Movement Vocabulary

— Traveling: run, skip, walk, hop, gallop, creep, scurry,

dart, glide
— Jumping: leap, soar, bound, bounce, hop, pounce
— Turning: spin, twirl, whirl, circle
— Percussive: stamp, punch, explode, flick

— Expanding: grow, open, stretch, reach

— Sinking: collapse, lower, sink, melt, relax
— Stopping: freeze, perch, pause, settle, hold
 Movement Vocabulary

— Movement exploration games and formal dances

involve varying the following ingredients:

— Places to Go (where)

wide high under near

toward between forward in front
of around in narrow low
over away from far beside
backward behind through out
 Movement Vocabulary

— Movement exploration games and formal dances

involve varying the following ingredients:

— Effort Qualifiers (how)

gradually strongly lightly quietly

forcefully quickly smoothly
suddenly weakly heavily loudly
delicately sharply slowly
 Movement Vocabulary

— Movement exploration games and formal dances

involve varying the following ingredients:

— Groupings

solo partner cluster

 Movement Vocabulary

— Movement exploration games and formal dances

involve varying the following ingredients:

— Actions
— Actions can be combined into sequences and patterns
— Actions can communicate words and feelings
— Actions can be found in natural phenomenon
— Actions can lead or follow sound
— Actions can be stimulated by visual image
 Props as a Starting Point

— Scarves and Fabrics – Scarves provide extensions of the

gesture, lending fluidity to the movement. Like
“painting sound” scarves help to se the music in motion.
Scarves can also become costumes that transform the
mover into an imaginary world.

— Balloons – Exploration with balloons develops balance

and timing. Balloons can be tapped into the air, along
the floor or tossed to others using different body parts
(heads, feet, hands, knees, etc.). Try the movement now
without the props! Also, use the balloons as sound-
producing material. Boom-boom-balloon!
 Props as a Starting Point

— Hoops and Rods – Straight, angular lines in place and in

space are complemented by contrasting curved, flowing
shapes and movement

— Puppets – Let the puppet conduct while movers imitate.

Develop from exploratory reaction exercises to
choreographed pieces.
— Soap Bubbles – Similar to following the movements of a
puppet. Follow the movement of a bubble…rising,
floating, sinking, bursting. Solo and group movements
could be explored and accompanied with vocal
sounds…Ahhhhhhhh….ohhhhh…ooooooooo and pop!
 Visual Images as a
Starting Point
Begin by observing various elements: form, ornamentation, line in:
— Architecture provide possible stimuli: shapes of bridges,
arches, streets, walls
— Nature design, shape, curved/angular, texture. For example,
leaves or shells.
— Start with individual exploration before working in pairs or small
groups.

— How will movements reflect the design, shape, and size of the
object?
— What form will be used to “frame” simple compositions?
— What texture (moving in unison, canon, individually, or in
combinations)?
 Activities
Designs in Space
— Walking throughout the space, exploring the floor
surface and dimension for our movement class. A leader
with a “sound signal” calls out pathways for everyone to
walk: zig-zag, spiral, straight, figure eight.

— When the “signal” is sounded, the students all surround

the person who has the instrument.

— A new leader now decides the pathway and takes the

sound-signal moving with the students in the room.

— Repeat several times.

 Activities
Designs in Poetry
Seeds Secret

by Constance Levy

from A Tree Place and Other Poems

Seeds, Sipping,
How they break to the light
Small as grains of sand Stretching,
Like roots of green
Conspired with the earth Anchoring
Periscopes
In deep, dark places And hankering for
Sneaking their first
Secretly sipping Up;
Look
 Activities
Designs in Poetry
— Process:
— Read “Seed Secrets” … unison or divide into groups
— Add gestures while reading to begin.
— Develop accompaniment that serves as a sound carpet
— Unpitched percussion
— melodic ostinato
— Talk about the movement possibilities in the poem:
— What words/images inspire movement?
— What kinds of levels?
— What shapes?
— What pathways?
— Small groups create interpretive movement pieces.
— Perform with instruments
 Activities
Mirroring
— Search for songs that indicate good clear phrase
structure.

— Have students partner and mirror each other,

drawing phrases with hands and body.
— Group students in groups of four, have students
mirror each other, passing the responsibility
without verbal cues.
 Activities
Rhythmic Speech
— Search for poems that have some relationship to movement
(actions, traveling in time and space, energy, tempi, etc.) Folk
materials – rhymes, riddles, proverbs, stories – offer unlimited
possibilities for exploring musical elements in the elementary
classroom
— Speaking the poem is an excellent starting point. Take time to
allow the children to explore the possibilities that develop from
imagining the movement.

— Let children improvise their own pulse-keeping movements, or let

one child lead while other follow. Tap into the drama as children
moving freely to become familiar with the overall structure.
— Unify over a common pulse and develop a feeling for form.
Changing movements on the phrase or “mid-point” can lead to
simple movement pieces.
 Activities
Rhythmic Speech

Doctor Foster went to Gloucester

In a shower of rain.

He stepped in a puddle right up to his middle

And never went there again
 Activities
Body Percussion
— Begin with one level (clapping first) then two (clap-pat) etc.

— If using all four levels, keep the rhythms very simple (such as
the beat).

— Play difficult patterns on clap or pat.

— Encourage hand alternation as early as 2nd grade.

— Avoid awkward shifts from level to level. Moving in a

sequence (clap-pat-snap) is easier than a disjoint sequence
(clap-pat-snap).

— Develop musicianship…”Play your body like an instrument,”

using accents, dynamic levels, and a variety of timbres.