Workshop 5: Body Percussion and Soundscape

Topic: Body Percussion
Context: Who- VELS level 4- Grade 5/6 When- Beginning of topic Where- Inside (dance room) What- Body Percussion Why- To learn how to dance according to difference cultures and learning different ways to moving and using bodies to create rhythmic sounds.
Theme: ·         The elements that will be explore and manipulate are timing, energy and body ·         Body movements and physical skills that are used to make sound: slapping, stomping, clapping, etc. ·         Students need to gain an understanding of rhythm, timing and beat to accurately perform body percussion
Learning outcomes – the children will be able to…. Cognitive (Intellectual/artistic): Create a body percussion sequence in a group Psychomotor (Thinking/Physical): Students must be aware of safety aspects of dancing with those around them, students must remember and practice the sequence and execution of the dance. Affective (Emotional/Social/Cultural): Student will explore the use of body percussion as an expression with sound and body movements.
Assessment I will be observing and continuously attending to individual and groups of students assisting them. I will assess their cooperation, choreography and performance as I record it on video. Students at Level 4, Dance to address the Arts standards, students individually and in groups, improvise and compose dance sequences using ideas about past and future times, different environments and cultural contexts. They experiment with and manipulate the dance elements of space, time and energy and begin to use symmetry/asymmetry and different spatial groupings to organise their movement and express their intentions. Students plan, rehearse and refine dances.  They identify cultural influences on their dance and evaluate the effectiveness of own dances, reworking dances to their satisfaction
WHAT - content	HOW – strategies and approaches
Warm up – Kinesthetic tune-up Students move around the space and follow movements of the teacher such as rhythmic clapping, slapping and stomping. Form a circle and practice canon using body percussion. Get students to use their bodies to make loud and quiet sounds. Get students to share different ways to do it and try it all as a class (stomping feet, clapping hands, slapping legs, sides and arms, clicking).	Management of children in the space safely Teacher will be facing majority of the students at a time, walking around to all students in groups and individually. No props will be used and the lesson will be conducted in a clear space with any hazards removed. Make sure groups aren’t standing too close together Establishing rules and expectations of behaviour Teacher will state the signal to stop and listen at the beginning of the class Students will be told they are expected to behave sensibly and respectfully of each other and the teacher Consequences will be communicated and followed through eg. 3 warnings and time out Safe dance practice of physical skills? I will need to check student’s technique of movements in the dance to be sure they are not hurting themselves while slapping their bodies or stomping feet, etc. Aesthetic Awareness How will you develop their movement/character response? Exploring different ways we can make sounds with our bodies together Watching videos of body percussion performances Feedback to children about their movement response References Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2009, Background to VELS: The Arts Domain, State Government of Victoria <http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/arts/background.html>
Development  - Exploration Watch the following videos: Children making music with body percussion (Brazil): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqnNu3u-Apw&feature=related African-American Step: Stomp 'n Shout (Springstep - Medford, MA): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwaYnJ2ogQk&feature=related Discuss what they are doing and the kinds of movements they are making to create sounds. Teach students a simple 4 beat body percussion pattern. Students individually create their own body percussion sequence of 4 beats using different parts of their body. Get students into pairs. They must teach each other their sequences and put it together. Pairs join with another pair. Put all sequences together and practice it. They can add or change movements if they like. They must add in a canon somewhere in the dance.
Culminating Dance  - Have two groups at a time performing while facing each other like a dance battle. They could possibly take turns performing four counts.
Discussion – Memory integration -          Their physical skills? How did you use all of your body to make sounds? What body part did you use the most of to make the sounds and why? How did you keep the beat? What other ways can you think of to use your body to make sounds? -          Their safety skills? What did we need to do to make sure we didn’t hurt ourselves or the people in your group? What parts of our bodies did we need to make sure we were using properly the most? Which movements in particular? -          Creative skills Why did you choose to move that way? What was your aim or what were you thinking when you created your own dance part?
Closure In the same groups, pick one of the sequence of four counts to dance. Create a class orchestration of body percussion in time conducted by the teacher. One group adds on every four beats, and then slowly stops until one group remains again.  Film this and show the students straight away/next lesson.

