Safe dance practice

Students investigate safe dance practice, developing knowledge, understanding and skill in both theoretical and practical forms.

Students will explore warm up and cool down, stretching, alignment, body awareness, body capabilities and limitations, and the causes, prevention and treatment of injury. Students will explore a PowerPoint presentation, literacy and research tasks and practical workshops within safe dance practice.

Outcomes

  • 4.1.1 demonstrates an understanding of safe dance practice and appropriate dance technique in the performance of combinations, sequences and dances.
  • 4.1.2 demonstrates aspects of the elements of dance in dance performance.
  • 4.1.3 demonstrates an understanding of aspects of performance quality through the performance of locomotor and non-locomotor combinations, sequences and dances.
  • 5.1.1 demonstrates an understanding of safe dance practice and appropriate dance technique with increasing skull and complexity in the performance of combinations, sequences and dances.
  • 5.1.2 demonstrates enhanced dance technique by manipulating aspects of the elements of dance.
  • 5.1.3 demonstrates an understanding and application of aspects of performance quality and interpretation through performance.

Duration

10 weeks.

Driving question

What is the importance of safe dance practice?

Content

Students will explore safe dance practice through appreciation tasks in the Safe dance practice presentation (PPTX 10.42 MB) and coinciding practical tasks based around correct dance technique. The connection of theory to practical work will further engage students, creating deeper understanding within safe dance practice.

Process Diary

Students are to:

  • document the process through practical classes in a process diary. This should be a journal, exploring reflections of each practical lesson or element within safe dance practice. This can be their class workbooks, a dance process diary, or an online blog through sites such as Class Notebook or Google classroom.
  • investigate safe dance practice through a literacy lens, embedding discussions, summarising and TEEEC paragraphing in written form. These processes used follow literacy structures, language forms and features, as seen in the DoE text type support document.

Assessment

All activities require students to demonstrate their learning and are all formative assessment activities.

Teaching and learning activities

Students are to work both individually and as a group through discussion-based activities throughout this unit, investigating safe dance practice, in written and practical forms. The Safe dance practice poster (PDF 1.9 MB) can be displayed in your classroom when completing this sequence.

Suggested student learning activities include:

  • practical workshops throughout the entire sequence, linking the theoretical components to the practical;
  • practical contemporary classes exploring:
  • warm up
  • stretching
  • strengthening exercises in the centre including core, arms and legs
  • technique exercises including turning combinations, kicking combinations and jumping combinations
  • locomotor exercises travelling across the room exploring correct technique
  • development of contemporary routine throughout lessons, exploring performance quality and the elements of dance
  • cool down
  • reflections on practical lessons in process diaries
  • discussion and literacy strategies around safe dance practice elements;
  • TEEEC structuring to form sophisticated paragraphing, working with the TEEEC scaffold (PDF 4.3 MB) research and investigate safe dance practice through the activities below.

Working through the Safe dance practice presentation (PPTX 10.4 MB), students will:

  • summarise the information on slides 1-4
  • complete the activity below
    • slide 4 - brainstorm a list of warm-ups that have not been previously mentioned and write in their books
  • design a poster stating the 10 most important reasons for warming up.

Working through the Safe dance practice presentation, students will:

  • summarise the information on slides 5-6
  • complete the activity below
  • use the internet to research 5 alternative cool-downs
  • develop a cool down exercise in pairs and teach it to the class.

Working through the Safe dance practice presentation, students will:

