D.E201

Dance Me a Story

This assessment is for students who have had experience and practice with movement, level, tempo, and dynamics. Students will work in small groups to create a short movement piece that has a beginning, middle, and end. The prompt for composition will be a teacher-selected piece of instrumental music from a movie soundtrack. Students will use a planning guide to develop a storyline for the movement piece, inspired by the quality of the music selection. The teacher will score students’ work with the provided rubric, evaluating whether the group created a piece with a clear beginning, middle, and end while effectively using a variety of movements, levels, tempos, and dynamics to tell the story.

This item has not been field-tested by Michigan teachers.


This is an analytic rubric. The column on the left shows the dimension that is being measured in the student’s performance. The levels across the top row indicate the performance level in the dimensions. Occasionally all dimensions and performance levels are exemplified by multiple students in a single recording.

TEACHER SCORING RUBRIC

  • Dimension
  • Sequence and Movement Choices

  • Movement Variations and Transitions

  • Elements of Dance

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • No clear sequence of events. Movements and shapes do not support the storyline.

    N/A at this time.
  • Two parts of the sequence are not clear. Few movements and shape choices support the storyline.

    N/A at this time.
  • One part of the sequence is not quite clear. Most movement and shape choices support the storyline.

    N/A at this time.
  • The sequence has a clear beginning, middle, and end. All movement and shape choices clearly and consistently support the storyline.

    N/A at this time.
  • Movements are overly repetitive. There are no transitions.

    N/A at this time.
  • Movements vary a little but rely heavily on one type. Transitions are present but not smooth.

    N/A at this time.
  • Movements are partially varied between stationary, axial, and locomotor. Transitions are mostly present and smooth.

    N/A at this time.
  • Movements are varied between stationary, axial, and locomotor. All transitions between movements flow smoothly.

    N/A at this time.
  • No levels, tempos, and energy qualities support the storyline.

    N/A at this time.
  • Few of the levels, tempos, and energy qualities support the storyline.

    N/A at this time.
  • Most of the levels, tempos, and energy qualities support the storyline.

    N/A at this time.
  • All of the levels, tempos, and energy qualities clearly and consistently support the storyline.

    N/A at this time.
Having trouble viewing videos?

Leave Feedback for this Assessment


What did you like? Did you need to revise anything? How could we make this assessment better?
Our Assessments are written by teachers for you, so your feedback is important to us!

Comments about items may be moderated and/or reposted in the blogs to aid item improvement and teacher learning. By leaving a comment, you agree that we can use your comment without attributing it to you.

Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date with all of our assessments.

Sign Up Now!