Warm-Up: Partner work
- Students pair up and establish who is the person and who is the reflection
- Students practise for 10 minutes, slow, predictable movements that their partners can perform the lateral inversion (one partner performs on his/her right, reflection on the left, or visa-versa)
- If there is not an even number for partners, make a group of three and have two reflections
- The teacher circulates in an attempt to decipher who is the person and who is the reflection
- While circulating, the teacher provides refinement
- This mirror work may be practised many times to develop more diverse, simultaneous, and complicated movements. Students may also change partners to enhance sensitivity to others.
- Students switch roles and continue to practise their movements
- Great mirror work should be modelled for the whole class to show where they can ‘go’ with their work. Allow them to practise again.
- Time permitting, each pair can perform for the class for 30 seconds or so. The class can then establish who the person and mirror are.
Extensions
Ask for a volunteer student (shown as “X” on the illustration, to the right) who is not fearful of being closed in. Have him/her sit in the middle of the room (fetal position or just sitting in a tight ball).- Ask for four more volunteers to hold two, long strips of fabric. Arrange the two pieces of fabric in the shape of a cross with one student holding each end of fabric. Student #1 stretches the fabric with Student #2. Students #3 and #4 stretch the fabric perpendicular to #s 1 & 2 (see next page).
- Check the climate of your classroom to see if this would be suitable.
- Safe, secure, sounds are muffled; there is constant movement around them.
- Once the four students at the end of the fabric start their mirror dance movements, they can change spots, still holding their end of the fabric and wrapping the middle student inside the fabric. (#1 moves to #2 spot, and visa versa. #3 moves to #4 spot, and visa versa.)
- They continue their movements, keeping them fluid and dance-like.
- If you see a student moving in one particular way, encourage them to use different qualities of movement, i.e. fluid, sharp/dramatic, firm.
- Unwrap the middle student at the end of the performance and debrief what the feeling was like. Substitute students into the five potential roles and continue.
