I just want to welcome everyone to my dance blog. If you have read other posts by me then thank you for your patronage. This blog will explore the topic of dance in relation to teaching. I hope to provide readers with explanations of different dance strategies, how they relate to the Ontario curriculum, how you can use them in class, and some resources, and finally some insights which are hopefully helpful to any readers.
Without further ado, let's discuss body storming and improvisation.
What is Body Storming?
The Ontario Arts Curriculum defines body storming as "A strategy, analogous to brainstorming, that uses the body as a means of trying out movement possibilities linked to themes, issues, and ideas that students may be exploring. Students work together in a whole group, in small groups, or individually to generate ideas before shaping their work. The teacher suggests different elements of movement to encourage students to try out a range of variations" (160).
Put in more common terms, body storming is a creative way to interact with dance without any structure and can also be described as the body's version of brainstorming. In that sense, I have to agree with Drake that teachers should consider using body storming as an engaging way to introduce dance to students.
How Body Storming Might Look Like in a Classroom
Teachers be warned! If you ever walk into a classroom and you see something like this going on...
...Remember that you are viewing a creative process in action! Even from this short video, one should immediately notice the range of different movements and expressions that students are doing. This video is a great example of how students can incorporate individual movements and dances into a larger group and then synthesize them together to create their own unique dance.
What is Improvisation?
The Ontario Arts Curriculum defines improvisation as "a movement or series of movements created spontaneously by a dancer, either independently or in a group" (162).
What I hope the reader can begin to see is that body storming and improvisation can be linked quite closely together when we are thinking about dance. While watching the next video, consider how Kaitlin Hung describes improvisation as a process that does not get hung up on choreography or specific steps but instead connects to the spirit of dance as something that we feel.
After watching this video, I found myself contemplating dance in a way that I had not before. Before choreography and structure become prominent, dance was simply a visceral reaction to hearing a melody or song.
Thinking about dance education, I think it is important that we educate our students in this regard and have them understand that structure and steps are all secondary to the spirit or visceral reaction we feel when a song speaks to us.
Resources to Support Body Storming & Improvisation in the Classroom
The first stop for many dance and drama teachers is also the first resource I would like to introduce: CODE (Council of Drama and Dance Educators). CODE is a great website with excellent resources for dance and drama teachers as well as any teachers who want to find engaging and meaningful ways of exploring dance and drama.
I found an excellent resource geared towards grade 8 students that outlines how to introduce students to the 5 elements of dance (body, space, time, energy, relationship) while using body storming. This resource is great for veteran dance teachers and new dance teachers because the lesson itself is so flexible. For example, the lesson is set up to allow the teacher to focus on one of the 5 elements at a time or to incorporate some or all of the elements depending on student knowledge and their class profile!
How I have used / will use Body Storming and Improvisation in the Classroom
Although I believe that Body Storming can be used at several different stages throughout the dance process, I have always thought of Body Storming and Improvisation as a great introductory activity. I would find a variety of songs that would give students a chance to hear the music and react in a way that they felt was appropriate. Even this song below would be a good starting point for anyone wishing to try this activity as an introductory activity to help students associate different sounds with different movements.
Before the structure and steps, music was likely a visceral reaction to hearing a pleasing melody, beat, or a way to express a feeling and I would like my students to be able to engage with that experience on some level.
Accommodations & Modifications
I think that the nature of Body Storming and Improvisation leaves a lot of room to make adjustments to better help students express themselves. For example, the use of assistive technology can be viewed as a part of the body during the body storming process. Hence, I believe that using assistive technology will only increase engagement. Perhaps one of my students feels more comfortable using an iPad to draw body movements before trying them. All of these things and more could be considered when thinking about accommodations and modifications for body storming and improvisation.
Hello everyone and welcome to my fifth and final post for my dance multimodal portfolio. It's a shame we are ending as quickly as we started but all classes and blogs must eventually come to an end. That being said, let's take full advantage of this post by exploring the concept of unison movement and how it relates to dance and the classroom. What is Unison Movement? Why tell you when I can just show you: It really is amazing to see how visually striking unison dance performances can be. It should be noted that this performance is pretty advanced but could be used to generate interest in unison dance. The Ontario Curriculum defines unison movement as "A movement or action performed in exactly the same way by two or more people at the same time" (165). As can be seen in the definition and the video above, unison movement in dancing can be quite complex. On the other hand, this video is also valuable for education because it clearly illustrates how kids and younge...
Hello everyone and welcome back for another exciting installment exploring how dance strategies can be used in the classroom. Last week we explored Body Storming and Improvisation so make sure to check that out if you haven't already! What is Call and Response? Let's start with a video to get an idea of what call and response can look like and sound like: As shown in the video, Call and Response can be a great group activity where different people take turns contributing a dance move or gesture. The video above depicts students from Maasai Mara in Kenya and is a great informal introduction to Call and Response. The Ontario Curriculum defines Call and Response as "A choreographic form in which one soloist or group performs, followed by a second soloist or group whose performance responds to the first" (160). Reading this definition makes me realize that call and response has to be an early precursor to dance battles. As a matter of fact, the definition reminded me...
Hello everyone and welcome back for another installment of theoretical dance in action. This week we will be focusing on the term retrograde and discuss what it means, why it is relevant to dance and explore some different ways it could be used in the classroom. What Does "Retrograde" Even Mean? Try this riddle: What does the term retrograde have in common with this gif? You probably noticed something slightly off in this gif and it could be related to the fact that it is showing an action in reverse . This is relevant to dance in the classroom because the Ontario Curriculum defines the term retrograde as "A choreographic form in which a dance or movement sequence is performed in reverse order (e.g., a dance phrase performed back to front)" (164). Hence, the above gif and retrograding are similar in the sense that they are showing a sequence from back to front. How Retrograde Could Look in a Classroom I couldn't help but think back to a previous post where I ...
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