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Activity

Robots: Top Half & Bottom Half

Created November 14, 2025 | Added November 23, 2025

In this playful robot activity, students switch between moving only their top or bottom halves, building kinesthetic sensitivity and quick reaction skills.

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Adaptations / Extensions

  • Student Leader Version
    • One student becomes the leader. All students move freely, but follow the leader’s changes between top and bottom halves.
  • Piano Leader Version
    • The piano leads, leading to a register follow (i.e., high register indicates top half, low register indicates bottom half.)
    • This can introduce the musical subject of the day (e.g., beats/divisions, multiples, dynamics, meter).
  • Battery-Drain Ending
    • “Uh-oh—the robots are running out of batteries!”
    • The robots run out of batteries and slowly collapse to the floor to be charged again. Music accompanies.

With the right personalities, this could be done with older children.

Assessment / Reflection Suggestions

When students are leading, encourage independent movement. Observing out loud different kinds of movement can prevent the students from simply running in circles.

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Author

Michael Joviala

Michael Joviala is a composer/improviser/performer and educator in New York City. In 2020, he earned the diplôme supérieur from the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in Geneva and is the director of the Dalcroze Teacher Training Program at the Lucy Moses School in New York. He teaches Dalcroze eurhythmics to students of all ages at the Lucy Moses School of Music, the Diller-Quaile School of Music, the Dalcroze School of Music and Movement in Dallas, Texas, and in workshops worldwide. He is the creator and music director of the improvising music and dance ensemble, Locomotors. He has called Brooklyn, New York, home since 1992.

Robots: Top Half & Bottom Half
Michael Joviala, Author

Catalog

  • Resource ID
    6810
  • Original Date
    November 14, 2025
  • Date Added
    November 23, 2025

About

  • Category
  • Age
    Ages 5–9
  • Dalcroze Branch
    Eurhythmics
  • Dalcroze Teaching Techniques
    Association, Improvisation, Inhibition & Incitation / Excitation
  • Music Topics
    Expression & Articulation, Movement & Contextual Activities, Rhythm & Meter

Community & Access

  • This is a members only resource.
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About the Author(s)

Author

Michael Joviala

Michael Joviala is a composer/improviser/performer and educator in New York City. In 2020, he earned the diplôme supérieur from the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in Geneva and is the director of the Dalcroze Teacher Training Program at the Lucy Moses School in New York. He teaches Dalcroze eurhythmics to students of all ages at …
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