Lesson video

Hello and welcome.

My name's Claire.

And in today's dance lesson, we going to be using the idea of a recipe to give us action words.

And we're going to take these action words, explore them and find different ways of putting them together to build a dance.

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 over head.

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.

To start off with, we're going to use shaking actions to warm us up and mobilise the different parts of our body.

Then we're going to explore the different action words from a recipe.

Find different ways of doing them.

After this we're going to create a short sequence, a movement pattern.

Where are we going to use those different action words, your choices, of course.

And then we'll refine them and improve them.

And then hopefully we will have a short dance together by the end that you can perform.

So we have three star words from today.

Recipe, a set of instructions that tell us what order to put things in.

We also have dynamic, how fast or slow movement is or how strong or gentle.

So the speed and the force in action.

And we also have transitions.

Transitions help us shift from one action to the next, smoothly and easily.

So to warm up you needed to choose four different body parts.

I'm going to use an arm, an arm, a leg and a leg.

But that's just so it's easy for the video.

You can choose your own four, whatever's comfortable for you and how much space you've got.

When you've chosen, get the first one ready.

We're going to give it eight shakes.

Here we go.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven change over.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven and change.

One, two, three, four, five, six.

Last set.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

Stop.

This time try the whole thing, but to four counts each time, ready? One, two, three, four.

One, two, three change.

One, two, three change.

One, two, three.

Into your own twos each time.

One, two.

One, two.

One, two.

One, two.

How about ones? One.

One.

One.

One.

One.

One.

One.

One.

One.

Well done.

You've got the idea.

So why don't you pause the video now, but your choice and music on and you can try that to your own music.

Try it to different pieces if you.

The tempos will mean that you either go faster or slower each time.

The first action word we're going to use today is crack like cracking eggs.

So we're going to make some sudden sharp actions and you might want to include some angular or jaggy shapes as you make them.

That will suggest the egg as it's just opened out.

And the jaggy shapes you often see at the edge.

Our next word is pour as if we're pouring in some sugar or maybe some liquid.

So we're going to be doing some tilting and probably some balancing actions too for that one.

After that comes whisk, a very fast, small circular action.

And then we have sift.

If we sift something it's shaking like we did in a warmup.

But sifting is usually quite a gentler shaking action.

Then we have sprinkle as if we are adding something on top.

Sometimes we sprinkle in some flavourings.

And the last action we're going to put into our dance is stir as if we're stirring the mixture.

So usually this one takes a bit of effort as we're doing those circles.

And we're going to move suddenly now and make some angular shapes to suggest the eggs cracking.

Are you ready? One, two, three crack.

And another one, one, two, three crack.

And another one, two, three, crack.

One more, one, two, three crack.

Now we're going to see if we can find a way of pouring.

So we're looking at tilts and balances.

So can you tilt to one side? What about tilting to the other side? You might be able to tilt forwards.

If you're very careful, check behind you first, you might be able to tilt backwards.

Can you tilt and balance at the same time? Try another one of those different ways of tilting, maybe including some balances suggest you're pouring the liquid in or the sugar.

Whisking, that fast circular action.

Can you do with one hand? Can you try that with the other? You do both hands at the same time.

Can you do it above you? Can you do with an elbow? What about knee? That's tricky.

What about your nose? How many different ways could you find of whisking? And sifting.

That's a shaking action.

Nice and gentle.

Usually side to side.

So maybe you could find a way of doing side to side shake.

You could try it with your whole body or just part of your body and make different ways.

Could you do a gentle side to side shake like a sift? And sprinkling, fingers are great for this.

There really get them to move.

You could possibly use different levels, higher, medium, low down.

You can stretch your arms out wide or bring them in close to you.

Try different ways of sprinkling.

And stirring.

Another circular action here but this one's bigger and it takes more effort.

Maybe you could do it in the opposite direction.

And again, you could think of different ways of showing it with your body.

Doesn't have to be just your arms. Different ways of stirring, please.

Let's see if you can answer one of today's questions based on our star words.

What we mean when we talk about dynamics, now you're looking for two answers here.

So is it A the speed of an action? How fast or slow we travel.

Is it B how we link our actions together? Is it C the force action, whether it is strong or gentle.

Or is it D the order we put our actions in.

Take a moment to think.

If you know the answer, you can either shout it out or point it at the screen.

But remember there are two correct answers here.

Well done, if you knew it was the speed and action, how fast or slow you move.

And how strong or gentle your action is, the force of the action.

Those two things together makeup dynamics.

So here's where you're making some real choices.

We're going to put these together to build a sequence now.

A movement pattern sometimes called a motif.

This recipe requires four eggs.

So I need you to come up with four different ways of doing that cracking action right at the beginning.

Once you've done those four, the next movement you're going to add in is a pouring action.

So one of those tilts or balances.

After that, whisking.

So which parts of your body are you going to use to do those fast circular actions? After that, sift.

That gentle shaking motion.

Can you add one of those in please? And then sprinkle something light and fine.

And the last one we're going to have is stir.

So we're going to put all those actions in, in that order but you're going to make the decisions on how you do each of those.

So to cool down, We can think about pouring our mixture into a pan and then putting it in the oven.

So we're going to start off with one of our jumps or balances, whichever you prefer.

But we're going to move slowly because this mixture is quite thick now, are you ready? Pour in every gently.

And then when it's all the mixture's in, make yourself into a small shape as if it's in the pan.

And once we're in the oven that mixture to starts to rise.

And as it does, it also expands until it is cooked.

If you'd like to do that again, please do.

Just pause it and you can find a different way of tilting and balancing and a different way of rising and expanding each time you do it.

In this lesson today, we use the recipe for a cake as our idea.

Well, that's great for an occasional treat but cakes are high in fat and sugar.

So don't have them too often.

It's important to have a balanced diet to help us stay fit and healthy.

So a balanced diet needs to include carbohydrates for energy, protein for growth and repair, dairy for strong bones and teeth, as well as making sure you have your five portions of fruit vegetable every day to make sure you get your essential vitamins and minerals.

Why not look for another recipe, a healthy recipe and see what action words are in there? Maybe you could see if you can find things to chop, peel, slice and what sort of movements that will give you.

Today's lesson was based on a recipe and the recipe I used was one for making a cake.

But why shouldn't we eat cake every day? Is it because it's high in fats and sugars? Or is it because it has too much water in it? Which do you think is right? Point to the answer on the screen or shout it out.

It's because cakes are very high in fats and sugars.

They're great for an occasional treat but it's very important to have a balanced diet.

So in today's lesson, we used a recipe to give us ideas.

We call that a stimulus.

And as well as giving us movement ideas, it also told us the order to put them in.

So it helped us to create a movement pattern, a motif.

And we use dynamics to really communicate clearly what we were doing, particularly when we came to actions like the whisking and stirring.

They're both circular actions but the dynamics really helped show which was which.

Can you tell me whether this statement is true or false, ready? A stimulus gives us ideas.

Is that true? Is that false? Point to the correct answer or shout it out.

Yeah, it's true.

Isn't it? The stimulus is a thing that gives us inspiration and helps our creative ideas come flooding through.

And the last question for today is another true or false question.

True or false? A motif is how fast or slow and action is.

If you know the answer point to it on screen or you can shout it out.

And of course that's false.

A motif is a movement pattern.

Usually seen more than once in a dance.

How fast or slow an action is, well that comes into dynamics well done if you got that right.

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.

And why not try doing it to a different piece of music and seeing what different ideas that gives you.

See you soon.