Take an interdisciplinary approach to rhythm patterns by introducing students to the connection between dance and poetry. Both of these disciplines use rhythm and imagery to express emotions. A poem has a rhythm and may be metrical. Therefore, you can assign students to create their own dance to a poem they choose. They will need to figure out the rhythm pattern in the poem just like they would in a dance song.
Another way to approach this is to assign a specific list of poems from which students can choose. For example, a haiku is a good choice for dance students creating simple dances. This type of poem will have only 17 beats, one for each syllable. There can be three different groups of dance following the 5-7-5 beat pattern of the haiku.
Students can also begin the creative dance process by first choosing their own rhythm pattern. Then they can create a dance to fit their invented pattern. A student might choose to follow a simple beat like 2-4-2-4-2-4. If you only require her to design dance moves to a specified number of iterations of the pattern, such as the 2-4 pattern performed eight times, the student will have a manageable task.
Students also need to learn about the difference between dance patterns that are related to even and uneven rhythms. Ask students to figure out whether these natural movements involve even or uneven patterns: walking, running, skipping, galloping and sliding. Students should figure out that the first two are even patterns and the last three are uneven patterns. These concepts will occur in different styles of dance.