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Strong & Light Movement

Seventh graders explore weight in movement — strong, forceful movement versus light, delicate movement — and how a dancer’s use of weight shapes the feeling and power of a dance.

Grade 7Energy45 minutes1 class periodArtistic ProcessExplicit teaching4 StandardsNCAS
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Lesson at a Glance

Everything you need before the bell rings

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to…

  • ✓Explain weight.
  • ✓Tell strong from light.
  • ✓Sort the movements.
  • ✓Use weight in dance.
Essential Question

A dancer can move with powerful force or float like a feather — that’s the element of weight! Can you tell strong movement from light?

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Lesson Phases
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Vocabulary Terms
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Standards Aligned
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Interactive Task
Sort It · Interactive

Strong or Light?

Project this and sort each movement into strong (forceful) or light (delicate).

💃 Sort each — strong or light?Try it
💪 Strong
🍃 Light
Tap a movement, then tap a bucket.
The Lesson · Artistic Process (Warm-Up · Explore · Create · Perform · Reflect)

45 minutes, five moves

Tap any phase to open the teacher moves and student actions.

1

Warm-Up — Force or Feather

5 min

A dancer can move with force or float like a feather — that’s weight!

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Do a move two ways.
  • Ask what changed.
  • Warm up.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Watch.
  • Notice.
  • Warm up.
2

Explore — Weight

11 min

Students explore.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Send students to Strong or Light?
  • Sort each one.
  • Try both.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Sort.
  • Try them.
  • Name.
3

Create — Create

13 min

Students create.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Move with strong weight.
  • Move with light weight.
  • Combine them.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Strong!
  • Light!
  • Combine.
4

Perform — Perform

11 min

Students perform.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Perform with weight changes.
  • Show the contrast.
  • Give critique.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Perform it.
  • Show it.
  • Critique.
5

Reflect — Reflect

5 min

Students respond.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Name a strong movement.
  • Name a light one.
  • Complete the exit ticket.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Name one.
  • Name one.
  • Complete the exit ticket.
Standards Alignment

Built to the standards you report on

Aligned to the National Core Arts Standards (Dance).

NCAS
DA:Pr4.1.7

Use weight in movement.

NCAS
DA:Cr1.1.7

Explore strong and light.

NCAS
DA:Re7.2.7

Analyze weight in dance.

NCAS
DA:Pr5.1.7

Demonstrate weight range.

Differentiation

One lesson, every learner

Multilingual Learners

ELL / EMERGING READERS
  • Strong/light cards.
  • Sentence frame: “This move is ___.”
  • Demonstrate weight.

Support & Access

IEP / 504
  • Start with punch vs. float.
  • Sort one at a time.
  • Try one quality.

Stretch & Extend

GIFTED / EARLY FINISHERS
  • Combine weight and time.
  • Choreograph a weight shift.
  • Match weight to music.
Materials

What to gather

  • 📽️Projector / board
  • 🎵Contrasting music
  • 💻Strong or Light?
  • 👟Open space
  • ✏️Pens
  • 🎫Exit-ticket slips
Vocabulary

Key terms — hover for a quick definition

weightstrong or light movementstrongforceful and powerfullightdelicate and airyforcepower in movementgroundedfirmly on the floorfloatinglight and weightlesspressto push with forcedelicatesoft and gentle
Evaluate

Exit Ticket

Preview the three formative checks. Tap “Sample answer” to see what mastery looks like — hide them before you print for students.

QUESTION 1
Is a powerful, forceful punch strong or light?
Strong.
QUESTION 2
Is a delicate, floating reach strong or light?
Light.
QUESTION 3
Why do dancers change their use of weight?
To shape the feeling and power of a dance.

Reflect: strong and light.

Have students perform the same move with strong weight, then light weight, and describe the difference. A printable weight sheet is in the Arts library.

Study · Flashcards

Study the key terms

Tap a card to flip it, then rate whether you knew it. Built from this lesson’s vocabulary.

🃏 Strong & Light MovementFlip
Card 1
Term
Tap to flip →
Meaning
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Nice work!

Practice · Quiz

Check your understanding

A quick self-check with instant feedback, drawn from this lesson’s key terms.

📝 Strong & Light MovementQuiz
Score: 0
1 / 6
Question 1
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Nice work!

Practice · Worksheet

Printable worksheet

A print-and-go review sheet with a built-in answer key. Tap “Show answer key” to reveal answers, or print the clean version for students.

🖨️ Strong & Light MovementPrint
Name: ________________________
Date: ____________

Part A · Write the word that matches each meaning

Word bank: delicate, floating, force, grounded, light, press, strong, weight
  1. soft and gentle
  2. strong or light movement
  3. firmly on the floor
  4. light and weightless
  5. to push with force
  6. forceful and powerful
  7. delicate and airy
  8. power in movement

Part B · Show what you learned

  1. Is a powerful, forceful punch strong or light?
  2. Is a delicate, floating reach strong or light?
  3. Why do dancers change their use of weight?
Answer key — Part A: 1) delicate · 2) weight · 3) grounded · 4) floating · 5) press · 6) strong · 7) light · 8) force
Part B: 1) Strong. 2) Light. 3) To shape the feeling and power of a dance.