HAIKU CHOREOGRAPHY

HAIKU CHOREOGRAPHY

Learning Description

In this lesson, students will explore and understand the structure of haiku poetry by using the structure of haiku to create choreography.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 2-3
CONTENT FOCUS: DANCE & ELA
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"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can create movements/choreography to beats and patterns.
  • I can create choreography to express themes and imagery.

Essential Questions

  • How can I show the structure, theme and imagery of haiku through dance and choreography?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2: 

ELAGSE2RL1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

 

ELAGSE2RL4 Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.

 

Grade 3: 

ELAGSE3RL1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

 

ELAGSE3RL4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases both literal and non literal language as they are used in the text.

 

Arts Standards

Grade 2: 

ESD2.CR.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the choreographic process.

 

ESD2.CR.2 Demonstrate an understanding of dance as a form of communication.

 

ESD2.PR.1 Identify and demonstrate movement elements, skills, and terminology in dance

 

ESD2.RE.1 Demonstrate critical and creative thinking in dance.

 

Grade 3:

ESD3.CR.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the choreographic process.

 

ESD3.CR.2 Demonstrate an understanding of dance as a form of communication.

 

ESD3.PR.1 Identify and demonstrate movement elements, skills, and terminology in dance

 

ESD3.RE.1 Demonstrate critical and creative thinking in dance.

 

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2: 

ELA.2.AOR.1.2 Identify and explain the purpose of forms of figurative language to include similes, personification, and idioms.

 

ELA.2.AOR.2.1 Identify and explain an explicit theme in a literary text.

 

ELA.2.AOR.5.1 Describe the basic structure of a literary text (e.g., narrative, drama, and poem).

 

Grade 3: 

ELA.3.AOR.1.2 Identify and explain the purpose of forms of figurative language to include metaphor, hyperbole, and idioms.

 

ELA.3.AOR.2.1 Identify and explain an explicit theme in a literary text and how it is developed by key details.

 

ELA.3.AOR.5.1 Explain how sections of literary text (e.g., paragraphs, chapters, scenes, and stanzas) build on one another and contribute to the overall structure.

 

*Additional content standards beyond ELA can be applied if the poem topic is related to a specific content.  i.e., weather patterns

 

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 5: I can describe, analyze, and evaluate a dance.

 

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Poem - A genre of literature
  • Line - A sequence of words arranged in a specific order, typically forming a complete thought or phrase
  • Beat - The rhythmic pattern or meter of a poem
  • Theme - The underlying message, central idea, or insight into life that a story, poem, or other work of literature conveys
  • Imagery - The descriptive and figurative language an author uses to create vivid mental pictures and sensory experiences for the reader
  • Haiku - A traditional form of Japanese poetry consisting of three lines with a syllable pattern of 5-7-5

Arts Vocabulary

  • Choreographer/Choreography - The art of designing and arranging sequences of movements, steps, and gestures to create a dance piece
  • Beat - The rhythmic pulse or pattern of the music that dancers move to
  • Form - The overall structure or arrangement of movements, sequences, and choreography within a dance piece
  • Levels - The vertical positioning of the dancer's body in relation to the floor (high, mid, low)
  • Shape - The visual configuration or arrangement of the dancer's body or limbs in space
  • Tempo - The speed or pace of the music to which dancers perform
  • Energy - The quality, intensity, and dynamic force behind movement

 

Materials

  • Several examples of haiku poetry
  • Music
  • Paint chip cards with paint color names - one per student (alternative could be a crayon, colored pencil, or marker–anything that shows color and has a name)

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Give each student a paint chip card with a paint color name.
  • Place one emotion word in each corner of the classroom.
    • Tell students to move to the emotion that they feel their color name best fits. Allow students to discuss why they selected that emotion word.
  • Arrange students into groups of 3. Groups can be created at random or have students create their own groups by finding colors that they think work well together and fit the same emotion.
    • Tell students to create a movement to express each color name.
    • Tell students to put the movements together to create a piece of choreography with a beginning, middle, and end.
  • Allow time for students to share their choreography with the class.

