Soul Train Inspired Movement Composition Fun!

Grade 5 students being as creative as they want

I started up my movement composition unit with my grade 5 students a couple of weeks ago. We are in the immersion phase of this unit which means the students are being exposed to a variety of different types of movement composition possibilities from Stomp performances to skipping and dance routines. My main aim is to get them to understand that movement composition comes in a variety of forms. 

However, regardless of the movement composition avenue they ultimately journey down in this unit, the success criteria and student learning outcomes are the same. This allows them to bring their own creativity into the summative assessment task, but to be sure that they strive to meet the important student learning outcomes in the unit. 

This past weekend I was planning for my upcoming movement composition lessons and was trying to come up with something funky to try out with the students. My wife showed me an old 80s Soul Train type dance video that a friend had posted on Facebook. Some massively funky dancing very much unique and creative in style, so perfect for my grade 5 lesson. I decided to run with it. 

In today's lesson their were 8 phases the students went through with the last phase being the final routine itself. Here's a breakdown of the lesson.

Phase 1
We reviewed important success criteria that we had uncovered so far in the movement composition unit which were timing, pattern, and teamwork. We discussed what each means in regards to movement composition.

Phase 2
To get the students warmed up and engaged in some dancing, I used the following Just Dance video to get them moving and jiving. 

Phase 3
Once we were done dancing to the Just Dance video above, I showed the students the Soul Train video and asked them to identify what was unique about it. They loved seeing the old 80s style dancing. Some very classic dancing styles indeed. Check out the video below. 

Phase 4
Once we discussed the Soul Train video seen above, I told the students that we would be creating a similar dance line by the end of the class. The students went off in pairs for a 10-minute exploration of possible moves that they can use in this dance. They did not have to decide what moves to use but explore and narrow down possibilities at this point. 

Phase 5
In the fifth phase of the lesson, the students were given another ten minutes to decide on which moves they would use for sure and to practice these moves as much as possible over the allotted timeframe they had been given. The emphasis here was to work on timing and pattern. 

Phase 6
In this important part of the lesson, they had only 5 minutes to give and receive feedback. They had to seek out other groups to get feedback from but also to give feedback related to their dance moves. 

Phase 7
We came together to have a trial run of the dance and gave feedback as a group, worked out some kinks and talk about how to make it better. This lasted about 3-4 minutes. 

Phase 8
The final product in action. See video below. A great effort given by all, even the shy students who don't like dance that much. A fun and engaging lesson to be a part of. Try this lesson out and let me know how it goes!