How to Deliver The 6 Principles of Primary Dance as a Non-Specialist

Watch this video (it's only 5-min, 11-sec) and find out how the 6 principles of dance can support your lessons.

Teachers often worry that they don't have the skills or experience to teach dance in their primary school.

But the good news is you don't need to be a professional dancer to teach primary dance!

With the right tools and techniques, EVERY teacher can feel confident facilitating a great dance lesson, where it's the children who create the choreography and do the tricky moves, not the teacher!

With the 6 principles of dance, your children can build their own routines and create truly outstanding performances that will make them (and you!) feel super proud.

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Let's explore the 6 principles of dance a little further...

1. Travelling

This is moving from Point A to Point B - or moving from one spot, travelling around the room and coming back to the same spot. You can travel by walking, skipping or do a little dance move from A to B. 

2. Turning

Turning is very simple - it's literally a change of direction. It could be as simple as turning from the front to the side, or it could be spinning; as long as there is a directional change - that's turning!

3. Jumping and Leaping

With this move, you have to leave the ground - this could involve jumping with two feet and landing on two feet, OR jumping with two feet and landing on one foot, OR jumping with one foot and landing on two feet. Or you could leap from one foot to one foot. 

4. Balance and Stillness

Stillness is when you act like a statue or a photograph - this can be a lovely way to end a performance with everyone absolutely still and not moving! Balance is slightly different - it's when you are unstable and wobbly - you have to work really hard not to fall over.  Remember, you can balance on lots of different body parts - not just your feet. 

5. Levels

Add different levels into your performances - you can be stretched up high, mid-level, or very low to the ground. You can even be down on the floor - this is a lovely way to add a layer of interest into your routine.

6. Gesture

This is when you use gestures with your body to show the character, the scene, or the story.  For example, if you're doing a Bollywood routine, you can make your dance come alive with hand movements. Or if you're a Roman Gladiator, you can think about how your movements and gestures need to be strong and powerful.  

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