PHILOSOPHY:
The dance education curriculum recognizes that all students have the right to an arts education as a fundamental part of basic education. Dance has been recognized as one of the four fine arts, a core subject in Maryland Public Schools. Dance education enables students to discover their own innate capacity for the communication of ideas, thoughts, and feelings through the medium of dance.

The goals and indicators of the curriculum are arranged sequentially, K-12, to include creative work, dance forms and techniques, dance history, performance and production, aesthetics, and criticism. Infused in the study of dance is the recognition and realization that dance contributes to a healthy lifestyle, as well as the development of individual and social skills. The dance curriculum provides unique opportunities for cross-curricular connections, an inherent benefit of studying dance.

Ruth L. Murray, Professor Emeritus, Wayne State University, has succinctly stated: "All of the arts provide ways in which people can bring shape and order to their fragmented and rapidly changing world. But dance provides a primary medium for expression involving the total self...dance and the movement that produces it is 'me' and is the most intimate of expressive media. A person's self-concept, their own identity and self-esteem are improved in relation to such use of their body's movement. If we believe that movement plays a crucial role in the developing life of the individual and that all education should foster creativity, body movement as a creative medium in education attains great significance."

LEARNING GOALS
KINDERGARTEN - GRADE 12

Learning goals are based on the Maryland State Department's Essential Learner Outcomes for Dance (1999) and National Standards for Dance Education (1994).

PERCEIVE AND RESPOND

• Students will demonstrate the ability to use perceptual and movement skills in order to perform and respond in dance.
• Students will perform movement in order to express and communicate meaning.
  

HISTORICAL, CULTURAL, SOCIAL

• Students will explore, perform, and create dances from various historical, cultural, and social genres to increase their knowledge and appreciation of dance and its relationship to other significant components of human history and experience.
• Students will demonstrate the ability to relate dance experience to other disciplines in order to increase knowledge and understanding.
• Students will explore processes for dance construction through improvisation and organization of movement based on a specific idea, feeling, or concept in order to develop organizational skills.
• Students will utilize various processes for dance construction in order to express and communicate meaning through informal or formal dance performance.
  

AESTHETICS

• Students will identify, analyze, and apply various criteria in dance aesthetics in order to develop critical and creative thinking skills.
  

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

• Students will develop personal and interpersonal skills through dance in order to work respectfully, cooperatively, and safely with others.
• Students will make connections between dance and healthful living in order to understand and maintain a healthy lifestyle that includes safe movement practices.

IMPLICATIONS FOR INSTRUCTION

Dance education contributes to the Baltimore County Public Schools' commitment to improve achievement for all students. By providing students with opportunities to learn through movement, dance incorporates the use of auditory, visual, and kinesthetic modalities, more commonly referred to as hearing, seeing and doing. Dance is a powerful educational device for meeting the physical, intellectual, and social needs of students. Perceptions, thoughts, and emotions are grounded in a physical experience through dance. As a participatory experience, dance nurtures and fosters a sense of community. The value of group work and cooperation is inherent and reinforced.Dance education also provides students with exploration, selection, organization, and evaluation experiences. These experiences include:

• movement skill development and refinement
• sensory integration
• exploration of values and ideas
• performance
• expression
• originality in movement
• creative approach to learning
• appreciation of cultural/social heritage
• critical and creative thinking
• aesthetic cognition
• development of self-esteem
• respect for others
• healthy work habits
• self-discipline and direction
• skills for a lifetime

The purpose of the Baltimore County Public Schools' K-8 Dance Education Curriculum is to provide developmentally appropriate practices that build on a sequential program of dance experiences which contribute to the overall achievement of all students.

DANCE CURRICULUM

Level
Elementary School:	K-5 Dance Curriculum 2000
	K-5 Performance-Based Assessments
	Scope and Sequence for Dance K-12
Middle School:	6-8 Dance Curriculum 2000
	Middle School Addendum: Addressing Outcome II
	Performance Based Assessments 2000, 2008
	8th Grade Written Assessment 2009- 2011
	Scope and Sequence for Dance K-12
	Middle School Dance Electives 2006
	6th Grade Unit Assessments 2011
High School:	Indicators Grade 9-12 2000
	SAT Guide 2001
	Dance Curriculum, Dance I, II, III - Dance IV and Dance Company 2001
	Dance I, II, III Unit Assessments  2012
	High School Elective Addendum: Addressing Outcome II 2005
	High School Elective Addendum: Addressing Outcome III 2009
	Countywide High School Exams: Dance I, II, III 2006-11
	GW Carver CA Modern I-IV Curriculum 2008, 2011 ongoing
	Patapsco High School Dance Level I Curriculum 2006 - Level I-IV ongoing
	George Washington Carver Center for the Arts and Technology Ballet I-IV ongoing
	Scope and Sequence for Dance K-12
	Magnet High School Dance Framework 2003

 

DANCE PROGRAMS 

Level	School Name	Contact Person	Phone Number
Middle Schools:	Deer Park Magnet Middle School	Christina Lane	410-887-0726
	Southwest Academy	Karma Sewell	410-887-0825
	Sudbrook Magnet Middle School	Fleur Colimore (long-term sub)	410-887-6720
	Windsor Mill Middle School	Mya Ajanku	410-887-0618
High Schools:	Carver Center	Maria Royals	410-887-2775
	Dulaney High School	Debbie McWilliams	410-887-7633
	Lansdowne High School	Sharon DiPace	410-887-1415
	Parkville High School	Meghan Alokonis	410-887-5257
	Patapsco High School	Claire Sweet	410-887-7060
	New Town High School	Kathy Albert	410-887-1614
	Hereford High School	Erin Norton	410-887-1905
	Franklin High School	Angie Mathis	410-887-1119
	Milford Mill Academy	Darby Pack	410-887-0660
Elementary School:	West Towson	Karen Campbell Kuebler	410-887-3869

There are areas on the web pages dedicated to teachers for instructional resources. These sites are designed for teacher use only.