Outside the Square
On this page: About this section | Curriculum links
| Choreography | Deirdre Tarrant with the company |
|---|---|
| Music | Compiled by Brett McKenzie |
| Performers | Footnote Dance |
About this section
This section of the DVD is divided into three subsections:
- edited footage of the process involved in creating the dance work, with comments by the choreographer – 17 minutes
- an interview with Deirdre Tarrant introducing the work – 1 minute 52 seconds
- a stage performance of the work in costume and with lights – 16 minutes 29 seconds.
"Sometimes it's fun to follow everyone else, but sometimes it's fun, too, to take a step outside the square."
This choreography was developed from a collage of ideas related to the definitions and common uses of the word 'square'. At times, the dancers use their bodies to represent the straight lines and 90-degree angles found in squares. Square-shaped props become a variety of square objects, such as windows and picture frames, which are incorporated into the movement of the dance. The choreography includes some movements from square dancing. In fact, Deirdre Tarrant, the choreographer, and the dancers counted 248 different images or references relating to squares in the dance. Later in the dance, the squares are represented by boxes, with each dancer discovering something different in his or her box. The dance also explores ideas suggested by the phrase 'outside the square' and suggests that it's okay to be different.
Choreographer Deirdre Tarrant is the founder and director of Footnote Dance. She trained originally in ballet and travelled to London to the Royal Ballet School. She also attended a wide range of contemporary dance schools overseas. During her professional career, she danced with the Royal New Zealand Ballet and also in Europe and the United States. As well as her work with Footnote, she has choreographed for the Royal New Zealand Ballet company and for a number of overseas companies.
Using chance methods of choreography involves approaches such as tossing coins to determine aspects of the dance, including the order of movement, the number of dancers on stage at any particular moment, or the position of dancers in the space. Merce Cunningham, a dancer and choreographer who was part of the Martha Graham Dance Company from 1938–1945, is an influential and innovative choreographer who has used chance methods to make many of his more than two-hundred dance works. He is still choreographing today.
You can use Outside the Square as part of your dance programme to illustrate:
- working with props
- using literal and abstract movements
- using everyday movements to make dance.
You can also use it as a stimulus for a wide range of dance activities.
Viewing suggestion
We recommend that your students view only the first and/or third subsections. The second subsection is more useful as information for teachers.
You could give your students a copy of this dance recording sheet (Word 120KB) to complete before, during, and after viewing the dance work.
Curriculum links
The suggested activities could contribute to teaching and learning in the following unit and achievement standards (which link to the NZQA website):
Level 1
Level 2
- AS 90293 Dance 2.1 Choreograph a section of dance for a group
- US 11500 Explore the making of dance (PDF 16KB)
- US 14876 Experience dance (PDF 13KB)
- US 11497 Demonstrate dance (PDF 16KB)
