Study Guide
Test Design and Test Objectives
Field 48: Dance
Test Overview
| Format | Computer-based test (CBT) |
|---|---|
| Number of Questions | 100 selected-response questions |
| Time | 2 hours and 30 minutes (does not include 15-minute CBT tutorial) |
| Passing Score | 240 |
Pie chart of approximate test weighting outlined in the table below.
Test Objectives
| Subareas | Range of Objectives | Approximate Test Proportions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | Dance Elements, Concepts, and Skills | 01–07 | 36% |
| II | Creating and Analyzing Dance | 08–11 | 23% |
| III | The History and Roles of Dance | 12–14 | 18% |
| IV | Dance Education | 15–18 | 23% |
| Total Proportion | 100% | ||
Subarea I–Dance Elements, Concepts, and Skills
Objective 0001: Understand basic movement elements, concepts, and skills.
For example:- Identify elements related to time (e.g., tempo, meter, rhythm, accent, phrase, pulse, syncopation).
- Identify elements related to space (e.g., direction, pathway, level, shape, focus, size, range).
- Identify elements related to energy (e.g., effort principles, qualities of movement, dynamics, tension/relaxation).
- Demonstrate knowledge of locomotor movements (e.g., walk, run, hop, leap, jump, skip, slide, gallop).
- Demonstrate knowledge of nonlocomotor movements (e.g., bend, stretch, twist, swing).
- Demonstrate understanding of how proper skeletal alignment and body mechanics apply to efficient movement and movement potential.
Objective 0002: Understand the fundamental technical skills and concepts of ballet.
For example:- Demonstrate knowledge of vocabulary and techniques associated with ballet (e.g., Cecchetti, Vaganova).
- Identify basic body positions and directions of the arms, feet, and body in ballet.
- Recognize and describe movement characteristics of different historical periods of ballet (e.g., Romantic, Classical, Neoclassical).
- Recognize and describe the use of dance patterns and combinations in ballet technique classes.
Objective 0003: Understand the fundamental technical skills and concepts of modern dance.
For example:- Demonstrate knowledge of vocabulary and techniques associated with modern dance (e.g., Graham, Horton, Humphrey/Limón, Cunningham).
- Identify basic body positions and directions of the arms, feet, and body in modern dance.
- Recognize and describe movement characteristics of different historical periods of modern dance.
- Recognize and describe the use of dance patterns and combinations in modern dance technique classes.
Objective 0004: Understand the fundamental technical skills and concepts of jazz dance.
For example:- Demonstrate knowledge of vocabulary and techniques associated with jazz dance (e.g., Luigi, Giordano, Fosse).
- Identify basic body positions and directions of the arms, feet, and body in jazz dance.
- Recognize and describe movement characteristics of different historical periods of jazz dance.
- Recognize and describe the use of dance patterns and combinations in jazz dance technique classes.
Objective 0005: Understand the fundamental technical skills and concepts of tap dance.
For example:- Objective 0005 has not been validated for the assessment; any items matched to this objective will not contribute to a candidate's score.
Objective 0006: Understand the fundamental technical skills and concepts of international folk and social dance forms.
For example:- Demonstrate knowledge of vocabulary and techniques associated with international folk and social dance.
- Identify basic body positions and directions used in international folk and social dance.
- Recognize and describe characteristics of different styles of international folk and social dance.
- Recognize and describe the dance patterns and combinations used in international folk and social dance.
Objective 0007: Understand components of healthful living and fitness that promote lifelong well-being for dancers.
For example:- Recognize and describe types and benefits of dance activities that enhance flexibility, muscular strength, agility, motor skills development, coordination, body awareness, control, and balance.
- Demonstrate knowledge of basic health and nutritional practices that promote healthy body composition.
- Recognize and describe types and benefits of dance activities that promote the release of stress and tension and foster positive self-esteem and self-expression.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the benefits of daily participation in dance activities.
- Demonstrate knowledge of care and prevention of dance injuries, including proper warm-up, technical development, and cool-down activities.
Subarea II–Creating and Analyzing Dance
Objective 0008: Understand choreographic principles and processes.
For example:- Recognize sources for generating choreographic ideas (e.g., music, literature, visual art, environment, gestures, emotions).
- Demonstrate knowledge of how structured improvisation can be used to generate ideas, discover and invent movements, and facilitate creative problem solving.
- Recognize the basic compositional elements (e.g., space, time, energy, dynamics, phrasing, musicality, expression, context) of choreography.
- Identify production factors that influence choreographic choices (e.g., performance space, accompaniment, dancers, audience).
Objective 0009: Understand choreographic devices, forms, and structures.
For example:- Identify and describe musical choreographic forms (e.g., AB, ABA, theme and variation, rondo, round, canon).
- Identify and describe representational (e.g., narrative) and nonrepresentational (e.g., abstract) choreographic forms.
- Recognize the uses of chance methods in choreography.
- Identify and describe theme development and movement manipulation used in dance composition and choreography (e.g., contrast, repetition, transition, retrograde).
Objective 0010: Understand dance as a way to create and communicate meaning.
For example:- Analyze how mood and emotion are expressed in dance (e.g., movement choices, movement qualities, dynamics, gesture).
- Identify the characteristics, uses, and effects of the expressive features of narrative, symbol, and abstraction in dance.
- Analyze the characteristics, uses, and effects of thematic development and sequence in dance.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how accompaniment, lighting, costumes, sets, and props contribute to the expression of intent and meaning in dance.
Objective 0011: Understand the application of creative and critical thinking skills in dance.
For example:- Identify a variety of strategies for solving a given movement problem.
- Recognize similarities and differences among dances.
- Demonstrate knowledge of methods for and benefits of revising a dance project over time.
- Analyze how aesthetic criteria are used to evaluate one's own work and that of others.
- Demonstrate knowledge of basic principles of dance analysis and evaluation.
Subarea III–The History and Roles of Dance
Objective 0012: Understand the history of dance.
For example:- Demonstrate knowledge of the history of dance forms (e.g., ballet, modern, jazz, tap, international folk, social).
- Recognize significant developments, influences, movements, and events in the history of these dance forms.
- Analyze how technology and societal changes have influenced dance.
Objective 0013: Understand the relationship between dance and culture.
For example:- Analyze and compare dance techniques, styles, and traditions from various cultures and historical periods.
- Identify the role and function of dance and movement (e.g., ritual, expression of ideas and emotions, entertainment) in various cultures and historical periods.
- Analyze how specific dance forms are related to the culture from which they emerge.
- Analyze how dance has influenced and been influenced by society, culture, and politics in various cultures and historical periods.
Objective 0014: Understand the relationship of dance to other art forms.
For example:- Compare the nature, elements, and principles of dance with those of other art forms (i.e., performing and visual arts).
- Recognize similar and distinct characteristics within and across all art forms.
- Compare and contrast the use of form and expression in dance with their use in other art forms.
- Identify ways in which art forms can be used together to express ideas.
Subarea IV–Dance Education
Objective 0015: Understand the philosophical foundations of dance education.
For example:- Demonstrate an understanding of the philosophical foundations of dance education.
- Demonstrate knowledge of significant trends, values, and schools of thought in dance education.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to support, justify, and implement dance education.
Objective 0016: Understand instructional planning, implementation, and management associated with the teaching of dance in a school setting.
For example:- Demonstrate thorough knowledge of a sequential dance/creative movement curriculum that is developmentally appropriate for each grade level and inclusive of various student learning styles and those with special needs.
- Identify age- and needs-appropriate methods to use in dance education that promote the development and mastery of dance skills.
- Demonstrate knowledge of strategies to help students create, study, interpret, and evaluate dance works.
- Identify a variety of resources and materials that support students as they learn through and about dance.
- Recognize the important role of technology in dance education.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to use a variety of assessment and evaluation methods to evaluate student learning in dance.
Objective 0017: Understand integral skills and strategies required of the professional dance educator.
For example:- Demonstrate understanding of the process of critical thinking and strategies for implementing activities that promote the development of problem-solving, analysis, reflection, decision-making, and creative-exploration skills in dance.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to provide a safe physical environment and create a nonthreatening setting for productive learning.
- Recognize effective methods for collaborating with colleagues, artists, and agencies in the community to promote arts education opportunities.
- Identify effective strategies for recognizing and demonstrating respect for diversity and establishing environments in which all individuals are held in high regard.
- Demonstrate and implement appropriate expectations and etiquette in classroom and performance settings.
Objective 0018: Understand ways to integrate dance into other areas of the educational curriculum.
For example:- Analyze and describe the relationships between dance and other disciplines (e.g., mathematics, science, social studies, English language arts).
- Recognize dance-related skills, including, but not limited to, developmental movement, creative problem solving, critical thinking, cooperation, collaboration, and self-discipline, and how these skills can be used in other disciplines.
- Demonstrate knowledge of methods for providing instruction that integrates dance with other art forms and other disciplines.
- Demonstrate familiarity with opportunities in dance as a profession and ways in which skills developed through dance are applicable to a variety of careers.