Creating the work
On this page: The dance | The visual dimension | The music | The lighting
The dance
Performing arts teacher’s comment
Annette McCrae: I had three girls in particular – H, S, and Y who were my main assistants in creating the choreography. In warm ups I would always include some Indian-style movement, and ask Y to correct us if we were doing it wrong. We looked closely at posture, gesture, head, and hand actions. We made sure that we included all the dance elements of body awareness, space, shape, dynamics, time and relationships. Once we had some moves together, we added choreographic devices. Many of the year 8 students were familiar with dance elements and choreographic structures and devices, because we have covered this work in year 7.
We derived the Indian movement from Y's personal knowledge of Indian classical dance and from viewing pictures of Indian dancers from our Internet search. Once we had blocked the movement we talked about the detail of the use of hands and eyes, which is such an important feature of this dance tradition.
There was a team of about 12 boys. It was an interesting team. I had to encourage the boys into the project by saying: "Hey, you would really enjoy doing this." In the end we had 20 boys on the entire project – a fifth of the group. There is still work to be done in breaking down barriers for boys in dance.
The visual dimension
Visual arts teacher's comment
Kerry: Annette and I are really passionate about investigating culture, and we are both really interested in the multicultural aspect of New Zealand. We believe that performance work enhances student understanding of the cultures they are studying.
I had 40 in my group working on sets, props and costumes. I had my really strong design students who were very creative, but I also selected students whom I had seen potential in over the year in our classroom activities. There was a huge interest. The students did a lot of peer tutoring in terms of how to make things. It is interesting that those involved in Satyagraha have continued their interest in the arts by being involved in Arts Splash and Dance Splash.
In groups we brainstormed the different scenes, and looked closely at Indian design, colour scheme and architecture. With the mask making, we had to shape and colour, and discover also how it could be comfortably worn in a dance segment. We wanted to create a versatile set design, something contemporary, but which is reminiscent of India.
I demonstrated the ways in which you could make a mask or a vase, and then they took the idea and transformed it. They had to make up a mock version of the object, and convince me it was sturdy enough to last the rehearsals and performance. I purchased the materials they needed. All the ideas came from the students – I just guided them. The students were so passionate about their work, and the masks they produced were amazing.
Masks created by students at Maidstone Intermediate for their performance of Satyagraha at Stage Challenge 2004
I think they started probably around level 2 of the visual arts curriculum in terms of skills in structuring 3-dimensional objects, and some of them were close to level 5 by the time we finished this project. We made 40 masks in the end, and everyone was consistently good. The students were very passionate about being supportive of the dance group, and the fantastic backstage crew just loved the experience.
We worked in the same timeslot, so often we would go over to the hall towards the end of an hour to watch the dancers and the way they were moving. The students would observe and take notes about what was happening on the stage, and then they would report back on the props that would be needed. We had a whole system on the computer where we itemised everything needed, and who was to use what particular prop. When a mask was finished, we would take it over and fit it on the performer and make adjustments, so the entire team was never separated.
We thought about the need for a simple backdrop, one that could travel easily, and be quickly installed and dismantled. We constructed pillars to represent doorways to different parts of Gandhi's life. We thought about how the dancers could use them as separate entrances onto the stage. We washed three big pieces of material with colour and then painted on figures in different positions. The designers picked up movement ideas from watching the dancers and from pictorial images of Indian dancers. We had to refine and condense our design ideas because we had only an 8-minute performance. Some objects were only on stage momentarily, but it was worth it for the process of creating it.
The music
Performing arts teacher's comment
Annette McCrae: The music came from a variety of sources. I listened to popular music from Indian movies and ordered CDs of Bollywood music from a local music store. I sourced most of the music from the soundtrack of the movie Bend It Like Beckham, Hindu pop and the Bollywood CD.
For Gandhi's final death scene I used music from the New Zealand composer John Psathas. The sound track evolved as we developed the piece. We worked out the precise timings for each scene and the sound editing was a lengthy process. Could the students have done it? Probably, but I took ownership of this aspect of the performance. However, I did ask the students if they felt a particular piece of music was working for the scene.
The lighting
Performing arts teacher's comment
Annette McCrae: We had one student who was in charge of lighting. She took notes as the work evolved. Two weeks before the final performance we sat down with all her notes. She was the main designer, and we plotted it together. We had two students to operate the follow spots, and in the end we had a very well trained group of lighting operators. They practised hard and did a great job.