Education and Early Childhood Learning

9-DA-M1: The learner develops competencies for using elements of dance in a variety of contexts by doing the following:

• Use movement to demonstrate understandings about the following:
• the body as an instrument of artistic expression (e.g., alignment and control, body parts, shapes, actions)
• spatial concepts (e.g., general and personal space, positive and negative space, body levels and directions, pathways)
• relationships (e.g., between body parts, dancers, groups, objects, audience)
• expressive gestures in various dance contexts (e.g., functional, ritualistic, social, emotional)
• Create varied movement qualities by combining motion factors in dance.
• Use dance vocabulary to identify and describe how and why dance elements are used.

9-DA-M2: The learner develops competencies for using dance techniques in a variety of contexts by doing the following:

• Demonstrate fundamental dance techniques in a range of dance genres and/or styles.
• Perform a variety of genre-specific or style-specific dances.
• Use genre-specific or style-specific dance vocabulary.
• Select, encode, and decode dance and movement in various contexts (e.g., visual and musical cues, invented and/or standard dance notation, digital and graphic representation).
• Apply an understanding of factors necessary to maintain the health and safety of dancers.
• Develop and refine technical proficiency (e.g., coordination, artistry, musicality, focus, control, memory, projection, confidence, precision, strength, balance, alignment, flexibility, endurance, articulation).

9-DA-M3: The learner develops expressive skills and musicality to communicate artistic intent by doing the following:

• Develop and refine the ability to synchronize movement with the flow and structure of music or poetry (e.g., beat, accent, metre, non-metre, rhythm, tempo, phrasing).
• Communicate the expressive qualities of music and music elements (e.g., pitch, texture, harmony, timbre, syncopation, polyrhythm, phrasing, dynamics) through body movements.
• Describe and analyze the formal and expressive qualities of dance music using appropriate vocabulary.

9-DA-CR1: The learner generates ideas for creating dance from a variety of sources by doing the following:

• Draw inspiration from personal experiences and relevant sources (e.g., feelings; memories; imagination; observations; associations; cultural traditions; responses to current events, social, political, historical, and environmental issues; curriculum studies; experiences with dance).
• Explore a wide range of resources and stimuli (e.g., movement, images, sound, music, stories, poetry, artifacts, technology, multimedia, choreographer’s process folio) to ignite ideas and questions.
• Consider other arts disciplines (dramatic arts, media arts, music, visual arts) and other subject areas to inspire ideas.
• Experiment with diverse dance elements, techniques, tools, language, and practices.
• Engage in collaborative idea generation (plus-ing*) as inspiration and fuel for moving ideas forward.

*Plus-ing: In collaborative idea generation, the act of accepting any idea or adding to it.

9-DA-CR2: The learner experiments with, develops, and uses ideas for creating dance by doing the following:

• Remain open to emerging, serendipitous ideas and inspiration.
• Engage in cycles of experimentation and idea generation to consider possibilities and test out and elaborate ideas for the choreographic process.
• Integrate dance elements, techniques, tools, forms, language, and practices.
• Use improvisation skills to find new movement possibilities and develop personal style.
• Define, analyze, and solve creative dance challenges.
• Select, synthesize, and organize promising ideas, motifs, themes, choreographic considerations, expressive gestures, and dance elements to support intention and to give form to creating dance.

9-DA-CR3: The learner revises, refines, and shares dance ideas and creative work by doing the following:

• Select and share dance work in progress for ongoing feedback.
• Analyze, revise, rehearse, and refine in response to critical self-reflection and feedback from others.
• Reconsider and/or confirm choices.
• Collaborate with others to select, program, and stage completed dances with audience, setting, and purpose in mind.
• Finalize and share dance work with communicative intent and audience in mind.
• Apply legal and ethical arts practices (e.g., related to copyright, intellectual property) when consuming, producing, and sharing dance and other arts.

