Lesson video

Keeping safe in this lesson.

If you are unsure about doing any of the activities in this lesson, make sure you have a trusted adult nearby when you start them.

This lesson should ideally take place indoors but you could work outside if it was warm and dry enough and safe to do so.

Ensure there is space for you to work safely, including overhead.

Use bare feet.

And make sure your floor is not slippery.

Ensure that you're wearing comfortable clothing putting your hair up if needed and removing any jewellery.

Pause your video now if there's anything you need to do to get ready.

In this lesson, you will need to make sure that you've got your appropriate clothing on.

You have some writing equipment, so paper and pen.

And double check that space making sure that you've cleared any obstacles out of the way.

Let's go.

So, first of all, we're going to do a warmup.

We'll then get into kit structuring devices and form and you're going to take part in a workshop based activity with me.

We're then going to look at using different aural settings.

Aural setting is what we hear when we're dancing.

So that can include music and sound effects.

And then you're going to take part in your exit quiz.

So, key words that we need to know today.

Structuring devices.

These are ways to piece together our movement material.

Form is presenting your choreography in a way that has a sense of logical structure and unity.

Let us take part in our warmup activity.

A pulse raiser, this is something that increases their heart rate and breathing rate, makes that blood circulate around our body.

We then need to make sure that we mobilise our joints to get some movement and flexibility into them.

And then secondly, we need to think about some stretches of our big muscle groups.

So the first thing I'd like you to do is to give me some examples of pulse raising activities.

So you can either jot them down on a piece of paper or you can call them out to me right now and have a little pause and then come back to me.

Great, so if you gave me examples such as starting off with walking, gentle jogging or star jumps then they're brilliant examples of things that you could do.

The next thing we're going to look at is things that can mobilise our joints.

So once again, jot them down or call them out, off you go.

Excellent, so if you gave things like shoulder rolls, rolling down through the spine, arm circles, they're great examples.

Finally, we're going to look at some things that we could do for stretching.

So once again either jot them down on a piece of paper or call them out, off you go.

Great, so in this one we're looking for examples such as lunges, twists, anything like that will be brilliant.

What I'm going to do now is I'm just going to show you a few examples of things that I would include in my warmup.

And you can use these for ideas if you get stuck.

So we've got things like taking our head to the side, looking up and down.

You've got things like shoulder circles.

You can take that to your elbows, you take that into your arms, rolling down through the spine.

You can take something like a big lunge forwards.

If you wanted to make that more dynamic you can take it into like a walking lunge.

You could do something where you have twists.

Anything that's going to make those joints nice and warm and nice and supple.

So, what I'd like you to do here is to pause your video, pop your music on and spend about three minutes working through your warmup.

Once you've done that, come back to me and we'll move on to our next task.

So, exploring structure and form.

Let's look at ways that we can put dance material together.

So in this final lesson, we're going to look at structuring movement material and piecing it together.

And then exploring how we can use sound to make our work come to life.

The first thing you need to do is think about all the material that we've got.

So we've got loads of material now and the way that we can put it together is going to help our audience to understand what we're trying to communicate with them.

So this idea of seeing below the surface and not really knowing what's going on in someone's head is really useful because it might be that we're trying to communicate a story or reach out to the person watching and to give them an insight into maybe our thoughts and feelings.

So my first instinct is to think about what we've got.

We've got gestural movements, things where we use our arms. We've got this idea of pedestrian movement which can move us around the space as if we were out and about.

We've got this idea of this oppressive fog weighing down on us and making us feel like we're restricted.

And then we also have this idea of distorting movement and creating angles that we've explored throughout this unit.

So what we're going to do is I'm going to give you some suggestions of ways in which you might decide to put that movement together.

We're going to learn some more key words.

So, binary is a simple structure with two contrasting sections.

An A section and a B section.

If we look at this image of my biscuits, we've got a party ring and then we've got a chocolate hobnob.

So they have very contrasting textures, tastes and flavours.

And the same goes with our dance.

Our section A if it's the party ring might have one particular focus e.

g.

, it might be a really fast and smooth section of movement.

And then section B is going to contrast that.

So my chocolate hobnob is a little bit more rough around the edges and a bit more textured.

So the movement material would reflect those two different qualities.

We're now going to look at ternary, which is a fairly simple structure with two contrasting sections.

One of which is usually repeated and or developed and we know this as an ABA structure.

So back to these biscuits, if we have a look now we've got a chocolate hobnobs section followed by the party ring section and then another chocolate hobnob section.

But this time, that section would look slightly different.

So once again, the different sections are going to have contrasting qualities, but our A section when we see it again is going to be developed so it doesn't look the same as the original time that we saw it.

We're now going to look at rondo as a structure, and this has the same form as a song.

So we see, for example, a verse, a chorus and bridge.

So back to those biscuits again, this is what a rondo structure would look like.

So we've got party rings, we've got chocolate hobnobs, we've got a caramel crispy cake as well.

So, let's look at those biscuits again.

As you can see we've got this pattern where we have the party rings, the chocolate hobnobs, and then in the middle we have this crispy cake, which is a new section.

So all of these sections are repeated.

