Energy Exploration; Inspired by Objects

October 5, 2017:

Energy Exploration

            Energy Exploration is a dance lesson created to help students learn four energy qualities (Sustain, Vibrate, Collapse and Percussive) by inspiration of physical objects. To begin the class, I invited all the student to “be at a five” while sitting on their classroom rug and we reviewed what we learned last week. As we talked, I asked the students questions to see what they remembered and I was pleasantly surprised when most of them expressed their excitement and their ability to remember the new dance terms from last class. I even had one student raise his hand and tell me how we moved sustain like a turtle throughout the space! Due to this, I made sure to praise them for their ability to recall and remember information.

After we reviewed, I reminded the class our dance rules and tested them to see if they were listening. I had them watch me as they followed very specific instructions to help them bring their attention on me. Once they were ready, instead of going right out into the space, I taught each energy quality with them sitting down on their pockets on the classroom rug. As I taught each quality, I had a piece of paper with the word written on it and I would put it up on the white board so they could read the word, then we experienced the qualities using our hands, shoulders, faces any body parts that could move while still sitting on the rug. One of my favorite qualities to teach was Percussive or Explode. I had the students first try exploding with their hands, then I suggested, “what if we were to be percussive with our faces? How can we hold or squeeze our face real tight… then explode?” I had them try this a few times and it was neat to see the students’ creativity while they were limited to staying sitting on their pockets. After I taught all four qualities, I quickly reviewed them then it was time to get up and move through the space.

Once all four qualities had been taught, I invited them out into the space and instructed them to freeze in a beginning shape before we started to move. This time, I felt I improved on waiting until each students’ attention was on me and read to move. Last lesson, I was nervous, which is common for the first-time teaching, so I felt I may have rushed through some material, when I should have waited until the whole class was ready. Once everyone was ready to move, I guided the students through each of the four energy qualities we just learned while sitting on the rug, and gave them enough time to experience each one for themselves. I repeated each quality at least twice and encouraged them to try moving that energy quality through multiple body parts; “how can you vibrate your elbows?” or “how can you vibrate just your shoulders?” 

         Through this experience, the students were able to review but also build off their previous knowledge from what we just learned while sitting on the rug. I noticed how one little girl, whenever we did explode, she loved using her face (as we did on the rug) while we were moving through the space through percussive movement I saw how she would explode, but mainly through her face rather than her whole body. I invited her to try percussive movement through different ways, but she seemed to enjoy using her face, so she stuck to that the rest of the class time. Once the students moved through all the qualities, I invited them to sit on their pockets, “be at a five” and come close to my magic black bag!

“Inside my magic black bag, I have four special objects!” I told the students. I could tell they suddenly became very anxious to learn what was in my black bag… but I wasn’t going to pull any objects out until each of them were ready and listening. The first object I pulled out of the bag was a beautiful scarf. I asked the students to look at the words on the board and as I moved the object through the air, to think about how the object was moving and if they could tell which movement quality it was portraying. Once they had their own answer, I instructed them to raise their hands. Even though some students spoke without raising their hands, I only called upon those who were quietly listening. This object must have been hard, because as I was moving the scarf gently through the air, I saw how the students went through an elimination process while guessing what energy quality it was. But, in the end they finally guessed sustain, and they were correct. Second, I pulled out a medium size orange balloon that was filled with air. As I pulled out the object, I saw the kids immediately get excited and about all of them knew exactly what energy quality the balloon representedf. After they calmed down, I asked them if they knew what happens when a balloon pops and what energy quality would describe the balloons action. This one was easy and most of the students figured this action was explode or percussive. As I finished pulling out the last two objects; slinky and vibrating massage machine, I saw how the students could connect the movements we explored with the object. Because of this, the students used the objects as inspiration for their movements and now they had a broader dance vocabulary to work with.

After we had fun with the magic black bag, as a class we made a sequence for the four energy qualities and performed. I encouraged the students to explore each movement using multiple body parts and thinking of trying different ways to move each time. After we performed once with music, we reversed the order and performed again with a different song. I loved seeing how the students did their very best to be inspired by the objects and build off their own knowledge of exploring. I felt all the dancers did a wonderful job participating and enjoying moving. From my first lesson to now, I felt even more comfortable with the kids, instructing and encouraging them to move through the space. I have enjoyed staying with one group and teaching the same kids because I can watch them grow and help them develop into beautiful dancers.

This lesson I was lucky to have Chris, my mentor, come watch me teach. At first, I was very nervous because I had heard how wonderful of a teacher Chris is and I wanted to show him that I could teach… But, after I was done teaching, I had a wonderful meeting with him and he had great things to say. Some important things to continue to work on, and some great things that I’m already doing well. I loved how positive and reassuring he was about my teaching as well as encouraging for me to want to become a better teacher. Next lesson, I want to continue to work on even more listening and instructional skills with the dancers. Chris gave me a few ideas of how to encourage the dancers to work on their listening skills and I’m excited to give them a try. I’ve really enjoyed teaching so far and I’ve seen how I can improve each lesson and I’m excited to continue to try new things.