Some dances tell a story. The movements within the dance are adapted from everyday actions and linked together to tell a story. Neil Ieremia uses dance to tell stories and convey issues he believes to be important. He says:
I get ideas from improvised movement. You start off telling a story and you begin to take words out of the story and replace them with movement, so it becomes like a sign language, and that's the first step.
Help your students to understand dance as a medium for telling stories. They may find it helpful to go back through Creative Explorer and find some key words, some phrases, or a story that they can use as a beginning point for a dance. For example, the words "spider" and "clouds" are used on the CD-ROM - what movements could be associated with these words? Or they may begin by brainstorming ideas for a story by using a key word, a set of ideas, or an issue that they feel strongly about.
Have students consider how they will approach the choreography of their dance. Will it be danced alone? With a partner? In a trio, or in a group?
The next step is for the students to work out what actions tell each part of the story. They will need to focus on each action, looking at how it starts and finishes and what muscles and joints are used in those actions. Then the dancers can link these movements to create a dance that tells a story. Once the movements are in place, they can be refined to enhance the story.
Curriculum Links
The Arts in the New Zealand Curriculum (Draft) describes four strands within the discipline of dance. These are Learning the Languages of Dance, Developing Ideas in Dance, Communicating and Interpreting Meaning in Dance, and Understanding Dance in Context. By learning about dance practice in New Zealand, and by exploring how dance is created by using the activity provided, Creative Explorer can be used to meet a number of achievement objectives at levels 3 and 4 of this curriculum statement.
Creative Explorer will also be useful in meeting achievement objectives at levels 3 and 4 of Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum.
Some Additional Resources
Lockhart, A. S. Modern Dance: Building and Teaching Lessons. W. C. Brown Co., Dubuque, Iowa, 1982.
Moyle, Richard. Polynesian Music and Dance. Centre for Pacific Studies, University of Auckland, Auckland, 1991.
Thomas, Allan. Pacific Island Drums (videotape and booklet). Māori and South Pacific Arts Council, Wellington, 1989.
Talking Drums (videotape). Learning Media, Wellington, 1992.
