This is my version of an activity found on the ARTSEDGE website, years ago.

Grades:
3rd and up

Materials:
- Hand-drum
- Cup that contains Exploration words (one word per piece of paper).

Intro:
- Have students walk / move in the space while maintaining personal space (i.e. not bumping into one another).
- While students are moving in the space I say:  “I’m going to beat this drum while you are moving. When the drum stops, freeze.”
- We practice this a few times.
- Then I say: “I’m going to say a word. When you hear the word you will have 8 (or however many you’d like to use) beats on the drum to respond to that word with your body. When the drum stops, freeze and listen for the next word. There is no wrong way to respond / move.”

Explore:
- Give students explore time with each word.

Big
Small
Fast
Slow
Fly
Jump
Hop
Turn
Skip
Roll
Low
High
Melt
Flick
Ripple
Drop
Curl
Tiptoe
Burst
Inflate
Deflate
Swoop
Spin
Twist
Glide
Reach
Wide
Narrow
Stumble
Bounce
Gallop
Clapping
Explode
Implode
Quiver

*If some students hear a word and are not sure what it means, I tell them to look at the dancers around them and see how they are responding to the word. If a critical mass is unsure, I give a hint. I try not to demonstrate the word myself.


Create:
- Assign, or have students put themselves in, groups of 4.
- Tell students “Everyone is going to pick a word out of this cup. Your group will be working with the 4 words your group members picked out. Your group’s job is to make a 1-2 minute dance that includes all 4 words. You will have 15 minutes to work on your dances. I will give you a 10 minute notice, a 5 minute notice, and a 2 minute notice. At the end of 15 minutes, you group will perform the dance you made for the class.”
- As students begin to work, I circulate from group to group to see how it’s going.

Common Questions:
Q: Can we put other movements / our own movements into the dance?
A: Yes, as long as you incorporate your 4 words you can add anything else you like.

Q: Can we use music?
A: Yes. I’m going to turn one some music while you are creating your dances. When it comes time to perform, you can can either use this music or dance without music.

Common Challenges:
“We don’t know what to do!”
When I hear this, I tell students:
-  One way to think of it is like a sentence or poem. Put the words in an order that makes sense to your group and then dance the words in that sequence.
- Have everyone come up with a movement for their own word and then teach it to the group. Then find a way of putting those moves in a order your group feels comfortable with.
- The group fractions off into two groups of 2 and they won’t work together. I tell them to work on their own first, for 5 minutes, and then show each other what they’ve come up with. Then try to find a way of combining it.

Worst Case Scenario:
- A dancer refuses to participate. I tell the rest of the group to work together without that dancer. I ask the non participating dancer to observe another group.


Perform:
- We go over audience norms and what it means to be a respectful audience.
- Groups come up one at a time, telling the audience the words they were working with.
- Then they perform their dance.

Reflect:
After the dancers finish the piece I might ask questions like:
- What did you see?
- What stood out to you?
- Make a shape you saw in the dance.