Grade by Grade
A. Dance / C. Music · Music and Dance

Dance: Community Moves with Strong Beginnings and Endings

A1.1 A1.3 A2.2About 35 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can turn activities from my community into short dance phrases.
  • I can change an everyday move by changing its level, size, tempo, energy or pathway.
  • I can create a clear beginning and a clear ending for my dance phrase in different ways.
  • I can make shapes with a partner that match or contrast.

Words to know

dance phrase
A few dance moves joined together, with a beginning, a middle and an end.
community
The people and places around where you live: your street, school, park, rink and stores.
abstract
Changing an everyday move so it becomes a dance move, like making it slower, bigger or at a new level.
matching shapes
Two dancers make the same shape.
contrasting shapes
Two dancers make very different shapes, like one high and one low.
stillness
Not moving at all. A strong freeze.

Dance is all around your neighbourhood

Think about the people in your community. A crossing guard holds up a stop sign. A kid shovels snow. A hockey player skates and shoots. A gardener digs and plants. Someone paddles a canoe at the lake.

Every one of these is a movement. Dancers take everyday moves and turn them into dance phrases!

Turning an everyday move into a dance move

Take one move, like shovelling snow. Now change it:

  • Do it in slow motion. (time)
  • Make it huge, or tiny. (space: size)
  • Do it at a low level, or reaching high. (space: level)
  • Make it sharp or smooth. (energy)
  • Travel while you do it, in a zigzag. (space: pathway)
  • Repeat it 3 times.

Now it is not just shovelling. It is a dance! Dancers call this abstracting a move.

A person shovelling snow from a driveway in front of a house on a snowy street, seen from across the road.
Shovelling snow is an everyday move. Try turning it into a dance: do it in slow motion, make it huge, take it low, or travel in a zigzag. AI-generated image
Community activityEveryday moveDance version
Skating at the rink ⛸️glide, push with one footlong, smooth slides in a curved pathway, arms swinging slowly, at a middle level
Crossing guard 🛑hold up a stop signsharp arm reach up high, freeze, then a slow turn
Raking leaves 🍂pull the rakebig, strong pulling moves, then a light jump into the pile
Basketball 🏀dribble and shootbounce low 3 times, then rise and stretch high in slow motion
Paddling a canoe 🛶dip the paddle, pull backsmooth, curved arm pulls side to side, repeated, travelling forward
Everyday moves become dance moves when we change the elements.

Strong beginnings and endings

A dance phrase needs a clear beginning so the audience knows the dance has started, and a clear ending so they know it is over.

Ways to begin:

  • Start in a frozen shape and hold it for 3 seconds of stillness.
  • Begin with a moment of silence, then start when the music starts.
  • Enter from the side of the room.
  • Rise slowly from the floor.

Ways to end:

  • Freeze in a strong shape.
  • Melt slowly down to the floor.
  • Exit (leave the dance space).
  • Make a matching or contrasting shape with a partner.
  • Dim the lights (turn off a lamp) or turn off a flashlight.
  • Bow to the audience.
1, 2, 3...Thankyou!BEGINNINGa still, frozen shapeMIDDLEthe dance movesENDINGfreeze, melt, exit or bow
A dance phrase with a clear beginning (stillness), a middle, and a clear ending (a freeze, a melt, an exit or a bow). Now the audience knows when it starts and stops.
🧍🧍🙆🧎
Partner shapes: two dancers standing tall the same way are matching. One stretching up high and one kneeling low are contrasting.
Worked example

Example: A playground dance phrase

Let's make a dance phrase from playing on the playground, with a clear beginning and ending.

  1. Beginning: Start frozen in a crouched shape at the bottom of the "slide," still for 3 seconds.
  2. Middle, move 1 (swings): Swing your arms forward and back, big and smooth, rising higher each time. (non-locomotor)
  3. Middle, move 2 (monkey bars): Reach one arm, then the other, slowly, as you step sideways. (locomotor, in slow motion)
  4. Middle, move 3 (slide): Travel in a curved pathway, sinking from high to low.
  5. Ending: Finish with a wide, still freeze at a low level, then a bow.

The phrase has a still beginning shape, three everyday playground moves changed with size, tempo and level, and a clear frozen ending. The audience knows exactly when it starts and stops.

Worked example

Example: Matching and contrasting endings

Two dancers finish a dance about hockey. How could they end it?

  1. Matching ending: Both dancers freeze in the same shape: arms raised in a "we scored!" celebration. It shows they are on the same team.
  2. Contrasting ending: One dancer freezes high with arms up (the team that scored). The other freezes low and curved (the goalie who missed the puck).

Matching shapes show the dancers are together or feel the same. Contrasting shapes show they feel different. Both make a clear ending.

Just for fun

Why did the pile of leaves join the dance class?

It wanted to learn how to fall gracefully!

Hands-on activity

My neighbourhood dance

You need: open space and a lamp or flashlight (optional).

  1. Go for a walk or look out the window. Notice 3 people moving in your community (a mail carrier walking, a dog walker, someone shovelling).
  2. Copy each move. Then change each one: make it slower, bigger, lower or sharper.
  3. Join the 3 moves into a phrase.
  4. Choose a beginning (a frozen shape, or rising from the floor) and an ending (freeze, melt, exit or lights out).
  5. Perform it for your family. Ask: "Could you tell when my dance started and ended?"

Partner bonus: dance with a sibling or grown-up and end with matching shapes. Then try again with contrasting shapes.

Your turn

1

Show brushing your teeth as an everyday move. Now make it a dance move by making it huge and slow.

2

Name two ways to begin a dance.

3

Name two ways to end a dance.

4

With a partner, make matching shapes.

5

With a partner, make contrasting shapes.

6

Take a skating move and change its level. Show it.

7

Why does a dance need a clear ending?

More practice: warm-up

1

Show a crossing guard holding up a stop sign.

2

Freeze in a strong shape for 3 seconds.

3

Show shovelling snow in slow motion.

4

Melt slowly to the floor like a snowman in the sun.

5

Is a bow at the end a way to begin or a way to end?

More practice: on your own

1

Make a 3-move dance phrase about gardening (dig, plant, water). Add a beginning shape and an ending.

2

Change walking a dog into a dance move in two different ways.

3

Your dance is about a snow day. Plan an ending that uses stillness.

4

How is a matching ending different from a contrasting ending?

5

A dance starts with the dancer running in from the side of the room. What kind of beginning is this?

Challenge

1

Make a dance phrase about a hockey game with 3 changed moves, a moment of silence at the beginning, and an ending that exits the dance space.

2

Why might a dancer melt slowly at the end of a dance about a tired day, but freeze sharply at the end of a dance about a fireworks show?

3

Plan a beginning and ending that match each other (they are the same shape). Why might a dancer do this?

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

Which is an everyday move from the community?

2.

Which change turns shovelling snow into a dance move?

3.

Which is a way to begin a dance?

4.

One dancer stretches up high while the other curls up low. Their shapes are ___.

5.

Why should a dance have a clear ending?

6.

Which ending uses stillness?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: Grade 2 students develop short movement phrases inspired by activities in their community and create distinct beginnings and endings in a variety of ways (stillness, silence, entering, exiting, matching or contrasting partner shapes, dimming lights).

How to help:

  • On walks, play "spot the dance": point out people moving and ask how your child could turn it into a dance move.
  • Use a lamp or flashlight as "stage lights" for a dramatic ending. Children love this.
  • Ask after every performance: "How did you show the beginning? The ending?"

Common difficulties:

  • Giggling at the start or end. Practise holding a freeze for 3 slow counts. Stillness is a skill!
  • Miming instead of changing the move. Remind them of the change menu: slower, bigger, lower, sharper, travelling.
  • Endings that trail off. Agree on the ending before practising, and practise it twice on its own.