CBAA is grateful to Karen Jospe for assisting us with the Modern Syllabus 2004.
“Modern dance is comprised of highly individualised movements based upon personalised, ever-changing artistic standard. The innate nature of modern dance provides for constant redefinition of the field.”
The Dancer Prepares Modern Dance for Beginners, Fourth Edition, Period & Plastino, 1998
When developing a modern dance syllabus it is important that you incorporate a variety of concepts that will allow your students to develop their modern dance technique.
The concepts you should include in your syllabus are:
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- parallel and turn out
- torso generated movement
- shifting centre of gravity
- resisting into and out of the floor
- alignment and placement, fall and recovery
- contraction and release
- off-centre work
- range of symmetrical and asymmetrical lines
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THE STRUCTURE OF THE SYLLABUS
It is important that your syllabus structure develops gradually in its degree of difficulty. A guideline to follow when structuring your syllabus is as follows:
Centre Work
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- Lunges
- tenues
- balances
- table top
- sea lines
- parallel attitudes and second
- floor work displaying strength, contraction and release / high release and flexibility.
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Travelling Steps (across the room or on the diagonal) for example:
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- springs
- hops
- leaps
- stags
- bisons
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Improvisation
Dance
I believe including improvisation into your modern dance class and exams will allow your dance students the freedom to express themselves without any restrictions. Some benefits of improvisation are;
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- discovery of new movement
- development of your awareness as a performer
- development and use of movement vocabulary
- exploration of the senses, emotions and felling states
- ability to respond to different rhythm patterns.
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Our aim as modern dance teachers should be to:
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- provide an understanding of Modern Dance as an art form
- to increase awareness of body weight and strength
- to increase rhythmic ability
- to increase flexibility and range of motion
- to increase awareness of the relationship between dance and music
- to enable students of execute moves through time and space with ease and whole body involvement
- to attain a familiarity with basic modern dance vocabulary.
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“The small child at dancing class may never become a professional dancer – but the courtesies and disciplines, as well as the joy of movement, will touch her forever.” – Helen Thompson, b. 1943