Dance - Lesson 2

In the second lesson of a Year 4 dance series, students are introduced to the vibrant world of traditional Indian dance, specifically focusing on mastering a variety of fundamental Bollywood dance footwork movements. The lesson's objectives are clear: students should be able to perform a simple range of footwork movements, coordinate actions with music, and work collaboratively to create a short dance routine. The success of the lesson is measured by the students' ability to explore and link movements with coordination, respond rhythmically to music, and select footwork movements to craft a dance sequence as a group. Key terms such as 'phrase', 'footwork', 'Bollywood', 'narrative', and 'dynamics' are introduced, enriching the students' dance vocabulary.

The lesson is structured to include a warm-up, main activity, and cool-down, with each segment designed to progressively build the students' skills. The warm-up involves travelling steps and responding to beats with different body movements, setting the stage for the more intricate footwork to come. During the main activity, the class revisits arm and hand gestures from a previous lesson and then delves into new footwork patterns, such as the 'Basic Step', 'Side Touch', 'Knees Flick', and 'Basic Turn', among others. Students are given the opportunity to practice these moves and then challenged to improvise their own dance phrases in pairs, incorporating both footwork and arm gestures. The lesson concludes with a performance opportunity and a reflective cool-down session, where pupils stretch and practice mindful breathing to relax their bodies after the dynamic dance activities.