Educators responding to the challenges of teaching dance in online contexts are adapting an artform that is inherently collaborative. These challenges include:
While the Critical Analysis Process is much easier to implement for isolated units in an online setting, teachers are required to report on the Creative Process and Cultural Contexts expectations of the Dance curriculum, and the curriculum recommends using the Critical Analysis process in relation to student creations.
Before asking students to create in small groups or independently, they need a chance to familiarize themselves with how bodystorming and dance might work in online spaces. Consider the importance of games and play in establishing comfort and safety in dance. Central to this safety is the demonstration of teacher risk-taking and reassurance that there are no recordings of their participation.
An example of a dance game that educators may engage in online is “Who started the motion?”
In this game, one student will be selected as the “Investigator” and they will leave the call. When first modeling the game, the teacher should be the “Leader” but in subsequent rounds the teacher should request student volunteers. The “Leader”’s goal is not to be identified so they will do simple arm and body movements that everyone will follow and will keep up a flow of motion. The other players are encouraged to copy the movements of the “Leader” exactly so that it will be difficult to identify the “Leader”. Then the “Investigator” will be invited back into the call and will have three guesses to identify the “Leader”.
It is important to note that just practicing mirroring the "presenter" who is fixed results in being opposite to everyone else in a ZOOM call and other platforms may present similar quirks that students might explore through play.
To build familiarity with improvising/generating, educators are encouraged to play with students through digital flocking. Instead of placing students in a diamond as they would in physical space, the teacher can invite students to put up their digital hand if they would like to lead the movement and the teacher can call them out based on their placements and facings. Familiarity as a large group with this type of exercise will support students’ use of flocking in smaller groups.
In an improvisation, students can have a theme such as “opposites” and can then create a shape "opposite" to anyone else's in whatever way they define the word e.g. soft/hard shape, big/small shape, square/round shape, hold for 3 counts, and then keep doing that with random folks. Everyone is doing this at once and so there is always a new shape to focus on. Many variations on this include working with a source (e.g., photo, story, etc.) or a state of being (e.g., anger/forgiveness, etc.). Students can also experiment with their positioning relative to other students in the call. For example, they can do symmetrical movements while the others copy or do the opposite with asymmetrical movements. Another possibility is to mirror (imitate in slow motion exactly what their partner or teacher is doing). It is advisable that the teacher starts first and then in breakout rooms do the practice with a partner.
Students might also experiment with their positioning in relation to other students in the frame of the call. Noting that ZOOM and other platforms likely do not place people in the same screen pattern for each participant, teachers might invite students to experiment until they understand exactly what is going on with the screen so that they can play with the element of space in a digital context.
Students might practice canon, where one dancer begins the movement and passes it to other dancers in the call, though the teacher must decide how to facilitate this process and may wish to wait until students have a clear understanding of the way the frame of the call is organized or use alphabetical order, for example. (See the glossary in the curriculum for more details).
To prepare for video recording, consider that students can focus on only feet or arms prior to recording full body movements to build comfort for dancers prior to recording full performances. Hand dances or dances using avatars (as in the code.org Dance Party lesson where students can manipulate characters in rhythm to the music and use the elements to experiment with synchronization of characters, for example) or dances using marionettes or shadow dances are all alternatives to play with if students are conscious of being on camera.
Informed by the stages of the Creative Process, educators would invite students to respond to a provocation and/or challenge. If students are working in small groups, they would first agree on a theme or topic for their pieces and then begin generating ideas by brainstorming words or phrases that go with the theme or idea. The teacher might encourage students to take concrete ideas (e.g., deforestation, fires, justice) and to choose action words or descriptive words that are more abstract (e.g., destroy, rise, power) and then to explore those words through bodystorming. The teacher can model bodystorming with the whole class using these keywords.
If possible, they would then schedule small group meetings to body-storm with teacher support. Otherwise, teachers might consider assigning some groups to brainstorm energy and relationships related to the words while meeting with each group or they might spend time choosing music from among teacher recommendations, if desired, and depending on the focus.
In small group meetings, the group would use call and response; students would take turns leading as group members repeated them back. The teacher could share a Jamboard or OneNote notebook with each group so that students could name and sequence their movements.
When students have familiarized themselves with the Creative Process through gradual release of responsibility, teachers might consider more asynchronous group work. Another possibility is to share the plan and see how another group might interpret the dance of another group.
One option is for teachers to use only part of the Creative Process (e.g., up to Planning & Focussing) and having students use dance notation (i.e., the naming and sequencing of their movements and codes for indicating the elements of dance) to indicate their plans for the dance as a group. As above, students would use collaborative documents for the plan.
Primary students might be given symbol cards to print out and manipulate or students might copy out agreed upon symbols used during class play.
Another option would be to divide a dance into beats and ask each student in the group to be responsible for one beat based on group brain- and bodystorming. Each student would record their section, during supervised small group meetings they might offer constructive peer assessment, and revise their performance to be edited together for the final performance.
Additionally, students might respond to a dance sequence proposed by the teacher and complete it with the remaining beats. The group would then provide feedback on the brainstorming of each member and decide as a group how to sequence the responses to the teacher’s provocation.
Throughout this process, the teacher should be engaging with student progress and offering feedback or encouraging peer- and self-assessment. These assessments could be formal (e.g., completing a Google Form with stars and wishes) or informal (e.g., teacher-observed discussion).
Using the Achievement Chart as a guide for assessment of the Creative Process expectation of the curriculum may respond to the question:
To what extent do dancers show evidence of...
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Knowledge |
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Thinking/Inquiry |
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Application |
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Communication |
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The teacher would make time for breakout room rehearsals if they wish for students to perform synchronously for peers. The non-performers would turn their cameras off. The teacher would facilitate and conduct the order of performances and the transitions. Students might consider using the same background filter.
The teacher would need to spend some time explicitly teaching about the role of video in dance performance and discuss considerations like filming locations, lighting, etc. Groups may collaborate to determine what kind of lighting they might like to use, and depending on the availability of similar resources at home, might try to coordinate so that their video seems consistent. Alternatively they might all use the same background filter on applications such as Flipgrid (if permitted for use by your school board) or through the use of green screen applications.
Depending on how the teacher has chosen to organize the earlier stages of the Creative Process, students may be editing together (possibly with teacher assistance) individually-created and recorded beats, or may be using the capabilities of editing apps such as iMovie to create the sense of synchronization, call and response, flocking or canon dancing.
Students would submit their video to the teacher. The teacher might organize a small group meeting to view the video and conference with the dancers about the Creative Process.
Teachers might consider factoring the following alternatives into their assessment, especially where a student is resistant to performing: