(a) General requirements. Students in Grades 6, 7, or 8 enrolled in the first year of dance may select Dance, Middle School 1.
(b) Introduction.
  (1) The fine arts incorporate the study of dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts to offer unique experiences and empower students to explore realities, relationships, and ideas. These disciplines engage and motivate all students through active learning, critical thinking, and innovative problem solving. The fine arts develop cognitive functioning and increase student academic achievement, higher-order thinking, communication, and collaboration skills, making the fine arts applicable to college readiness, career opportunities, workplace environments, social skills, and everyday life. Students develop aesthetic and cultural awareness through exploration, leading to creative expression. Creativity, encouraged through the study of the fine arts, is essential to nurture and develop the whole child.
  (2) Four basic strands--foundations: perception; creative expression; historical and cultural relevance; and critical evaluation and response--provide broad, unifying structures for organizing the knowledge and skills students are expected to acquire. Dance students develop perceptual thinking and movement abilities in daily life, promoting an understanding of themselves and others. Students develop movement principles and technical skills and explore choreographic and performance qualities. Students develop self-discipline and healthy bodies that move expressively, efficiently, and safely through space and time with a sensitive kinesthetic awareness. Students recognize dance as a vehicle for understanding historical and cultural relevance, increasing an awareness of their heritage and traditions and those of others, and enabling them to participate in a diverse society. Evaluating and analyzing dance allows students to strengthen decision-making skills, develop critical and creative thinking, and develop artistic creative processes. Students continue to explore technology and its application to dance and movement, enabling them to make informed decisions about dance.
  (3) Statements that contain the word "including" reference content that must be mastered, while those containing the phrase "such as" are intended as possible illustrative examples.
(c) Knowledge and skills.
  (1) Foundations: perception. The student develops an awareness of the body's movement using sensory information while dancing. The student is expected to:
    (A) demonstrate basic kinesthetic and spatial awareness individually and in groups;
    (B) recognize the concepts of wellness for healthy lifestyles;
    (C) define body science applications through dance genres, styles, and vocabulary; and
    (D) identify dance movement elements through space, energy, and time.
  (2) Creative expression: artistic process. The student develops knowledge and skills of dance elements, choreographic processes, and forms in a variety of dance genres and styles. The student is expected to:
    (A) recognize basic principles of proper body alignment;
    (B) define knowledge of dance composition elements, improvisation skills, and choreographic processes;
    (C) identify movement studies using rhythmical skills and spatial directions; and
    (D) recognize expressions of ideas or emotions individually and in groups.
  (3) Creative expression: performance. The student develops knowledge and execution of technical dance skills and a variety of dance genres and styles through performing. The student is expected to:
    (A) identify various dance genres and styles such as ballet, jazz, tap, modern dance, musical theatre dance, and world dance forms;
    (B) perform in groups with the intent to communicate to an audience;
    (C) define the use of dance elements in practice and performance incorporating technology; and
    (D) identify an effective warm-up and cool-down using elements of proper conditioning for performing skills.
  (4) Historical and cultural relevance. The student demonstrates an understanding of cultural, historical, and artistic diversity. The student is expected to:
    (A) define the cultural significance as communicated through dance movement, identifying historical figures and their contributions to dance history;
    (B) identify movement characteristics of historical and cultural dance forms and the contributions of their artists;
    (C) identify a dance representative of one's heritage or environment; and
    (D) understand dances in various media and other content areas.
  (5) Critical evaluation and response. The student makes informed personal judgments about dance and the meaning and role of dance in society. The student is expected to:
    (A) define the quality and effectiveness of dance performances while incorporating appropriate etiquette in the classroom and performances;
    (B) identify relationships between dance and other content subjects;
    (C) define the content and choreographic structures used by various American choreographers; and
    (D) define artistic decisions of personal dance works.

Source Note: The provisions of this §117.205 adopted to be effective July 28, 2013, 38 TexReg 4575