The best part about creative movement is that no formal training or skills are required; it is perfect for all ages and dance levels. The main objective is to provide the student with a feel for music and motion. Encourage your students to be free and let their natural movements take over.
Isolation and Space
The first thing for students to realize is how their bodies move. Have them isolate small body parts like a pinky finger or their nose in time to the music and gradually move on to bigger body parts. An example of this succession would be nose, to head, to shoulders, to torso, to whole body. Have them contract and extend their bodies into different shapes and discuss the difference between "round" and "angular."
To help get across the concept of space, have students stand inside a hula-hoop and let them experiment with their bodies' movement and how they can manipulate that space. They can stand on one leg inside their hula-hoop circle and extend their limbs out or sit in their space and see how much they can spread out. Another activity is to place the students in small groups; have one student place himself in a stationary position while the others try to shape themselves in his negative space.
Music and Levels
Play music in the background with a beat that can easily be heard. Have the students move to the beat, the half-beat and the quarter-beat. Encourage them to find the melody and move with that.
Experiment with "high," "medium," and "low" levels. "High" levels would include jumps, leaps, skips, gallops and twirls. "Medium" levels could have kicks, bent knees, and back arches. "Low" levels require students to be on the ground crawling, stretching and rolling.
Have the students spread out throughout the room and face different directions. While playing music in the background, tell the students to walk in perfectly straight lines. Gradually add diagonals, circles, loops and other shapes. Call out different directions and levels until you allow them to improvise in the space around them.
Tags: their bodies, body parts, different directions, extend their, Have them