Lesson video

Hello, my name's Claire.

And in today's dance lesson, we're going to be using the idea of different directions.

Going to start off by teaching you a sequence where we go up and down, forwards and backwards, side to side and turning around.

After that, you'll get the chance to create your own, using those different directions again.

But you will need to make sure that you've got enough space around you, because this one is going to involve a small amount of travelling.

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 and 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.

Our first activity will be to warm up and for this, I'm going to teach you that short sequence.

It's not very long.

I'm sure you'll pick it up really quickly.

After that, we're going to develop that a little bit, make it a little bit more interesting.

You'll get the chance to add in some extra movements to it.

Then, you get to do some choreography of your own, still using the idea of different directions but you're going to make up your own sequence.

We'll give you a few hints and tips to help you improve and refine that one even further.

And of course, we'll finish with a cool down at the end.

our star words for today include motif.

This is a movement pattern or a sequence of moves that can be remembered and repeated.

Directions.

The way we face all travel when performing an action.

Size, how large or small something is.

And dynamics.

Dynamics is the how we do an action, a combination of the speed and force.

Are you ready to learn our warmup dance? First move, we can go up and down four times.

So my actions going to be bending my knees to make my body go up and down.

One, two, three, four.

you can do it like just say me, or if you want to, you can find your own way doing that.

But remember, this is a warmup, so try and think of something that's going to use lots of big muscle groups.

In our next move, we're going to travel forwards and backwards.

Now I'm going to do this by taking a step forward and a step back but equally you could do it with a reach if you wanted to, or maybe even move a leg and make it into a balance.

So pause the video for a moment while you decide how you're going to do forwards and back and then add that on.

So we're going to put those two actions together now.

Up and down for four, then forwards and back.

Remember, you do your version if you've done it slightly different from me.

Are you ready? And one, two, three, four, forwards and back.

Shall we do that one more time? Ready? one, two, three, four and forwards and back.

Are you ready to add on the next move? Next is really simple.

We're going up and down again.

So we're just going to repeat our move from earlier.

So whatever you did before, you get a chance to do it again.

So the whole routine so far should be up and down, two, three, four and forwards and back.

Up and down two, three, four.

So take a moment, pause the video, have a little practise.

See you soon.

for the next move we're going to add on, you need to check you've got some space behind you, because this time, instead of going forwards and backwards we're actually going to go backwards and then forwards.

So just doing it the other way round.

It's probably going to be easier if you do the same version as you did before but just changing the direction you go in first can make it different, if you want to.

The whole pattern so far should go up and down, two, three, four, forwards and back.

We repeat it, up and down two, three, four.

Now we've got backwards and forwards.

Pause the video, have a little practise through, see if you've got that and then we've got a bit more to go.

So the next move we can add onto our sequence is going to take us side to side.

we've already done up and down.

We've done forwards and back.

So this is the next direction to use.

My move is going to be a slide to the side and the slide back again.

But it's up to you how you do it.

Maybe you're going to do it as a stretch out? Maybe if you're feeling energetic, you might do as a jump.

Have a moment to think about how you're going to do the side to side travel, practise that and then in a moment, we're going to put all of it together so far.

So you're going to put all of that together now.

Up and down, forwards and back and the side to side, three different directions so far.

From the beginning, are you ready? And up and down two, three, four.

Forwards and back.

Up and down, two, three, four, backwards and forwards.

Out to one side and back again.

Did you manage it? If you need to have another practise, just rewind, play this again and do it with me or just pause the video and have a practise on your own.

See how you're getting on.

The last section, it's turning around now.

So, you now need to add a way of turning on the spot.

And we've got right at the very end, a last move where we're going to stretch up, down and forwards and back.

So two different directions at the end there as well.

So the new bit which is going on the end is a turn around, up and down and forwards back.

I did that last bit with my arms but of course, you could do it with your shoulders if you wanted to.

You might do it with a knee.

So it might become a little step pattern.

There's lots of different ways of doing that.

Pause the video, give yourself time to have a practise.

In a moment, we'll put that on the end and we'll rehearse it all the way through.

So we're going to put the whole sequence together now.

So take a moment, check you've got enough space in front of you, to the sides and behind you.

'Cause obviously, it travels in all those different directions.

Are you ready? Here we go.

Up and down, two, three, four, forwards and back.

