From Ballet Des Moines' A Midsummer Night's Dream
A three-part lesson exploring the elements of dance, the magic of Shakespeare's verse, and the science of the nighttime forest.
From Shakespeare's enchanted forest, into the real science of night, and back out through movement and verse — three days, three modes of knowing.
Imagine the nighttime forest, read Shakespeare's fairy speech, and learn the three elements of dance — action, energy, space.
Dance the formation of dew, then discover four real wonders of the nighttime forest — mushrooms, foxfire, sleeping trees, and night-blooming flowers.
Write an AABB rhyming poem from a scientific observation, set it to movement, and perform together as a class "forest at night."
Shakespeare's forest, and the three elements of moving bodies.
Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy about four young lovers who flee into a moonlit forest. Magical creatures play tricks on them. In 2024, Ballet Des Moines told this story without spoken words — only through gestures, music, and movement. Before exploring the science of night, students meet the language and movement that frame the lesson.
Close your eyes. Imagine you're standing in a forest at night. Take a slow look around. What do you notice with each of your senses? Fill out the chart with words or short phrases.
Q. What details captured your imagination most?
Q. Does the forest feel the same during the day as at night? Why or why not?
Below is a poem from A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II, Scene 1. The speaker is a fairy who serves Queen Titania, magical ruler of the forest. Read it aloud — twice. The first time, listen for the sounds. The second time, listen for the meaning.
Q. Imagine every sense — what would Shakespeare's forest look, smell, sound, feel, taste like?
Q. What emotions does the poem stir up?
BDM's Midsummer told this story through movement alone. Choreographers organize movement using three core elements: Action, Energy, and Space.
Movement in one spot: bend, stretch, twist, swing, shake, rise, fall, turn, rock, tip.
Movement that travels: run, jump, walk, slide, crawl, hop, skip, leap, gallop, roll.
Sharp/sudden, or smooth/sustained.
Heavy or light.
Free and relaxed, or tight and tense.
Tight, flowing, loose, sharp.
Low, middle, or high.
Forward, back, sideways, diagonal.
Curved, straight, zig-zag.
Close or far, above or below, alone or connected.
Try it now. Push chairs back. Play music. Call out an element — "non-locomotor · twist" — and dance for 8 counts. Then layer: "non-locomotor · twist · low level · sharp energy." Build the vocabulary together.
In groups of 4–5, create a short dance telling "Over Hill, Over Dale" in three actions:
Music suggestion: Mendelssohn, Scherzo from A Midsummer Night's Dream — Incidental Music No. 1.
Four real wonders happening in the forest while we sleep.
It's fun to imagine dew being made by magical creatures. But the nighttime forest has its own real magic — and it has scientific explanations. In this Part, students model a real natural process through dance, then meet four wonders of the night.
Why does dew form at night? Read these four steps:
In groups of 4–5, create a short dance that models these four steps. Use the dance elements from Part One.
Q. Other ways to model this process include text, charts, and graphs. How does dancing the process make you think about it differently?
Q. What challenges did your group face? How did you solve them?
Read each wonder aloud. After each one, debate which would be easiest — and which hardest — to model through dance.
Beneath the forest floor, a network of fungus called mycelia absorbs nutrients and decomposes leaves. When the air is moist and cool, the mycelia inflate with water — like tiny balloons — and mushrooms pop up overnight, sometimes in the shape of a perfect ring.
After dark, you may spot an eerie green light near rotting wood — bioluminescent fungi. About 70 species produce light through a chemical reaction that begins when the forest cools. Scientists think the glow may attract insects who then spread fungal spores.
Using laser measurements, scientists have discovered that tree branches droop after sunset and perk back up just before sunrise. During the day, trees reach for the sun to photosynthesize. At night, they rest.
Most pollinators rest at night — but moths and bats prefer the dark. Certain flowers have adapted to open only after sunset, releasing sweet smells and showing pale colors that stand out in low light, just for their nighttime visitors.
Build a Dance Glossary. As a class, make a list of every word or idea from the four wonders that you could imagine modeling through dance — inflate, glow, droop, bloom, decompose, attract, condensation, sleep, awaken, hover, spore… Save this list for Part Three.
A poem, a movement, and a shared "forest at night."
Each student writes a short science poem inspired by one of the four wonders, sets it to movement, and shares it in a class performance. The room becomes the forest after sundown.
Choose one fact from Part Two that fascinates you. Write a four-line AABB rhyming poem — just like Shakespeare. Pull words from the class Dance Glossary. Describe sights, smells, sounds, feelings, tastes, and emotions.
Design dance movements that match your poem. Use the action, energy, and space elements from Part One. Practice speaking and moving together until they feel like one expression.
Set the scene:
Q. How is learning science through dance similar to — or different from — other ways of learning?
Q. What did you discover by creating and watching the dances that you might not have learned by reading alone?
Q. Shakespeare was inspired to imagine the forest as magical. What other examples can you think of where science has inspired imagination — in art, music, or stories?
Assessment, differentiation, and resources for the lesson.
The complete lesson plan — fully designed, ready to print or project, with student-facing handouts and the full Shakespeare poem.
Download Lesson Plan (PDF)