7th May 2015: Dance Styles: Social dancing
Tutor: Jacqui Dressens
Dance lifts people into a new state of being. It takes people out of their current situation, most dance styles emulate from a culture of depression.
2 dances:
Activity 1: West African dance from Ghana called "Gahu" (sometimes called "Agahu").
This dance is usually done at a funeral or a birthday party as a form of celebration of life. It is about bringing beautiful energy into your body. It involves stamping the earth and letting out expressions of frustration. It engages people in a social setting, connecting and supporting people in their grief and trauma or happiness. African dancing is about connecting to ancestors, people and place. The movement vocabulary of the hand gestures in this piece are particularly Ghanan, referring to the ancestors (below) mother earth (above).
This dance begins walking around the room, greeting people as you walk by as you walk together. The dancers then move into the group structure of a circle, bringing us together and as a reminder of the significance of community.
Afterwards, we understood the expressive intention of the dance using GLEFTS (gesture, locomotion, elevation, fall, turn and stillness). We had a discussion about a variety of movements including the following:
This movement could indicate the dancers connection to the earth and place as they release their frustrations through a stamp. By turning to face their partner they reassured that they have their community and one another to assist them. The chest is open, opening their "sunshine", projecting out love. It also opens the lungs, allowing for deep breathing.
This movement reminds dancers that by looking at their hands, they are looking at a reflection of themselves in the earth and their identity in the place they belong. Dancers are stamping the earth, reminding themselves of their belonging and identity in the land. Dancers look at their hands as a visual gesture of the reflection they see in the land of themselves. The dancer's bottom is outwards, a focus of this movement. Drawing attention to the bottom is common in African dance as it highlights abundance and strength.
Tutor: Jacqui Dressens
Dance lifts people into a new state of being. It takes people out of their current situation, most dance styles emulate from a culture of depression.
2 dances:
- African: A dance from Ghana celebrating expression of identity and culture
- Australian: A dance based on Morris dancing (from the UK or England) done in the 1800s.It came to Australia and was often performed in sheep sheds or stockyards. It became more commonly known as bush dancing/bush-wackers. Women would arrive to the stockyards and be part of the dance with the men who worked in the sheep sheds, this allowed for some joy in the monotonous nature of their jobs. This dance helps people socialise and feel good about being together
Activity 1: West African dance from Ghana called "Gahu" (sometimes called "Agahu").
This dance is usually done at a funeral or a birthday party as a form of celebration of life. It is about bringing beautiful energy into your body. It involves stamping the earth and letting out expressions of frustration. It engages people in a social setting, connecting and supporting people in their grief and trauma or happiness. African dancing is about connecting to ancestors, people and place. The movement vocabulary of the hand gestures in this piece are particularly Ghanan, referring to the ancestors (below) mother earth (above).
This dance begins walking around the room, greeting people as you walk by as you walk together. The dancers then move into the group structure of a circle, bringing us together and as a reminder of the significance of community.
Afterwards, we understood the expressive intention of the dance using GLEFTS (gesture, locomotion, elevation, fall, turn and stillness). We had a discussion about a variety of movements including the following:
- Stillness: The moment where dancers stamp and face their parter with their chest open and hands by shoulders
This movement could indicate the dancers connection to the earth and place as they release their frustrations through a stamp. By turning to face their partner they reassured that they have their community and one another to assist them. The chest is open, opening their "sunshine", projecting out love. It also opens the lungs, allowing for deep breathing.
- Gesture and Locomotion: Looking at hands whilst stomping
This movement reminds dancers that by looking at their hands, they are looking at a reflection of themselves in the earth and their identity in the place they belong. Dancers are stamping the earth, reminding themselves of their belonging and identity in the land. Dancers look at their hands as a visual gesture of the reflection they see in the land of themselves. The dancer's bottom is outwards, a focus of this movement. Drawing attention to the bottom is common in African dance as it highlights abundance and strength.
- A youtube clip below can also be seen below of our discussion about more movements.
