Workshop 4: Aboriginal and African Dance

Topic: African Dance
Context: Who- VELS level 4 Grade 5/6 When- Beginning of topic Where- Inside (dance room) What- African Dance Why- To learn how to dance according to difference cultures
Theme: ·         The elements that will be explore and manipulate are relationships, space and body ·         Body movements and physical skills such as jumping, stomping, sliding, moving of hand gestures, etc. ·         Body actions will be moving to the beat of the music and repetition will be used. ·         Students will be exploring different movements to the beat and learning a simple African dance.
Learning outcomes – the children will be able to…. Cognitive (Intellectual/artistic): Create some of their own African movements Psychomotor (Thinking/Physical):Students must be aware of safety aspects of dancing with those around them, students must remember and practice order and execution of the dance. Affective (Emotional/Social/Cultural): Students will gain an understanding of and experience the culture and practice of African dance.
Assessment I will be observing and continuously attending to individual and groups of students assisting them.I will assess students by recording performance on video. Students at Level 4 students ‘dance to address the Arts standards, students individually and in groups, improvise and compose dance sequences using ideas about past and future times, different environments and cultural contexts. They learn dances representative of different cultural groups.’ (VCAA, 2009)
WHAT - content	HOW – strategies and approaches
Warm up – Kinesthetic tune-up Students move around the space and follow movements of the teacher such as stomping lifting legs high and low, using hand gestures, high and low levels of movement etc.  Listen to African music and move to the beat. Get some students to come up with some moves for everyone to follow along to that move with the beat.	Management of children in the space safely Teacher will be facing majority of the students at a time, walking around to all students in groups and individually. No props will be used and the lesson will be conducted in a clear space with any hazards removed. Make sure students aren’t standing too close together Establishing rules and expectations of behaviour Teacher will state the signal to stop and listen at the beginning of the class Students will be told they are expected to behave sensibly and respectfully of each other and the teacher Consequences will be communicated and followed through eg. 3 warnings and time out Safe dance practice of physical skills? I will need to check student’s technique of movements in the dance (ankles, back) Aesthetic Awareness How will you develop their movement/character response? African music Discussion about African dancing and for what purpose in their culture at the end Showing videos of African dancing Feedback to children about their movement response Explicit modeling of movements and skills References Delouafrica, 2011, ‘Delou Africa, Inc. – Education Outreach Programs: Children Learn West African Dance 'Funga'< http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=effY71ss7As> Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2009, Background to VELS: The Arts Domain, State Government of Victoria <http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/arts/background.html>
Development  - Exploration Teach the class the West African Welcome Dance, 'Funga' (Delouafrica , 2011) movements slowly and collectively put the movements together. Through intervals, practice with the music. Get students to practice this dance in groups. And create improvisational creative movements of their own to showcase at the start of the dance.
Culminating Dance  - Perform the dance together as a whole class. Split the class in half and get one half to perform while the other watches then switch over again.
Discussion – Memory integration -          Their physical skills? How would you describe our movements? What parts of your body did you use the most? What kinds of movements make an African dance different to any other dance? -          Their safety skills? What did we need to do to make sure we didn’t hurt ourselves? What parts of our bodies did we need to make sure we were using properly the most? Which movements in particular? -          Creative skills Why did you choose those specific moves for the freestyle section? From the movements we danced and music you heard, what thoughts do you have about African people and their culture?
Closure Watch the original video clip of the dance and perhaps some other African dancing videos you can find on YouTube.