Fine Arts · Grades 9 to 12

Dance 1 SEL activities

36 ready to use activities that teach Dance 1 content and build one Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) skill, about 20 minutes each.

Body Awareness and Safe Space

• My Moving Story Self-awareness · Week 1Students create a short gesture phrase from moments in their lives and reflect on how they feel about moving in front of others.
• A Safe Space to Move Relationship skills · Week 2Students cocreate studio agreements and practice a group warmup that welcomes every body and ability level.
• Listening to the Body Self-awareness · Week 3Students learn alignment basics and a body scan and notice where emotions and tension live in their bodies.
• Breath and Movement Self-management · Week 4Students link breath to slow movement sequences and practice using them to calm stress.
• Mirror Work Social awareness · Week 5Partners mirror each other's movement and practice reading subtle cues to stay in sync.
• Brave Moves Self-management · Week 6Students improvise to unfamiliar music, notice self-consciousness, and celebrate trying something new.

Elements of Dance

• Space and Respect Social awareness · Week 7Dancing with spatial intention, students explore personal and shared space and how to respect the space of others.
• Time and Togetherness Relationship skills · Week 8Groups dance a rhythmic phrase in unison and in canon and notice how shared timing builds connection.
• Energy and Emotion Self-awareness · Week 9Students analyze how movement qualities such as sharp, smooth, and heavy express emotion and try each quality in their own bodies.
• Choreographic Choices Responsible decision-making · Week 10Students use a stimulus such as a poem or photograph to source movement and choose devices that express an artistic intent.
• Feedback in the Studio Relationship skills · Week 11Students give feedback on a peer's dance study using kind, specific language and revise their own study.
• Injury, Rest, and Patience Responsible decision-making · Week 12Students apply healthy practices to prevent injury and decide when to push and when to rest.

Dance, Culture, and Celebration

• Dance and Remembrance Social awareness · Week 13Students explore dances that honor ancestors in different cultures and connect them to traditions they know or admire.
• Dance at Día de los Muertos Social awareness · Week 14Students analyze traditional dances seen at Día de los Muertos celebrations and discuss what they mean to the communities who perform them.
• Appreciation, Not Appropriation Responsible decision-making · Week 15Students compare respectful learning of a cultural dance form with viral trends that strip dances of their origins and credit.
• Folklórico and Family Self-awareness · Week 16Students learn about the regional roots of ballet folklórico and reflect on the dances that live in their own families.
• Group Choreography Relationship skills · Week 17Groups collaborate on a short dance using choreographic devices and practice making sure every member's ideas appear in it.
• Semester Reflection Self-awareness · Week 18Students reflect in writing on how their skills, confidence, and comfort moving in front of others have changed this semester.

Choreography and Partnering

• Trust in Partnering Relationship skills · Week 19Partners practice counterbalance and weight sharing with clear verbal check ins, building trust step by step.
• Consent in Contact Responsible decision-making · Week 20Students learn to ask before touch, offer alternatives, and respect a partner's no in contact work.
• Artistic Statements Self-awareness · Week 21Students write a short artistic statement for an original dance study that names the feeling and intent behind it.
• Revising a Dance Self-management · Week 22Students clarify the intent of their dance study using peer feedback and self-reflection and commit to one revision.
• Documenting Movement Self-management · Week 23Students film and annotate their dance study and compare how it felt with how it looks.
• Watching Dance Critically Responsible decision-making · Week 24Students analyze the artistic expression of a professional dance using dance terminology and evidence rather than likes and dislikes.

Dance in Our Community

• Dance in the Coachella Valley Social awareness · Week 25Students explore dance traditions in the valley, from folklórico groups to hip hop crews, and what they reveal about the people who dance them.
• Dance and Wellbeing Self-management · Week 26Students research how movement supports mental health and design a short routine for stressful days.
• Dance With a Message Responsible decision-making · Week 27Students develop movement around an issue they care about and decide how to express it powerfully and honestly.
• Leading the Warmup Relationship skills · Week 28Students take turns leading the group warmup and practice dependable, encouraging leadership.
• Every Body Dances Self-awareness · Week 29Students analyze how dance media portrays bodies and write affirmations about what their own bodies can do.
• Careers in Dance Self-management · Week 30Students research careers in performance, choreography, teaching, dance therapy, and arts administration and identify a next step.

Performance and Reflection

• Producing Our Concert Relationship skills · Week 31Students divide production roles for a dance concert and agree on how they will support each other through tech week.
• Performance Nerves Self-management · Week 32Students practice a pre performance routine of breath, visualization, and warmup to manage nerves.
• Dancing for an Audience Social awareness · Week 33Students perform and focus on projecting energy and intent so the audience can feel the dance.
• Reflecting on Performance Self-awareness · Week 34Students watch a recording of their concert, discuss its artistic expression, and name the emotions they felt while performing.
• Looking Back Self-awareness · Week 35Students revisit their week one gesture phrase and describe how their movement and confidence have grown.
• Gratitude Circle Relationship skills · Week 36Students create a closing group dance in which each person adds a gesture of thanks for someone in the ensemble.

RoseThread Connect activities are drafted with the help of AI and shaped by educators. Students never have to share anything personal. Our five SEL skills are informed by CASEL's SEL Framework; RoseThread Learning is not affiliated with or endorsed by CASEL.