We finished the Shapes project last week — using symmetrical and asymmetrical group shapes, transitions, and various levels, danced to amorphous background music. The last journal entry before Thanksgiving break asked students to reflect on their experience creating a dance starting from still shapes rather than steps to music, and whether it helped them to discover anything new about dance. This is often a difficult project for high school dancers — so many students think of dance as what they see on music videos, and the idea of creating a dance that is not responding to a particular song is completely foreign to them. Even so, I found almost universally positive responses in the journal entries — here is a small sample:
"I did discover new ways of dance forms. Dance really just expands further and further..."
"This project was interesting for me because I never really had to create shapes in a choreography before... [it] helped me learn that there is more to dance than just steps."
"I'm used to fluid, constant movements to the beat of a song — it was almost eye-opening trying to come up with this choreography. It made me realize that dance isn't all about the leaps and turns. I always forget that dance is a form of creativity and not always a competitive sport."
"Every dance that I saw was beautiful. The dances reminded me of nature... Like the wind, trees, and so on. Every dance was unique and original. I discovered that there can be a dance to anything, whether it's the wind blowing in the trees or a song."
Hooray for minds opened to new ways of making dance!
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Thursday, November 27, 2014
little things I'm thankful for…
Of course the big thing I am thankful for this year is a functional dance program in a school close to home — but here are a few of the little things that are a part of that:
Students who greet me with smiles on their faces when I walk down the hall in the morning…
One of my guys writing on the bottom of his last journal entry “I love this class!!!” (with a big heart scrawled alongside)…
A dance studio I can decorate with all the photos I’ve pulled out of dance magazines over the decades...
A wonderfully congenial fellow teacher in the girls' locker room...
And last but not least, enthusiastic students whose minds are open to new experiences!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Students who greet me with smiles on their faces when I walk down the hall in the morning…
One of my guys writing on the bottom of his last journal entry “I love this class!!!” (with a big heart scrawled alongside)…
A dance studio I can decorate with all the photos I’ve pulled out of dance magazines over the decades...
A wonderfully congenial fellow teacher in the girls' locker room...
And last but not least, enthusiastic students whose minds are open to new experiences!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Mills Repertory Dance Company
Last Friday we had a field trip to Mills College to watch a performance of the Mills Repertory Dance Company (MRDC), a company of dance department undergrads and graduate students. The MRDC makes the Friday matinee of their fall performance complementary to students from east bay schools — a wonderful opportunity and a great community resource. This was my fifth excursion there, with five different schools now; with forty-one students, it was certainly the biggest group I have ever taken!
It is always a bit of an adventure, organizing my first field trip in a new school district, figuring out all the procedures and regulations... But it got done and Friday morning we got on a bus to Oakland. When we arrived the performers were still warming up, so my students scattered to explore the campus (especially the cafe in the quad), making it even more exciting when I had to round them all up in time for the performance. they did all make it back, and were a lovely audience, respectful and attentive (after some of my experiences over the past couple of years, being able to watch the performance without worrying about what my students might be doing was quite a treat).
The company performed four pieces — two by resident choreographers/professors, one by a visiting choreographer from New York, and one a re-staging of a Merce Cunningham event. It was a nice mix of pieces — all modern dance with one more in a dance-theater vein, involving benches as props and the dancers’ voices as the score. It was a pleasure to see the Cunningham piece, as the movement style was so distinctively Cunningham I could have guessed the choreographer without the program.
I was curious how my students would react to modern dance and dance theater, as most of them are beginners with little experience of dance beyond what they see on TV or videos — and those with experience are studio-trained in ballet, jazz or Hawai’ian — so what we were seeing would be entirely new and well out of their comfort zone. I have not yet seen all their reviews and reflections (many are coming in after the Thanksgiving holiday); but from what I have read so far, they seemed quite impressed by the technical expertise of the dancers and had some perceptive observations on the choreography (although many were somewhat bemused by the dance theater piece). All so far were glad they were able to see the performance (I haven’t read any opinions that “it was all boring,”which is what I would be afraid of with teens). It is gratifying to know that my beginning students can already appreciate some fairly sophisticated abstract choreography — in all, I was very pleased at a satisfying trip!
It is always a bit of an adventure, organizing my first field trip in a new school district, figuring out all the procedures and regulations... But it got done and Friday morning we got on a bus to Oakland. When we arrived the performers were still warming up, so my students scattered to explore the campus (especially the cafe in the quad), making it even more exciting when I had to round them all up in time for the performance. they did all make it back, and were a lovely audience, respectful and attentive (after some of my experiences over the past couple of years, being able to watch the performance without worrying about what my students might be doing was quite a treat).
