LESSON PLAN FORMAT- DANCE CONTENT AREA

WINTHROP UNIVERSITY
Educator: Brittany M. Johnson
Date:
Target Age Group/ Grade: 8th
Length of Lesson: 45 minutes
Focus of Lesson: Todays lesson focuses on Swing dance, a social dance that contributed to the
development of jazz dance. Students will use our Jazz Dance Development Timeline to develop
a connection between Swing dance and modern-day jazz dancing.
Materials: Promethean board, PowerPoint Presentation, stereo, and The Classic Swing Selection
CD
Resources: National/ SC State Dance Standards,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDNd9ei3Ijo (teacher reference),
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twzqhgxgsq8 (teacher reference),
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7mXIU9dkaU (teacher reference),
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHcBYGN-3uM (Swing Kids movie clip for in-class
viewing)
National/ State Curriculum Standards:
Standard 1: Technique
The student will identify and demonstrate movement elements and skills and apply them while
performing dance.
Indicator:
D8-1.2 Identify and demonstrate basic dance steps, positions, and patterns in four or more genres
or forms of dance.
Standard 5: History and Culture
The student will demonstrate an understanding of dance in various cultures and historical
periods.
Indicator:
D8-5.1 Perform four or more simple folk dances, social dances, classical dances, and/or
theatrical dances and identify and describe the similarities and differences among them.
Vocabulary:
Introduced Vocabulary
Jitterbug
Rock Step
Lindy Hop
Triple Step
Inside Turn

Open Position
Closed Position
Aerial Lift
Belt Flip

Lesson Objective

Students will be able to

1. Perform basic swing dance movements with a partner
2. Relate swing dance to modern-day jazz

Instructional
Procedures

Introductory Activity: 15 minutes

1. Students will begin todays activity with a few partnering
activities, starting with a mirroring exercise. The partners will
begin facing one another and one partner will begin
improvising movement while the other partner mirrors their
movement. Students will be asked to connect different body
parts to one another while continuing to mirror as the activity
progresses. This will help students to become comfortable
with the sense of touching one another and following the
motions of another. Pretend like youre looking at your
reflection.
a. Let your fingertips connect
b. Forearms
c. Shoulders
d. Back
e. Leg
f. Leg and arm
g. Forearms and back
h. Shoulders and feet
i. Now take a few seconds and create a 2-eight count
mirroring pattern with your partner.
j. Perform that pattern twice.
k. Now can you find moments in your pattern to step
forward and back or side to side with your partner?
Developmental Activity: 25 minutes
2. We will transition into the next activity by simply talking
about todays topic.
a. Students, today we are going to learn how to perform
swing dance. Does anyone remember where that term
comes from?...Lets look at our Jazz Dance
Development Timeline. As we know, jazz dance grew
over a long period of time to become what it is today.
(Refer to PowerPoint Presentation on Promethean

b.

c.

d.

e.

board) When did Swing dance come into the picture?

Right the 1930s. Swing dance is a partner dance that
was popular during the 1930s.
It started it out as simple dance called the Lindy Hop
in the 1920s that was typically performed by African
Americans. Even though this was a very hard time
period for African Americans to live through, they
gained respect by teaching White Americans how to
perform the Lindy. A popular trend for African
American Lindy teachers during this time was to clip
their phone numbers and studio names on the back of
their shirts at dance parties for those who were
interested in taking lesson. This soon promoted
competition and there were Swing dance competitions.
Not long after, these dance competitions became very
showy and attention getting. Aerial lifts were soon
added by a man named Frankie Manning, who is
known for adding the first aerial lift to the Lindy hop.
In this short video clip from a movie called Swing
Kids from 1993, which features Swing dance, we will
see a lot of aerial lifts.
Students will watch a short clip of swing dance from
the movie Swings Kids.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHcBYGN-3uM
Students will now learn basic swing dance movements,
which will progress into a combination of Swing dance
movements.
i. Jitterbug
ii. Rock Step
iii. Lindy Hop
iv. Triple Step
v. Inside Turn
vi. Open Position
vii. Closed Position
viii. Belt Flip
Students will perform the combo multiple times.

Concluding Activity: 5 minutes

3. We will have a brief discussion about swing dance and what
feels familiar to us as jazz dancers. Students will talk about
how they feel swing dance relates to jazz dance or how it is
translated into modern-day jazz dance.
a. What about Swing dance makes it similar to jazz
dance?
b. What makes it different?

c. Do we see Swing dance movements in jazz dance

duets sometimes?
d. If you could tell me three things about Swing dance
what would it be? (We will write the answers on the
timeline.)
Assessment of Each
Objective

I will assess students based on their performance of the Swing dance

combo and their responses to the open-ended discussion proceeding.