With the Dance TEKS, Texas educators have the opportunity to create dance environments that foster imagination and creative expression as students learn the TEKS. Dance teachers who actively explore and develop their own ideas of what it means to be creative will, in turn, model their beliefs and practices for their students. The following teaching strategies and suggestions are intended to help students develop emergent creativity:

The dance classroom

• Design dance environments with natural light, harmonious colors, and comfortable work areas.
• Create climates that encourage risk-taking and expressive freedom within the structure of the Dance TEKS.
• Incorporate a variety of instructional materials into productions.

Creative teaching and learning

• Provide concrete sources of inspiration.
• Include students in class decision-making, giving them many opportunities to form and express their own ideas.
• Allow time for students to explore, research, and complete in-depth research. Encourage them to revisit earlier dance projects and revise original choreography.
• Promote long-term, open-ended projects that utilize collaborative modes of work and study. Encourage students to share and understand the perspectives of others.