Picture 1: William's first slide in his presentation (Wilton 2015)
Video 1: Wilton 2015
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Week 1: 13/3/15
Unit chair and tutor: Jacqui Dreessens Why I want to teach through dance In this tutorial we firstly discussed the question written above. We were encouraged to put it into our portfolios if we felt comfortable, here is my response:
Where have you seen Dance in schools on your placements? Next we discussed this question, not many students had many reports. Some PSTs were outlining dances they had seen learnt over a period of weeks in preparation for a concert but no one had seen a teacher explore a topic in the Australian curriculum through dance e.g. a science lesson on volcanos through dance, a mathematics class explored through creative movement. Personally I haven't seen any teachers use dance in their classrooms. I do remember doing it as a unit in P.E in both primary and secondary school, however, it did not involve any particular exploration of movement rather, it involved learning a prescribed routine. I believe there is a great difference in what students can get out of exploring movement and learning a prescribed sequence of phrases. Mirror Mirror Jacqui showed us how to do a warm up game that I have called 'Mirror Mirror'. In paris, students stand around the room facing each other. Students take it in turns to mimic the other, rotating who is the leader and who follows. Half of the class can stop and watch the other class, guessing who the leader is. Without realising it, students have put together a routine collaboratively. This activity would be a wonderful warm up, particularly for students who are not used to mimicking another persons movement. It is also a great ice breaker activity as students do not look at everybody whilst playing, rather they are only sharing with their partner. Technology in Dance Guest Speaker: William Mackwood and Gwenyth Dobie (absent) Next we had a guest speaker for the remaining time in the tutorial. Check out the following links for background information on William and Gwenyth. We were fortunate enough to see their study called "Butterfly: a study interactive" - Out of the box productions: Information on the study itself http://www.outoftheboxproductions.ca/Out_of_the_Box_Productions/Home.html - York University: William Mackwood's background and position - http://ampd.yorku.ca/about-us/our-faculty/william-mackwood - William's youtube channel featuring the hip hop presentation and software tutorials - https://www.youtube.com/user/wmackwood - A detailed take of their study interactive: http://www.iugte.com/projects/theatretraditions/william-mackwood-gwenyth-dobie The first thing I really appreciated about this presentation was the quote on the first slide, it is as follows (See picture 1 for reference):
This got me thinking about simply letting something be without needing the label it. It is similar to any particular art work that you see, it is not always necessary to categorise it, let it be and you will often get more out of it. We then discussed our feelings about technology in the classroom and if we feel the need to embrace it or not. I do want to embrace technology but I do worry about the unknown long term effects of 'screen' related activities and the lack of creative thought that it encourages. Many students had different opinions. William highlighted a quote from Louis CK (an American comedian) about technology allowing humans to feel connected in some way, ultimately resulting in loneliness. - Here is a link to a youtube clip with Louis CK further explaining his opinion on it (Louis C.K. Hates Cell Phones 2013) Very poignant humour: |
After this, William began to show us his study. William and his partner had created an interactive way of dancing. He had a camera called a Kintec (usually used for Xboxes) , he was able to use this to project an image of a person dancing onto the wall. He had then developed software that meant that when the dancer moved a particular part of their body or moved to a particular part of the room, it made different musical noises. It was interesting to see the things that Jacqui noticed when she was in the space, some of her feelings of her experience are below (see her experience in video 1):
- she felt as though she was "dancing with an image"
- "almost like dancing with the computer"
- she was entirely focused on her body
- "made me want to make music with my body"
This concept is interesting "dancing with the computer" - it would be great in a classroom to build body awareness and spatial awareness. Students can experiment with different speeds and energies of movement and the affect it has on the audience and their own feelings. The software could be good for engaging a wide range of students in the activity and exploration. However, I do worry about the idea of "dancing with a computer", taking the human element and the unpredictability out of dance.
We all then had a turn at the software, moving around the space. It is the technology that helps you move into the dance, one performance leads into the other. We did this in a cannon (a group structure)
The software used was the following apps:
- QLab3 - program for playing music, easy to cue up
- Touch OSC - allows you to use iPad to control laptop
Connecting to the Australian Curriculum and creating/adapting an activity:
An activity for a grade 3/4 class
- In order to allow students to improvise in a comfortable environment and explore the elements of dance (space, time, energy and relationships) (ACARA 2014) you could use the activity mentioned above "Mirror Mirror"
- This activity is in pairs, one person is the mirror while the other person is the leader (creating the movements to be followed). The mirror has to imitate the movement of the leader.
- To assist students in really exploring all of the elements of dance, the teacher could facilitate their learning by providing a range of different music for students to use as inspiration for their movements. They could also classify the movements to be done e.g. "movements must be all medium and low movements" or "movements must be slow, like you are moving through mud". Through doing this, the teacher helps students explore more of the elements of dance.
The following are connections to ACARA for the above activity:
The Arts - Dance:
- "improvise and structure movement ideas for dance sequences using the elements of dance and choreographic devices (ACADAM005)" (ACARA 2014)
- "describe factors that contribute to positive relationships, including with people at school and in their community" (ACARA 2014)
Resources mentioned and used in class:
- Book: 'Creative dance for learning' - Brehm, M and McNett, L 2007, 'Creative dance for learning', McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages.
- Website: Wild Moves - Click for integrating indigenous culture into the classroom through creative movement
ACARA 2014, Australian Curriculum, Education Services Australia, accessed 15th April, <http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/>.
Hawin, T 1992, 'Presenting Creative Dance Activities to Children: Guidelines for the Nondancer, Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, volume 62, issue 2, retrieved 12th May 2015, <https://d2l.deakin.edu.au/content/enforced/355258-EEA411_TRI-1_2015/Hankin%20-%20Presenting%20Creative%20Dance%20Activities%20to%20Children%20-%20Guidlines%20for%20the%20Nondancer.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=VPqhXWB12FNUMZkwaSGwljApb&_&d2lSessionVal=mUF4yF0D6KtclzyyTV5ET3PpP&ou=355258>.
Louis CK Hates Cell Phones 2013, YouTube, Team Coco, accessed 15th April 2015, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HbYScltf1c>.
Mackwood, W ND, Out of the box productions, Out of the box productions, accessed 16th April 2015, <http://www.outoftheboxproductions.ca/Out_of_the_Box_Productions/Home.html>.
Russel-Bowie 2013, 'What? Me? Teach dance? Background and confidence of primary preservice teachers in dance education across five countries', Research in Dance Education, 14:3, 216-232, DOI: 10.1080/14647893.2012.722614
York University 2015, Faculty, Faculty of Fine Arts York University, accessed 16th April 2015, <http://ampd.yorku.ca/about-us/our-faculty/william-mackwood>.