9-DA-C1: The learner develops understandings about people and practices in dance by doing the following:

• Explore a range of dance works, forms, genres, styles, traditions, innovations, and performance practices from various times, places, social groups, and cultures (including First Nations, Métis, and Inuit).
• Investigate contributors to dance from a range of contexts (e.g., dancer, choreographer, advocate, educator, historian, critic).
• Engage with local, Manitoban, and Canadian contributors and contributions to dance (e.g., dance artists, groups, events, community and cultural resources, innovations) to expand learning opportunities.

9-DA-C2: The learner develops understandings about the influence and impact of dance by doing the following:

• Examine ways that dance and dance artists influence personal growth, identity, and relationships with others.
• Examine the impact of context (e.g., personal, social, cultural, political, economic, geographical, environmental, historical, technological) on dance and dance artists.
• Examine how dance and dance artists influence, comment on, question, and challenge social, political, and cultural discourse and identity.
• Explore how dance and dance artists influence and are influenced by other arts disciplines and subject areas.

9-DA-C3: The learner develops understandings about the roles, purposes, and meanings of dance by doing the following:

• Explore how dance and dance artists make and communicate meaning and create unique ways to know self and to perceive the world.
• Examine how dance can be a means of sharing diverse viewpoints and of understanding the perspectives of others.
• Examine ways that dance reflects, interprets, and records traditions, values, beliefs, issues, and events in society and culture.
• Analyze the multiple roles and purposes of dance for individuals and society (e.g., celebration, persuasion, education, commemoration, entertainment, commentary, recreation, communal events, therapy, religious/artistic/cultural expression).
• Investigate leisure and/or career and other lifelong possibilities in dance (e.g., dancer, stage manager, producer, choreographer, dance notation technician, teacher, critic, historian, anthropologist, therapist, volunteer, viewer).

9-DA-R1: The learner generates initial reactions to dance experiences by doing the following:

• Suspend judgment and take time to deeply perceive dance works and experiences before forming opinions, interpretations, and evaluations.
• Make personal connections to previous experiences with dance and other art forms.
• Express first impressions (e.g., thoughts, feelings, intuitions, associations, questions, experiences, memories, stories, connections to other disciplines) evoked by dance works and experiences as a starting point for critical analysis and reflection.

9-DA-R2: The learner critically observes and describes dance experiences by doing the following:

• Discern sensory, formal, stylistic, technical, and expressive dance elements and compositional devices to inform analysis, interpretation, judgment, and evaluation.
• Use dance terminology to create rich, detailed observations (e.g., dance elements, techniques, forms, expressive devices, genres, styles, themes, motifs, costumes, musical accompaniment).
• Build common understandings and consider different noticings about dance works and experiences.

9-DA-R3: The learner analyzes and interprets dance experiences by doing the following:

• Analyze how dance elements function, relate, and are manipulated, organized, and used for artistic and creative purposes.
• Connect analysis evidence with initial reactions and personal associations to form interpretations about meaning and intent.
• Examine a range of interpretations to understand that unique perspectives and lenses (e.g., social, cultural, historical, political, disciplinary) affect interpretation and appreciation.
• Refine ideas and ignite new thinking through listening to others, critical dialogue, questioning, and research.
• Probe, explain, and challenge interpretations, preferences, and assumptions about meaning and quality.
• Generate and co-construct criteria to critically evaluate artistic quality and effectiveness.

9-DA-R4: The learner applies new understandings about dance to construct identity and to act in transformative ways by doing the following:

• Justify own interpretations, decisions, preferences, evaluations, and possible changes in previous thinking.
• Recognize and respect that individuals and groups may have different opinions, interpretations, preferences, and evaluations regarding dance experiences.
• Make informed judgments and choices for independent decision-making, evaluation, and action.
• Formulate ideas, beliefs, and values about dance, and demonstrate an understanding of how they inform a sense of being and agency in the world.
• Apply beliefs and understandings about dance in purposeful, autonomous ways to inform a sense of being and agency in the world.
• Identify ways that dance contributes to personal, social, cultural, and artistic identity.