HAIKU CHOREOGRAPHY

 

Georgia Standards

 

South Carolina Standards

 

Key Vocabulary

 

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 mood word in each corner of the classroom. 
• Tell students to move to the mood that they feel their color name best fits. Allow students to discuss why they selected that mood 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 mood.
• 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 ELEMENTS OF DANCE

• Engage students in a movement exercise that will allow them to learn about and explore several elements of dance.
• Play music with a steady beat. Help students find the beat by tapping their toes on the ground or patting their legs. 
• Element of Body: First, have students bring awareness to their bodies by leading them through gentle stretches starting from the head and moving to the toes (e.g., head circles, shoulder shrugs, toe touches, etc.). Then, ask them to make different shapes with their bodies.
• Element of Energy: Now, 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.
• Element of Space: 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.
• Element of Action: Locomotor/non-locomotor: Tell students that these movements they just performed were non-locomotor, meaning that they didn’t move to a new location. Direct students to perform a movement that requires moving from one place to another, such as step-together, step-together moving side to side.
• Have students practice what they just learned by saying words such as “locomotor” and have students create a spontaneous locomotor movement.
• Now, help students connect movement to meaning. Say mood-related words. Have students respond with movements to express 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 mood each haiku evokes. 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

• Give each group a haiku poem. 
• Allow time for students to identify the mood and 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 mood and imagery in the poem. 
• Tell students that they will use the elements of dance to reflect the mood and imagery of the haiku in their dance. They should choose two elements to use, such as energy and levels.
• Students will create a 5-beat movement phrase, a 7-beat movement phrase, and a new 5-beat movement phrase.
• Finally, students should put them together to make one cohesive dance. Ask students to consider how they will show the break between phrases.

 

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, imagery, and mood 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 and mood of their haiku. 

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

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

 

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

 

DIFFERENTIATION 

Accelerated:  Have students write a haiku and create the choreography to match. Have students create individual dances and haikus. Remedial:  Have students create choreography for one line of the poem in their groups. Put three groups who each have different lines of the poem together to show the complete haiku.

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Origins of haiku poetry Dance with 3 counts/beats Dance with 8 counts/beats

*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