Dance Education provides a vehicle through which educators may broaden the knowledge and experience of students. In a well-planned and sequenced program, students have the opportunity to experience elements of dance content; (dance elements, techniques, choreography, and skills), production, cultural context and dance history, healthful living, audience/performer behavior and technology so that the goals of the dance arts can be realized. A comprehensive dance arts program allows students to develop thinking skills and draw upon core academic areas to solve creation, design, and execution problems. Through participation in the dance arts, students develop individual expression and the ability to work collaboratively to achieve common artistic goals. All students are expected to do work that reflects development artistically, disciplined training, creative exploration, and self-discovery. As students gain control of technical and critical thinking skills through middle school dance classes, emphasis is placed on the quality of their work.

Dance in the Public Schools

• Employs the technical and artistic skills necessary for expressive dance performance and the safe training and care of the body as an instrument
• Encourages creatively solving choreographic problems through the use of the principles, processes, and structures of dance composition
• Uses the elements of dance production and the safe use of materials, methods, and technologies
• Builds knowledge and understanding of dance within the contexts of history, culture, and other art forms, and the role of dance as a vehicle for human expression
• Develops observation and critical thinking skills for the evaluation of dance works and their impact on society
• Makes connections between dance arts and other fields of knowledge, including awareness of the impact of technology on dance creativity and performance
• Builds understanding of the variables of culture and experience that shape the aesthetics of individuals and societies
• Challenges students to recognize personal aesthetic criteria to create and evaluate dance works.

In Dance, the goals for grade spans are related and parallel. As a result, the goals, content, instruction, student outcomes, and evaluation methods increase in sophistication and complexity at each grade level.