Visual & Performing Arts · 2nd Grade · Movement and Story: Dance and Theater · Weeks 19-27

Locomotor and Non-Locomotor Movement

Students explore different ways their bodies can move, distinguishing between moving through space and moving in place.

• Common Core State Standards
• NCAS: Creating DA.Cr1.1.2

About This Topic

Movement vocabulary is the foundation of dance literacy, and distinguishing between locomotor and non-locomotor movement is one of the first structural concepts students encounter in a US K-12 dance curriculum. Locomotor movements travel through space: walking, running, hopping, skipping, galloping. Non-locomotor movements happen in place: stretching, bending, twisting, swaying, shaking. This distinction gives students a concrete organizing framework they will use to analyze and create dance for years to come.

At the second-grade level, this topic also connects to physical education and body awareness goals that appear across the curriculum. When students consciously categorize their own movements, they develop a kinesthetic vocabulary that makes later work in dance technique and choreography more accessible. The National Core Arts Standards for dance require students to create movement sequences by second grade, and that work depends on being able to intentionally choose from the full range of movement possibilities.

Active learning is especially effective here because movement concepts can only be truly understood through doing. Students who categorize movements they have generated themselves, rather than simply watching a demonstration, build stronger mental models. Partner observation tasks, where one student moves and the other identifies the category, also develop the watching and analyzing skills that are central to dance as an art form.

Key Questions

1. What is the difference between a movement that takes you somewhere and one that keeps you in place?
2. Can you create a movement sequence that uses both traveling and staying-in-place movements?
3. How can different movements show different feelings without using words?

Learning Objectives

• Classify given movements as either locomotor or non-locomotor.
• Demonstrate a sequence of at least three locomotor and three non-locomotor movements.
• Compare and contrast the characteristics of locomotor and non-locomotor movements in a written or verbal explanation.
• Create a short movement phrase that clearly shows a change from traveling to staying in place.
• Explain how specific movements can convey different emotions without words.

Before You Start

Basic Body Awareness

Why: Students need to be able to identify and move different body parts before they can categorize movements based on travel or staying in place.

Key Vocabulary

Locomotor Movement	A movement that travels through space, changing the body's location. Examples include walking, running, and skipping.
Non-Locomotor Movement	A movement that occurs in place, without changing the body's location. Examples include bending, stretching, and twisting.
Travel	To move from one spot to another, a key characteristic of locomotor movement.
In Place	To stay in one general area, a key characteristic of non-locomotor movement.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

Jumping is always locomotor because it looks like traveling.

What to Teach Instead

Jumping can be either locomotor, when jumping forward or sideways to a new location, or non-locomotor, when jumping in place. The defining question is not what the movement looks like but whether the mover travels to a new location. Using both kinds of jumping in the same activity helps students test the category rule rather than memorizing surface appearances.

Common Misconception

Non-locomotor movements are less important in dance because they do not go anywhere.

What to Teach Instead

Many powerful dance works and traditions are built primarily on non-locomotor movement. Upper body gestures in many concert dance styles, and the in-place movements of many folk dances, are non-locomotor. The distinction is analytical, not a judgment about which type of movement is more interesting or valuable in a dance context.

Common Misconception

A movement sequence has to be mostly locomotor to count as a dance.

What to Teach Instead

Dance uses both categories in deliberate relationship to each other. A choreographer might use locomotor movement to build energy and non-locomotor movement to focus attention on a single idea or moment. Students who understand both categories can make intentional choices about when to travel and when to stay in place, which is a core compositional skill at every level of dance.

Active Learning Ideas

Sorting in Motion: Move and Freeze

Call out a movement category and students perform any movement from that category in their personal space or through the room. When you call freeze, students stop and name the specific movement they were doing, then classify it. Introduce movements that students might misclassify, such as jumping in place versus jumping forward, to deepen their understanding of the defining distinction.

20 min·Whole Class

Partner Observation: Watch and Label

Student pairs take turns. One partner performs a 10-second sequence that includes at least one locomotor and one non-locomotor movement. The watching partner identifies and names each type of movement they observed. Partners switch roles and then compare observations, discussing any movements that were hard to categorize and why.

25 min·Pairs

Create-and-Share: My Movement Sentence

Students create a short movement sentence with exactly three movements: one locomotor, one non-locomotor, and one of their choice. They practice the sequence until it flows, then share it with a partner and explain which category each movement belongs to. Partners ask one clarifying question about the movement choices before sharing a favorite from the exchange with the class.

30 min·Pairs

Think-Pair-Share: The Feelings Question

Ask students to try showing sadness or happiness using only non-locomotor movements. Students try independently, show a partner, and discuss: was the feeling clear? What specific movement choices communicated the emotion? Groups share one successful example with the class and identify which non-locomotor movement was most expressive.

20 min·Pairs

Real-World Connections

• Choreographers for musical theater productions use both traveling steps and stationary gestures to tell a story and express characters' feelings on stage.
• Athletes in sports like basketball or soccer use locomotor movements to move across the court or field, and non-locomotor movements like shooting or dribbling while staying in a general area.

Assessment Ideas

Quick Check

During a movement exploration, call out a movement (e.g., 'gallop', 'twist'). Students hold up one finger for locomotor and two fingers for non-locomotor. Observe student responses for understanding.

Exit Ticket

Provide students with a worksheet showing stick figures performing various actions. Ask them to circle the locomotor movements and put a square around the non-locomotor movements. Include a prompt: 'Write one sentence about why a dancer might use both types of movement.'

Discussion Prompt

Ask students: 'Imagine you are a robot trying to get across the room. What movements would you use to travel? Now imagine you are a tree swaying in the wind. What movements would you use while staying in place? How are these different?'

Frequently Asked Questions

what is the difference between locomotor and non-locomotor movement in dance

Locomotor movements travel through space, taking the mover from one place to another. Examples include walking, running, skipping, galloping, and sliding. Non-locomotor movements happen while the mover stays in one place, such as bending, stretching, twisting, swaying, or swinging the arms. The key question is whether the movement travels to a new location. This distinction is one of the foundational building blocks of dance composition and analysis.

how do you teach locomotor vs non-locomotor movement to second graders

Physical practice with immediate categorization is most effective. Have students move on a command, freeze, and identify whether their movement was locomotor or non-locomotor. Partner observation tasks, where one student moves and the other classifies, build both the movement vocabulary and the analytical watching skills that are central to dance learning. Brief reflection discussions after movement activities consolidate the concepts in accessible language.

what NCAS standard covers locomotor and non-locomotor movement in grade 2

NCAS Creating standard DA.Cr1.1.2 requires second-grade students to explore and identify a variety of locomotor and non-locomotor movements as a foundation for creating dance. This standard positions movement vocabulary not as an end in itself but as the toolkit students need to make deliberate compositional choices when building a dance sequence or responding to a creative prompt with an assigned structure.

how does active learning help students understand locomotor and non-locomotor movement

Movement concepts are best learned by moving. Active learning tasks, such as creating a sequence that must include both categories and explaining each choice to a partner, force students to apply the distinction consciously rather than imitate a demonstration. Partner observation tasks develop the analytical watching skills that are as important in dance education as the physical skills themselves, and both are reinforced simultaneously.