programming - What is the equivalent of a prototypical Manipulate in lower level functions?

Background: In the Mathematica tutorial 'Dynamic Interactivity' I read that there is a way of developing GUIs in Mathematica that do not use Manipulate. I want to investigate this further.

Question: What is the equivalent of Manipulate[i,{i,1,5,1}] in 'lower-level' Mathematica functions?

Answer

Start from

{Slider[Dynamic[x], {1, 5, 1}], Dynamic[x]}

Next localize control variable:

DynamicModule[{x}, {Slider[Dynamic[x], {1, 5, 1}], Dynamic[x]}]

And add some interface elements:

Panel@DynamicModule[{x},  Column[{Slider[Dynamic[x], 
{1, 5, 1}], Panel[Dynamic[x], ImageSize -> 200]}]]

Add even more

Panel@DynamicModule[{x},   Column[{Row[{"x", Spacer[10], 
Animator[Dynamic[x], {1, 5, 1}, AnimationRunning -> False, 
ImageSize -> Small]}], Panel[Dynamic[x], ImageSize -> 235]}]]