GRADE 6 UNIT 5: ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS – DANCE LESSON SAMPLE RESPONSES

Complete the following chart of information about each ancient culture before beginning the dance lesson using the stories from Treasures, their History/Social Studies text and other available resources.

CULTURE / ENVIRONMENT / RITUALS / COMMUNICATION
SYSTEM / ARTS / MUSIC / POSSIBLE
DANCE
MOVES / WHAT WILL BE COMMUNICATED THROUGH MOVEMENT?
Prehistoric Times / Snow and cold in winter with little shelter other than caves
Heat and sudden rains that caused floods / Hunter / gatherers
Hunting rituals indicating everyday living to capture animals for food, building fires to keep warm, bailing out water from caves, gathering berries, fruit, grains, seeds and other edible plants / Pictures, paintings in caves, symbols, gestures, body language, imitation of sounds in nature / Art: Cave paintings, simple pots, stone tools
Music: Naturally occurring sounds and rhythms in nature, using patterns, repetition and tonality. Used for practical functions such as luring animals, or serving as entertainment. / Lunges
Arm thrusts
China / Large geographic areas with barriers that caused isolation from others and each other. High mountains – Himalayas, deserts – Gobi, plains, steppes, rivers – Yantze and Yellow – constant flooding. Fertile land, rich soil for farming, irrigation, Travel difficult until the Silk Road was built for travel and trade. Also later, the Great Wall of China on the north was built to keep out invaders. / Honored ancestors, gods and spirits gave good luck and offerings were needed for a good harvest
The King was link from heaven to earth, this was called “Mandate of Heaven”, a belief that kings had heavenly authority to rule. / Because of large geographical area, isolated from other countries and from each other Oracle bones had writings, pictures, pictographs that depicted whole words, concepts, ideographs / Art: Stone carvings, bronze vessels, pottery, jars, ornaments from metal, tools, cloth/ silk, jade carvings
Music: Twisted silk for stringed instruments that were plucked – zither, lute; Bamboo – woodwind instruments – flute, oboes, reed pipes; Wood instruments – wooden box hit with stick, clapper, woodblocks; Stone – chimes, tablets; Metal – cymbals, bells, gongs
Clay, gourds and hides for drums / Small steps
Stiff or tumbling “Ninjas”
Greece / Peninsula and islands. Mountains with rocky soil surrounded by water, many harbors with ships for trading. Fishing and some farming, raising sheep and goats. Many earthquakes. / Earth Mother – chief Goddess, worshipped many gods and goddesses with rituals; independent country that created many colonies, or city-states, in other lands; soldiers promoted citizenship, government, philosophy, sports, Olympic games, / Greek alphabet with 24 letters and sounds.
Used the sun and moon to find their way at sea,
Pigeons, light signals, torch telegraphs, cryptography, acoustic signals / Art: Vases, jewelry, statues, bronze, mosaics, architecture –famous for columns, painting on pottery
Poetry – epic poems, stories, fables, dramas,
Music – lyre, a stringed instrument / Turns and jumps, focus up
Egypt / Fertile valleys and delta around the Blue and White Nile Rivers which covered 4,000 miles; warm climate; Sahara desert–hot climate
Travel by water for trade and transportation; farmers created irrigation canals
Later created pyramids as tombs to honor pharaohs legacy / Pharoah, Son of Ra, Sun God was worshipped; People bowed own to smell earth to show respect God on Earth, Pharoah oversaw welfare of people and rules;Music integral to religious worship along with dance, Temple musicians were of high esteem and honored gods and goddesses / Scribes recorded information, wrote on papyrus/paper, created papermaking; used hieroglyphics – picture symbols to indicate ideas and objects on stones, walls and paper / Art: painting, basketweaving, woven cloth, made pottery from clay, made elaborate jewelry, carved statues, shaped copper into weapons, tools, created pyramids from stone; used gold, ivory, metals for arts
Music: part of religious worship, percussion instruments, hand-held drums, rattles, castanets harps, lyres, lutes / Tutting – a style based on geometry, patterns, and angles–mostly with the arms, smooth slow, snakey body movements
Olmec / Inca / Hot climate, farmers, rainforests, rivers as highways, water system for travel, trade; agriculture society, fishing, trade, crafts, pyramids; resources – rubber, tar, cacao, salt / Religious ceremonies, supernatural connections between humans and animals, jaguar – Earth god, Shamans, “were-jaguar” – a human face with jaguar mouth, sun feasts / Math – part dot recording system of counting, phonetic script / hieroglyphics;, knotted strings to record info-sent by runners, rapid relay system / Art: Stone figures, pottery, jewelry, large sculptures from stone, jade carvings, frequently used animal images, weavings
Music: woodwinds, flutes / Frozen to moving tableaus

3-2012/Ancient Civilizations Fact Sheet, Grade 6, Unit 2 Treasures