ABA / Dance Form
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Unit: Dance Forms
Theme: ABA Form
Introduction
ABA is a three-part compositional form in which the second section contrasts with the first section. The third section is a restatement of the first section in a condensed, abbreviated, or extended form.
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Learning Objectives
- Understand that movement can be manipulated to create different forms
- Explain the process through which new compostions are created
- Gain an awareness of the different dance forms
- Experience the composition of a new phrase using the form ideas
III
Warm Up
Stretching
Alignment
IV
Main Lesson
1
Form & Structure
Once the choreographer has conceived key movement phrases, he or she can combine, manipulate and organize them into longer sequences, paying attention to form and structure.
Question 1
Based on what we have studied so far, which elements of dance would you be able to combine, manipulate and organize into longer sequences?
2
Three basic dance forms are:
- ABA
- Rondo
- Theme and Variation.
ABA
ABA form begins with an opening theme, leads into a contrasting theme that complements the first, and concludes with a return to the opening theme.
This conclusion is recognizable but somehow changed in order to bring the piece to its resolution.
There is a cyclic feel, a sense of continuity, order and inevitability.
Question 2
What is appealing about the ABA form?
V
A Note to Remember
The form of a dance determines the way it is organized. This is similar to the way musical forms like the suite, symphony or concerto shape their overall contour or identity.
VI
Case Study
Maine Arts Leadership Initiative (MALI, established 2010), a program of the Maine Arts Commission provides this resource as part of the Resource Bank. This project was facilitated by Catherine Ring during the 2014-15 school year. For more information on MALI go to or contact John Morris.
VII
Activity
Students review their ensemble and solo dance. Using the ABA form, students identify the opening theme, the contrasting theme and return to the opening theme (8 moves for A, 8 moves for B, 8 moves for A).
VIII
Journaling
IX
Glossary
Music
Music suite: a set of instrumental compositions, originally in dance style, to be played in succession.
Music symphony: an elaborate musical composition for full orchestra, typically in four movements, at least one of which is traditionally in sonata form. The first movement is brisk and lively; the second is slower and more lyrical; the third is an energetic minuet (dance) or a boisterous scherzo (“joke”); and the fourth is a rollicking finale.
Music concerto: a concerto is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typical three-movement structure, a slow movement preceded and followed by fast movements, became a standard from the early 18th century.
Dance
Dance suite: suite, in music is a group of self-contained instrumental movements of varying character, usually in the same key. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the period of its greatest importance, the suite consisted principally of dance movements.
Dance symphony: rooted in a Greek word meaning “to dance,” orchestra originally referred to the semicircular area in front of a stage where the chorus danced in theater performances. English adopted the world in the 16th century, though it took on its “large group of musicians” sense in the 1700s.
Concert dance (also known as performance dance or theater dance in the UK is dance performed for an audience. It is frequently performed in a theater setting, though this is not a requirement, and it is usually choreographed and performed to set music.
Question 3
Based on the vocabulary above, compare and contrast the same terms when they refer to music versus when they refer to dance.
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Sources
http://www.artsalive.ca/en/dan/make/toolbox/formstructure.asp
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