Search the California Content Standards

Enduring Understanding: The elements of dance, dance structures, and choreographic devices serve as both a foundation and a departure point for choreographers.
Essential Question(s): What influences choice-making in creating choreography?
Process Component(s): Plan

Performance Standard(s):
a. Manipulate or modify choreographic devices to expand movement possibilities and create a variety of movement patterns and structures. Discuss movement choices. b. Develop a dance study that expresses and communicates a main idea. Discuss the reasons and effectiveness of the movement choices.

Enduring Understanding: Choreographers use a variety of sources as inspiration and transform concepts and ideas into movement for artistic expression.
Essential Question(s): Where do choreographers get ideas for dances?
Process Component(s): Explore

Performance Standard(s):
a. Identify ideas for choreography generated from a variety of stimuli (e.g., music/sound, text, objects, images, notation, observed dance, experiences). b. Develop a movement problem and manipulate the elements of dance as tools to find a solution.

Enduring Understanding: Choreographers use a variety of sources as inspiration and transform concepts and ideas into movement for artistic expression.
Essential Question(s): Where do choreographers get ideas for dances?
Process Component(s): Explore

Performance Standard(s):
a. Build content for choreography using several stimuli (e.g., music/sound, text, objects, images, notation, observed dance, experiences, literary forms, natural phenomena, current news, social events). b. Construct and solve multiple movement problems to develop choreographic content.

Enduring Understanding: The elements of dance, dance structures, and choreographic devices serve as both a foundation and a departure point for choreographers.
Essential Question(s): What influences choice-making in creating choreography?
Process Component(s): Plan

Performance Standard(s):
a. Manipulate or modify a variety of choreographic devices to expand choreographic possibilities and develop a main idea. Explain reasons for movement choices. b. Develop a dance study by selecting a specific movement vocabulary to communicate a main idea. Discuss how the dance communicates nonverbally.

Enduring Understanding: Choreographers analyze, evaluate, refine, and document their work to communicate meaning
Essential Question(s): How do choreographers use self-reflection, feedback from others, and documentation to improve the quality of their work?
Process Component(s): Revise

Performance Standard(s):
Explore through movement the feedback from others to expand choreographic possibilities for a short dance study that communicates artistic intent. Explain and document the movement choices and refinements.

Enduring Understanding: Space, time, and energy are basic elements of dance.
Essential Question(s): How do dancers work with space, time and energy to communicate artistic expression?
Process Component(s): Express

Performance Standard(s):
a. Integrate static and dynamic shapes as well as floor and air pathways into dance sequences. Establish relationships with other dancers with intentionality and focus. Convert inward focus to outward focus. b. Respond in movement to even and uneven rhythm in both metric and kinesthetic phrasing. Recognize and respond to tempo changes as they occur in dance and music. c. Contrast bound and free flowing movements. Initiate movements from a variety of points of the body. Analyze the relationship between initiation and energy.

Enduring Understanding: Dancers use the mind-body connection and develop the body as an instrument for artistry and artistic expression.
Essential Question(s): What must a dancer do to prepare the mind and body for artistic expression?
Process Component(s): Embody

Performance Standard(s):
a. Recall and execute a series of dance phrases using technical dance skills (e.g., alignment, coordination, balance, core support, clarity of movement). b. Demonstrate safe body-use practices during technical exercises and movement combinations. Discuss how these practices, along with healthful eating habits, promote strength, flexibility, endurance and injury prevention. c. Collaborate with peer ensemble members to repeat sequences, synchronize actions, and refine spatial relationships to improve performance quality. Apply feedback from others to establish personal performance goals.

Enduring Understanding: Dance performance is an interaction between performer, production elements, and audience that heightens and amplifies artistic expression.
Essential Question(s): How does a dancer heighten artistry in a public performance?
Process Component(s): Present

Performance Standard(s):
a. Demonstrate the ability to adapt dance to alternative performance venues by modifying spacing and movements to the performance space. b. Identify, explore, and select production elements that heighten and intensify the artistic intent of a dance and are adaptable for various performance spaces.

Enduring Understanding: Dance is perceived and analyzed to comprehend its meaning.
Essential Question(s): How is a dance understood?
Process Component(s): Analyze

Performance Standard(s):
a. Find meaning or artistic intent from the patterns of movement in a dance work. b. Describe, using basic dance terminology, the qualities and characteristics of style used in a dance from one’s own cultural movement practice. Compare them to the qualities and characteristics of style found in a different dance genre, style, or cultural movement practice.

Enduring Understanding: Dance is interpreted by considering intent, meaning, and artistic expression as communicated through the use of the body, elements of dance, dance technique, dance structure, and context.
Essential Question(s): How is dance interpreted?
Process Component(s): Interpret

Performance Standard(s):
Interpret meaning in a dance based on its movements. Explain how the movements communicate the main idea of the dance using basic dance terminology.