TOPIC 7: FIVE ELEMENTS OF DANCE

Question 1

Five elements of dance

Answer 1

Body, Action, Space, Time, Energy

Question 2

Who dances, The dancer! Dancers use their bodies to take internal ideas, emotions, and intentions and express them in an outward
manner, sharing them with others. Dance can communicate this internal world, or it can be abstract,
focusing on shapes and patterns.

Answer 2

Body

Question 3

The dancer does what? Moves! is any human movement involved in the act of dancing.

Answer 3

Action

Question 4

Movement can be divided into two general categories:

Answer 4

Non-locomotor or axial movement & Locomotor movement

Question 5

Any movement that occurs in one spot including a bend,
stretch, swing, rise, fall, shake, turn, rock, tip, suspend, and twist.

Answer 5

Non-locomotor or axial movement

Question 6

Any movement that travels through space including a run, jump, walk, slide,
hop, skip, somersault, leap, crawl, gallop, and roll.

Answer 6

Locomotor movement

Question 7

Where does the dancer move? where the action of dance takes place.
Dance moves through space in an endless variety of ways.

Answer 7

Space

Question 8

To better explain, here are some ways a choreographer or dancer thinks about space:

Answer 8

Level, Direction, Place, Orientation, Pathway, Size, Relationship

Question 9

Is the movement on the floor, or reaching upward? Are they performed high, medium, or low?

Answer 9

Level

Question 10

Does the movement go forward, backward, sideways, right, left, or on a diagonal?

Answer 10

Direction

Question 11

Is the movement done on the spot (personal space), or does it move through space (general
space, downstage, upstage)?

Answer 11

Place

Question 12

Which way are the dancers facing?

Answer 12

Orientation

Question 13

Is the path through space made by the dancers curved, straight, or zigzagged? Or is it
random?

Answer 13

Pathway

Question 14

Does the movement take up a small, narrow space, or a big, wide space?

Answer 14

Size

Question 15

How are the dancers positioned in space in relationship to one another? Are they
close together or far apart? Are they in front of, beside, behind, over, under, alone, or connected to
one another?

Answer 15

Relationships

Question 16

How does the body move in relation to time? Choreographers have to make decisions about timing. Are their movements quick or slow? Are certain
steps repeated in different speeds during the work?

Answer 16

Time

Question 17

We can think of time in the following
ways:

Answer 17

Clock time, Timing relationships, Metered time, free rhythm

Question 18

We use ______ to think about the length of a dance or parts of a dance measured in
seconds, minutes, or hours.

Answer 18

Clock time

Question 19

When dancers move in relation to each other (before, after, together, sooner
than, faster than).

Answer 19

Timing relationships

Question 20

A repeated rhythmic pattern often used in music (like 2/4 time or 4/4 time). If
dances are done to music, the movement can respond to the beat of the music or can move against it.
The speed of the rhythmic pattern is called its tempo.

Answer 20

Metered time

Question 21

A rhythmic pattern is less predictable than metered time. Dancers may perform
movement without using music, relying on cues from one another

Answer 21

Free rhythm

Question 22

How? The Dancer Moves Through Space and Time. helps us to identify how the dancers move. What effort are they using? Perhaps their movements
are sharp and strong, or maybe they are light and free. also represents the quality of the
movement—its power and richness. For choreographers and dancers, there are many possibilities.

Answer 22

Energy

Question 23

Some ways to think about energy are:

Answer 23

Attack, Weight, Flow, Quality

Question 24

Is the movement sharp and sudden, or smooth and sustained?

Answer 24

Attack

Question 25

Does the movement show heaviness, as if giving into gravity, or is it light with a tendency
upward?

Answer 25

Weight

Question 26

Does the movement seem restricted or bound, with a lot of muscle tension, or is it relaxed,
free, and easy?

Answer 26

Flow

Question 27

Is the movement tight, flowing, loose, sharp, swinging, swaying, suspended, collapsed, or
smooth?

Answer 27

Quality