Candidates have both broad and in-depth conceptual knowledge of describing, analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating dance. They are able to identify recurring patterns of movement and their relationships. They understand how the elements of dance contribute to artistic expression and are able to make sound critical judgments about the quality and success of dance works.
Recommendation for individuals using a screenreader: please set your punctuation settings to "most."
Descriptive Statements:
- Demonstrate knowledge of repetition and pattern, including finding a movement that repeats in a dance; finding a movement pattern that creates a movement phrase in a dance work; finding meaning, artistic intent, style, and theme in a dance work; describing, demonstrating, comparing, and discussing patterns of movement and their relationships in dance in the context of artistic intent; analyzing dance works from a variety of dance genres and styles; and explaining how recurring patterns of movement and their relationships create well-structured and meaningful choreography.
- Demonstrate knowledge of observed or performed dance movements from a variety of genres or cultures, including describing observed or performed dance movements from a specific genre or culture; describing, using basic dance terminology, the qualities and characteristics of style used in a dance from one's own cultural movement practice and comparing them to the qualities and characteristics of style found in a different dance genre, style, or cultural movement practice; explaining how the elements of dance are used in a variety of genres, styles, or cultural movement practices to communicate intent, using genre-specific dance terminology; analyzing and comparing movement patterns and their relationships in a variety of genres, styles, or cultural movement practices; and explaining how differences in movement patterns and their relationships impact communication and intent within a cultural context.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how dance terminology can be used to understand meaning in dance, including observing movement and describing it using simple dance terminology; selecting movements from a dance that suggest ideas and explaining how those movements capture the ideas; interpreting meaning and intent in a dance based on movements and context cues; and describing how movements communicate the main idea of a dance.
-
Demonstrate knowledge of how the elements of dance, technique, context, and structure are used to achieve artistic expression, including explaining how the artistic expression of a dance is achieved through the elements of dance, use of body, dance technique, dance structure, and context and explaining how these elements communicate the intent of the dance; selecting and comparing different dances and discussing their intent and artistic expression; and analyzing and interpreting how the elements of dance, dance structure, execution of dance movement principles, and context contribute to artistic expression across different genres, styles, or cultural movement practices.
-
Demonstrate knowledge of evaluating dance, including identifying movements from a dance that attracted attention and explaining why they attracted attention; selecting dance movements from specific genres, styles, or cultures, identifying characteristic movements from these dances, and describing in basic dance terminology ways in which they are similar and different; discussing the characteristics and artistic intent of a dance from a genre, style, or cultural movement practice and developing artistic criteria to critique the dance; and comparing and contrasting two or more dances using evaluative criteria to critique artistic expression, considering personal artistic preferences and societal and personal values.
Sample Items:
A dance work that features six dancers begins with a section of unison movement. In the second section, three dancers continue moving in the original pattern of unison movement, while the other three, in unison, perform a second and contrasting pattern of movement. In the third section, all six dancers transition to execution of the second movement pattern. The variation in the use of unison movement during the second section was most likely planned to:
- focus attention on the introduction of a new motif.
-
suggest a sense of confusion or uncertainty.
-
provide an impression of continuity and stability.
-
establish fluid transitions between the sections.
Correct Response and Explanation (Show Correct ResponseHide Correct Response)
A. As the six dancers move in unison, they clarify the initial movement pattern, suggesting its significance as a motif in the dance. The introduction of contrasting movements by half the dancers in the second section draws attention to the new pattern, or motif, suggesting a change is occurring. This provides a transition and link to the third section when the second pattern is performed in unison by all six dancers as a second motif in the choreography.
Watch the video1 below to answer the question that follows. The video shows a segment of a young man dancing outside. To play this video, click the Play icon (
). You may also use the Pause (
), Stop (
), and Replay (
) features. You may watch the video as many times as you wish.
This video shows ten seconds of dance movement. Performing outside on a paved space, a teenage boy, wearing street clothes, performs a series of six turns using his hands as the base of support. From a wide stance, he places one hand on the ground and, with legs open and extended slightly bent, rotates around his axis, changing the hand underneath him as he turns and balancing over the supporting hand. He repeats this action eight times, pressing a foot to the ground between each to initiate the next rotation. Each turn is a single rotation, except the third and fifth turns in which he rotates twice. All are performed with relatively even timing except the fifth turn, during which he accelerates his rotation, bending his legs closer to his body, as he turns.
The movement executed at the moment 00:08, according to the time stamp on the video, is likely to attract a viewer's attention primarily because the movement:
-
uses a change in body shape.
-
involves a higher-level action.
-
changes the base of support.
-
increases the tempo of rotation.
Correct Response and Explanation (Show Correct ResponseHide Correct Response)
D. The dancer creates a series of six turns that involve one or two rotations as he moves from a balance on one hand to the other at a relatively even tempo. At the end of each turn, he presses a foot to the ground to initiate the next rotation. As he executes the fifth turn in this video segment, he increases his tempo of rotation and performs a double spin at a faster tempo. The increased tempo draws attention to that moment.
Use the photograph2 below to answer the question that follows.
Two dancers perform outdoors on a block-paved surface in front of an elaborate door and wall of a stucco building. Both dancers are in a wide stance, weight evenly distributed with the right toe lifted as though stepping onto that foot. Both have the left arm lifted, bent at a 45-degree angle with open hand, and both are smiling. The dancers wear sleeveless tops and shorts, the dancer on the left in a textured fabric of yellow and gold, the dancer on the right in fabric with stripes of multiple bright colors and the image of a half sun on the top. Both dancers carry small multi-colored umbrellas in front of their torsos that replicate the bright primary colors in their clothes.
The photograph shows dancers during a performance of frevo, a traditional Carnival dance of northern Brazil.
The colors and styles of the dancers' umbrella props and costumes suggest that artistic expression in this dance form most likely includes:
- conveying feelings of joy and cheerfulness.
-
enacting narratives of local legends and stories.
-
celebrating the multicultural qualities of Brazilian society.
-
re-creating traditional dances performed to encourage rain.
Correct Response and Explanation (Show Correct ResponseHide Correct Response)
A. The bright primary colors of the umbrellas and costumes, including the use of a yellow sun in the design of one costume, are cheerful and contribute a sense of happiness and joy to the dancers' appearance. The toy-sized umbrellas enhance that feeling with a sense of playfulness.
View Cart