Jamie-Lee's Dance ePortfolio 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week we discovered the use of body percussion in dance. My understanding of this type of dance is where you use your body to make music which results in various movements. There are various traditional types of dance that use body percussion such as: Highland Dancing, Flamenco, Ukranian and Russian dancing, Maori's Haka and Gumboot dancing. 

 

Gumboot dancing began with rural labourers who worked in the gold minds in South Africa. Due to the restrictions in their ability to communicate during work also their language barriers, they developed a new form of communication and entertainment through slapping their gumboots, stamping their feet and rattling their ankle chains. 
Gumboot dancing is a great stimulus for students to discover and explore body percussion. As a class we formulated a resource that we could use in the classroom as an introduction to teaching students about the Gumboot dance. These are linked here: 

 

 

 

 

 

I would use these resources collaboratively as they all give similar information shown differently. This way the students are learning in different ways whilst catering for different learning styles. I think you could use these resources for years 3-6. 

 

 

 

Warm up

• First we played the game Boom, Snap, Clap. The idea was to slap your chest, click your fingers and clap in this order: Boom, snap, clap, ba boom, snap, clap, snap, boom, snap, clap, ba boom, snap, clap, shh (fingers hush). 

• Jacqui initially modelled the activity but then wrote the words on the whiteboard and said them as we practiced. This helped a lot. Once we mastered it, we did it with our left hand, with a partner, both hands and hands crossed over. We then used our legs to stomp, slap our heal and kick our feet with our partner's. Then we put all of the alternative ways together into one. 

 

In my classroom, I would show students videos of the Boom, Snap, Clap and ask them to attempt to imitate it. I would then scaffold their learning by providing them with instructions like Jacqui did. I think students like the challenge of getting it right or being able to do it faster. You could ask students to formulate their own Boom, Snap, Clap percussion and teach it to a partner. 

 

• Pulse is a "series of identical beats, that remains constant and never changes" (Rank, 2014, p85). At our tables, we clapped 8 counts then stopped for 8 counts. We were divided into two and took turns clapping which created an orchestra. Jacqui then made individuals clap. This activity developed our awareness of the pulse and that it must maintain the same pace and not get faster. To further develop this we 'passed the clap' around in a circle, maintaining a steady pulse. 

 

• Accent is the "emphasis placed on a certain note or movement" (Rank, 2014, p84). Jacqui had us in a circle and we clapped a pulse in different tempos. Whoever was on the first beat had to accent by clapping a little harder than the remaining beats. You could challenge students in this activity by using various tempos and time signatures. 

 

• We then went back to passing the clap but this time we could change the direction. We had to clap along to the music which deemed quite difficult. Establishing this skill in students would be beneficial as they should find an underlying pulse in music to assist them in the development of movements to that music. 

• We then got to our feet and did a call and response activity where Jacqui clapped beat and we imitated her. She then used the clapping sticks which we moved from clapping to stomping the beat in response. Rank (2014, p88) says that "you can teach students in years prep to 2 rhythm using the simple method of call and response". 

 

• "Rhythm is present in all nursery rhymes and songs. A great way for children to learn and find and keep rhythm is to sing familiar songs and clap along (Rank, 2014, p89). Jacqui gave us time to get used to stepping the rhythm by singing Jack and Jill and Humpty Dumpty. This was quite difficult as Humpty Dumpty is in 3/4 time. We had to find the accent in the song. I think using this activity with students is an effective and easy way to get students understanding the patterns in music and in dance. 

 

Body of Lesson

• After watching some videos on traditional dance such as Flamenco, we explored the various aspects of dance that we can take from those styles. Jacqui taught us the different ways to clap: Sordas which is a muffled sound produced by cupping your hands and the harder clap which produces a higher sound by popping the air in your hand rather than skin on skin. We then learnt the various ways to stomp our feet that resemble Ukrainian and Russian styles. We had to transfer our weight onto one foot as the step, then make a beat using our heal of the other foot, without transferring weight and then hop which is a shunt forward. 

• We also practiced the Spanish style of stamping by stabbing our toe in the ground then putting our weight into our heal. Once practicing this we could incorporate a double tap of the heal and clap at the same time. It was important that our weight stayed underneath us and that our hips were still. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Jacqui then lead us in gumboot stomping. We used pretend chains made of bottle tops on elastic that added to the feel of the movements as well as providing sound for the rhythm. The gumboot dance moves incorporated bent knees, side stepping, transference of weight to either foot and tapping our heals. 

 

• Throughout the foot work we did, Jacqui continuously emphasised safe movement practices ensuring we had soft knees and didn't put any strain on our lower back or ankles. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• In small groups, Jacqui gave us the expressive intention of creating a piece of dance that used body percussion. Jenna, Hollie and I started off in a circle. We clapped our knees, and one another's hands. In a cannon we did various movements and then jumped out to a bigger circle which we then used gumboot dance and Spanish style movements. From there we jumped into a line and did the Boom, Snap, Clap in unison. We approached the expressive intention by using some of the movements Jacqui had taught us throughout the lesson. I think that in the classroom setting, you would have to assist students and scaffold the movements they may choose from. I think that viewing the videos we did helped a lot in formulating composition and selection of movements. 

In my classroom, I might give students a different piece of music for each group and ask them to create a dance that draws on the rhythm in that music. Students can choose to use or not to use the music but the audience should be able to make a connection between the movements and the music. 

 

The AusVELS that relate to using body percussion:

Level 4: students create and present works in a range of arts forms that communicate experiences, ideas, concepts, observations and feelings. They select 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. They show 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. 

 

Here students would be demonstrating their understanding of body percussion as a dance concept. They would be selecting elements from traditional dances as well as improvising their own movements. Students would go through the ISARE process and use the given expressive intention to help formulate appropriate choreography. 

 

Level 5 says that 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 as well as an emerging understanding of the qualities of arts elements, principles and/or conventions. They independently and collaboratively explore and experiment with different ways of presenting arts works and consider appropriateness of presentation for intended audience. 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.

 

Here students would be evaluating the movements of various body percussion styles and begin to develop their own ability to resemble or imitate these movements. After viewing videos and researching other dances, students can explore ways or presenting their dances to others eg. through the use of props such as using a table to make percussion. Through the dance practices, students begin to develop the appropriate language such as rhythm, pulse and accent.