Work Session

INTRODUCE BEAT IN DANCE

  • Discuss beats and how dancers and choreographers use beats. Show students a video to demonstrate.
  • Explore through movement the typical beat structures in dance: 8 counts/beats, 3 counts/beats.
    • Since students have already seen an example of a dance with 8 counts/beats, show them an example of a dance with 3 counts/beats.
    • Tell students that some dances use non-typical beat structures in dance such as 9 beats, 7 beats, and 5 beats.

 

INTRODUCE LOCOMOTOR AND NON-LOCOMOTOR MOVEMENTS IN DANCE

  • Engage students in a movement exercise that will allow them to learn about and explore locomotor and non-locomotor movements in dance.
  • Play music with a steady beat. Help students find the beat by tapping their toes on the ground or patting their legs.
    • Levels: Bring students’ attention to levels (high, middle, low) with movements such as stretching up high and moving on tiptoes, crouching in a small ball close to the floor, and bouncing in place at a middle level.
      • Allow time for students to explore movements with different levels.
    • Energy: Direct students to explore energy variations with different movement qualities such as sharp movements–quick, precise actions like punches or snaps, and smooth movements–slow, flowing actions like waves or circles with arms.
      • Say emotion-related words. Have students respond with movements that match the energy-level of the word.

LEARN ABOUT HAIKU

  • Discuss haiku poetry and read several examples.
    • As students listen to examples, invite them to close their eyes and visualize the poem in their mind.
      • Ask them what emotion each haiku evokes. What imagery does the author use?
      • Allow students to pair-share after they have listened.
    • Draw student’s attention to the structure of haiku poetry; ask students if they notice any patterns emerging.
    • Discuss the 5-7-5 structure of haiku.
    • Share the origin of haiku poetry.
  • Discuss how dancers/choreographers can use poetry meaning and structure as a base for choreography.
  • Display a haiku poem for students to see. Ask students, “If a dance followed haiku structure, how many beats would be in the beginning, middle, and end?”.
    • Students should arrive at 5-7-5.

 

CHOREOGRAPHING DANCE

  • Divide students into groups of six.
  • Give each group a haiku poem. In their groups students should identify both the theme and the imagery in the poem.
  • Tell students that they will be choreographing a dance that follows the structure of their haiku; encourage students to think about how their movements could show the theme and the imagery of the poem.
    • Tell students that they will use levels and energy to reflect the theme and imagery of the haiku in their dance.
    • Students will create a 5-beat movement phrase, a 7-beat movement phrase, and a new 5-beat movement phrase.
      • Students should divide themselves into partners within their groups. Each group of partners will choreograph one line of the haiku.
      • Students will then put them together to make one cohesive dance.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Allow students to read their haikus and share their choreography with the whole class.
    • Ask the audience members how the movements demonstrated the structure, theme, and imagery of the haiku.
  • Students can write about or discuss their choreographic process and why they made the decisions they did in creating their movements.

 

Assessments

Formative

Teacher will assess students by asking students about their choreographic choices and how they aid in the audience’s understanding the structure, theme and imagery of their haiku.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

  • Students can identify the structure, theme and imagery of a haiku poem.
  • Dance assessment:
    • Choreography:
      • Students can create a choreography that has a beginning, middle, and end.
      • Students can create a choreography that demonstrates the structure, theme and imagery of a haiku.
    • Audience:
      • Students can discuss the performances of the other groups and identify how movements demonstrate the structure, theme and imagery of the haiku.

 

*This assessment can be done as a class discussion or a written assignment.

 

 

 

DIFFERENTIATION 

Accelerated: 

  • Have students write their own haiku and create the choreography to match.
  • Have advanced students create choreography for the entire haiku instead of only one line.

Remedial: 

  • Identify the theme and imagery in a haiku as a whole class. Then, have groups create their choreography based on the class haiku. After performances, discuss how each group interpreted the theme and imagery of the haiku differently.

 

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

 

*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.

Ideas contributed by: Melissa Joy. Updated by: Katy Betts.

Revised and copyright:  July 2024 @ ArtsNOW

 

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