LESSON PLAN

(Improvisation/Partnering)
Educator: Midori Darr
Date:
Target Age group/level: Elementary- High school
Length of lesson: 60 minutes
Focus of lesson: The focus of the lesson is to work on:
Improvisation skills
Partnering- maintaining physical connection with peers.
Exploring the space
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:

Identify and demonstrate movement elements

Use improvisation as tool to implement choreography
Demonstrate and apply movements

State Standards:
Standard 1: The student will identify and demonstrate movement elements and skills and
apply them while performing dance.
Standard 2: The student will implement choreographic principles, processes, and
structures.

Standard 4: The student will demonstrate and apply critical, creative, and analytic
thinking in response to dance.

Assessment of Each Objective

Teacher observation
Instructional Strategies
Materials:
Sound system with auxiliary cord
Essential Vocabulary:
Improvisation, levels (high, low, middle), negative space, positive space, time.
Instructional Procedures
*Have students write down a word before we start.
1.Warm- up: follow along warm-up. (Standing and on the floor)
Conditioning/ Partner Stretch- Sit-ups, pushups, partner stretch (legs, and abs- leg lifts)
Ask students have they improvised before, what is improvisation?
Spontaneously creating movement. Making it up as you go.
What are some things we do on a daily basis where we would use improvisation?

Responding to a question
Making a quick decision
Noticing a moment that you can cross the street
Things that people say to us we immediately respond, but we make up what we say as
we begin to respond.
Freeze dance
Dancing at a party
Playing

2. Flocking into mirroring with partner

Flocking involves a group of dancers who alternate leaders depending who is in front. As
group, we change directions and facings.
Mirroring one person moves and the other follows as if they were a mirror.
3.Split up with partner and go across the floor one at a time using the words they came up
with. They are not allowed to repeat movements that someone else did. Add words.
Across the floor- find ways to get your partner across the floor using 4 words. Any type of
words of word to get them across.
Then partner has to keep contact.
Generate movements- using body parts, head, finger, belly button
4.Find a partner- Changing shape. Partner makes a shape and the other comes and makes a
shape around them using negative space.
- Positive and Negative space.
Cause and effect; Touch a spot in their body and they have to move. First, just move into
a shape, then add it going into one thing into the next; make it travel; going to the floor;
going to another couple.
5. Walk around the room, find your own space, close your eyes.
Move just one body part
Make your way to the floor and move on a low level with just that body part.
Find another body part, move on a mid level, then from mid to low.
Move on a high level.
4. Walk around the room, find your own space, close your eyes.
- Match the music/ go opposite of music
- Move small then big
- Move using effort qualities; heavy, light, sharp, sustained
*Do it in groups and the audience has to guess how they are moving as a group.
5. If we have time left, students will learn a phrase and will explore movement with the
phrase. They manipulate with the elements we worked in class.

*If there is time left then we will do an improvisation circle.

Accommodations/Modifications
Injuries: modify certain movements, do what they can, being careful
End of class reflection: