How Ugly Is That Duckling
On this page: About this section | Curriculum links
| Choreography | Raewyn Hill |
|---|---|
| Music | Douglas Gordon Lilburn |
| 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 – 11 minutes 22 seconds
- an interview with Deirdre Tarrant introducing the work – 4 minutes 4 seconds
- a stage performance of the work in costume and lights – 13 minutes.
How Ugly is that Duckling could be described as a comment on the role society plays in our judgment of beauty. The 13 minute dance work shows two dancers trying to catch up or keep up with the pressure of being perfect, in front of three stereotypical 'beautiful people'. A version of Hans Christian Andersen's Ugly Duckling is narrated throughout the second part of the performance.
Choreographer Raewyn Hill began dancing at the age of six in Wellington and has been a professional contemporary dancer for many years. In 2001, she founded her own dance company called Soapbox Productions. She has choreographed several major dance works, including Angels with Dirty Feet, and has tutored at the New Zealand School of Dance and Unitec Performing Arts. Raewyn regularly tours New Zealand and has choreographed and performed work in America, Italy, and Australia.
Composer Douglas Lilburn was born in Wanganui in 1915. He began composing music at an early age, and Opus 1, a sonata for piano, was published in 1932. His repertoire of works is enormous, including orchestral pieces, piano, wind quartets and duos for violin and viola. He was a Professor of Music at Victoria University of Wellington for 10 years and received the Order of New Zealand in 1988. He continued to compose until his death in 2001.
You can use How Ugly Is That Duckling as part of your dance programme to illustrate:
- the use of solos and duets
- weight sharing
- contact
- the integration of text and movement
- an example of a dance communicating a social statement.
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 2
- AS 90297 Dance 2.5 Analyse and discuss a dance performance
- US 11500 Explore the making of dance (PDF 16KB)
- US 14876 Experience dance (PDF 13KB)
- US 11497 Demonstrate dance (PDF 16KB)
- US 11501 Investigate dance context (PDF 13KB)
Level 3
- AS 90597 Dance 3.4 Analyse and evaluate a dance performance
- AS 90598 Dance 3.5 Discuss the features and development of dance in Aotearoa/New Zealand
