The first of two sessions about the journey made by the Three Wise Men to Bethlehem.
1. A star in the sky
In the first session the children are made aware of 4 warm up activities suitable for dance 鈥 shake, swing, stretch, travel 鈥 and are asked to begin to remember them. They are also introduced to neutral position.
The idea of the star is introduced and the children are asked to think about how people might have reacted when they saw it. They stretch into star shapes using different levels. They imagine travelling through the stars and perform lively skips and turns lightly and freely through the space using the pulse in the music. They are asked to think about pathways and incorporate this into their travelling. Once they are warm the children repeat their star shapes but this time with a jump in the air. They practise performing repeated jumps using the phrasing of the music to guide them. They link their travelling and jumping movements to build a star phrase.
The children are introduced to the character of Caspar who is a great thinker, a wise man of the time. They create a wise man phrase involving lunging and pointing at the star and at reference books using different directions and eventually linking with a turn. They repeat the wise man phrase with a partner and in a small group to show the gossip about the star spreading.
At the end of the session the star phrase and the wise man phrase are linked using a verse and chorus structure reminiscent of the famous carol We Three Kings of Orient are. During the cool down the children are asked to think how they might react if they saw an unusually bright star in the sky.
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.
