Warm up

• Our warm up required us to use a scarf as an extension of our body and move in whatever way we chose only use our arms as we sat down in our own space. Requiring us to use a scarf assisted our improvisation of movements as we moved the scarf to the music which Jacqui changed every 30 seconds or so. How the music changed, led to us changing the movements of our arms and scarves. This made us think more carefully about the various movements. As we started to warm up more, we moved onto our legs and added more dynamic movements until we eventually were walking around moving. 

If I were to do this warm up in my classroom, I would choose slower music to begin with and gradually increase the tempo of the songs as the students become warmed up. I might use the album Takk by Sigur Ros, EMI Records, 2006 for the more ambient music and progress to music such as ABBA Greatest Hits, 1995, Polygram Video. Jacqui emphasised at the start of the lesson that you should have either all students with shoes on, or off to avoid feet being stood on. Socks can also be hazardous on slippery floors or carpets and it would be important to be aware of in the classroom. 

• The next warm up activity was called Together, Together. Standing in a circle, one by one, students initiate a simple, repetitive movement which is performed four to eight times. The repetition allows a rhythm to be established and the opportunity for students to identify the physical requirements of the movement (Rank, 2014, p16). After the movement has been repeated several times, the next student introduces a new movement. To assist students in the process of creating a movement, you can prompt them to use specific body parts such as the feet, arms, knees or toes. 

This activity was beneficial to warming us up because as we progressed through the movements, they got more dynamic such as lunges and locomotive movements of moving into the middle of the circle. You could adapt this game in various ways as students continue to warm up their bodies by introducing traveling movements, elevations and falls as well as changing the speed and direction. You could also explore the various dance structures such as canon where students would only do the movement after the student preceding them or contrast where you would require students to improvise movements that contrasted one another such as high and low levels. 
Throughout this activity, Jacqui once again emphasised safe movement practices by ensuring we used soft knees in all the movements. 

 

Teaching about inclusive practices

• Using the scarves from the warm up, we split the class into those that were to be blindfolded and those who would be safety supervisors. Jacqui instructed the supervisors to move the blindfolded into a line and then asked us to get in height order without talking. We then discussed how it made us feel. We all agreed that being blindfolded and moved around was uncomfortable and we felt unsure and unsafe moving around without talking as we weren't aware of the proximity of one another. We also agreed that we felt more safe when we held hands with the person next to us. 

• The next task asked the safety supervisors to position a blindfolded partner to a space and move our body into a shape of their choice. Once they had done so we once again discussed how this made us feel. The difference was this time we felt more comfortable as our partners told us where they were moving us to, spoke to us clearly and articulated how they were moving our body parts. The close proximity also helped in making us feel secure as we knew they were with us. These two small tasks illustrated to us the importance of making students feel safe in the dance classroom. 

 

The next activity emphasised how important clear, concise communication is. It illustrated that the dance teacher doesn't always have to be a dancer, but merely be able to communicate effectively what he or she wants the students to do. This activity also made links to Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences as there are multiple ways of teaching movements - not just through actions and imitation. 

• For this activity we were in groups of 3-4. In my group I had Chris, Adele and Ashleigh. We had to have two replicators who were blindfolded, a sculpture who makes the shape and artist who communicates to the replicators what the shape is. After we did this a few times, the sculpture had to make a movement rather than a still position for the blindfolded to replicate. This was more difficult for the artist to communicate. In this instance I was the sculpture and my movement included walking on my toes, lifting my knees one at a time and lifting my arms in a bird like manner as I lifting my knee and walked forward. Ashleigh, the artist communicated really effectively to Chris and Adele who were blindfolded. She broke up the movement into various steps and got Chris and Adele to practice that step before adding another component of the movement. In discussion with the class we established the artist would often use various terminology, imagery and connect the movement to what they already know such as "flap your arms like a bird" or "the movement is like a burpee". This activity was really interesting to participate in as being blindfolded meant that you felt off center and your balance was off. The replicated movement was often slightly different to the movement they were imitating. 

 

Body of the Lesson

• Jacqui split the class in two and made us make various shapes, letters and numbers using our bodies in competition with the other group as we had to be the first to complete the formation. This was difficult because it limited our creativeness as the competition wasn't based on the quality of the product but rather on speed. This illustrated to us that emphasis shouldn't be put on how quickly a student can do something, but rather the creativeness communicated through movements. 

• One of the formations we had to get in was symmetrical and then asymmetrical. Jacqui then extended the expressive intention and required us to create 8 counts of movements moving from our asymmetrical formation into our symmetrical. This resulted in the groups each creating a short phrase which we performed to one another. 

In my classroom, I would use this idea and extend on it by getting students to teach one another their groups phrase and therefore creating a section of dance. You could require students to include various choreographic devices in their phrases such as addition, inversion or retrograde. Students could then perform the section of dance to accompanying music. I would then discuss the creation process and evaluate the dance with the students. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• The next activity required us to work in partners where the follower would mirror the leader's movements. Jacqui asked us to go through the various qualities of movements: sustained (continuous), swinging, percussive (sharp, strong), vibratory (small, short) and collapsing. This was a quick activity that allowed us to improvise the various dance qualities. 

• The activity was in alignment with AusVELS Level 5 in The Arts which states in Dance, students mirror the movements of a partner and then perform the same movements expressing contrasting emotions.

• In my classroom I would model the terminology of the qualities of movements but ensure I described them in a way that students understood. I would get students to observe other partners as they moved and comment on the various aspects of their movements to further teach them about the qualities whilst developing an understanding that there are multiple ways to move and dance and no right way. 

• Jacqui then asked us to move around the room doing a sustained movement in canon meaning we would do the movement after our partner. This activity deemed quite difficult as it required the leader to think quickly about the movements they would do. I think I would structure this activity a bit more and ask students to do some of the movements we had been doing previously or alternatively select movements together as a class. You could adapt this task to teach students about the various ways we can move by getting them to mirror in unison, contrast and canon and discuss and compare the three. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• The second last activity for today's class was called Mirror, Mould, Extend. In groups of three, we take turns either mirroring the other person's shape, moulding around the person or extending the movement. I was with Chris and Ashleigh and we took in turns to move in locomotion to a still movement and then the next person would add to this. It was really interesting to see the various formations the other groups would produce. I think this activity would be good to use for the upper years as it involved more intricate formations as we looped through each other's arms, under legs and in-between one another. It also required us to improvise on the spot but using our group members position to work off. I think this activity lends itself to lots of various alterations and modifications that enable you to cater for a wide variety of abilities in dance. You could emphasise a particular body part or body action (GLEFTS). Each member could have a different body part they focus on and you could alter the expressive intention to something such as each member must be on a different level. 

 

• The last activity was called Machines. Jacqui started off by making a movement with a sound and then like the previous activity, the next person comes up and mirrors, moulds or extends onto that movement and also makes a noise. Once we had everyone in a line, Jacqui told us to get faster and louder and then slower. This could be used as a warm down if you progressively got slower and slower. You could ask students why they chose that movement and get them to explain how it extends off the person before them.