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Dancemakers: Teachers' Notes for Years 11–13

Quintet

On this page: About this section | Curriculum links

Choreography Moana Nepia
Music Paul McLaney aka Gramsci – selected tracks from various albums. See the DVD credits for a full listing.
Performers Erynne Gleeson, Hannah Stannard, Halina Wolyncewicz, Lance Riley, Anita Hunziker

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 – 11 minutes 44 seconds
  • an interview with Deirdre Tarrant introducing the work – 2 minutes 44 seconds
  • a stage performance of the work with costume and lighting – 19 minutes 41 seconds.

Choreographer Moana Nepia mentions that his starting points for Quintet came from evocative music and the ideas of 'a series of solos' and 'solitude and solace'. Other terms mentioned include 'loss', 'connections', and 'miscommunication'. He prefers to suggest emotion using movement in abstract ways rather than through an 'emotional narrative'.

Since 1981, Moana Nepia (Ngāti Porou) has danced with and/or choreographed for a variety of dance companies in New Zealand, Australia, Greece, Wales, and England. He has published articles and reviews on dance on DANZnet and, in 2005, was awarded funding to lead a research project on film, video, and photography of Māori dance.

You can use Quintet as part of a dance programme to illustrate or explore:

  • ways of entering and exiting the performance space
  • abstraction of emotion in movement
  • solo choreography.

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. The choreography is a lengthy work, so it may be advisable to view it in portions.

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

Level 3

Assessment resources for some of the above unit standards can be found at
www.nzqa.govt.nz/for-providers/resources/dance.html

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