Nebraska K–6 dance standards

Generate spontaneous movement independently to explore ideas and images (e.g., shadowing and movement imagery).

Create movements that use a variety of dance elements (e.g., verbally cue students to explore a variety of imaginary environments that promote movement exploration and qualities).

Participate in movement invention, improvise with others (e.g., demonstrate the roles of leader and follower or the activity of "give and take").

Collaborate to solve simple movement problems, explore and develop ideas and concepts (e.g., create shapes as a small group, moving as a unit).

Explore locomotor and non-locomotor movement to develop dance technique (e.g., gross motor movements).

Develop body awareness and explore how the body moves through space and time (e.g., stretch, reach, bend, fold, twist, shrink, grow).

Identify examples of audience etiquette that support and enhance the performance experience (e.g., develop guidelines with peers and teacher for expressing opinions about dance).

Explore and discuss how elements of movement are used to communicate ideas in dance (e.g., encourage students to use descriptive words to explore imagery).

Use dance to connect to social events, ideas, and traditions (e.g., list the reasons people dance, sharing personal dance experiences; family events, social gatherings, to express emotions).

Use other arts disciplines to support ideation for dance creation and performance (e.g., understand how music, visual art, media and theatre can be combined with dance).

Explore how health and nutrition enhance dance ability (e.g., discuss how exercise and nutrition make you feel).

Recognize that jobs in dance are possible.

Generate spontaneous movement independently to develop ideas, images, and feelings (e.g., pantomime, communicate an emotion or idea through gestural movement).

Create movement sequences that combine a variety of dance elements and images (e.g., combine multiple ideas or images to create a movement sequence).

Invent a movement sequence with others, improvise to generate movement ideas (e.g., use and understand the importance of cooperation and collaboration – Always say 'yes').

Explore a variety of solutions to movement problems with others to create a movement sequence (e.g., choose and order the movements in a sequence).

Demonstrate whole body movements with flexibility and endurance to develop dance technique (e.g., execute exercises and combinations that build strength, awareness, coordination, control).

Demonstrate ability to move rhythmically, explore levels in space, shift weight, with and without locomotion to perform dance (e.g., plié, triplet, gallop, battement, three-point turn, grapevine, lunge, balance).

Demonstrate spatial qualities and pathways including curved, straight, and zig-zag pathways; move at levels from low to middle to high; leap, roll, and combine to a variety of rhythms (e.g., plié, triplet, gallop, battement, three-point turn, grapevine, lunge, balance).

Demonstrate appropriate behaviors and etiquette to observe and perform dance (e.g., create a set of agreed-upon criteria to evaluate dance with teacher and peers).

Develop and discuss how elements of movement are used to communicate ideas in dance (e.g., encourage students to use deliberate words to explore imagery).

Use dance to discover social events, ideas, and traditions from a local context (e.g., investigate how dance reflects culture).

Identify how other academic disciplines support and enhance ideation and understanding for dance creation and performance (e.g., combine dance with other academic disciplines relating to coursework).

Identify how health and nutrition enhance dance ability (e.g., recognize that some foods and activities are more healthful than others).

Identify a variety of dance-related careers.

Generate spontaneous and exaggerated movement independently to construct ideas, images, feelings, and experiences (e.g., use a memory or personal narrative (glossary) to create a short movement phrase).

Create and compare multiple movement phrases that use a variety of dance elements and simple choreographic structures (e.g., deconstruct movement to explore choreographic structures).

Invent movement sequences with others, improvise to generate movement ideas that develop from a variety of prompts and sources (e.g., incorporate various ideas to combine and layer movement elements).

Manipulate movement ideas and choose from a variety of solutions to movement problems to establish a simple movement study with others (e.g., collaborate with peers to set formations and spatial patterns for a group work using learned movement material).

Execute body movements with flexibility, endurance, strength, and accuracy to develop dance technique (e.g., execute movement in a variety of dance forms with accuracy).

Move in varied rhythms, explore spatial orientations, and connect a series of dance moves with differing intentions as dictated by style, genre, or other influences (e.g., use rhythm, space, weight, flow to respond to various influences).

Implement technical skills from a variety of dance forms (e.g., modern, ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop) after viewing a performance.

Use appropriate behaviors and etiquette to observe, create, and perform dance movements (e.g., reflect upon personal criteria to evaluate dance, and share in class discussion).

Identify the impact of performance values of clarity, concentration, focus, and projection on dance performance (e.g., collaborate with peers for group work using learned movement materials).

Recognize how self-assessment can be used to refine dance performance (e.g., maintain a dance journal, use research, resources, notation, peer assessments, and self-reflections).

Explain and interpret how elements of movement and choreographic structures are used to communicate ideas in dance (e.g., encourage students to analyze movements in order to explore imagery and give perception).

Recognize and discuss the use of dance elements and choreographic forms and structures in a variety of dance compositions (e.g., view live or recorded dance performance and discuss, compare, and contrast).

Use dance to understand concepts in U.S. history and relate them to significant events, ideas, and traditions from a national context (e.g., investigate what role dance played in U.S. history).

Analyze how other arts and academic disciplines are integrated into dance creation and performance (e.g., recognize who, what, when, where, why, and how it connects to other disciplines when creating dance pieces).

Understand how dance has the ability to enhance physical and emotional health (e.g., recognize shifting moods and the ways dance can help explore and move through them).

Investigate a variety of dance-related professions and the necessary training.