Dance
@ PS41
Second Grade
In second grade dance class students review the skills and vocabulary learned in first
grade. Dance technique and choreography development become even more specific.
Through different dance styles (ballet, jazz, modern, tap, African, hip hop, line-dance,
cultural dance), students will build a larger movement vocabulary and repertoire. They
will also begin to connect dance with different cultures by learning social, character, and
cultural dances. Because dance connects to science and the body, students will begin to
learn basic anatomy terminology and how to identify the muscles being stretched and
bones being moved. Students will also choreograph dance sequences by collaborating in
a group. Through a dance game, students will study various dancers and companies
while representing them by performing an iconic movement or dance sequence. Second
grade students receive dance class for half of the school year.
* Drama has also been added to the curriculum this year so that students can experience
theater classes and learn about the 5th grade musical.
Unit 1: Introduction to Second Grade Dance
Skills:
Students will:
• Explore original movement and dance concepts through mirroring, shadowing,
partnering, leading and responding
• Improvise to solve movement problems
• Dance on beats, tempi, accents, and simple rhythms
• Balance on various parts of the body
• Participate and contribute ideas to warm-up, improvisations and technique lessons
• Combine levels, directions and pathways with body actions
• Respect other dancers and the theater space
• Participate in choreography, dance games and stretches
Tiffany Kraus
2014-2015
Books:
The Spider and the Fly, Awful Ogre Poems , Fenwick’s Suit,
Vocabulary:
Balancé
Collapse
Contract
Drag
Energy
Jeté
Extend
Flocking
Formation
Gesture
Isolation
Punch
Pony Step
Tour en l’air
Rounded
Shadow
Skip
Sequence
Sharp
Turnout
Unit 2: History & Choreography
Skills:
Students will:
• Learn the History of Harriet Tubman
• Create dance moves for key moments of her life
• Perform Tubman’s life as a silent dance
• Independently choreograph a part of his/her own history
• Share the choreography with a partner
• Revisit, reflect and revise personal history dance
• Contribute ideas to a River study through dance
Books:
Harriet Tubman’s Biography
Three Days on a River in a Red Canoe
Unit 3: Cultural, Social and Line Dances
Skills:
Students will:
• Be able to demonstrate and perform the “Monster Macarena Dance”
• Learn a basic version of the Tarantella
• Learn square dance sequences
• Know the Electric Slide
• Learn a basic Cotton Eyed Joe
• Learn a basic Irish Jig sequence
• Can identify a four-wall dance
• Demonstrate counting to eight in rhythm
• Choreograph an original 16 count dance changing directions
• Safely partner with anyone in the room
Vocabulary:
Accent
Arch
Asymmetrical
Arm and arm
Clean
Clockwise
Contract
Counter Clockwise
Doe-Si-Doe
Kick Ball- change
Promenade
Reverse
Symmetrical
Triplet
Tiffany Kraus
2014-2015
Tiffany Kraus
2014-2015
Unit 4: Professional Dancers & Companies
Skills:
Students will:
Learn about Alvin Ailey Dance Company
• Read Alvin Ailey and discuss his life
• Observe video of his company and river choreography
• Learn original choreography from revelations
• Observe Michael Flatley in Riverdance
• Identify formation
• Be able to safely get into different formations within a group
• Play the “Curtain Up” Game
Vocabulary:
Curve
Duet
Freestyle
Interpretive Dance
Horizontal
Modern
Parallel
Triangular
Dance Anatomy Vocabulary:
Abdominals
Hamstrings
Biceps
Phalanges
Cranium
Patella
Semi-circle
Solo
Step Dance Trio
Vertical
Triceps
Books:
Alvin Ailey
Martha Graham
Aunt Elaine Does a Dance from Spain
Drama Study
Skills
Students will:
• Understand and perform stage directions
• Respect designated personal space and staging area during activities
• Learn & perform Tongue Twisters using expression and emotion
• Participate in theater and Improvisational games
• Demonstrate respectful audience
• Projecting the voice
• Memorize lines & scenes
• Perform a musical theater number
• Learn about the 5th grade Musical
Tiffany Kraus
2014-2015