My Body in Dance – Class 4 Arts Chapter 14 Notes & NCERT PDF

Introduction

The Dance section welcomes children back to the world of dance. Last year they learnt body movements, hand gestures and folk and traditional forms. This year dance connects to the Panchatantra story too: children will move like animals and fly like birds. My Body in Dance begins with festival dancing and then turns everyday actions, head and neck movements and animal movements into dance.

What's in this Chapter

Activity 14.1: Dance to a festival song. Many states dance during Navratri, each in its own way. The book shows Kolata (Karnataka), Dhunuchi (Durga Puja, West Bengal) and Garba (Navratri, Gujarat). Children dance together to a favourite festival song of their region.

Activity 14.2: Movements in everyday life. Everyday actions become dance. How does Srinivas's mother get ready for the office, putting on earrings and packing a lunch box? How does Sonal's uncle cook dinner? Children notice how each body part moves, enact the actions with arm movements and hand gestures, and count beats as they move.

Rhythm and beats. Children recall the 2- and 4-beat steps from Grade 3 using syllables like taka dhimi taka jhunu, na dhin dhin na or ta thai thai tat, or simple counts like ta ta ta ta and dhi mi dhi mi. Then they try three beats: ta ki ta or dha dhi na. Clapping, stomping and snapping while reciting keeps the movement accurate.

Dance while planting a tree. This is linked to Chapter 4 of The World Around Us:

Activity 14.3: Head, neck and eye movements. We use the head and neck to communicate. We move the head side to side to say no, nod up and down for yes, look up in wonder at the sky, and look down in sadness at plastic floating in a lake. We sway the head in anger and disgust at garbage on the streets. Children try moves like crouching the neck like a lion, swaying the head like a cow, or moving the neck like a bird. A worksheet matches movements to emotions, such as looking up at the stars (wonder) or animals rejoicing after the lion falls into the well (happiness).

Activity 14.4: Animal movements and hastas. Many Indian dances are based on animals. The book shows the Purulia Chhau lion dance, Pulikkali tiger dance and Mayilattam peacock dance. Dancers use hastas, hand gestures that represent animals. The book's examples include Matsya (fish), Kurma (tortoise), Varaha (boar), Garuda (eagle), Mayura (peacock), Bhramari (bee), Vyaghra (tiger) and Sarpasheersha (snake head). Children also invent their own gestures. They then enact the animals of the Panchatantra story using hastas and head and neck movements, set to a 4-beat rhythm, and create a dance for their own animal story.

Key Ideas

Words to Learn

Tips for Parents & Teachers

Common Mistakes