The Dance content area of the Colorado Academic Standards contains four standards: Movement, Technique, and Performance; Create, Compose, and Choreograph; Historical and Cultural Context; and Reflect, Connect, and Respond. This section provides a broad overview of the requirements of each standard for children in kindergarten through third grade and explains how the content in these Guidelines at earlier ages prepare children for meeting these standards in their formal schooling.
Movement, Technique, and Performance
The first standard in the Dance content area focuses on competence and confidence during performance. The Guidelines for children ages 3–5 years provide a foundation for dancing performance within the domain of Visual and Performing Arts: Dance, which includes content such as expressing what is felt and heard in musical tempos and styles. In grades K–3,children demonstrate skills such as moving with intent to music or other stimuli (kindergarten) and performing dance studies with accuracy (third grade).
Create, Compose, and Choreograph
The second standard focuses on using dance elements of space, time, and energy. The Guidelines for children ages 3–5 years provide a foundation for dance composition within the domain of Visual and Performing Arts: Dance, which includes content such as demonstrating simple phrases of movement in time and space. In grades K–3, children demonstrate skills such as translating simple ideas and stories into movement phrases (kindergarten) and creating short dances using compositional principles (third grade).
Historical and Cultural Context
The third standard focuses on understanding the relevance of dance across time and place. The Guidelines for children ages 3–5 years provide a foundation for the history and culture of dance within the domain of Visual and Performing Arts: Dance, which includes content such as recognizing dances from around the world. In grades K–3, children demonstrate skills such as performing simple social dances that communicate an idea (kindergarten) and recognizing styles in major dance works (third grade).
Reflect, Connect, and Respond
The final standard focuses on how dance stimulates the imagination and challenges the intellect. The Guidelines for children ages 3–5 years provide a foundation for responding to dance within the domain of Visual and Performing Arts: Dance, which includes content such as attentively observing a dance performance. Content in the preschool domain Logic and Reasoning: Reasoning and Problem-Solving also relates to this standard because it requires the application of critical thinking skills. In grades K–3, children demonstrate knowledge such as observing and identifying different dance genres (kindergarten) and describing the use of dance elements in choreography (third grade).