Dance Performance and Choreography

This project is for those that wish to dance, either solo or in a group.

Learning outcomes for this project:

• Perform pieces in front of an audience either solo, in a group, or both (Evidence for Collaborative, Compassionate, Contributor, Fa’aaloalo, Rangatiritanga, Resilient, NCEA Dance)
• Choreograph pieces for solo or group dances (Evidence for Collaborative, Compassionate, Contributor, Designer, Fa’aaloalo, Resilient, NCEA Dance)

What styles of dance do you enjoy? Do you have a teacher for this (in or out of school)? Would you like to make up your own dance, or recreate someone else's?

• You will need to choose your music to dance to. Start thinking of songs you could use. You could write your own if you wish.
• Familiarise yourself with the poster about the Elements of Dance and the Choreographic Devices you can use. These are on the Resources page. Watch this clip on the elements.

Start to play with your ideas for your dance. Do you have moves you like?

• If your music has lyrics, study the lyrics and interpret them, choosing significant words or phrases that will underpin the emotion and ideas you will communicate in your final dance work
• learn, explore, and refine lyrically stylised movement and phrases that reflect the emotion of the song
• safely explore weight sharing and bearing relationships with your partner (if doing a duet) to create relationship material to include in your dance work
• Check with Sue for how long your pieces should be and how many you need to complete over the project.
• Choose an article on a style of dance you like, or biography on a dancer you admire. Complete this question sheet about the article.

Complete your Learning Narrative 1

• Are your ideas working? Do they fit with your piece?
• Are you using a range of dance ideas?
• What about lighting? Costumes? What do you need? How are you going to get these?

If you are choreographing a piece, write a short statement of your intention. See an example on the Resources page. What are you trying to portray? How are you doing this?

Watch a range of dance performances online. Choose one and complete this review on the performance you have chosen.

• Have you used variation to keep people's interest?
• Have you shown ability to structure ideas into a coherent whole (for example, the dance has an appropriate balance of repetition and variety, a clear beginning, middle, and end, and a sense of shape and progression and a good story)?
• Refine and rehearse your dance and ensure some rehearsals have been done in the performance space, with approved costuming and relevant production technologies.
• Perform your piece to others and get their feedback - what do they think?
• From feedback, improve your piece (Resilient)

Complete your Learning Narrative 2

Video your performance - watch it. Is it effective?

Refine your piece and re-work until you think it is effective and convincing. (Resilient)

Listen carefully to the advice of your performers or kaiako, and further refine and re-work your piece. Repeat the refining process until you feel your piece is as effective and convincing as you can make it.

Performance

Perform your dance. (Collaborative, Contributor, Compassionate)

In a quality group performance, the performers will:

• enthusiastically interact with each other
• respond to each another

In all performances, performers will:

• respond to the space in which they are performing
• respond to the audience
• display self-assurance
• perform fluently, with any errors making little or no impact on the overall audience response.

Complete your Learning Narrative 3