Art Form: Dance

Supplies Needed

-A Chair for My Mother book
-Paper
-Pencil or pen

Vocabulary

Sequence - a series of movements performed in a specific order

Problem/Solution - the challenge a character faces and how they solve it

Level - one of the aspects of movement (there are three basic levels in dance: high, middle, and low)

Locomotor Movement - a movement that travels through space (walking, skipping)

Non-locomotor Movement - a movement that does not travel through space (bending, swinging arms)

Summarize - To briefly tell the most important parts of a story in your own words.

Instructions

1. Read A Chair for My Mother. As you read, think about the story’s structure: What happens at the beginning? What happens in the middle? How does the story end?

2. Write three short sentences, one for each part of the story, to summarize:
a.What happened at the beginning?
b.What happened in the middle?
c.What happened at the end?

3. Then, create a three-step movement sequence to match each part of your summary. For each movement, choose a level that matches the feeling or event.

4. Be sure you have locomotor and non-locomotor movements in your sequence. Practice your sequence in order to retell the story with both your words and your body.

Extensions

Add an opening and closing pose to your movement sequence to show how one character felt at the start and how they felt at the end.

Reflect: How did the movement change from beginning to end, just like the character?