Up and down, two, three, four backwards and forwards.

Out to one side and back again.

Turn around, up and down and forward back and back, two, three, four, forwards and back.

Up and down, two, three, four.

Backwards and forwards and to one side.

And back again.

Turn around and up and down and forwards, back.

Did you manage it? De-pause the video or replay it if you want to have another practise of that.

if you're ready though, we can move on to the next thing.

Here's a question on our star words from today.

Which of these words means a sequence or a movement pattern in dance? Is it a recipe, lunch, shuffle or motif? Point to the correct answer if you know it or say it out loud.

It's a motif.

A motif is a pattern of moves or a sequence that usually gets repeated in a dance.

well done if you got that right.

So hopefully, you've learned the sequence now and you feel fairly confident with it but it's time now to add in a bit more detail.

You probably noticed how I did the sequence.

Largely, it was just my feet and my legs doing the work.

I wasn't doing much with my upper body.

So I'm going to add some moves in to add in greater complication, more interest, more challenge.

You might want to make some of the movements bigger.

You might even make them stronger or faster.

So you can really play around with this sequence now to make it your own.

So pause the video for a while and see what you'd like to add into your sequence to make it unique.

So now you're going to do your own choreography, make up your own movement pattern but we are still going to use those four directions.

Up and down, forwards and backwards, side to side and turning around.

But you're going to create your own move for each of those directions.

Not only that, you can put them in any order you like, so it doesn't matter which one you start with, as long as they're all in there, your choice.

And of course, if you want to, you can repeat some of the moves.

Do you remember in the warm-up sequence, we did up and down and then forwards and back, then we did up and down again? So you can repeat moves.

You won't have to just come up with four, you can come up with lots more than that if you'd like to.

In today's lesson, we talked about the different ways we might add detail into our movement patterns.

There are many different ways of doing this but we mentioned a few.

Which one of these didn't we mention? Did we talk about adding in extra actions, such as gestures or maybe changing levels? Pulling funny faces? Using different sizes, making our actions bigger or smaller? Changing the speed or force of the actions? Take a moment to think about it and when you know which one is the odd one out, point to it or say it out loud.

Yeah, we didn't mention pulling funny faces, did we? But all the others were there.

There are lots more too.

Can you think how else you might do it? Take a moment now to check you've got all four different directions in your dance.

forwards and back, side to side, up and down and turning around.

Remember, they don't need to be in the order.

That was fine.

Just have you got all four in there? If you're happy that you have and you're ready to move on, let's take a moment to think about your choreography so far and how you could refine it and improve it even further.

So with your actions in there, we've checked you've got all four there but can you make those actions bigger? Would it look better if they were stronger, maybe faster? Do you want to add more detail into it, like we did with the warmup sequence? Do you want to put some arm actions into it? Maybe change a level slightly? So think about what you've got and how you could make it look even better.

A true or false question for you now.

When you've created a movement pattern, it's a good idea to refine and improve it.

True or false? Point to the answer you think on screen or say it out loud.

It's true, isn't it? Whenever we've created something, whether it's a piece of writing or whether it's a dance, it's always worth looking back over it and seeing if there's any way you can make it better.

It's also a great idea to ask somebody else their opinion too.

Get some peer feedback in there as well.

If you exercise regularly, over time, your body will start to improve.

It'll feel better.

It will do this in lots of different ways.

One of them is you will become stronger not just your arms and legs but also your heart.

You'll become more flexible.

You'll be able perform a greater range of movements and it will just feel easier to do that.

And you'll become faster.

Your body will learn these actions and you'll become more efficient at doing them.

You might not make the next Olympic team but it will mean that you feel better.

So in today's session, we started off with our warmup where you learned a movement pattern, a motif and that included the different directions.

Up and down, forward and back, side to side and turning around.

And then you used those different directions to create your own choreography.

You made up the moves yourself.

So today you've been both a performer and a choreographer.

Well done.

And our last question for today is on the effect of exercise.

Which one is not correct? When we exercise, we become faster, more flexible, bored and unhappy, or stronger? If you know, which is the incorrect answer, point to it on the screen or say it out loud.

That's right.

We don't get bored and unhappy, quiet the opposite.

Exercise makes us happy.

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 to a different piece of music and seeing what different ideas that gives you? See you soon.