High School Arts: Dance for Literature & Film
Cheree R. Knight
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In writing this curriculum unit, I hope to provide both an exciting and challenging format for the teachers of the dance arts on the high school level. I’ll begin with myself, the author. I am currently teaching at the Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School. My students study ballet, modern, jazz, and African techniques/dance. I have found in my experience that although students can fairly easily grasp instruction on how to move their bodies in various ways, they have difficulty understanding dance interpretation. It is vital for students of dance to have an understanding of theatrical interpretation, musicality, and character conception in addition to the physical potentials/skills. This was the reasoning behind my choosing “Film and Literature” as my focus of study with the Teachers Institute. My intention is to provide an alternative and/or additional route to teaching the art of dance. There are six variations of possible lesson plans within this unit. All six combine dance composition with dance class—this is because I believe the two go hand-in-hand. Depending on the teacher, the variations may be taught as semester or marking period projects, or expanded into yearly projects. You may find the latter to be more of a challenge for the students because it involves preparation and performance for dance productions, as opposed to the mini-performances.
