Having just ended our Professional Experience, I was geared up for the Creative Arts Dance and Music classes. In my prac school, my supervising teacher was the dance coordinator and was heavily involved in the SCHOOL SPECTACULAR and WAKAKIRRI dance competitions.She had personally cheographed the songs and I saw how students from Years 3 to 6, both boys and girls really enjoyed the whole experience. I was amazed that the students were able to remember the moves and actions. The actions were so sophisticated! I wondered if I would be able to teach dance in the future!It was wonderful for me to watch the dance group dance together during rehearsals, as it was so joyful and free.
When people dance together, it is "the ultimate in aesthetic and visible rendering of coming together, being in one another's heads and bodies, and joining in mutual support and interdependency" (Heath, 2001, p. 14 from Ewing, 2010).
During the first dance lecture, we watched a Hyundai Ad by Pilobolus Dance Company. It was such an amazing ad!
I was excited to learn more that I can implement in the school context – and during the dance workshop, we were taught many activities. I thought that it was pretty similar to some of the Drama workshop’s techniques, in that we made use of free-walking, freezing, levels and the like.
IN THE WORKSHOP, this is what we learnt:
The aim during a warm up is to:
- Increase the body’s core temperature
- Increase heart rate
- Increase blood flow
- Improve muscle resilience
Chain Tag
- Good for cardiovascular
- One person as tag – the rest of the students traverse around the room using movements the teacher calls out e.g. bounce, walk backwards, twirl etc.
- Once students are tagged they link to form a chain and move in sync with each other to try and tag the other students
- Free walk around, being aware of space around. Teacher will call out “Huggy *″ and students must form groups with the people closest to them based on the number and instructions given by teacher
- Student forms shapes according to the teacher e.g. “Huggy 3, low height, square”
As conclusion for this post, I’d like to share a video of my favourite flash mob. Sound of Music at Antwerp Train Station. I absolutely love how dance brings people together. It knows no bounds. It’s in itself a language.