National Endowment for the Humanities
Hopi Traditional Dance and Song
Very few outsiders get to see the Hopi "Butterfly Dance." However, using approved footage from the tribe, class members consider the importance of symbols in Hopi culture by watching the dance and analyzing lyrics from its songs....
Curated OER
Jarabe Tapatio (Mexican Hat Dance)
Oh, what a fun dance to learn! In this version of the Jarabe Tapatio (Mexican Hat Dance) which comes from Missouri State University, there are a lot of steps to learn along with finger snapping and hand clapping. While this is not the...
Curated OER
5,6,7,8 Line Dance
5,6,7,8 Line Dance is a very simple, but very fast-paced line dance. It is comprised of the grapvine steps, moving forward and backwards, moving diagonally, jumping, and clapping. There is a repeating section of the dance which calls for...
John F. Kennedy Center
Baila! Latin Dance in the Spanish Classroom
One, two, three. One, two, three. Invite your language learners to practice the steps for researching and presenting information. Each small group has the task of explaining one Latin dance in full detail.
Curated OER
Michael Jackson's "Beat It" Dance
Learn this 32-count line dance. There are four eight-counts that repeat throughout the song. The steps include walking forward, walking backward, pivots, grapevine, and some jumps. All in all this is a simple and quick dance to learn....
Curated OER
Flip and Flop: An Adaptation Through Dancing Echoes with Shapes and Locomotor Movement
Dancers practice echoing through dance. They listen to a story "Flip and Flop" and then are put into pairs. One partner is Flip, while the other is Flop. Flip creates a shape by dancing, and Flop, the other student, echoes that shape by...
Curated OER
Space Jam Dilemma/Dance
Do the "Space Jam" Dance! A dance that is made up of basketball skills movements, such as: dribbling, defending with hands up, pivoting, shooting, and slam dunks. The dance step descriptions are very well written out with cues for...
Curated OER
Move It Line Dance
The upbeat song "I Like to Move It" from the movie Madagascar is just the ticket! Get your younsters up and moving. The basic steps in this dance are the grapevine, side step, squat, back step, jumps, jumping jacks, and marching in...
Curated OER
Space Jam Dance
Do the "Space Jam" dance! A dance that is made up of basketball skills movements, such as: dribbling, defending with hands up, pivoting, shooting, and slam dunks. The dance step descriptions are very well written out with cues for...
Missoula Art Museum
Dance with Your Fingers, Draw with Your Toes
Pair dancing, music, and art into one elementary instructional activity. Using the work of Henri Matisse and Rudy Autio as inspiration, kids spend a few days listening to music that fits the moods of various pieces of art, then work on...
Curated OER
Stuck Like Glue 4 - Wall Line Dance
Heel, toe, heel, toe, grapevine, stomp. Put some basic dance steps together and get moving. Teach this 32-count series to your class and when they've got the steps down add some music. "Stuck Like Glue" by Sugarland has a great beat and...
National Center for Families Learning
The Summer Fun Summer Learning Dance Unit
Summer slide. Alas, not a term synonymous with a type of sliding board, summer slide refers to the fact that learning slips during summer break, especially in the areas of spelling and math facts. Enrich summer break with a...
Curated OER
Firework Dance
Teach some dance moves to "Firework" by Katy Perry. It's such an upbeat song, you will have those dancers moving and wanting to move more! There are four 16-count parts to learn. It's not too complicated. Teach them the steps, then put...
Curated OER
Dancing With Glee
Slide right, slide left, knee, step, run, run, rolling, pivot, turn, shake those shoulders! These moves make up the 32-count dance to the tune of "Proud Mary" as performed by the cast from the TV show "Glee". Use the video to learn the...
John F. Kennedy Center
Harriet Tubman: Retelling History Through Dance and Drama
Scholars listen to several pieces of music in preparation for a discussion about how instruments and lyrics convey emotions. With Harriet Tubman as the focus, small groups create an original song or dance. A reflection piece concludes...
Curated OER
Dance Challenge: Calculate and Compare Speed by Measuring a Series of Dance Movements
Really neat! Kids choreograph a dance phrase and then measure the distance and speed of the phrase using a timer and a meter stick. They collect the data on a table which they use to determine an average. A series of observation and...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Dimension Dances
Use dance to help learners conceptualize line segments, rays, lines, and planes. They choreograph dances that show dimensional space. Dancers start by pondering space, point, and lines as the teacher draws them in the air. Each movement...
Curated OER
Weather Dance
Students study weather and focus on specific dance concepts. They are introduced to different ty es of clouds and how they are formed. Next, they study wind and why it occurs.
Curated OER
Dancing Levels in Space
Learners practice mirroring human moves by performing a dance in class. In this physical education lesson, students utilize different spaces around them to perform a dance expressing their full motion. Learners cooperate in pairs or...
Curated OER
Dance Sequences and Phrases
A series of lessons about dance would be a great addition to your physical education class. Straightforward as well as creative, it teaches the basic skills of dance movement. A rubric helps guide the dancers to let them know what steps...
Curated OER
Dancing the Colors of Birds
Students explore colors through storytelling and dance. In this visual arts lesson, students view the painting "Bird and Cornstalk Rug" and identify three colors. Students express how the colors make them feel through the rhythm of...
Curated OER
James Wyeth: Capturing Dance
Students draw portraits of a dancer. In this visual-arts instructional activity, students study the work of James Wyeth online. They then watch a dance performance and sketch 10 - 15 pieces depicting dancers. Five of these sketches will...
Curated OER
Dance Cards
Let little dancers choreograph a dance using steps they have learned in the unit. Write the names of the dance steps that have been taught on sets of index cards. Make sure that each set of cards you create has a mix of the dance steps....
Curated OER
Tinikling - Philippine Bamboo Dance
What is Tinikling? How is this word pronounced? Is it really a dance? Where did it originate? Is there a story about the origin of this dance? Begin this dance lesson plan by answering these questions. Then use the video to teach the...