KS1 Physical Education / Music: Air

Video summary

Three dancers dance to three pieces of classical music in animated, virtual environments.

The music they dance to includes Debussy’s Syrinx, Bach’s 5th Brandenburg Concerto and Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Flight of the Bumblebee.

Designed and choreographed to actively engage children with special education needs with classical music.

This clip is from the series Dance with the Elements.

Back to top

Teacher Notes

Activities could include:

  • copying the dancers’ movements; physically interpreting the mood of the different pieces of music;
  • blowing bubbles and either trying to catch them or popping them with an index finger;
  • catching coloured bubbles on a piece of paper; making giant bubbles;
  • fanning each other; using battery powered fans;
  • creating wind tunnels with multiple fans to blow ribbons, bubbles and other delicate object along a corridor;
  • making an air cannon – a bucket with a small hole cut in one end and a piece of tightly stretched plastic over the other end - when the plastic is struck a stream of air is forced out of the hole;
  • making a hot air balloon and using a hair dryer to make it float:
  • investigating the effects of gravity and resistance.

Pupils can be encouraged to use dance and movement to explore the different emotions evoked by the concept of ‘air’, by the feelings expressed in the clip, and by the pieces of music the clip is set to; promoting the social and emotional aspects of learning.

This clip will be relevant for teaching Music or Physical Education to primary school children and children with special educational needs.

Back to top

Three dancers invoke the element Fire, dancing to classical music by Aaron Copeland, Saint-Saëns and Karl Jenkins in animated, virtual environments.

Physical Education / Music KS1: Earth

Three dancers invoke the element Fire, dancing to classical music by Aaron Copeland, Saint-Saëns and Karl Jenkins in animated, virtual environments.

Physical Education / Music KS1: Fire

Three dancers invoke the element Water, dancing to classical music by Saint Saens, Debussy and Johann Strauss in animated, virtual environments.

Physical Education / Music KS1: Water
Back to top