  • summarise the information on slides 7-10
  • complete the activities below
    • slide 8 - test how long they can balance on rise and note the times in their process diary. They will test each of the areas below
      • two feet
      • right foot
      • left foot
    • slide 9 - complete the body awareness tests below
      • How long can you hold the plank position for? How long can you hold a side plank for?
      • Right side:
      • Left side:
      • How long can you balance for on both feet with your eyes closed?
      • How well can you touch your toes standing? Hands in line with: Knee, Shin or Toes.
      • How well can you touch your toes sitting? Hands in line with: Knee, Shin or Toes.
      • How long can you hold a V-Sit for?
      • How long can you do a wall-sit for?
      • Can you do the right leg splits?
    • slide 10 - complete the body awareness tests below
      • Can you do the left leg splits?
      • Can you do the middle splits?
      • How many push ups on your knees can you do without stopping?
      • How many push ups on your feet can you do without stopping?
      • How many times can you rotate between a plank extended on your arms, changing to your elbows, and back up to your arms? Each change is worth 1 rep. Count the reps:
      • How many dips can you do?
      • How many burpees can you do in 1 minute?
    • write a reflection in their process diary, in a TEEEC structure, on their capabilities and limitations.

Working through the Safe dance practice presentation, students will:

  • summarise the information on slides 11-15
  • research and discuss the reason for stretching. Write a definition in their process diary
  • research the various definitions of flexibility
  • complete the activities below
    • slide 12 - list the types of static stretches they do in dance classes
    • slide 13 - list the dynamic stretches they do in dance classes
    • slide 14 - list the proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) stretches they do in dance classes
  • physically perform examples of each stretch.

Working through the Safe dance practice presentation, students will:

  • summarise the information on slides 16-18
  • slide 16 - choosing of the 10 most important words and create their own sentences
  • slide 18 - analyse their posture in pairs, checking the correct levels and write a reflections in their process diary.

Working through the Safe dance practice presentation, students will:

  • summarise the information on slides 19-27
  • write definitions for
  • trapezius
  • latissimus dorsi
  • pectoralis major
  • biceps
  • triceps
  • rectus abdominis
  • transverse abdominis
  • internal and external oblique
  • gluteus maximus
  • medius and minimus
  • quadriceps
  • hamstrings
  • gastrocnemius.
  • Slide 27 - write a stretching and strengthening program to build and develop these muscles
  • work in pairs or small groups to develop a stretch for each of the muscles explored.

Working through the Safe dance practice presentation, students will:

  • summarise the information on slide 28
  • explore factors including temperature, floor construction and floor surface, and how they could impact a dancer
  • write a TEEEC paragraph on the importance of environmental factors.

Working through the Safe dance practice presentation, students will:

  • summarise the information on slides 29-35
  • explore the following causes of injury
    • inadequate warm up
    • lack of specific warm up
    • poor pre-season conditioning
    • scheduling of classes
    • rehearsals and performances
    • improper performance of technique
    • haematoma
    • muscle and tendon strain
    • ligament sprains and tears
    • tendonitis
    • stress fracture
    • bursitis
    • and development of muscle imbalances
  • discuss and investigate other causes of injury
  • research one of the injuries above in further detail and present a report to the class.

When structuring the lessons work through the above sections across the entire unit. Couple these appreciation lessons with practical lessons exploring a contemporary style and exercises as stated above.

Students are to:

  • demonstrate knowledge and understanding of safe dance practice
  • explore performance opportunities within a contemporary style, building their understanding and skill within safe dance practice.

Differentiation

Extension

Students could:

  • select an existing story with a theme
  • develop a rationale on how it would be explored through each of the choreographic forms
  • explore how variation and contrast would be explored in each section
  • write an analysis on which form would be the most successful for their intent and why
  • answer the driving question in their process diary.

Life skills

Outcomes

  • LS 2.1 explores the elements of dance to create movement and communicate ideas
  • LS 2.2 explores, selects and sequences movement to express feelings and ideas.

Students could:

  • select a story or intent and create 2-3 gestures to describe the movement
  • repeat this for another section within the story, creating new gestures
  • perform these motif movements to their class.

Evaluate

Feedback is formative for the duration of the unit.

This sequence and accompanying worksheets are available as word documents below:

Syllabus

Please note:

Syllabus outcomes and content descriptors from Dance 7–10 Syllabus (2003) © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2017.

Category:

  • Dance 7-10
  • Stage 4
  • Stage 5
  • Unit

Business Unit:

  • Educational Standards
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