Workshop 6: Telling stories- Aboriginal to Bushdance

Topic: Telling stories- Aboriginal dance
Context: Who- VELS level 2- Grade 1/2 When- Beginning of topic Where- Inside (dance room) What- Telling stories- Aboriginal dance Why- To learn how to dance according to difference cultures and communicate a story
Theme: ·         The elements that will be explore and manipulate are relationships, space and body ·         Body movements and physical skills such as jumping, stomping, sliding, moving of hand gestures, etc. ·         Using variation in body movements to tell a story representing different characters and ideas
Learning outcomes – the children will be able to…. Cognitive (Intellectual/artistic): Retell a story through dance Psychomotor (Thinking/Physical): Students must be aware of safety aspects of dancing with those around them, students must remember and practice roles, sequence and execution of the dance. Affective (Emotional/Social/Cultural): Student will explore the aboriginal story and show their interpretation of it as they create and dance with their groups
Assessment I will be observing and continuously attending to individual and groups of students assisting them. I will assess their cooperation, choreography and performance as I record it on video. Students at Level 2, make ‘choices about the expressive use of the dance elements of space, time and energy to communicate particular understandings. They use contrasting energy qualities when improvising dances and observe and talk about different body parts and positions, body shapes and actions, energy, levels, directions of movement, speed and rhythms. They identify ways their own and others’ dance works are made, presented and describe the dances and movements giving reasons for their preferences’ (VCAA, 2009).
WHAT - content	HOW – strategies and approaches
Warm up – Kinesthetic tune-up As they listen to Aboriginal music, get students to move around the space. Move as different Australian animals by calling out one at a time for students to become eg. Emu, dingo, kangaroo, etc. Demonstrate this and do this with them. Do stretches with them. Read the story, ‘The Rainbow serpent’ (found here: http://www.kullillaart.com.au/default.asp?PageID=71) and watch them the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCuuRRrfOXo Get students to think, pair, share about what they think happened in the story and what it is trying to tell us. Discuss as a class: the setting, characters, plot and meaning. Talk about how Aboriginal people tell stories through dance/movements without speaking.	Management of children in the space safely Teacher will be facing majority of the students at a time, walking around to all students in groups and individually. No props will be used and the lesson will be conducted in a clear space with any hazards removed. Make sure groups aren’t standing too close together Establishing rules and expectations of behaviour Teacher will state the signal to stop and listen at the beginning of the class Students will be told they are expected to behave sensibly and respectfully of each other and the teacher Consequences will be communicated and followed through eg. 3 warnings and time out Safe dance practice of physical skills? I will need to check student’s technique of movements in the dance as they act like animals Aesthetic Awareness How will you develop their movement/character response? Aboriginal music Exploring different ways we can move like animals together Reading the story and showing the video Feedback to children about their movement response References The rainbow serpent, 2008 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCuuRRrfOXo> Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2009, Background to VELS: The Arts Domain, State Government of Victoria <http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/arts/background.html>
Development  - Exploration Get the students to stand up and together, explore how you might act out the characters and actions they make in the story. Do this as a whole class together and go through the story. Get students into groups of 5 and get them to act out the story using body movements. Explain that they will need to decide how they will show what characters they are and what is happening. Explain the difference between a role play and a dance (acting vs. dancing).
Culminating Dance  - Perform the dance together as a whole class around the room with one group performing directly after the other.
Discussion – Memory integration -          Their physical skills? What movements did you make? How did you tell the story through your body? How did you show what was happening? Did you have to change how you moved in different parts of the story? How? Why? -          Their safety skills? What did we need to do to make sure we didn’t hurt ourselves or the people in your group? What parts of our bodies did we need to make sure we were using properly the most? Which movements in particular? -          Creative skills Why did you choose to move that way?
Closure Watch a video of a group of Aboriginal dancers performing the story of the rainbow serpent (if you can find one).

