Clubs4Children

Dance4children encourages children to think about how to use movement to explore and communicate ideas and issues and their own feelings and thoughts. As they work, they develop an awareness of the historical and cultural origins of different dances.

Our activities follow the guidelines of The National Curriculum for PE.

Children will learn to:

compose and link movement phrases to make simple dances with clear beginnings, middles and ends
perform movement phrases using a range of body actions and body parts
create and repeat short dances inspired by themes such as clowns, penguins and folk dance.
talk about dance ideas inspired by different stimuli
copy, watch, and describe dance movement.

At KS1 most children will be able to:

perform basic body actions
begin to make single movements and combine movements using different parts of the body
practise moving expressively and clearly
choose movements that reflect the dance idea
remember, repeat and link movement phrases and dances
recognise and describe some body actions and some expressive and dynamic qualities of movement

At KS2 most children will be able to:

perform basic body actions
use different parts of the body singly and in combination
choose appropriate movements for different dance ideas
show some sense of dynamic, expressive and rhythmic qualities in their own dance
remember and repeat short dance phrases and simple dances
move with control
vary the way they use space
describe basic body actions and simple, expressive and dynamic qualities of movement

Some children may well progress further and be able to:

perform more complicated combinations of movement fluently and with control
perform clearly and expressively
show an awareness of phrasing and music
choose movements that show a clear understanding of the dance idea
talk about dance using a range of descriptive language

Children will go on to explore a wider range of dance. They will look at how different body actions show moods and feelings, and will learn how to use different parts of the body to imitate and lead movements. They will also create short dances, perform with a partner, and use language associated with movement to evaluate and improve their dances.

Many of the actions and skills that children use in early dance classes will also be used in gymnastic activities, eg work on remembering movement phrases and short dances will be supported by work on movement phrases in gymnastics