Students include both process and product documentation as well as reflections of learning. The portfolio could take the form of a website, slidedeck, interactive PDF and more.

With the onset of the global Covid-19 pandemic, dancers and choreographers found themselves confined to their homes and unable to meet and work together in common spaces. Creative solutions for dance rehearsal and performance were developed over the months of quarantine as dance companies found ways for their members to collaborate in the virtual world. Dancers rehearsed at home and recorded their performances. Choreographers created and directed from afar, instead of in-person. These adjustments resulted in innovative solutions such as the use of the split-screen, remixing digital work, or the layering of video performances into one final product.

The teacher can direct a short class performance of a dance of local, state, or national significance. The performance is recorded then sent to a similar class in another community, state, or part of the world. The exchange school will send a performance back. When students receive the recording from the other class, they can respond to what they “see, think, and wonder” about the work they have viewed.

Video clips of dance fundamentals covered in class allow students to pause, repeat, and access content on demand as needed for review, remediation, make-up work, and/or enrichment.

This document contains a sample list of fine arts careers by discipline, links and resources for exploring fine arts careers, and resources for workbased learning in fine arts courses.

A study of how the element of space is used in dance for fourth and fifth grade students.  Students will explore how the dancer’s orientation and relationship to the space can be varied to create interest in choreography.

In this lesson unit, students will explore how dance can function as a courtship ritual to strengthen ties in a community. Students will observe, learn and practice dances from different time periods and examine how community and culture are reflected in the movements they learn. 

Students will explore how styles of dance are influenced by culture. They will learn simple movement phrases from the Pavane, an English court dance, and Alingo Lingo, a Mexican Folk Dance.

This unit plan contains seven lessons taking students through activities related to elements of dance skills and vocabulary.

These dance activities are designed to increase student willingness to participate in dance and reduce their reluctance to dance. They are lead-up activities that can precede a dance unit, and can be used at the start of a new course.

Students will review in brief Native American history and elements of traditional Native American dance. Students will identify elements of traditional Native American culture and formal Modern/Contemporary dance aesthetics as they blend in Native Modern Dance, also referred to as Indigenous Contemporary Dance. This lesson is part two of a three-unit series designed to scaffold with each other. If the teacher wishes to provide the complete multi-unit lesson, please see lessons titled:Part 1: Learning about Native American Culture through DancePart 2: Primitivism and Identity in Early Modern Dance

Developing the skill to map a musical selection will aid in the choreography of that piece. There are a variety of ways to structure this map that will allow for time efficient and productive choreography. The instructional plan can be used in its entirety, or just the warm up or group music map and choreography.

Students will explore aspects of Native American history and identify essential elements of traditional Native American dance. Students will identify aesthetic and cultural elements of traditional Native American dance through readings and embodied learning.

Dancers will explore their environment seeking rhythms to inspire movement improvisation in this tap dancing lesson.

In this lesson, students will explore how two strong dancers create original choreography to express themselves and to share their cultural backgrounds. Students will compare and contrast two performances to determine how personality and culture can be reflected in movement.  They will create short movement phrases to express some aspect of their own personality strength.

In this lesson, Kindergarten students will begin to explore the art form of dance as a means of expression to communicate feelings and ideas similar to the way spoken and written language are used.  They will observe young children dancing and interpret the possible meanings of these performances.

Students will learn how to analyze dance using the basic elements of dance. Students will learn the importance of recognizing bias in critique, and practice reviewing a dance performance, live or recorded, by answering a series of questions and reframing their answers into sentences that critique the show.

This resource is intended to be used by educators, school, and division leadership to evaluate instructional materials for quality. When lesson plans, unit plans, and other instructional activities are from outside sources, division staff and educators may use and adapt these key features to evaluate the materials. In addition, these key features can be used as a guide for locally developed instructional materials that support the curriculum. 

In this session, VDOE Reading Specialist Carmen Kurek shares how to effectively implement and connect to literacy strategies in the elementary resource classroom.