Maybe with some developments in them We might see some of the same movement done in exactly the same way but maybe in a different use of space.

And then the crispy cake helps to break all of that up with something that again is a brand new idea.

Theme and variation.

So these are sections which have similarities within them tied together with repeated sections.

So, let's take a look at this as a picture.

So we've got chocolate hobnob, we've got a bourbon, a party ring, a caramel crispy cake and then a chocolate hobnob.

So, let's take a look at this.

We can see that four of our sections have got something in common.

So that is a recurring theme.

So if we take the picture, the theme would be chocolate and the variation would be the icing.

But we've also got variation in the shapes.

So we've got rectangular and circular shapes in here.

Now, if we apply it to movement our theme would be movement that looks really, really similar and is repeated.

So for example, it might be a particular arm gesture or way of moving that we see several times over.

And then the variation is going to be things that contrast that.

So it might be something that travels or is floor-based and that provides the variation within our work.

So, let's look at the ways that we can put that dance material together.

So I look at a theme and variation structure.

So, with theme and variation we have these common bits that we keep coming back to and then we show some variety in between their contrast.

So, my main theme is going to be this idea of trying to pull away from something that makes me feel uncomfortable.

So, you will see some sections where I use the distorting of the body movements to show that idea of pulling away.

To make that more varied I'm going to then show you how I can put different types of actions interspersed to make that work.

So my first section is going to be this part.

My next section which is a theme on that is going to be this part here that I had from my distortion.

So I've got a theme of pulling away in that section, I've got a theme of pulling away in this section and my final pulling away part is going to be this.

A hyperextension in my back.

And that's just going to be one action.

Pause the video here and then come back when you're ready to try the next task.

So now I've looked at my theme movement material, I'm now going to look at my variation material.

So I want to break those things up so that we don't have that all happening at the same time.

So the ways in which I'm going to break that up are to use some of my pedestrian actions and also some things like leaps and turns to move me around my space.

So, the first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to have this idea of running.

So I'm going to run towards this corner and then I'm going to run back and I'm going to turn around.

So that will go in between one of my pulling away sections.

My other variation is going to be something on the floor.

So I'm going to have this idea of pushing out, coming in, tucking in, and then looking up.

So I push out.

I tuck in.

I look up.

Pause the video here and then come back when you're ready to try the next task.

So now what I need to do is to piece those ideas together.

Obviously your ideas might be longer than mine but this is hopefully just an idea of seeing how we can use that theme and variation to work really successfully.

So, I pulled out, I crossed down, up to here.

I'm then going to run forwards, run backwards, and turn around to pull out.

Pull up.

I'm then going to use a transition where I roll onto the floor.

Push out, tuck in, up.

I'm then going to push myself up and lean back.

And then I might decide to run off.

And I'm going to do that.

Let's do that one more time.

Hopefully you followed along with my tasks.

What I'd like you to do now is look at the way that you can arrange your movement material into sections to help show a possible idea or outcome.

So you can choose any of those structures.

I know we explored theme and variation together but you could choose another structure if you wish to.

And you can use any of the movement material that we have created so far.

You may wish to write down what your structure is and a reason why.

And you may wish to also video your work as you go along so that you can go back and review it.

Aural setting, the sounds that accompany a piece of dance.

This can be traditional music, or it can be something else.

For example, it could be the sound of nature.

Found sound and is sound created in the performance environment.

This might be the dancers using a prop or set to create sound.

If you've seen the musical Stomp the dancers use things like rubbish bins and brooms to help create sound.

Body percussion.

Dancers use parts of their body to create sound, for example, stamping the feet, clapping or clicking.

So our creative session today is going to be selecting an aural setting.

So, using the material that you've got and the structure that you've already come up with you are now going to create and decide what type of aural setting that you think would be appropriate for your choreography.

We will also see how changing the type of a compliment affects the way that the movement looks and feels.

What I have done is given you some examples to help you get going, and I've also performed these with some different accompaniments.

So, you can have a look and see how the task pans out and also hopefully have some ideas for how you might put your own work together.

So, let's look at some of our vocab.

We need to think about words, orchestral, and this is classical music using several different types of instruments.

So this would be for example, violins, flutes, clarinets, traditional orchestral music.

Electronic.

So this is the sound created on keyboards and computers.

Natural sound.

So this is sound heard in a particular setting, for example, birdsong.

And spoken word.

This is using voice to dictate rhythm of action.

Now you've seen my examples, jot down some ideas and think about how the different sounds affected the way that my movement material looked and the way in which I performed it.

Then you're going to spend some time experimenting with different types of accompaniment as suggested and thinking about how it affects the way that you perform your actions.

You can use the accompaniment that I did or you can choose some of your own.

You can video yourself performing the exercise and watch it back to help you review.

Resume the video once you're done.

Which was your preferred choice of accompaniment and why? What impact did changing the aural setting have on the way that the movement was performed? Pause the video to write down your thoughts.

Don't forget, you can share your work with us.

If you'd like to do so please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Twitter, and don't forget to tag us in it.

Thank you for taking part and I really hope you've enjoyed this unit of work, bye.