Search the California Content Standards

Enduring Understanding: Dance literacy includes deep knowledge and perspectives about societal, cultural, historical, and community contexts.
Essential Question(s): How does knowing about societal, cultural, historical and community experiences expand dance literacy?
Process Component(s): Relate

Performance Standard(s):
Observe a dance and relate the movement to the people or environment in which the dance was created and performed.

Enduring Understanding: As dance is experienced, all personal experiences, knowledge, and contexts are integrated and synthesized to interpret meaning.
Essential Question(s): How does dance deepen our understanding of ourselves, other knowledge, and events around us?
Process Component(s): Synthesize

Performance Standard(s):
a. Describe, create, and/or perform a dance that expresses personal meaning and explain how certain movements express this personal meaning. b. Respond to a dance work using an inquiry-based set of questions. Create movement using ideas from responses and explain how certain movements express a specific idea.

Enduring Understanding: Criteria for evaluating dance vary across genres, styles, and cultures
Essential Question(s): What criteria are used to evaluate dance?
Process Component(s): Critique

Performance Standard(s):
Observe or demonstrate dances from a genre or culture. Discuss movements and other aspects of the dances that make the dances work well and explain why they work. Use simple dance terminology.

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):
Use context cues from movement to identify meaning and intent in a dance using simple dance terminology.

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 movements in a dance that develop a pattern. b. Demonstrate and describe movements in dances from a variety of genres or cultures.

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 suggestions and make choices to change movement from guided improvisation and/or short remembered sequences.

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. Improvise a dance phrase with a beginning, a middle that has a main idea, and a clear end. b. Choose movements that express a main idea or emotion, or follow a musical phrase. Explain reasons for 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. Explore movement inspired by a variety of stimuli (e.g., music/sound, text, objects, images, symbols, observed dance, experiences) and suggest additional sources for movement ideas. b. Combine a variety of movements while manipulating the elements of dance.

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. Experiment with a variety of self-identified stimuli (e.g., music/sound, text, objects, images, notation, observed dance, experiences) for movement. b. Explore a given movement problem. Select and demonstrate a solution.

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. Identify and experiment with choreographic devices to create simple movement patterns and dance structures. b. Develop a dance phrase that expresses and communicates an idea or feeling. Discuss the effect of the movement choices.