evaluation and correction.
Demonstrate a high level of consistency and reliability in performing technical skills. |
Return to Standards
Curriculum Standard 2 |
Identify choreographic principles. |
End of Grade 4 |
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End of Grade 8 |
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End of Grade 12 |
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Create a sequence with a beginning, middle, and end, both with and without a rhythmic accompaniment and identify each part of the sequence.
Improvise, create and perform movements based on their own ideas and ideas from other sources.
Use improvisation to discover and invent movement and to solve movement problems.
Create a dance phrase, accurately repeat it, and then vary it.
Demonstrate the ability to work effectively alone and with a partner or in a small group.
Demonstrate the following partner skills: copying, mirroring, leading and following. |
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Demonstrate symmetrical and asymmetrical design elements alone, with a partner, or with a group.
Create contrasting and complimentary shapes, giving and taking of weight and developing relationships in near and far space with a partner or a group.
Demonstrate varying structures and forms of composition, such as: AB, ABA, canon, call and response, and narrative.
Use improvisation to build movement vocabulary.
Demonstrate the processes of reordering and chance in structuring movement sequences.
Use cooperative learning skills in a small group during the choreographic process.
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Use improvisation to generate movement for choreography.
Explore choreographic structure by creating a movement phrase that can be rearranged according to various compositional forms;
Create a movement study focusing on dynamic change and transitions;
Create a movement study for two or more dancers;
Describe how a choreographer developed and organized the basic movement content in a particular dance.
Additional Proficiency Standards Grades 9-12
Demonstrate further development and refinement of the proficient achievement standards to create a small group dance with coherence and aesthetic unity.
Create a movement study focusing on dance phrases that use complex rhythmic and musical elements. |
Curriculum Standard 3 |
Recognize dance as a way to create and communicate meaning. |
End of Grade 4 |
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End of Grade 8 |
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End of Grade 12 |
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Observe and discuss how dance is different than other forms of human movement.
Discuss interpretations of and reactions to a dance.
Present their own dances to peers and discuss their meanings.
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Compare and contrast the difference between pantomiming and abstracting gesture.
Analyze how different accompaniment, such as sound, music, or spoken text, can affect the meaning of a dance.
Demonstrate how lighting, costuming, and setting can contribute to the meaning of a dance.
Create a dance that communicates a topic of personal significance.
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Discuss and evaluate how movement choices communicate ideas in dance.
Examine ways that a dance conveys various meanings from a variety of perspectives.
Analyze and discuss a performer's ability to communicate meaning to an audience.
Additional Proficiency Standards Grades 9-12
Compare and contrast how meaning is communicated in two of their own choreographic works.
Create and/or critique a dance that explores a contemporary social theme, analyzing how the work accomplishes or does not accomplish its intentions.
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Curriculum Standard 4 |
Apply and demonstrate critical and creative thinking skills in dance. |
End of Grade 4 |
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End of Grade 8 |
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End of Grade 12 |
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Explore multiple solutions to a given movement problem; choose their favorite solution and analyze the reasons for that choice.
Observe two dances and discuss how they are similar and different in terms of the basic components used to create a dance. |
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Create a movement problem and demonstrate multiple solutions; choose the most interesting solution and discuss the reasons for the choice.
Demonstrate appropriate audience behavior in watching dance performances; discuss their opinions about the dances with their peers in a supportive and constructive way.
Compare and contrast two dance compositions in terms of space, time and force/energy.
Identify possible aesthetic criteria for evaluating dance. |
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Create a dance and revise it over time, articulating the reasons for their artistic decisions, considering what was lost and gained by those decisions.
Establish a set of aesthetic criteria and apply it in evaluating their own choreography and that of others.
Analyze issues of ethnicity, gender, social/economic class, age, and/or physical condition in relation dance.
Additional Proficiency Standards Grades 9-12
Analyze the style of a choreographer or cultural dance form; identify characteristics of the style or dance form which make it distinctive from other styles and dance forms; then create a movement study in that style. |
Return to Standards
Curriculum Standard 5 |
Recognize and demonstrate dance in various cultures and historical periods. |
End of Grade 4 |
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End of Grade 8 |
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End of Grade 12 |
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Perform folk dances from various cultures and communities within New Hampshire.
