Respond
Teaching different art forms such as dance to students is a great challenge because it requires a great deal of confidence, a deep level of understanding of arts and the right mix of skills . For this paper, the workshop that I chose to focus on was the Moth Bangarra Dance performance. I chose dance mainly because of the fact that it was one of the most recently discussed topics in the course and this particular dance workshop was the one that really struck my senses. I wanted to do a dance workshop just like it and so I chose it as the topic of my respond, relate, and react paper. Moreover, dance has already entered the scholarly world and so it would be relevant to incorporate it in arts classes, as evidenced by Hanna’s (2008) paper about dance which she described as a nonverbal language for imagining and learning.
The title of the dance itself is Moth. A moth is basically an insect. Its development can be compared to that of a human in that it also involves different life stages or cycles. A human, for example, starts from conception, and then progresses towards infancy, then childhood, adolescence, adult, and later on into an elderly stage of development, until it finally does. The same thing happens to other life forms and this is one of the main takeaways from this particular dance performance. The only difference, however, is that a moth undergoes a different set of stages. What the Moth represents is a story of spiritual inheritance and spiritual existence, from the birth of a new creature down to the point of its demise. It is also worth noting that Moth does not necessarily pertain to a human’s life cycle or stages only. From a cultural perspective, for example, it may be seen that it also represents the resilience of the spirit of indigenous Australians . This is where the idea of this respond part lies in. One of the most common misconceptions when it comes to dance theaters is that they should reflect a certain culture . This is, in part, because people of today’s generation are often made aware about the presence and existence of certain dance types and classes by means of mass media such as movies and television shows. This was the point made by Yun when he discussed how traditional Chinese cultural artifacts such as dances and martial arts often get misrepresented by the people . There are, of course, a lot of other examples out there.
This is a classic example wherein a person looks only at the superficial aspects of a dance. Evidently, when one thinks that dances are made just to represent a certain culture, there is clearly a misconception there because dance, just like any other art forms, can be a free form of creation and interpretation . This means that dances can therefore come in many different forms because after all, it may be used as a form of expression .
Forms of expression can have as many variations as the total number of human beings in this planet. That is, it can be highly varied. This in fact applies to all forms of art . This can be evidenced by the fact that there are numerous types of dances for every culture. There is ballroom dancing, Latin, Hip Hop, Jazz, and Contemporary. Each form is unique in its own way. I tried to relate it to the Moth dance because students from the class managed to create his or her own comprehensive analysis about the topic and I noticed that most of our works were a subject of our own interpretations. The best way to experience a dance is to know deeply its purpose, what it represents, and how excellently it represents whatever it represents . Only then can one truly get the true value of dance as an art. In this case, I was able to witness that with the Moth performance.
Relate
I had no idea at first that there are so many things that can be explored when it comes to the artistic side of dance. I have always thought that dancing is just a form of entertainment. Never did I realize that there dance is also a form of art, art that can define an entire culture. When I embarked on Hanna’s (2008) work about the non-verbal language aspect of dance for example, I learned that there are numerous ways how to appreciate it as a form of art. Another important point would be that of Dinham (2014) where it was discussed how dance (as an art form) has penetrated the education system and that students have to be properly guided on how to appreciate and muster it. This is why when I got to watch the Moth dance by Bangarra, I got motivated to use it as a motif for a proposed learning sequence for students. I just hope that I can master the concept of dance as a form of cultural expression enough to inspire my students to appreciate it the same way I do.
React
Learning Sequence
Selected Year Level: 3rd to 4th Year
Selected Arts Disciplines: Dance
Idea/Set of Practices from Respond Relate Specifically Addressed: Dance and Culture
Learning Sequence Title: Exploring the Cultural Aspects of Dance
Big Question: Can Culture and Dance go Hand in Hand?
Lesson Objectives
Emphasize the importance of symmetry and asymmetry when it comes to cultural dance. Discussion of sudden and erratic movements would also be important because these are great attention catchers. Examples of these would be the galloping, sliding, jumping, spinning, rolling, exploding, and shrinking moves that were used in the Moth performance. Being able to focus on rehearsing these factors would surely make a lot of difference.
Relate the ideas to previously-observed cultural dance performances would always be a good idea because at that point, one would be able to realize the importance of a certain aspect. In the Moth performance, for example, the use of symmetry and asymmetry in movements were evident from the time the dance performances emerged from the stage (after a pitch black theater stage). They were waving their hands unilaterally and bilaterally and then alternately. The balance of the performers was also evident. These things take time to develop but they can definitely be learned faster through emphasis.
Elaborations
Appreciating dance as a form of art
Appreciating the correlation between dance and culture
Learning how to appreciate and perform various cultural dances, especially the Moth dance performance
Importance of strength, coordination, form, symmetry, asymmetry, axial, and locomotive movements in cultural dance performances
Importance of the different elements of Dance (BASTE-Body, Action, Space, Time, and Energy, individually and collectively).
Knowing how to apply theory into practice (from watching to actually doing and performing)
Knowing how to practice individually, as a pair, and then as a group, according to what the routine demands
Relevant Australian Curriculum Content Descriptors
For the elements of dance, when it comes to cultural dances, it would be safe to say that all of them (Body, Action, Space, Time, and Energy, or BASTE) get covered.
The use of effort actions and expressive movements may also be integrated here considering how memorable the Moth performance turned out to be for me because of the alternation between fast and slow movements and heavy and light movements. I was also able to observe a lot of slashing and gliding motions during the performance, which is the main reason why it also turned out to be an elegant form of dance performance.
Key Driving Resource: the Bangarra Moth performance.
Additional Resources: Please refer to Resources Section in Learning Sequence. All additional materials are provided through URLs
References
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Michaels, J. (2012). No More Trouble Zones Workout - Stretching Cool Down. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiPzM1AUxao.
Olsen, A. (2014). Stretches for Beginning Ballet Daily Stretching Routine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DxG4B3njGw.
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