(a) General requirements. Students may fulfill fine arts and elective requirements for graduation by successfully completing one or more of the following dance courses: Principles of Dance IV, Ballet IV, Modern/Contemporary Dance IV, Jazz IV, Tap IV, World Dance Forms IV, Dance Composition/Improvisation IV, Dance Theory IV, Dance Performance/Ensemble IV, Dance Production IV, Dance Wellness IV, Dance History II, and International Baccalaureate (IB) Dance II (one credit per course). The prerequisite for each Dance, Level IV course is one credit of Dance, Level III in the corresponding discipline.
(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 heritage and traditions of their own and 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 and 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) evaluate kinesthetic and spatial awareness individually and in groups;
    (B) develop a working knowledge of health, safety, and wellness for dancers;
    (C) demonstrate and evaluate a working knowledge and skills of dance genres, styles, and vocabulary; and
    (D) create designs and images found in natural and constructed environments.
  (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) create and improvise dance studies using original movement based on theme and variation to successfully communicate an idea;
    (B) improvise, construct, and evaluate original movement studies;
    (C) evaluate the expression of ideas and emotions through movement; and
    (D) design compositional forms implementing advanced dance elements for choreographic processes.
  (3) Creative expression: performance. The student demonstrates knowledge and execution of technical dance skills in a variety of dance genres and styles through performing. The student is expected to:
    (A) assess performance of memorized complex movement sequences with rhythmical accuracy in dance genres and styles such as ballet, modern dance, tap, jazz, musical theatre dance, and world dance forms;
    (B) perform dance movements with a refined sense of musicality and expressiveness and a wide range of spatial qualities;
    (C) evaluate the performance of projection, confidence, and expression in the movement; and
    (D) design an effective warm-up and cool-down, implementing the 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) evaluate choreography in dances from various cultures or historical periods;
    (B) research and create a project using technology to illustrate an understanding of significant dance events or historical figures in appropriate social, historical, and cultural contexts;
    (C) improvise and construct dances in various media and content areas; and
    (D) evaluate historical and cultural dance forms using technology.
  (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) evaluate personal dance compositions and the work of others;
    (B) create and reconstruct a choreographic study using varied media and environments;
    (C) create a portfolio based on personal artistic works, performance works, or research; and
    (D) perform and evaluate a choreographic study using varied media and environments.

Source Note: The provisions of this §117.309 adopted to be effective July 28, 2013, 38 TexReg 4575