Arts and culture
Grade 4
Creating, interpreting and performing
Module 24
Dance: the ball dance
The ball dance, cooling down and stretching
Activity 1
To use props in creating dance: the ball dance [lo 1.2]
After the warm-up, you can now begin to demonstrate the movement of the whole body. There are five basic body activities:
- travel (moving from one place to another);
- turn (to move around an axis);
- elevation (to move to a higher level);
- gesture (motion of the hands, head or body to express or emphasise an idea or emotion);
- weight transference (to change body weight from one point to another);
- keep these principles in mind when conducting the next exercise.
Homework
- Bring a ball to the class.
- Experiment at home with different movements which you can create by using a ball.
- Select a piece of music to accompany your dance – look for songs with “ball”, “bounce”, “jump”, etc. in them.
Helpful hints for creating your dance:
- hold the ball in both hands;
- walk, run, travel, turn, jump with the ball;
- lift and lower the ball on different levels (high, middle, low) while moving;
- combine arm movements with the ball, with the travelling movements;
- hold the ball in one hand while executing movements;
- throw and catch the ball while moving;
- place the ball on the floor and move around it;
- put your foot on the ball;
- select movements from your experimentation exercise and put them together to create a short dance with the ball sequence;
- be creative! – try to think of interesting movements to do with your ball and dance movements;
- practise and perform your dance for the rest of the class.
Activity 2
To cool down and stretch the body after executing the exercises [lo 1.1]
It is important that you stretch your muscles after the exercise If you do not stretch after the class, you will feel stiff and sore the next day.
Breathing exercise:
- Stand with feet a hip-width apart, arms hanging at the sides.
- Inhale through the nose, raising arms above the head.
- Exhale through the mouth, dropping arms and bending knees at the same time.
- Repeat 4 times.
Neck stretch:
- Raise right arm straight up, put arm over head, touch the left side of the head.
- Slowly pull the head to the right towards the shoulder and drop the left shoulder.
- Repeat on left side.
Arm stretch: take the right arm across the chest and with the left hand slowly pull arm towards the body – repeat on left side.
Back stretch: bend knees, knees and feet facing forwards – lean forwards and place hands on knees – contract back upwards (like a cat) and release – repeat four times.
Body stretch:
- Stand with feet a hip-width apart – knees slightly bent – arms hanging down at the sides.
- Reach up towards the ceiling with your arms – stretching your body upwards.
- Stand on your toes while stretching upwards towards the ceiling.
- Release to crouching position in a low level.
- Repeat four times.
Hamstring and calve stretch:
- Keep hands on the floor.
- Straighten legs.
- Keep upper body bent forward – head down.
- Hold stretch for eight counts.
Recovery:
- Slowly curl up – head coming up last.
- Shake all moveable body parts.
- Bow to your educator to say “thank you” for the class.
Assessment
LEARNING OUTCOME 1: CREATING, INTERPRETING AND PRESENTING The learner will be able to create, interpret and present work in each of the art forms.
Assessment standard
We know this when the learner:
1.1 in preparing the body, follows a teacher-directed warm-up and skill-developing ritual, with attention to safe use of the body, for example:
- knees aligned over toes when bending;
- articulation (toe-heel-bend) of the feet and bending knees when landing from jumps;
- good posture at all times.
1.2 uses cans, stones, newspapers, materials, chairs, balls and a large variety of objects/props to improvise and compose movement sequences.