Workshop 4: Aboriginal and African Dance

Topic: African Dance
Context: Who- VELS level 4 Grade 5/6 When- Beginning of topic Where- Inside (dance room) What- African Dance Why- To learn how to dance according to difference cultures
Theme: ·         The elements that will be explore and manipulate are relationships, space and body ·         Body movements and physical skills such as jumping, stomping, sliding, moving of hand gestures, etc. ·         Body actions will be moving to the beat of the music and repetition will be used. ·         Students will be exploring different movements to the beat and learning a simple African dance.
Learning outcomes – the children will be able to…. Cognitive (Intellectual/artistic): Create some of their own African movements Psychomotor (Thinking/Physical):Students must be aware of safety aspects of dancing with those around them, students must remember and practice order and execution of the dance. Affective (Emotional/Social/Cultural): Students will gain an understanding of and experience the culture and practice of African dance.
Assessment I will be observing and continuously attending to individual and groups of students assisting them.I will assess students by recording performance on video. Students at Level 4 students ‘dance to address the Arts standards, students individually and in groups, improvise and compose dance sequences using ideas about past and future times, different environments and cultural contexts. They learn dances representative of different cultural groups.’ (VCAA, 2009)
WHAT - content	HOW – strategies and approaches
Warm up – Kinesthetic tune-up Students move around the space and follow movements of the teacher such as stomping lifting legs high and low, using hand gestures, high and low levels of movement etc.  Listen to African music and move to the beat. Get some students to come up with some moves for everyone to follow along to that move with the beat.	Management of children in the space safely Teacher will be facing majority of the students at a time, walking around to all students in groups and individually. No props will be used and the lesson will be conducted in a clear space with any hazards removed. Make sure students aren’t standing too close together Establishing rules and expectations of behaviour Teacher will state the signal to stop and listen at the beginning of the class Students will be told they are expected to behave sensibly and respectfully of each other and the teacher Consequences will be communicated and followed through eg. 3 warnings and time out Safe dance practice of physical skills? I will need to check student’s technique of movements in the dance (ankles, back) Aesthetic Awareness How will you develop their movement/character response? African music Discussion about African dancing and for what purpose in their culture at the end Showing videos of African dancing Feedback to children about their movement response Explicit modeling of movements and skills References Delouafrica, 2011, ‘Delou Africa, Inc. – Education Outreach Programs: Children Learn West African Dance 'Funga'< http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=effY71ss7As> Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2009, Background to VELS: The Arts Domain, State Government of Victoria <http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/arts/background.html>
Development  - Exploration Teach the class the West African Welcome Dance, 'Funga' (Delouafrica , 2011) movements slowly and collectively put the movements together. Through intervals, practice with the music. Get students to practice this dance in groups. And create improvisational creative movements of their own to showcase at the start of the dance.
Culminating Dance  - Perform the dance together as a whole class. Split the class in half and get one half to perform while the other watches then switch over again.
Discussion – Memory integration -          Their physical skills? How would you describe our movements? What parts of your body did you use the most? What kinds of movements make an African dance different to any other dance? -          Their safety skills? What did we need to do to make sure we didn’t hurt ourselves? What parts of our bodies did we need to make sure we were using properly the most? Which movements in particular? -          Creative skills Why did you choose those specific moves for the freestyle section? From the movements we danced and music you heard, what thoughts do you have about African people and their culture?
Closure Watch the original video clip of the dance and perhaps some other African dancing videos you can find on YouTube.