Teaching aide: Keep in mind the maturity of the class when teaching this dance. For example:
- It may be necessary to just hold the back rather than the hips during the contracted circle part of the dance
- It may be necessary to have a boys circle and a girls circle for that part
- We did this dance twice. After the first time we had a discussion, understanding the expressive intention. This enhanced our experience for the second time through and allowed us to focus on team work in contracting the circle
- To assist students in contracting the circle - model
Activity two: Youtube Clips
We watched versions of the Gahu Ghanan dance we performed earlier and Morris Dancing. We compared styles and changes/adaptions in choreography and the cultural significance of these changes.
Some of the youtube clips watched are below:
- Gahu dance: (Gahu Dagbe Staff 2011 2012, YouTube, Miriam Altman, retrieved 11th May 2015, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz9spMfkjiE>)
- Morris Dancing: This piece is a contrast to the Gahu dance above in it's forms of locomotion and structured movements. The dance is done specifically in groups of 4-6, Gahu can be done with as many dancers as safe to do so. There is also a lot of movement done on the x-axis (up and down) - this may be do to with the class system, the higher up, the better.
(Gloucstershire Morris Dancing in the Mortimer Gardens 2013, YouTube, Mattibald Arch, retrieved 11th May 2015, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V72qxbTu5ao>)
We also had a look at a clip of children performing a bush dance and pointed out issues to do with safe dance practice and the importance of explaining the cultural significance of a dance prior to teaching it. This improves performance and sets students up for success. Some of the points gained from this discussion are below:
Activity three: Stockyards dancing
We then did some stockyards, bush dancing. The emphasis of this dance is about socialising and having fun. Below are some of the movements completed. This dance was great fun. It may be necessary to avoid boy/girl dancing or break the ice in some way before jumping into the movement.
- Don't leave children waiting for technology, engage them somehow
- Think about your performance space and any hazards
- It may be necessary to do the dance with the children (timing, safety etc.. )
Activity three: Stockyards dancing
We then did some stockyards, bush dancing. The emphasis of this dance is about socialising and having fun. Below are some of the movements completed. This dance was great fun. It may be necessary to avoid boy/girl dancing or break the ice in some way before jumping into the movement.
Connection to AusVELS:
Use fundamental movement skills to develop technical skills when practising dance sequences (ACADAM002) (ACARA 2014)
The teacher is aiming to teach the grade 2 students the heel toe polka.
The movements can be found here https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/downloads/p_10/kla_arts_sbm_da_401.pdf (Queensland School Curriculum Council 2002).
However, a fundamental movement skill in this dance is the sideward gallop. The teacher will gather students in a circle and begin to teach them how to gallop. Firstly the teacher models a sideward gallop around the edge of the circle explaining what they are doing. The teacher will show how a step together step together can be transformed into a gallop whilst holding hands and moving around the circle together. The teacher will have students hold hands and slowly start to gallop around the circle.
The teacher will then add in the heel, toe, heel, toe, then three gallops to one side. The teacher will then practice these moves over and over again before putting the music on and guiding students through the dance.
Resources:
Queensland School Curriculum Council 2002, Dance of the People, visited 30th April 2015, <https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/downloads/p_10/kla_arts_sbm_da_401.pdf>
Use fundamental movement skills to develop technical skills when practising dance sequences (ACADAM002) (ACARA 2014)
The teacher is aiming to teach the grade 2 students the heel toe polka.
The movements can be found here https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/downloads/p_10/kla_arts_sbm_da_401.pdf (Queensland School Curriculum Council 2002).
However, a fundamental movement skill in this dance is the sideward gallop. The teacher will gather students in a circle and begin to teach them how to gallop. Firstly the teacher models a sideward gallop around the edge of the circle explaining what they are doing. The teacher will show how a step together step together can be transformed into a gallop whilst holding hands and moving around the circle together. The teacher will have students hold hands and slowly start to gallop around the circle.
The teacher will then add in the heel, toe, heel, toe, then three gallops to one side. The teacher will then practice these moves over and over again before putting the music on and guiding students through the dance.
Resources:
Queensland School Curriculum Council 2002, Dance of the People, visited 30th April 2015, <https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/downloads/p_10/kla_arts_sbm_da_401.pdf>