The six elements of dance are the building blocks for how music is created. Many school curriculums (including the Ontario Dance Curriculum) use the elements of dance as a major component of their learning expectations.
Body
- Grade 1: body awareness (e.g., awareness of where one is in space in relation to objects in class, awareness of position)
- Grade 1: use of body zones (e.g., whole body [versus various body parts], upper body only, lower body only), use of body parts (e.g., arms, legs, head)
- Grade 1: body shapes (e.g., big, small, angular, twisted, curved, straight, closed)
- Grade 1: locomotor movements (e.g., galloping, skipping, rolling)
- Grade 1: non-locomotor movements (e.g., arm movements such as swimming/waving, hopping on one foot, jumping on two feet, kicking, bending knees, melting to the ground, stretching, growing, spinning, folding, bowing)
- Grade 1: body bases (e.g., feet as body base, hands and knees as body base)
Action
Space
- Grade 1: levels (e.g., low to high by reaching; high to low by falling, crouching), directions (e.g., forwards, backwards, sideways), general and personal
Time
- Grade 1: tempo (e.g., fast/slow, movement versus freeze), rhythm (e.g., even, uneven)
Energy
- Grade 1: quality (e.g., melting, twitching, slumping, percussive, sustained [as in a held stretch])
Relationship
- Grade 1: with a partner (e.g., slow-motion mirroring)