Lesson video

Hello and welcome.

My name is Claire and in today's dance session for our inspiration we're going to be looking at the traditional dances from Greece.

Like most traditional folk dances many of the steps are actually quite simple.

So we're going to learn a few, we're going to create a sequence from them, and then you're also going to have the opportunity to put in your own ideas as well.

To keep safe during this lesson, make sure you're inside and you've got enough space around you that you can move safely, including room overhead.

Make sure that you have nothing on your feet so you can grip the floor and that the floor isn't too slippery.

If you are wearing any jewellery, now is the time to take it off and long hair tied back.

Make sure the clothing that you've got on is going to allow you to move safely and easily.

If you need to organise any of that, now is the moment to do so.

So pause the video.

In today's lesson, we going to start off with a warmup where we're going to learn some steps that we typically see in Greek dances.

After that, we'll put them into a sequence, a movement pattern, which we'll learn so we can link all the moves together.

Then it's over to you for some choreography.

You're going to take the moves you want and put them into your own sequence.

You're going to create your own dance.

And with that, you're even going to create your own Greek dance move using the information that you've learned through the session.

And of course, we'll finish off with a cool down.

And today's style words are, Dance style.

A distinctive and recognised way of moving.

Lunge.

A large slow step.

Shuffle.

A small movement of the feet where they remain close to the floor.

When we exercise, our body releases hormones into our bloodstream, the little chemical messengers that help us to feel good.

They improve our mood.

Well, that happens when we dance, but we also have the benefit of sharing experience with other people.

And that can also make us feel better too.

That's why we often dance at events like parties and weddings.

So you can simply improve your mood by dancing around.

So why not put some music on.

Our first move is step touch.

So it's a side to side action where we just step to the side and touch the other foot.

If you want to, you can touch behind you.

Or if you don't have enough room, you can do it with your arms. So our first move is step, touch.

Our next move is step-kick.

So we step to the side as before, but this time you kick in front of you, and across the body.

Step-kick.

Of course, if you want, you could do it behind you An alternative version, you use your arms. Step-kick.

Lunges.

A large slow step.

We're going to take these forwards.

We're going to lunge forward and back together forward and together.

And alternating feet each time.

So moving from one foot to the other, again the arm version, you just go forwards and here forwards and here slow and steady.

Lunges.

Shuffle.

Again, a sideways move.

We're going to go heels, toes, heels, toes, heels, toes and back again.

Toes, heels, toes, heels, toes, heels.

So you just go side to side a bit of twisting going on in the body.

Might need your arm just to help you balance a little That one, is a shuffle.

And our last move is a combination of steps.

It starts with a step forward and a touch, then the foot we've just touched we going to kick it, step back, feet together.

And then you could try that on the other side.

Step forward, touch, kick, step back, feet together.

Practise that only a few times through.

What do we mean by the word shuffle? Is it a large, slow step, a small movement of the feet where they stay close to the floor, a movement that links to other actions, or is it a downward stretch? If you think, you know the answer either point to the correct one or say it out loud.

Yes.

A shuffle is this movement of the feet where they stay close to the floor.

Well done.

A true or false question for you now.

Exercising, does that have a negative effect on our mood? Is that true or false? If you know the answer point to it, or say it out loud.

It's false.

Isn't it? Exercising and including dancing has a positive effect on our mood.

Do you remember all those chemical messages those hormones that get released? It's your turn to do some choreography now.

So pick the moves you'd like to do, decide on an order you want to put them in and think about how many you are going to do of each action.

So pause the video, play your music, and make-up your dance.

Have a go at creating your own Greek dance move.

In Greek dance, as you probably noticed, the word largely focuses on what the feet are doing, step patterns.

Also, if you do move to one side, quite often you repeat it to the other side.

And the moves we've learned are quite simple.

That means that everybody will be able to join in.

So create your own move and then put it somewhere into your sequence, decide where you think it would go best.

And when you've done that practise through a few times.

Why not add your music as we just do some of the warm up actions again but nice and slow to cool us down.

Are you ready? We're going to let the music play a little bit longer include some stretches if you can the lunges are really useful for that.

Geography question for you now.

Have a look at this map and see if you can work out where Greece is.

If you can locate, why not point to it.

Have you found it? It's in Southern Europe.

Greece is made up of both the mainland and over 6,000 separate islands.

The capital city of Greece is called Athens.

So in today's lesson, we started out by learning some moves that's typical of traditional Greek dancing.

Then you use those movements, put them in an order and choreographed your own Greek dance.

And you top that off with a new original move something you choreographed yourself based on the information you knew about Greek dance.

Well done.

And in our last question for today in traditional Greek dance, do we focus mostly on using our arms and our hands or our legs and our feet point to the answer on screen.

or say it out loud.

We use mostly our feet and our legs in traditional Greek dance.

Heels come in there too but mostly it's around the step patterns we create.

Well done everybody, but it's time for us to finish there.

But if there's any bits you've really enjoyed doing you can play the video again.

Why not try doing it with different piece of music and seeing what different ideas that gives you.

See you soon.