DUST BOWL ERA DANCES

DUST BOWL ERA DANCES

Learning Description

In this lesson, students will create dances that demonstrate the impacts of the Dust Bowl on Americans. Students will use movement and energy types to show what life was like for Americans during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 5
CONTENT FOCUS: SOCIAL STUDIES & DANCE
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"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can use different energies to show how Americans were impacted during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression.
  • I can explain how the Dust Bowl and Great Depression affected the lives of Americans.

Essential Questions

  • How can I use energy and movement to show how Americans were impacted during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression?
  • How did the Dust Bowl and Great Depression impact Americans?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

SS5H3 Explain how the Great Depression and New Deal affected the lives of millions of Americans.

Arts Standards

ESD5.CR.2 Demonstrate an understanding of dance as a form of communication.

ESD5.CN.3 Integrate dance into other areas of knowledge.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

5.2.CC Examine the continuities and changes that resulted from New Deal programs and the impact these programs had on various groups throughout the U. S. and South Carolina

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 1: I can use movement exploration to discover and create artistic ideas and works.

Anchor Standard 2: I can choreograph a dance.

Anchor Standard 3: I can perform movements using the dance elements.

Anchor Standard 7: I can relate dance to other arts disciplines, content areas, and careers.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Drought - A long period of time with little or no rain
  • Erosion - When wind or water wears away soil
  • Dust storm - A storm with large winds that blows large amounts of dust through the air
  • Migration - Moving from one place to another
  • Poverty - When people do not have enough money for basic needs like food, clothes, or shelter
  • Stock Market Crash - When stock prices suddenly drop fast, resulting in people losing money
  • Economy - The system in how money is created, spent, and shared in a country

Arts Vocabulary

  • Percussive - Refers to the quality of movement characterized by sharp starts and stops; staccato jabs of energy
  • Suspended - Occurs in a moment of resistance to gravity, such as the instant in which a dancer hangs in space at the top of a leap
  • Sustained - Smooth and unaccented; there is not apparent start or stop, only a continuity of energy
  • Swinging - Established by a fall of gravity, a gain in momentum, a loss of momentum, and the repeated cycle of fall and recovery, like that of a pendulum
  • Vibratory - A quality of movement characterized

 

Materials

  • Music source and speaker
  • Introduction video of dance and choreography
  • Cards with printed descriptions of time period scenarios

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Show Storytelling Through Dance with Books In Motion.
  • Have students discuss in pairs the types of movements they saw. Have students use descriptive language to describe the different types of movements that they saw.
  • Have students work in these pairs to discuss how the different types of movements showed different types of emotions or feelings.
  • Tell students about energy in dance. Discuss the different types of energy:
    • Percussive: Refers to the quality of movement characterized by sharp starts and stops; staccato jabs of energy
    • Suspended: Occurs in a moment of resistance to gravity, such as the instant in which a dancer hangs in space at the top of a leap
    • Sustained: Smooth and unaccented; there is not apparent start or stop, only a
    • continuity of energy
    • Swinging: Established by a fall of gravity, a gain in momentum, a loss of momentum, and the repeated cycle of fall and recovery, like that of a pendulum
    • Vibratory: A quality of movement characterized
  • Have students discuss when they might see the following types of energies in dance:
    • Percussive: Strong beats (stomps or claps) that show anger or intense feelings
    • Suspended: Pausing during spin to show weightless feeling
    • Sustained: Controlled/moving through water showing calm energy
    • Swinging: Natural rocking showing relaxed energy
    • Vibratory: Bouncing up and down showing nervousness or excited energy

Have students practice doing some of these types of movements to music. Play different types of music and allow students to move their bodies in a percussive way, suspended way, sustained way, swinging way, and vibrating way.

Work Session

  • Explain to students that they will be creating a dance that uses different energies to show how Americans were impacted by the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression.
  • Review with students the time periods of the last 1920s - 1930s. Discuss with students how Americans lived compared to now, including what made living during this time period difficult.
  • Distribute cards with descriptions of scenarios of life during the Dust Bowl or the Great Depression
    • Ideas include:
      • Waiting in lines at soup kitchen
      • Experiencing a dust storm
      • Stock Market Crash of 1929
      • Bank failures
      • Hoovervilles
    • Review that in their dance students should have a beginning, middle, and end with different types of energies that tell a story. Their stories will be related to the stories that were told by Americans during the Dust Bowl era and the Great Depression.
    • Have students work in groups to create their dance. Encourage students to jot down their ideas and explanations of different types of energies being used in their dance.
      • Dance requirements:
        • A beginning, middle, and end (at least three movements)
        • At least two types of energies

 

Closing Reflection

  • Students should complete their work by writing a summary about how their dance, including movements and energies, relate to the impact that the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression had on Americans.
  • Students will share their dance with the class. The audience will discuss and share out specific movements and energies from the performance that explained the impact of the time on Americans.

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will check students' understanding by observing whether students are able to establish choreography that shows how Americans were impacted during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression.

Summative

Checklist:

  • Students can identify and explain a specific scenario related to the time period.
  • Students can align movements and energies to the scenario that shows how Americans were impacted during the time period.
  • Students can explain how movements related to the impact the event had on Americans during the time period.

 

 

Differentiation

Accelerated: 

  • Allow students to research specific first or second hand accounts from the Dust Bowl or Great Depression to get inspiration for their dances.

 

Remedial:

  • Give students specific stories instead of only scenarios.
  • Establish feeling cards to correlate with scenarios or stories.

 

 

Additional Resources

Classroom Tip: Before performances, set up students chairs/desks in an arc to be facing the performers. This allows for more student engagement and encourages students to engage in other student performances.

 

Credits

Ideas contributed by: Megan Banks

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Revised and copyright:  April 2026 @ ArtsNOW

 

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