Curriculum Expectations

Learning Goals

Drama

 B2.1 Reflecting, Responding and Analysing: construct personal interpretations of drama works, connecting drama issues and themes to social concerns at both the local and global level

Drama

 I can:

  • express my own thoughts about issues related to mental health, in words and movement.

Dance

A1.1 Creating and Presenting: create dance pieces to respond to issues that are personally meaningful to them

A2.1 Reflecting, Responding, and Analysing: construct personal and/or group interpretations of the themes in their own and others' dance pieces and communicate their responses in a variety of ways

Dance

I can:
  • create and share my impressions of BALANCE and IMBALANCE through body shapes, movements and relationship to others.
  • use the elements of dance and tools of composition to to create a dance phrase on the theme of balance.

Language

1.2 Oral Communication: demonstrate an understanding of appropriate listening behaviour by adapting active listening strategies to suit a wide variety of situations, including work in groups

Language

I can: 

  • engage in active listening when my group is working on our dance piece.

Materials

Appendix #1: Elements of Drama and Elements of Dance Anchor Charts
Appendix #2: Compositional Tools, and Forms
BLM #3: Symmetry vs Asymmetry 
BLM #4: Balancing Acts Checklist for Teacher/Student Assessment
Chart Paper
Pens/Pencils/Music /CD Player

 

Approximately 10 minutes

Minds On

Notes/Assessment

Whole Group > Layering > Exploring the relationship between words and movement

Brainstorm with students words around the concept of BALANCE. Invite students to think about both physical and emotional balance (e.g., symmetry, equal, equilibrium, equity, poised, even, stable, steady, tension, perspective, fair etc.).
Record the words on chart paper. Explain to students that you are going to explore the concept of BALANCE through the elements of dance.

Assessment for Learning (AfL)
Circulate, observe and offer feedback to students as they bodystorm in pairs and as they create their trios.

Use the reflective movement (shape response), discussion, and learning log responses to gauge students' understanding of emotional balance and imbalance.
Approximately 60 minutes

Action!

Notes/Assessment

Whole Group > Generating Movement > Circle Dance

Invite students to stand in a large circle. Model, as the teacher, a movement based on one of the BALANCE words. Send the movement around the circle until everyone is in the same shape. Once it comes back to you, invite the person to your right or left to apply one of the elements of dance (Body, Shape, Space, Time and Relationship) to change the shape 

(e.g., size of movement, facing, body base or body part emphasized). Continue to bodystorm the words. Add music to support the exploration.

Pairs > Bodystorm

Instruct students in pairs to explore the concept or idea of 'sharing balance' through the following movement study:

  • stand back to back - lean in until you find a common centre point;
  • stand side to side - take your partner's weight and find the centre point;
  • hold hands facing each other - lean back in space and move from a high level to a low level;
  • stand face to face - link arms, hands or legs, lean back and discover how best to find a place of balance;
  • challenge groups to come up with other combinations.
  • Extension: work in groups of 3 or 4 to modify the above exploration. What changes must be made as you add students into the weight sharing?

Invite students to share their challenges with this activity as well as tips for success. Prompts: How did you rely on one another in order find 'balance'?

Trios > Balancing 'Acts'

Handout BLM #4: Balancing Acts Checklist and review each element that they are expected to incorporate into their movement phrase. Encourage students to use this as a reference guide as they are generating and exploring ideas and revising and refining.

Instruct students, in groups of three, to choreograph a short phrase of movement that uses both symmetrical and asymmetrical body shapes, movements and spatial formations. Refer to BLM #3: Symmetry vs. Asymmetry to support students with this activity. Encourage them to use some of the shapes and movements explored in both the partner dances and circle wave activity.  Each group should decide if they will begin with symmetry or asymmetry.

Prompt  students to think about the concept of power and relationship when working the group of three. What moments show a balance of power? What moments show an imbalance? 

