Space

Personal Space & General Space

1. Half of the students find a spot in the room to be their personal space. They then make still shapes or do a non-locomotor movement in that space.
2. The rest of the students move through general space. They can join a student's personal space and begin to do the same non-locomotor movement.
3. Once the second student is able to do the movement (or copy the still shape) the first student is released to move in general space and copy another.

Level
Encourage students to make shapes with their heads at different levels.

• Have students make shapes in high, medium, and low levels in turn. Hold shape at each level when teacher counts "5, 4, 3, 2, 1, freeze!"
• Make shapes in pairs, with one person staying still while the other is moving.

Direction
Working in pairs, students move around in general space.

• Both students face the front throughout. By keeping shoulder contact and using peripheral vision, one leads the other in different directions (forward, backwards, right, left, up and down).
• Standing in front, the leader uses hand signals to direct the student behind. (Note: Students often enjoy making up signals, such as mimed handbrake for stopping.)

Pathways
Exploring floor pathways – Small groups of students (2–3) working outdoors on concrete to construct a floor pathway.

1. Each student uses chalk to draw a portion of the group's pathway. (Encourage students to keep the pathway simple, by using curves, spirals and straight lines.)
2. Students move along their group's pathway, using one locomotor movement.
3. They move along the same pathway using 2 or 3 different locomotor movements.
4. Groups move along each others' pathways, using different locomotor movements.

Exploring air pathways – Students use designated body parts to 'write' letters and numbers in the air, as they are called out by the teacher or another student.

Range

• In groups, students experiment dancing close together, then slowly increase the distance between dancers, and then slowly close in the range again.
• Students choose a movement that they do everyday. For example, brushing their teeth, getting dressed, eating. Experiment with making the movement as small as possible, and then as big as possible.

Focus

1. Students spread out in general space, then stand still and choose a spot somewhere else in the room.
2. Each student focuses on their chosen spot and moves towards it. (If the spot is high up, the student could circle underneath it.)
3. Repeat a number of times.
4. Students imagine that the spot has taken on a life of its own and is moving around the room – they continue to dance while focusing on their moving spots.