Workshop 3: Site Specific Dance Education

Topic: Site Specific Dance Education
Context: Who- VELS level 3 Grade 4 When- Beginning of topic Where- Inside (dance room) & Outside (playground) What- Site Specific Dance Why- To establish a relationship between the body and the landscape/space & to be independent learners and actively problem solve
Theme: ·         The elements that will be explore and manipulate are relationships, space and body ·         Body movements and physical skills such as mirror, mold and extending in shapes in different levels. They will use their bodies in any ways (safe ways) that can effectively use the space around them to move. ·         I will be teaching students the skills of Canon, Mirror, mould and extend and allowing them to practice them with the class and in small groups before putting it altogether at the end where they will need to use all four in their sequence.
Learning outcomes – the children will be able to…. Cognitive (Intellectual/artistic):Create their own site specific dance Psychomotor (Thinking/Physical):Students must be aware of safety aspects whilst using the playground and be solving dance problems Affective (Emotional/Social/Cultural): Students will establish a relationship with the space as they dance
Assessment I will be observing and continuously attending to groups of students questioning and prompting them. I will assess their cooperation, choreography and performance as I record it on video. Students at Level 3 select and combine ‘the dance elements of time, space and energy to develop dance ideas. They learn about and use knowledge of devices such as repetition, unison and canon to plan, create and present movement sequences and short dances for particular audiences or purposes.’ (VCAA 2009)
WHAT - content	HOW – strategies and approaches
Warm up – Kinesthetic tune-up Students move around the space and follow movements of the teacher such as stomping, faster, slower, freeze on different levels etc. Form a circle and practice canon. Teacher leads students to stretch where they are and then form themselves into shapes demonstrating objects of nature at different levels eg. Tree, volcano, grass, sun, cloud. They can do this individually for some, then call out objects to create in groups. Finish with creating a cave in pairs. Discuss the many places where people can dance and why they might dance there.	Management of children in the space safely Students will be reminded to move with caution on the playground (looking around them before they move and not rushed/silly) Teacher will be facing majority of the students at a time, walking around to all students in groups and individually. Establishing rules and expectations of behaviour Teacher will state the signal to stop and listen at the beginning of the class Students will be told they are expected to behave sensibly and respectfully of each other and the teacher Consequences will be communicated and followed through eg. 3 warnings and time out Safe dance practice of physical skills? I will need to check student’s personal and shared space as well as if they are using the playground area appropriately and safely. Aesthetic Awareness How will you develop their movement/character response? A slideshow of images of nature can be shown in the background while teaching in the classroom to inspire thinking about spaces Sounds of nature music playing when dancing Discussion about use of space when dancing and for what purpose Feedback to children about their movement response Modelling movements and skills showing a variety of options of movement. References Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2009, Background to VELS: The Arts Domain, State Government of Victoria <http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/arts/background.html>
Development  - Exploration Teach students how to mirror and mould with a partner. After they pratise this, mix up the groups again by asking students to create a river in threes. Show students how to ‘extend’. Students practice mirror, mould and extend in their groups of three while using transitional movements in between. Move outside toward the playground. Get the students to follow your actions as you walk through and in and out of the playground equipment. Beginning with one person then mirror, mould or extend around the playground as a class. In groups of 4-5, get students to mirror, mould and extending using the playground space. Together they must create a short sequence using canon and mirror, mould, extend beginning away from the playground, and ending within it.
Culminating Dance  - Presentation Students perform their sequences one after the other standing where they are, watching one another ready to start when the group before them finishes.
Discussion – Memory integration -          Their physical skills? What kind of movements did you need to practice the most? Why? Did you mostly stay on a high, middle or low level? How fast or slow did you move? Why? -          Their safety skills? How did your group make sure you were all dancing in a safe way? What did you need to do to make sure no one was going to get hurt easily? -          Their creative skills? How did you come up with your movements? What were you thinking when you were creating the dance? What were you trying to do? How did you feel dancing outside on the playground? How did you use the playground in your dance? How would your performance have changed if you used a different part of the playground?
Closure Find a nearby tree to mirror, mould and extend around again as a class.

Workshop 7: Teaching Culture through dance- Australian Bush dance

Week 11 (20th September 2012)
Lecturer: Jaqcui Dreessens

Bush Dance

Multiculturalism is such a part of our country. This dance is meaningful as it demonstrates - the role of gender in that time, group arrangement and the history of Australia. Not wanting to hold hands creates political issues. Girls dance with boys.

In asking ourselves how we will put this into a meaningful context for our school we must consider the group context. We must consider and be mindful of students who are 'unift', migrants from England, or Aboriginal. We must first research WHY we want to do this lesson. 

Think:

-as a student

-as an educator (be inclusive)

Aboriginal dance is a spiritual connection of oneness with the earth. 

Bush dance comes from Morris dance which crosses cultures. It is about releasing the frustration of shearing sheep all day long.

TIPS: 

- Constantly keep students engaged- timing and direction

- During the warm up, teach students these physical skills such as skipping. Changing one step at a time

- Don't cut children's expression when 'being silly' by telling them off. Instead, direct them and keep focused on the intention.

We learnt Stockyard Dance. This would take place in a hall where men would meet with women and dance all night long. 

Girls needed to curtsy and boys needed to bow.

 We worked and danced in partners as 'girl and boy' through a highly repetitive, physically demanding session of the stockyard dance. It followed as girls bow, boys bow, linking arms and skipping in a circle, switching the other way and holding your partner as your skip briskly around the circle forwards and backwards. This is done very quickly.

We then formed groups to create our own folk dance.

Teaching Implications

This workshop done more simplistically could be adapted to fit all student levels. Partner dancing would probably only be done with Grade 5/6 at this level though as takes a lot of coordination and fast paced movement. In adapting it for lower level grades, students could curtsy/bow in and out and perhaps skip in a circle while linking arms with a partner. Other moves can be taught over several lessons. Other In relation to VELS, students can begin to understand how art and history can be connected through this lesson. Keeping in mind the need for inclusive teaching, I would slow the dance down for students who cannot handle too much physical strain and provide small breaks in between as well as the choice to continue after a certain amount of time dancing.

