Moving to music
Physical Education · Key Stage 1 · The School
Finding the beat
Clap along to a steady rhythm. Then step on the beat. Then move on it. Being in time means your movement lands WITH the pulse, not just near it. Some people find the beat at once. Others need practice. Both are normal. It is a skill you can learn, not a talent you either have or do not have. Try clapping while somebody counts out loud. Then stop the counting and keep the claps going. If you start to drift, the beat was in the counting and not yet in you.
A sequence
Put four movements in an order and repeat them. Step, turn, jump, freeze. Music is usually built in groups of eight beats, which is why dancers count to eight and then start again. Try your four movements across eight counts, holding each one for two. Remembering an order and performing it accurately is what dance and gymnastics both examine. Perform it twice the same way. That repeatability is the thing being marked.
Levels and directions
Move HIGH on tiptoes. Move MEDIUM standing up. Move LOW in a crouch. Travel FORWARD, BACKWARD and SIDEWAYS, and turn as you go. Changing your level and your direction is what makes a sequence interesting to watch. A sequence done all at one height, all facing the front, looks flat however good the moves are. Change one thing at a time at first, so you can see what each change does on its own.
Make up four movements, one for each beat: reach up, turn, crouch, jump. Do them to the music. Now do them AGAIN, exactly the same, in the same order. Then a third time. If your second and third goes match the first, you have composed a phrase. If they change every time, you were just moving about. Now try the same four at half speed, and low to the ground. Same moves, and it looks like a different dance.