Dance Workshop #3

Dance Workshop #3 - Week 6 with Jacqui Dreessens

"Site Specific Dance Education"

Thursday 16^th August 2012

To start this week, Jacqui got us to think about our Practicum and rate it between 1 and 10 (10 being the best, 1 being the worst). We all jumped up and placed ourselves along the ‘number line’ next to the number we had rated our practicum. Then we talked to the person next to us about our experience and why we had rated our practicum the way we did.

We then moved into a long line facing the mirror and we had to choose one movement that would sum up/display our practicum experience.

We then created a second movement to portray the same feeling we had about placement. The second movement could have been on a different level, facing a different direction etc.

Next we got into groups of 5 and in these groups we showed each other our 2 movements and learnt everyone in the group's movements. So now there were 10 movements in the group. In our groups we had to think about spatial organisation.

Whilst practicing our movements, Jacqui stopped us and told us that she was beginning to see a motif developing within our movements. We all were doing a movement, then stopping abruptly before moving into the next movement. Our actions would have looked somewhat staccato, or perhaps even a little robotic. Jacqui encouraged us to think about and create a better transition between each movement. In our group, we decided to make the transition between movements ‘flowy’ and smooth. As we practised our movements, each group member was moving in unison. Therefore, we were all moving in the same way at the same time.

Next we contrasted our movements. In our group, we split up into half and faced the other half of the group. As one side of the group went into the original movement sequence, the second half of the group moved in a way that contrasted these original movements. The contrasting movements included different levels, directions and so on.

After contrast came the cannon. This was where each group member would choose one of their original movements from describing their placement and then this action would go around the group in a cannon - the same way a mexican wave would happen. As a group we explored the use of:

- time (fast, slow)

- levels (high, medium, low)

- direction (upwards, downwards, forwards, backwards, sideways, diagonal, circular)

- accent (stress or intensity applied to movements)

- swinging (over and under curves made by arms, torso, legs, head and weight transference)

- sustained (continuous flow of movement from shape to shape)

A group cannon.

Once we'd practised the cannon, we then put all the three movement sequences (unison, contrast & cannon) together.

The whole class was then practising their whole 3-part movement sequence. Once we'd finished, Jacqui made a note of how different groups had finished on different levels, facing different directions etc. The diversity of the movements was very significant - it showed all different representations of how people felt on placement.

From here, we worked out how each group was going to enter into the centre space to perform their movement sequence in their spatial arrangement, and also how they were going to exit the space.

Once we'd worked this out, as a whole class we began walking around the space of the room. We were asked to take the same amount of steps as our rated number was for placement. My number was 7 so I would walk 7 steps and then stop and create my original movement shape. We did this for a little while - walking in a clockwise direction. Then people started peeling off and forming their spatial arrangement for their groups. As the circle of people marched on, more and more people would peel off when they arrived at their group and take up their starting position for the 3-part movement sequence.

It was now performance time! 

The music to accompany our performance was Pink Floyd's 'Brick in the Wall'

We began walking around in a circle like we had just done, and then peeled off into a groups and started our movement sequence - beginning with unison. We moved into contrast and then cannon. We then changed our spatial arrangement and one group entered the centre space whilst the other group exited it. The group entering then performed their movement sequence whilst all other groups were perfectly still, watching.

Then, as a whole class, all groups performed their arrangement one more time in unison and once we'd all finished we began walking in a circle again. Then people would start walking into the middle and holding their original movement pose. The finished product looked like this:

We then engaged in reflection on the lesson. Jacqui explained that our performance had a theme, a stimulus, an expressive intention and a creative process.

Theme = was our feelings towards our Placement

Stimulus = was the number we rated our placement and the words we'd thought of to describe our placement e.g. 'rewarding' or 'exciting'

Expressive intention = was how we felt about the theme - so how we felt about our Placement

Creative process = was creating the dance performance

The creative process of making a dance can be broken down into 5 sections:

- Improvised: experimenting with possible moves/actions, asking questions, collaborating and sharing thoughts/ideas

- Selection: choosing the movement based on what looks good/trialling ideas

- Arrange: how your group will arrange in the space - group symmetry, structures, unison, contrast, cannon

- Refinement: this is where you rehearse/practice your movements and make any additional moves or discard things that you don't feel are working

- Evaluation: this is where you ask yourself and the group if you like what you've produced, if not then discuss ways in which you might change it

The acronym for this process is ISARE. We then went through the evaluation step with our group and talked about things we liked, things we didn't and things we would change (if any). Most groups suggested that the transitions between each group performing could be smoother and more developed.

Finally, Jacqui took us outside to do some site specific dance. We practised some Yoga and Tai Chi. We felt the Earth beneath us, felt the cool breeze on our face and relaxed. 

We also danced and moved in and around a sculpture in the courtyard. We weaved and contoured the shape, as well as mirrored, moulded and extended the sculpture.

We explored the environment and felt the different surfaces and textures of our world.

Throughout the workshop, Jacqui was always conscious of space and our surroundings and made sure we didn't go anywhere that we could possibly injure ourselves or damage the environment.

The main arts learning processes this week included:

- theme

- stimulus

- expressive intention

- creative process

- unison, contrast and cannon

- spatial arrangement

- transitions 

- entering and exiting the space

- ISARE

- site specific dance

With site specific dance, you can bring awareness to the students about the environment. According to VELS at Level 4 for Geography (Humanities), students "compare the various ways humans have used and affected the Australian environment...students recommend ways of protecting environmentally sensitive areas in a sustainable way." (VCAA, 2009) 

You could also integrate site specific dance into Science and discover different flora and fauna species within the Australian environment, or perhaps the local school area.

Personal Reflection

Once again, I enjoyed the workshop. I liked how we learnt a few new things and then combined them altogether to create one big performance with the whole class. It was amazing to see so much work and so many ideas come from one or two feelings/emotions that we had about our Placement. I always felt comfortable moving around the space because I was in a group and it wasn't daunting.

References:

Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, 2009, The Humanities - Geography, State Government of Victoria, <http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vels/geography.html>.