Learn and share a dance from a resource in their own community; describe the cultural and/or historical context.
Examine dance from a particular culture and time period.
Identify ways that dance has been a continuous part of the history of human culture. |
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Understand the evolution of classical dance forms from various cultures, such as ballet, East Indian or flamenco, and perform basic movement in one form.
Understand the evolution of twentieth century American social and theatrical dance, such as the Charleston, the Lindy, tap, jazz and modern and perform basic movements.
Learn folk and social dances from a variety of cultures or time periods, utilizing resources from the community.
Identify the role of dance in different cultures or time periods. |
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Perform or discuss the traditions and techniques of a classical dance form.
Perform and describe similarities and differences among a broad spectrum of folk, social, and/or theatrical dances or dance forms from the 20th century.
Perform or discuss the traditions and techniques of folk forms, such as Morris dance, Irish step dance or American Hopi Indian dance, placing each in an historical or cultural context.
Additional Proficiency Standards Grades 9-12
Compare the role and significance of dance and dancers in North America with other cultures, considering the historical period and social/political contexts. |
Curriculum Standard 6 |
Make connections between dance and healthful living. |
End of Grade 4 |
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End of Grade 8 |
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End of Grade 12 |
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Identify personal wellness goals and how aspects of dance can be used to meet those goals.
Explain how healthy practices, such as nutrition and safety, enhance their ability to dance. |
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Identify personal goals and how aspects of dance can be used to meet these goals; identify steps they are taking to reach their goals.
Explain strategies to prevent dance injuries.
Create their own warm-up movements; discuss how that warm-up prepares the body and mind for expressive purposes.
Know that people use a variety of movement therapies, such as occupational therapy and Feldenkrais, and movement forms, such as Tai Chi and yoga, to improve their health and well being. |
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Reflect upon their own progress and personal growth during their study of dance; examine how fluency in dance can support success and confidence in other areas.
Communicate how lifestyle choices, such as smoking, drug use or diet, affect the dancer.
Analyze and discuss historical and cultural images of the body and compare these images to presentation of the body in contemporary media.
Additional Proficiency Standards Grades 9-12
Analyze challenges facing professional performers in maintaining healthy lifestyles. |
Curriculum Standard 7 |
Make connections between dance and other disciplines. |
End of Grade 4 |
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End of Grade 8 |
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End of Grade 12 |
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Create a dance project that reveals understanding of a concept or idea from another discipline, such as pattern in dance and science.
Respond to a dance using another arts discipline.
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Identify a project that reveals similarities between two arts disciplines.
Observe the same dance both live and recorded on video; compare the aesthetic impact of the two observations. |
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Create a project the reveals similarities between dance and other disciplines.
Explore/discuss how other forms of communication, such as, visual art, spoken word, music or video can enhance or alter the ideas conveyed in a dance, drawing on examples from their own dances and those of others.
Create an interdisciplinary project based on a theme identified by the student.
Additional Proficiency Standards Grades 9-12
Compare choreographic works to other artwork from the same culture and time period.
Create a project using media technologies, such as video and computers, that present dance in a new or enhanced form. |
Curriculum Standard 8 |
Identify the range of careers in the field of dance. |
End of Grade 4 |
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End of Grade 8 |
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End of Grade 12 |
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Describe the ways in which participation in dance enhances everyday life.
Analyze how creating dance events takes the efforts of people with many different skills.
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Describe the value and significance of dance in everyday life.
Describe a variety of performance, production, and related careers in dance.
Identify the range of opportunities for individual skills to be used in local dance productions.
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Describe ways in which dance influences everyday life.
Create an extensive list of dance-related careers.
Identify and discuss a variety of employment and financial opportunities for people who choose a career in dance.
Discuss how skills developed in dance are applicable to a variety of life skills.
Additional Proficiency Standards Grades 9-12
Compose a list of questions to identify specific skills and knowledge needed to enter a particular dance-related career and seek answers from a variety of community sources |
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