Poem Dances
Two adaptable dance lessons for levels 1–8
by Pip Bayley, Dance Adviser to Schools, Massey University College of Education
Click on the following links to jump to the individual lessons:
Exploring space and energy
The following poem and the associated movement activities can be adapted to suit students from level 1 to level 8.
Student’s introduction
Dance the words in this poem and feel how the energy of the room changes.
Exploring space and energy
Shake the space
Jab the space
Push the space
Poke the space
Shatter the space
Tickle the space
Slash the space
Press the space
Swat the space
Dodge the space
Strike, shove, and squeeze the space
Caress, mooch, and mould the space
FREEZE in space.
Teacher’s guide
Use this activity to:
- physically warm and focus students for dance activity
- increase students’ dance and language vocabulary
- encourage students to develop their own ways of moving
- develop student confidence in exploring movement and sharing the general dance space safely
- practically explore action words through movement using a variety of energy levels and movement qualities.
Variation: Create your own class or group poems by replacing the action words with other action words.
Printing this lesson
To download and print this unit plan, select from Word or PDF formats:
- Exploring space and energy (Word, 27kb)
- Exploring space and energy (PDF, 12kb)
Shaping
This poem and the related learning activities could be used as a simple physical warm-up or developed into a larger unit of work. The activities can be adapted to suit students from level 1 to level 8.
Student’s introduction
Have fun moving this poem
Shaping
Stand in neutral
Stretch slowly into a shape
Curl into another
Now POP into a shape
Swing into another
Slash into a shape
Melt slowly into another
Spin into a shape
Jump into another
Slink into neutral
And relax.
Teacher’s guide
Learning activities using this poem may include:
- asking the students to use different body parts, levels, size, or direction for each line of the poem
- substituting selected words of the poem with other actions or qualities, such as ‘collapse’, ‘rise’, ‘breathe’, ‘pounce’, ‘shimmer’
- exploring various ways of presenting the poem, such as:
- as a pair activity
- in small groups
- two large groups (halve class) – moving on alternate lines of poem
- moving from individual to group and back to individual
- putting movement sequences developed from the poem to music
- developing movement sequences from the poem and exploring various ways of structuring this movement material
- performing actions or sequences as a canon, using call and response
- adding a prop, sound effect(s) and/or body percussion to the movement sequences
- sequencing and rehearsing movements or sequences as a continuous piece of dance work, for example setting the work to an appropriate piece of music (with no stopping between lines) and then performing the dance work for others in the class
- performing the dance sequences developed from the poem in a different, confined, or unusual space
- asking students to write their own poems, then create, rehearse, and perform their own poetic movement sequences.
Printing this lesson
To download and print this unit plan, select from Word or PDF formats: