Anyone Can Teach Dance!
Unit/Lesson Title: Chance Dance
Grade Level: 7-12
Length of Unit/Lesson: 1 class - dependent on age, size and length of class
Brief Unit/Lesson Description:
In this unit, students will experience creative movement and chance dance. Students gain
dance literacy by learning about modern dance history through studying dance icon,
Merce Cunningham
Unit/Lesson Objectives:
At the conclusion of the unit, students will:
 Understand the influence of dance pioneer Merce Cunningham
 Create multiple original dances instantly
 Appreciate the ‘mind body’ connection that dance creates
 Have had fun and found the joy in dance!
Vocabulary:
Modern dance, Chance Dance, Merce Cunningham, sequencing
Standards:
NASPE: Standard 1- Demonstrates competency in motor skills and movement patterns
needed to perform a variety of physical activities. Standard 2- Demonstrates understanding
of movement concepts, principles, strategies, and tactics as they apply to the learning and
performance of physical activities. Standard 5- Exhibits responsible personal and social
behavior that respects self and others in physical activity settings. Standard 6- Values
physical activity for health, enjoyment, challenge, self-expression, and/or social interaction.
National Dance Standards: Standard 2- Understanding dance as a way to create and
communicate meaning. Standard 3- Applying and demonstrating critical and creative
thinking skills in dance. Standard 5- Making connections between dance and healthful living
Notes and Modifications:
This lesson can be done as an add-on to the Everyday Movements unit or as a ‘stand alone’
lesson.
Lesson Plan: Chance Dance
Materials Needed
Adequate space for movement and dance, PA system to play music, microphone, sound
track to play on a loop, 3x5 cards and dice
Preparation for Activity
• Warm-up: have students review their “everyday movement” dance steps and teach them
to the rest of the class OR teach the class simple dance steps (grapevine, step kick,
marching, etc)
• Have students give their dance steps a simple name and write it on a 3x5 card.
Provide Instruction
• Introduce Merce Cunningham and the concept of Chance Procedure (see
below)
Application of Instruction
• Number each card in each group. Roll dice to determine the order or ‘sequence’ of the
dance steps. You can have everyone perform the new “chance dance” together or have
one group at a time perform their new “chance dance”
From Wikipedia:
Mercier "Merce" Philip Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009) was an American dancer
and choreographer who was at the forefront of the American avant-garde for more than 50
years. Throughout much of his life, Cunningham was considered one of the greatest creative
forces in American dance. He is also notable for his frequent collaborations with artists of
other disciplines, including musicians John Cage and David Tudor, artists Robert
Rauschenberg and Bruce Nauman, designer Romeo Gigli, and architect Benedetta
Tagliabue. Works that he produced with these artists had a profound impact on avantgarde art beyond the world of dance.
Merce Cunningham on Chance Procedure:
“My use of chance procedures is related explicitly to the choreography. I have utilized a
number of different chance operations, but in principle it involves working out a large
number of dance phrases, each separately, then applying chance to discover the
continuity—what phrase follows what phrase, how time-wise and rhythmically the particular
movement operates, how many and which dancers might be involved with it, and where it is
in the space and how divided. It led, and continues to lead, to new discoveries as to how to
get from one movement to the next, presenting almost constantly situations in which the
imagination is challenged. I continue to utilize chance operations in my work, finding with
each dance new ways of experiencing it.”
For more information visit: http://www.merce.org