Workshop 2: Inclusive Dance Education

Week 2 (19th July 2012)
Lecturer: Jacqui Dressens

We began the workshop by reviewing last week's performances. We needed to share with someone how we felt. We discussed working with team members, out of the ordinary, no formal presentation was good without an audience as we were altogether, the music helped, the timing was uncertain.

With Drama and Dance, children may love/hate improvisation. This is why it needs to be structured as it has a clear intention and they can 'freeze' on fear of now knowing what to do but are able to rely on the group. This should be done in a problem solving method as it is a creative process.

Tip: Don't force students to perform if they are disinterested or scared (especially if in a state of terror) as they will hate dance.

Dance is a movement text/language, therefore a form of literacy. We must teach students to read movement language and respond to it: to harness shapes moving in space, harness movement qualities changing.
As a teacher set your lessons up to prepare students for a task (so they will be ready). Be inclusive in teaching.

Questions for preps about presentations:  (Keep it open ended- HOW)
- How are they moving in the space? (Expand, contract, high/low)
- How does their movement change?
- How did they use their time? (Fast slow, flowing, stilted/ bound, dynamics- sustained, suspended, swinging, repetition, extended or short)

We each shared one question per performance in our groups.
1. How does their movement change?
2. When did they all travel at the same time?
3. When did they speed up/slow down? Why? (Animal instinct of flight/fight response)
4. Why doe their hands vibrate? (Fuction and structure of fish)
5. Can you describe the different body movements that you see?
6. What body parts are moving? How? (Anatomy)
7. How did the variation of timing help tell the story? What was happening when they were fast/slow? Where could they be?
8. Why did they start moving in different directions?
9. Why did they move across the space? How did the movement change as they moved?

We then drew a floor plan of our performances and a drawing of body movements using lines (flowy/smooth/zigzag).
Then we wrote a short narrative describing our performances: 6 fish were swimming together. Suddenly a shark startled them and they separated to hide. They reunited again when the shark went away and began to slowly swim about again.

Then we started moving!

After moving in the space, we followed Jacqui into a line which became a circle.

We learnt and created a canon where a movement is repeated from one person to the next in a sequential movement. This movement is mimicked from one person to the next. This happens quickly and fluently like a wave. Retrograde meant we would change direction of the canon to go the opposite way.

In groups we played a game where we could only have a certain number of body parts touching the floor. We all needed to also be connected in some way.

We then practiced 'Mirror, Mould, Extend' in groups of three. 

Mirror- reflect someone's movement

Mould- create a body position around someone

Extend- building on someone's shape

Using coloured scarves, we mirrored, molded and extended as a whole class group creating a large shape looking like a tree. 

Half the class was then blindfolded and lead around the room in different paces and levels. This proved a very challenging task as people constantly bumped into each other or barely dodging one another.

Teaching Implications

At level 4, students ‘learn about ways to design, improvise, represent, interpret, make and present arts works that communicate feelings and their interests and understanding of themselves, their relationships and other people. For example: in Dance, students mirror the movements of a partner and then perform the same movements expressing contrasting emotions’ (VCAA, 2009). 'Mirror, mould, extend' is a simple and effective way for students to begin moving their bodies in different shapes comfortably. It is inclusive as every person must take turns to build and be built on in terms of their body shape. They are able to represent relationships this way as they work with one another showing how each individual can be different but can contrast or build upon each other's actions/strengths/shape.

'Students learn to evaluate their own and other people’s arts works showing some understanding of selected arts forms and their particular techniques and processes. Through exploring and responding, students begin to develop a vocabulary of appropriate arts language they can use to describe and discuss the content and structural qualities of their own and other people’s arts works.’(VCAA, 2009)'. Reflection on performances is essential as it develops students' understanding of dance concepts and draws them to focus and discuss these techniques and aspects as they continue to learn how dance is used to express/represent many things in the world around us. Most importantly, they are able to discuss how this done through their choice of movements as most of this may be done unconsciously as we dance. Reflection and evaluation is important to develop further understanding build on improvement in future dances. 

References
Dance photos Workshop 1 2012, Deakin University Burwood Dance Discussion Forum, DSO

Victorian Curriculum and Asessment Authority 2009, 'The Arts- Level 4' <http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vels/arts.html>