The company performed four pieces — two by resident choreographers/professors, one by a visiting choreographer from New York, and one a re-staging of a Merce Cunningham event. It was a nice mix of pieces — all modern dance with one more in a dance-theater vein, involving benches as props and the dancers’ voices as the score. It was a pleasure to see the Cunningham piece, as the movement style was so distinctively Cunningham I could have guessed the choreographer without the program.
I was curious how my students would react to modern dance and dance theater, as most of them are beginners with little experience of dance beyond what they see on TV or videos — and those with experience are studio-trained in ballet, jazz or Hawai’ian — so what we were seeing would be entirely new and well out of their comfort zone. I have not yet seen all their reviews and reflections (many are coming in after the Thanksgiving holiday); but from what I have read so far, they seemed quite impressed by the technical expertise of the dancers and had some perceptive observations on the choreography (although many were somewhat bemused by the dance theater piece). All so far were glad they were able to see the performance (I haven’t read any opinions that “it was all boring,”which is what I would be afraid of with teens). It is gratifying to know that my beginning students can already appreciate some fairly sophisticated abstract choreography — in all, I was very pleased at a satisfying trip!
Monday, November 17, 2014
technique vs. improvisation / composition
Saturday morning I attended a collegial brunch for east bay dance teachers, organized by the California Dance Education Organization. There were four of us from public schools scattered around the east bay from Richmond to Antioch, along with two graduate students studying dance pedagogy at Mills College and a handful of undergrads from UC Berkeley who teach in various elementary schools and private programs in Berkeley.
It is always gratifying to be able to connect with other dance teachers, since — unlike math or English teachers — we are usually the only ones on our campuses. There were of course some lively conversations about our programs, upcoming events, and the like... But the most interesting discussion for me was the perpetual dilemma of how much technique instruction and improvisation/composition work we include in our classes.
I come to the subject from a long-time focus on moving student choreographers beyond the "cute steps to cool music" stage. At the high school where I did my student teaching years ago, the program had been focused almost entirely on improvisation and the principles of composition — and I could certainly see the difference in the sophistication of the student choreography. When I observed the performances at other high schools, I saw that the dancers were technically proficient, but their dances were essentially collections of their favorite steps and flashy tricks, usually performed in unison; whereas the students at my student-teaching school were using canon and antiphonal forms, varied groupings, and a wide range of moods and qualities... and more than that, their dances often had personal meaning (beyond "these are my favorite moves"). So from the very beginning of my public school career, I knew which direction I wanted to go.
But it is that mix — how much technique work? How much improvisation? — that is difficult to get just right. One of my colleagues, who originally came from a contact improvisation background, said that she has gravitated more and more towards technique over the years (even though she finds it much more difficult to teach), because her students so much want to learn steps and phrases and dances... and she wants her classes to be joyful. I certainly can't disagree — in my experience, students who begin dance as teenagers expect to be taught steps and movements, and are uncomfortable with improvisation until they have a fair amount of experience under their belts. (Although, in my work in East Oakland, I had more of a dichotomy between the boys and the girls: the boys loved improvisation, since many of them already practiced improvisational street dance forms such as TURF dance; while the girls tended to look at me as if I'd lost my mind when I asked them to improvise).
And yet and yet... as a choreographer, I can't forget the difference in the dances of students trained in the craft of choreography and the elements of dance — and helping students to create meaning will always be a priority for me. My compromise is that I work in units and I try to do about half-and-half: every technique unit is followed by a few directed improvisation lessons, leading into a choreography project. It worked for me at EOSA (although I did always get those girls complaining about explorations when "you haven't taught me how to dance yet," eventually they got the creation bug)... and so far at DeAnza, my beginners have been remarkably open to exploring the elements and working on choreography (maybe because more of them have some studio experience already?). I will be interested to see how my thinking evolves as I work in my new program...
It is always gratifying to be able to connect with other dance teachers, since — unlike math or English teachers — we are usually the only ones on our campuses. There were of course some lively conversations about our programs, upcoming events, and the like... But the most interesting discussion for me was the perpetual dilemma of how much technique instruction and improvisation/composition work we include in our classes.