Invite students to use the compositional form called Binary form (ABA). Ask students to decide if A will represent symmetry or asymmetry.  B will represent the contrasting idea and then the phrase will return to whatever students decided A would be. Therefore, the form of the phrase will be either: symmetry, asymmetry, symmetry or asymmetry, symmetry, asymmetry.

Invite students to refer to the anchor charts - Elements of Dance and Composition tools, forms and structures.

Groups > Performing and Sharing

Have each group share their phrase one at a time or a few groups at a time.

Whole Group > Critical Analysis > Initial Reaction

Ask students to offer feedback to one another using the following prompts:

Key Questions for Discussion

What is your first impression of this phrase?
What emotions does this dance phrase evoke for you?
How does the movement connect to the ideas of balance from the poem?
What personal connections can you make to the movements you are viewing?
What is one suggestion you would offer a peer group to build upon the strength of their work?

Small Groups > Revise and Refine > Perform

Allow students time to explore, experiment and incorporate feedback from the analysis activity. Share again.
Assessment as Learning (AaL)

Invite students to recall the elements of dance. Reveal the anchor chart and review elements as required.

Invite students to incorporate  feedback from the whole group critical analysis and use it to revise their dance phrases.

Use BLM #4 Check-list for "Balancing Acts" to gauge where students see themselves in their learning.

Use the Learning Log responses gauge students learning throughout the lesson.

Differentiated Instruction (DI)

Use flexible groupings. Change partners as necessary.

Provide opportunities for students to use kinesthetic and verbal modes of expression.

Tips and Considerations

You may have students use 'Invented Dance Notation' to record their dance ideas. Notation is a written system of symbols, shapes, and lines that represent body position and movement. These are invented visuals used to plan, map, or record movement, as opposed to formal forms of dance notation. (The Ontario Curriculum Grades 1-8, Revised, 2009, p.163)

Binary Form (ABA)

As an example, the teacher could demonstrate  the ABA form in a movement phrase using linear and rounded movements:  A=linear movements B=round movements.  Teacher demonstrates by beginning with (A) linear movements, then transitioning to (B) round movements and then returning  to (A) linear movements. 

Hyperlinks

See National Arts Centre-Arts Alive website - The Choreographers Toolbox.
http://www.artsvivants.ca
/en/dan/make/toolbox/elements.asp

TCAP and SPARKed dance vocabulary resource
http://www.kqed.org/
assets/pdf/arts/programs/spark/dancevocab.pdf

Approximately 20 minutes

Consolidation

Notes/Assessment

Whole Group > Movement  Continuum > Emotional Health

Invite students to stand in a straight line (shoulder to shoulder) from one corner of the room to another.  Tell the group that the line represents one possible continuum of emotional health and balance. At one end of the continuum is BALANCE and at the extreme opposite end is IMBALANCE. Starting with BALANCE ask students one at time to create a shape that represents that degree of balance, based on their place in line.  Emphasize that this does not represent them personally.  Continue on down the line until the entire group is frozen in their shape. 

Individual and Pair-Share > Shape Response

Invite students to come back to a neutral stance and listen to the Stigma monologue (BLM#2) again. On a signal, ask each student to create one final shape that reflects the emotional state of the character.  Emphasize that multiple interpretations are welcome. Prompts: Is the he/she a balanced person with a history of depression? Out of balance because she has this diagnosis? Invite students to explain their thinking in a pair-share.

Individual > Learning Log > Reflection

Invite students to consider some of the 'typical' ways in which we shift back and forth between balance and imbalance in cyclical ways, even daily. Ask them to record their thoughts in their learning logs. Prompts: When might we get worried about someone? How can we notice if ourselves or others are stuck in 'imbalance'? What do we imagine this 'looks like' in behavior?
Notes

Students will be able to draw on the balance work from the lesson to inform their shapes, as well as emotional connections they are making to the concept.

It is important to acknowledge what is 'typical' with respect to emotional balance and that there is a difference between this and depression.

Critical Literacy Focus (CL)
 Encourage students to move beyond conventional or stereotypical notions of what balance and imbalance look like, especially as these relate to emotional stability.