DANCE DRAMA LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE

Topic: Site Specific Dance

Context: Year 5, Class of 20 students, To understand connection between the body and nature.
Theme:
Shape, Space and Locomotor transitions
GLEFTS
All students will be apart
Performance structure and design is extended and arrangement using cannons, unison and constrast are
present
Learning outcomes
Students will cognitively understand their body and the movements that they can make. They will be able to use
their psychomotor thinking to link their surrounding environment to dance and be able to work in teams to create
performances appropriate to the topic of site specific dance. Culturally they will discuss about the rightful owners of
their surrounding land.
Assessment
In levels 5 of the dance and drama curriculum "students mirror the movements of a partner and then perform the
same movements expressing contrasting emotions and students role-play situations and events, sustaining
role/character throughout their group or solo performance" (AusVELS, 2015).
"Plan, rehearse and deliver presentations for defined audiences and purposes incorporating accurate and
sequenced content and multimodal elements" (ACELY1700, AusVELS, English, Level 5, 2015).
"Working in different teams, students are provided with opportunities to complete tasks of varying length and
complexity. In doing so, they learn to identify the characteristics of members in effective teams and to develop
descriptions for particular roles such as leader, recorder and participant. Students contribute to the development of
and use criteria for evaluating their own and the teams effectiveness in team work" (Interpersonal Development,
AusVELS, Level 5, 2015).
"Students participate in activities in which they identify problems that need to be solved. They use a range of
techniques to represent the problem and, working individually and with others, develop a range of creative solutions
and explore the advantages of generating unconventional rather than conventional solutions. They begin to develop
criteria to select and prioritise possible solutions" (Thinking Processes, AusVELS, Level 5, 2015).
Based on the stimuli students are given they could pose scientific questions and seek answers to these questions.
"With guidance, pose questions to clarify practical problems or inform a scientific investigation, and predict what the
findings of an investigation might be" (ACSIS231, AusVELS, Science, Level 5, 2015).
Students could also be presented with questions that they need to answer based on stimuli they have used in
dances. "With guidance, plan appropriate investigation methods to answer questions or solve problems"
(ACSIS086, AusVELS, Science, Level 5, 2015).

WHAT - content

HOW strategies and approaches

Warm up Kinesthetic tune-up

COMPLETE THE GUIDELINES FOR EACH ACTIVITY

Introduction of the concept/theme

Students are promoted with a discussion about nature
and their environment around them. Look at different
areas of where they live and what makes them unique.
Talk about the school land and acknowledge who were
the rightful owners of that land.

10mins
Students will be on the floor in the space sitting with
their legs crossed. Teacher instructing and discussing
in front of the group
Hands up to answer, no talking when other people are

Exploring and developing ideas (creating & making)

Too grasp an understanding of movement in the outside
world, students brainstorm what things move in nature
and how do they do that. Eg plants move in the wind, so
there is a force.

10 mins
Students will be on the floor in the space sitting with
their legs crossed. Teacher instructing and discussing
in front of the group. Writing students brain storm
answer on whiteboard.
Hands up to answer, no talking when other people are

Practicing their voice, physical (technique) and social

skills
In partners students will pick an element in nature eg a
plant or a tree and pretend to be it, while the other person
is the force that moves it eg wind. Students need to act
out and move around the space like these two elements of
nature.

10mins
Students move around the whole space working in
pairs. Each will have their own area of the space.
Teacher is roaming the room never having their back
turned to students (outside perimeter of space).
Students listen to instructions then are free to design
and speak to their partner when creating.
Monitor that students are wearing correct clothing and
using techniques that wont injure them.
If students are struggling, show ideas through dance
instruction and visual imagery.

Development - Exploration

15mins
Students move around an outside space working in
pairs. Each will have their own area of the space.
Teacher is roaming the area never having their back
turned to students (outside perimeter of space).
Students listen to instructions then are free to design
and speak to their partner when creating.
Monitor that students are wearing correct clothing and
using techniques that wont injure them.
If students are struggling, show ideas through dance
instruction and visual imagery.
Discuss what ISARE is and how they can use this time
to effectively create their movement pieces. This is the
students rehearsal time.

Practicing their physical and social skills. (How can you

challenge them further?)
Students will then gather outside and with their partner
find their nature element eg a leaf off a plant. They now
need to talk about how is looks and refine their personal
movement skills to create an improvisation of that
particular thing. ISARE is important here as students need
to not only improvise but select, arrange, refine and
evaluate their duet and their movement process.

Culminating Dance/Play - Presentation

Students will now use the previous skills learnt to act out
a nature story. It will be a whole group performance that
is broken down into their own small duets. It will create
and follow the narrator (teacher) and students acting out
scenes from nature through dance. This could be done a
little bit like David Attenborough style.

15mins
Students are in a selected area of the space which will
be their duets performance mini area.
Teacher is taking on the role of the narrator and is
roaming the area while she moves near each pair.
Students listen to instructions then the performance
starts with the narrator speaking.
Students are waiting silently for their pairs turn and
then all students will move to the center of the room for

Introduction (beginning)
Narrator talks about life and nature and how it is all
around us. We first see group one, group two and group
three act and dance out their nature elements while the
narrator interprets their movements.

the final ending.

Monitor that students are wearing correct clothing and
using techniques that wont injure them.
Monitor students performance and group skills for
assessment.

Development (middle)
Sequentially groups four, five and six follows after in the
same manner as the previous students. The previous
students remain where they are in the space until the
nature story comes to the ending.
Resolution (ending)
Groups seven, eight and nine perform their nature dance
and the duets come to an end. The narrator then brings
each element of nature into a circle in the middle of the
space to finish the performance.

Discussion Memory integration

How did you find this activity?
How was working in pairs?
Did you like how the story followed along so everyone
was included?
What could you have done better?
Did we all create movements that described and showed
the audience what element of nature you were?
Was this task safe for everyone?

Closure

Students will be prompted to answer questions while

being seated on the floor in front of the teacher

On floor in circle following teacher

Final class stretches to be done with students siting in a

circle following the teachers lead
Lecturer in Primary Arts Education (Dance/Drama): Jacqui Dreessens
jacqui.dreessens@deakin.edu.au
Tel: (03) 5227 2231 ext: 72231