I come to the subject from a long-time focus on moving student choreographers beyond the "cute steps to cool music" stage. At the high school where I did my student teaching years ago, the program had been focused almost entirely on improvisation and the principles of composition — and I could certainly see the difference in the sophistication of the student choreography. When I observed the performances at other high schools, I saw that the dancers were technically proficient, but their dances were essentially collections of their favorite steps and flashy tricks, usually performed in unison; whereas the students at my student-teaching school were using canon and antiphonal forms, varied groupings, and a wide range of moods and qualities... and more than that, their dances often had personal meaning (beyond "these are my favorite moves"). So from the very beginning of my public school career, I knew which direction I wanted to go.
But it is that mix — how much technique work? How much improvisation? — that is difficult to get just right. One of my colleagues, who originally came from a contact improvisation background, said that she has gravitated more and more towards technique over the years (even though she finds it much more difficult to teach), because her students so much want to learn steps and phrases and dances... and she wants her classes to be joyful. I certainly can't disagree — in my experience, students who begin dance as teenagers expect to be taught steps and movements, and are uncomfortable with improvisation until they have a fair amount of experience under their belts. (Although, in my work in East Oakland, I had more of a dichotomy between the boys and the girls: the boys loved improvisation, since many of them already practiced improvisational street dance forms such as TURF dance; while the girls tended to look at me as if I'd lost my mind when I asked them to improvise).
And yet and yet... as a choreographer, I can't forget the difference in the dances of students trained in the craft of choreography and the elements of dance — and helping students to create meaning will always be a priority for me. My compromise is that I work in units and I try to do about half-and-half: every technique unit is followed by a few directed improvisation lessons, leading into a choreography project. It worked for me at EOSA (although I did always get those girls complaining about explorations when "you haven't taught me how to dance yet," eventually they got the creation bug)... and so far at DeAnza, my beginners have been remarkably open to exploring the elements and working on choreography (maybe because more of them have some studio experience already?). I will be interested to see how my thinking evolves as I work in my new program...
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Shapes and levels
Now that Hallowe'en and Thriller are over, we're back to creative work and choreography. This time we're taking up shapes and levels, which is a project that I've been using since I first started teaching, which I actually got from Susan Brown, one of my master teachers when I was student teaching. I'm not sure how it gels with creative dance teaching theory, since it focuses on two different dance elements — but I do like the way it gets beginning choreographers out of the "cute steps to favorite songs" rut right off the bat.
Over the years, I have done some refining of my creative work lessons leading up to the project. We began the week with a lesson on Level, starting with a basic freeze dance, focusing on shapes in various levels and shape copying ("make a high twisted shape… change it by changing one arm… one knee… look at E___'s shape and copy it… make your shape turn, make your shape jump, make your shape travel… Drop your shape and make a low, wide shape…"). We then took up the Erosion Game partner activity — one partner takes a high shape, the other partner molds him/her into a lower shape then copies it to be molded in turn… After four or five changes from high level to low level, the composition is all the shapes performed in unison, eroding to the ground. Simple but effective (and students always enjoy working with partners).
The second day, we worked on shapes and shape transitions. After a very brief recap freeze dance, we built on the previous day's work with shape copying for some Shape Tag — half the class freezes in a still shape while the other half dances around and through them, "tagging" a still dancer by copying her shape — with lots of giggles from the dancers as they found shapes to copy; then we worked on transitioning into and out of shapes. This is important to get dancers out of just dropping a shape and taking up the next one — so we did a lot of explorations with specific transitions: "melt out of your shape, glide to a new spot, and wiggle back into it… explode out of shape #1, gallop to a new spot and then stretch into shape #2…"
The third day we worked specifically with symmetry (and asymmetry) — we started by looking at some photos of symmetrical shapes in dance, then tried some of the "Man-on-a-stick" improv from Blom and Chaplin's book The Intimate Act of Choreography (what would we ever do without Blom and Chaplin?). Then we worked in pairs with some mirroring and trying a few symmetrical and asymmetrical shapes; and then each pair joined with one or two others to try a few group shapes.
After the three days of exploration, the group project began on Thursday: Create a dance that includes at least six group still shapes (at least three symmetrical and three asymmetrical) plus transitions between shapes, using a variety of levels. I always caution the students that we will be practicing these to amorphous instrumentals without a strong beat, as the starting point for the dance should be the shapes and not steps to music. I usually get a fair amount of whining about that part, but this time only a couple of groups asked about being able to use particular music (I just told them "let's get your dance set first, then think about it"), and for the most part all groups have dived in and gotten off to a good start. We hope to be finished the end of this coming week (though not sure, since it's only a three-day week) — I'm anxious to see how their dances come out!
