Workshop 1-Making Ideas Dance

Lesson
Walking into the Courthouse theatre, it soon became apparent that we were going to enjoy the coming weeks of dance workshops as an intimate group of 9 students. Jacqui Dreessens introduced herself as our teacher, and we were all familiar with her from our previous experience in ECA409. As we sat on the chairs overlooking the stage, Jacqui explained to us the importance of inclusive dance practice. It was explained that today's 'Mirror, Mould and Extend' workshop was designed to assist for this inclusiveness as well as encouraging students to build on their overall confidence. Furthermore, it incorporated group work which is a positive influence on both students’ confidence and social skills.

 To begin the first lesson we ran around the stage area trying to locate the negative space and avoid running into each other. During this warm-up we experimented by incorporating different levels as we walked or ran. We alternated between high, low and medium planes depending on what we chose. it was then introduced that we were required to locate different things around the room and touch them, signalling that we were aware of our surroundings.

  We then progressed to a 'follow the leader' type activity, whereby the teacher led the class around the negative space, continuing to explore the high, medium and low planes. Next, a student was chosen to become the leader and guided the remaining students through the negative space, in which they had to copy the leader's exact actions. 

Following the warm-up activity, the 10 of us formed a circle in the middle of the space to participate in a whole-class activity involving unison and contrast. The activity involved each student, one at a time, entering the centre of the circle and creating a unique movement which the rest of the group had to emulate. This created a unison effect as each student was performing the same movement, at the same time.  When the group wasn't imitating one particular student a range of individual movements were created to incorporate the technique of contrast.  

At the conclusion of the whole group activity, we split into groups of 3 in order to participate in the creation and performance of small group unison and contrast activity. In this activity, we had the ability to include unison and contrast in any way we wanted. However, a requirement of the task was that each student had to incorporate their individual movement into the performance. The performance also needed to include the use of the varying planes. Some groups chose to use techniques such as cannon, repetition and retrograde. The only guideline of the small group task was that it had to include 3 unison movements and 3 contrast movements. Once the dances were created, we had to perform them in front of our peers and were given peer and teacher feedback at the conclusion of our performances. Some of the feedback given included the need to include the space a bit more, ensure the groups timing is accurate etc.  

The next activity involved partner work and was centered on the mirroring technique. During this activity each student was placed in a pair and instructed to choose whoever was going first. This person would then create a movement which their partner would have to mirror. This meant that each person needed to face their partner and mirror image their every move. Next, in the same partnerships, we were guided on the concept of extend. This involved one person creating a movement on which their partner would connect and extend out into a different shape. This was also done as a whole group task. The last technique we incorporated was that of mould. Moulding involved create a shape around somebody else’s to create a larger shape. During these activities we used our previously applied knowledge of the varying planes in order to create shapes that were high, medium and low.  

The next activity in workshop 1 was a whole class one in which we used the staircase as our stage. In this task we could choose any of the mirror, mould and extend techniques and take turns in incorporating these into the overall image. Finally, we re-joined our small groups of 3 to partake in a second performance, this time including the techniques of mirror, mould and extend along with the varying levels of high, medium and low. The guideline to this task was that it had to be based around the notion of 'feeling free'. As such, our group chose to relate it to the conclusion of our time at University and included movements which signified us throwing away our books and stepping out into the world.

Learning Outcomes

 Affective: the students will build on their self-confidence and continue in developing positive self esteem.

Psychomotor: How the students move their bodies to represent the concept of 'feeling free'. Furthermore, they will be able to accurately perform the skills of mirror, mould and extend.

Cognitive: incorporate the concept of 'feeling free' into their dances, using prior knowledge of what the term means.

Assessment

At Level 3, students create and present works in a range of arts forms that communicate experiences, ideas, concepts, observations and feelings.

 

In Dance, students create a movement sequence based on ideas and feelings suggested by one or more images viewed in class, and then modify their work in response to feedback from other students in the class.

 

The students collect and combine a range of arts elements, principles and/or conventions, and use a range of skills, techniques and processes, media, materials, equipment and technologies. The students evidence of arts knowledge when planning arts works for different purposes and audiences and identify techniques and features of other people's works that inform their own arts making. They refine their work in response to feedback and self-evaluation.

References

Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2009, Victorian Essential Learning Standards, State Government of Victoria, retrieved September 10 2012, <http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/