The second of two sessions about the Three Wise Men and their journey to Bethlehem.
2. Follow that star!
In the second session the children revise the 4 warm up activities from last time and are made aware that they could use these independently in the future. They continue to use neutral position.
The notion of a journey is introduced during the warm up by using stretches to express the idea of packing ready to travel and reintroducing the character of Caspar. The children come to understand that the journey is both meaningful and arduous. They visualise distant lands, deserts, mountains and rivers and then use pathways and levels to explore their own journey through the space. They develop the idea in groups of 3 indicative of the Three Wise Men and use contact to keep in unison. Travel by camel is introduced by feeling the rhythm of the hooves with hands and then feet and adding this step pattern and resulting rocking motion into the journey phrase.
The latter part of the session is about the 3 gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh and their meanings. Each idea is explored as a whole class and then repeated by one child in each group in turn dancing the moves as a short solo within their group. Each of the three phrases uses the same structure simply adapting the arm gesture to imply the different meanings.
At the end of the session the journey phrase and the gift phrases are linked using the same verse and chorus structure used in session 1. During the cool down the children are asked to think about journeys in a broader sense and about their own personal learning journeys.
Resources
Download the audio for this dance session as an mp3 file.
Guidance on using the dance sessions in this unit with your group (pdf)
Related units of KS1 Dance: Time to Move
A Victorian Christmas. collection
Two dance sessions exploring what Christmas was like during the Victorian era.
See also from KS1 Dance: Let's Move...
Twas the Night before Christmas. collection
A two-part unit based on the famous poem 'Twas the Night before Christmas'.
The Nutcracker. collection
Join Cat Sandion to explore the much-loved story of 'The Nutcracker' through movement and dance.
The journey of the Magi. collection
Dances inspired by the arrival of the three kings in Bethlehem. Presented by Katy Ashworth.