Over the years, I have done some refining of my creative work lessons leading up to the project. We began the week with a lesson on Level, starting with a basic freeze dance, focusing on shapes in various levels and shape copying ("make a high twisted shape… change it by changing one arm… one knee… look at E___'s shape and copy it… make your shape turn, make your shape jump, make your shape travel… Drop your shape and make a low, wide shape…"). We then took up the Erosion Game partner activity — one partner takes a high shape, the other partner molds him/her into a lower shape then copies it to be molded in turn… After four or five changes from high level to low level, the composition is all the shapes performed in unison, eroding to the ground. Simple but effective (and students always enjoy working with partners).
The second day, we worked on shapes and shape transitions. After a very brief recap freeze dance, we built on the previous day's work with shape copying for some Shape Tag — half the class freezes in a still shape while the other half dances around and through them, "tagging" a still dancer by copying her shape — with lots of giggles from the dancers as they found shapes to copy; then we worked on transitioning into and out of shapes. This is important to get dancers out of just dropping a shape and taking up the next one — so we did a lot of explorations with specific transitions: "melt out of your shape, glide to a new spot, and wiggle back into it… explode out of shape #1, gallop to a new spot and then stretch into shape #2…"
The third day we worked specifically with symmetry (and asymmetry) — we started by looking at some photos of symmetrical shapes in dance, then tried some of the "Man-on-a-stick" improv from Blom and Chaplin's book The Intimate Act of Choreography (what would we ever do without Blom and Chaplin?). Then we worked in pairs with some mirroring and trying a few symmetrical and asymmetrical shapes; and then each pair joined with one or two others to try a few group shapes.
After the three days of exploration, the group project began on Thursday: Create a dance that includes at least six group still shapes (at least three symmetrical and three asymmetrical) plus transitions between shapes, using a variety of levels. I always caution the students that we will be practicing these to amorphous instrumentals without a strong beat, as the starting point for the dance should be the shapes and not steps to music. I usually get a fair amount of whining about that part, but this time only a couple of groups asked about being able to use particular music (I just told them "let's get your dance set first, then think about it"), and for the most part all groups have dived in and gotten off to a good start. We hope to be finished the end of this coming week (though not sure, since it's only a three-day week) — I'm anxious to see how their dances come out!
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Thriller flash mob
The Thriller flash mob was a success (and, after all the organizational logistics were over, a lot of fun)! When all was said and done, three dozen students ended up performing surrounded by a huge crowd in the quad on a drizzly Hallowe'en. The cast kept growing last week, as each time we practiced outside more students found the confidence to ask "can I still be on the list to dance?" (of course!)
When the day came, we were sweating out the rain — wouldn't you know it, in the middle of this drought, our first rainy day in weeks had to fall on Hallowe'en. The kids had nearly all said they would still want to dance outside if it was raining-but-not-pouring… Although at 10 in the morning it was nearly pouring, by lunchtime it had cleared to clouds and a few drizzly drops, a perfect atmosphere for the dance.
The kids roped me into dancing with them on this one — after asking at morning rehearsal, for the last time, "are you going to dance?" they pretty unanimously agreed they wanted me there with them, so after some hesitation I gave in… And in the end, I was glad they convinced me, because it was quite exhilarating to dance along with so many wildly enthusiastic students (especially after the year I had last year).
On the suggestion of a couple of students, we began by "zombie-marching" out from the
main building and the gym to meet in the middle, and when the actual dance started we were immediately enclosed in a solid wall of spectators — it seemed as if the whole school was out watching (all with cellphone cameras out, of course). All in all, it was a fairly splashy start to getting the dance program visible on campus!
When the day came, we were sweating out the rain — wouldn't you know it, in the middle of this drought, our first rainy day in weeks had to fall on Hallowe'en. The kids had nearly all said they would still want to dance outside if it was raining-but-not-pouring… Although at 10 in the morning it was nearly pouring, by lunchtime it had cleared to clouds and a few drizzly drops, a perfect atmosphere for the dance.
The kids roped me into dancing with them on this one — after asking at morning rehearsal, for the last time, "are you going to dance?" they pretty unanimously agreed they wanted me there with them, so after some hesitation I gave in… And in the end, I was glad they convinced me, because it was quite exhilarating to dance along with so many wildly enthusiastic students (especially after the year I had last year).
On the suggestion of a couple of students, we began by "zombie-marching" out from the
main building and the gym to meet in the middle, and when the actual dance started we were immediately enclosed in a solid wall of spectators — it seemed as if the whole school was out watching (all with cellphone cameras out, of course). All in all, it was a fairly splashy start to getting the dance program visible on campus!
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