The second dance session of the unit sees Clara awake in a new, magical land.
2. The battle with the Mouse King
In the second dance session Clara falls asleep under the Christmas tree, only to wake up and find herself in a new, magical world. The children scurry around as the mouse army, march as the tin soldiers and dance gracefully as the snowflakes.
Resources
Download the audio for this session as an mp3 file.
Click to download / print the Teacher's Notes for this session (pdf)
Lesson summary
Warm up
Small, scurrying mouse steps through all the spaces, stopping now and then with the music to twitch your mouse nose and wriggle your mouse whiskers.
Sequence 1: Battle with the Mouse King
- Marching tin soldiers
In pairs. Stiff, upright marching steps forwards; stopping to change direction each time you get close to another marching pair or to the edge of the room.
- Scurrying mice
Small but fast scurrying steps; stopping now and then to twitch your mouse nose and show off your sharp mouse claws.
- Marching tin soldiers and scurrying mice
Following the music, half the class (in pairs) march through the spaces in the middle of the room and then stand still while the other half scurry and twitch around them!
‘After the excitement of the party, Clara fell asleep under the Christmas tree with the wooden Nutcracker soldier in her arms. But in the middle of the night she woke up to a frightening scene! Out of nowhere, large mice dressed in army uniforms, and lead by the terrifying Mouse King, began to circle the room! Clara’s brave Nutcracker grouped the toy soldiers into battle formation ready to fight the mouse army.’
Sequence 2: Dancing Snowflakes
In pairs. Stand facing your partner with enough space between to stretch arms out straight without touching one another. Stretcharms out above head in a snowflake shape and turn around slowly on the spot with light, tip-toe steps – turn one way and then the other.
Snowflake partners bend and straighten their legs in opposition – so as one sinks low, the other rises high (like a see-saw). Partners take turns to dance round one another and then back to their place with light, tip-toe steps and outstretched arms.
'With a little help from Clara, the Nutcracker and the tin soldiers win the battle and defeat the Mouse King and his army. The mice retreat and the Nutcracker is transformed from a wooden toy into a real Prince. The Prince leads Clara through the moonlit night to a pine forest in which snowflakes dance around them.'
Sequence 3
Swap performance groups and repeat - Marching tin soldiers and scurrying mice (from sequence 1 above).
Cool down
Silent, slow steps – as if walking through the snowy pine forest with Clara and the Nutcracker Prince.
Related units of KS1 Dance: Let's Move
Snow world. collection
Three dance sessions exploring winter and a snowy landscape.
Winter wonderland. collection
A cold and frosty unit of four dance sessions exploring winter presented by Paul Panting.
The Elves and the Shoemaker. collection
Nataylia Roni has two sessions based on the famous fairy story of a poor shoemaker and helpful elves.
