Your Contemporary dance:
'Spring' from the 'Four Seasons' by Antonio Lucio Vivaldi
The version we are using is a reworked master by Max Ritcher listen here
Choreographed by Ms Samuel and students

What is the music about?
Vivaldi's Four Seasons concerti is a four part work, each part named after a different season. The first section 'Spring' is meant to evoke a sensation excitement for new beginnings. It is written in E major, and this strong key is meant to evoke the brightness of Spring, it evokes a hopeful and 'promising' sense. The violins replicate birds chirping and calling for mates.

What is the choreographers intention?
In this work the dancers pull together and apart, signifying their journey through high school and their soon to be departure on different paths. This work is a celebration of friendship, journey, reflection, change and growth. 

What is the purpose of this dance?
The purpose of this work is for dancers to hone their technical skills in this style, in particular they should embrace the release and breath principles in this dance and establish clear connections/focus with each other. The release reflects their upcoming move in to a new chapter of their lives, to go forward with their full selves!

What emotions should we project when performing?
Happiness, connection, hope

What is the mood/atmosphere we are trying to evoke through our performance?

Freedom, release, unity  

Assessment: 

Part of your assessment is to communicate convincingly the purpose of the dance. This means convey the ideas, mood, feelings and expressiveness of it.

Take time to reflect on the purpose and practice how you are going to interpret this and show it through your performance. 

Quotes for student-led chore

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”

 — George Bernard Shaw

“Even the greatest was once a beginner. Don’t be afraid to take that first step.”
— Muhammad Ali

“New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings.”
— Lao Tzu

Features of Contemporary dance

'Features' are the stylistic details that make a dance style unique. The stylistic details/features of Contemporary dance that you are aiming to demonstrate are:

• purposeful posture;

• use of contraction of the torso;

• catch and release;

• purposeful footwork (pointed or flexed);

• harnessing weight in plies;

• low, wide stance;

• connection between self, body parts, other dancers and the audience.
  
  

• the six NZ Contemporary dance principles which are:
  -suspension
  -momentum
  -gravity
  -release
  -tension
  -breath

There are different techniques of Contemporary to train in around the world. New Zealand has it's own Contemporary technique which are centred around the six principles listed above. 

It is important to note in NZ Contemporary technique we stay very low and grounded in our stance, and use a lot of ground/floor work compared to other Contemporary techniques seen around the world. 

Task: examples to watch and analyse

Below are four videos of Hip Hop performances

1) Watch them all!
2) The teacher will allocate you one for the following instructions.
3) Choose four of the 'features' of the style, and find a moment this is extremely evident in your chosen video.
4) Write down the timestamps of these moments.
5) Answer the following questions and prepare to share these in front of the class:
-how do you see this feature being used? What is happening on stage? Use your Dance terminology.
-was this moment effective? Why/why not?

Video 1: Shattered Moon
Video 2: MOIRA
Video 3: Recovery  

 Any questions or concerns? Please contact your teacher:
Miss Samuel: jsamuel@ormiston.school.nz