Brolga (2001)

Next Steps

FOR YEARS 3/4

Expand on known ideas to create new and imaginative combinations through improvising, exploring and experimenting with movement.

Explore following one person, copying what they do as they move around the room. The person leading should move slowly so that the person/s behind can copy easily.
Take turns leading a group. Try following in a line or in a triangle behind the leader. Which group formation makes it easier to see what the leader is doing?
Think of a bird perched on a tree branch. Copy the way it might look around to see other birds. Use your shoulders and arms to show that a bird’s wings are folded at their sides. Use your toes and ankles to show how a bird might cling onto a branch.
Think of a bird with a long neck. Using all your body, explore looking up, around and down on the ground. Now just use your arm to show the same ideas.
Think of a bird with long legs. How does it move when it is in a hurry? How might it move when it is moving slowly?

Transfer and apply information in one setting to enrich another.

Explore floor pathways. Follow a leader who ‘draws’ a line on the floor with their travelling pathway. Walk in curved pathways then in straight pathways.
Meet then part with a partner or a group.
Form a circle around an object or a person, move around, towards or away from the centre of the circle.

Make dance sequences.

Explore different ways of moving in a group: running, galloping, sliding and crawling.
Watch another animal which moves in groups (fish, kangaroo, ant). What formation does this group make?
Choose pathways (curved, straight, changing direction) to travel.
Use sounds to accompany the movement. Do some sounds suit the different ways of moving more than others?
Move from small groups to large groups then back to moving as an individual or pair.

Experiment with a range of options when seeking solutions and putting ideas into action.

Experiment with making shapes with different parts of your body. Try making round, elongated, symmetrical and asymmetrical shapes.
Choose your four favourite shapes. Taking turns with a partner, make one of your shapes, then repeat it while your partner copies you.
Do the same with your partner’s first shape. Keep doing this for all of your shapes. Repeat this sequence of eight shapes with your partner.

Explore situations using creative thinking strategies to propose a range of alternatives

Make and record a series of sounds to use as a sound track for dance. Does this soundtrack alter the way you move?

Draw on prior knowledge and use evidence when choosing a course of action or drawing a conclusion.

Try moving with increasing speed or slowing down. Does it look more natural (like a group of animals) to move exactly at the same time or at slightly different times?
Do certain pathways or formations remind you of flight or gathering around a waterhole?
What are some of the things that a chosen animal may do.

Communicate ideas through art works.

Combine a sequence based on travelling, one of the sequences using a specific formation and a sequence of different shapes. Choose the order in which you will perform each sequence and in which direction or part of the room you will perform the sequence.
Is there a story in the dance?

Reflect on, explain and check the processes used to come to conclusions. explaining ways they check their thinking and deal with setbacks.

Reflect on this order to see if you now have a clear beginning, middle and end. Alter the order to improve the changes between each sequence. If you are communicating a story in your dance is it clear?
Perform your dance to another group. Ask them what they saw and felt when they watched your dance. Could they see different pathways, formations and shapes? Did they see a story?

Explain and justify ideas and outcomes

What could you call your dance? What kind of costume could you make or choose to go with your dance? Why have you made these choices?
What did some of the shapes you chose remind you of?
How did the dance begin and how did it end?

FOR YEARS 5/6

Expand on known ideas to create new and imaginative combinations through improvising, exploring and experimenting with movement.

Explore following one person, copying what they do as they move around the room. The person leading should move slowly so that the person/s behind can copy easily.
Take turns leading a group. Try following in a line or in a triangle behind the leader. Which group formation makes it easier to see what the leader is doing?
Move on different levels (high medium low), on the spot and when travelling.
In small groups explore copying another person changing levels as you move from one place to the next.
Explore leg and arm gestures that lead toward, away from, and around your body.
Experiment balancing on two legs then one leg; shift between different body bases – hands, feet, bottom, back, forearms.
Use different parts of your body to make patterns in the air – straight, angular, twisting (think of drawing with a sparkler at night but with different parts of your body). Make patterns in front of your body, behind and all around. Change the size of the movement to very small or very large. Travel as you make the patterns in the air.
Explore moving in unison, then copying the same movement one after the other – in canon.

Transfer and apply information in one setting to enrich another

Using just your head, neck and shoulders experiment with movements which remind you of the actions of birds. Try to vary your movements so that you are describing the birds doing different things – nesting, feeding, searching.
Use your arms to describe the same actions.
Use your whole body to describe the walking actions of a brolga. How does it move when it is in a hurry? How might it move slowly?
Explore different dynamics as you vary your movements.
Explore different combinations of dancers moving at the same time.
What does it feel like to be moving as a part of a group? What does it feel like to be dancing separate to the group?

Make dance sequences

Explore different ways of moving in a group: running, jumping, sliding, rolling, slithering, spinning, shrinking, exploding and collapsing.
Watch animals which move in groups (fish, kangaroos, ants). What formation do these groups make? What floor and/or air pathways do they take? Use these pathways to create a sequence of events.
Contrast the movements of one dancer with the patterns of the group. Take turns in the solo role.
Use sounds to accompany the movement. Do some sounds suit the different ways of moving more than others?

Experiment with a range of options when seeking solutions and putting ideas into action.

Experiment with making and recalling movements using different leading body parts for each. Choose your four favourite movements. Show your partner each movement and teach it to them. Now swap roles.

Explore situations using creative thinking strategies to propose a range of alternatives.

Try taking turns performing each of your four movement sequences. A then B
Perform both of your sequences at the same time. A and B
Join both sequences so that they flow from one to the other. A joined onto B.
How else could you link these sequences?

Draw on prior knowledge and use evidence when choosing a course of action or drawing a conclusion.

Try moving using different dynamics to describe a sequence of events involving a group of animals.
What are some of the things that a chosen animal may do? Create two sections of the sequence which are in a particular place and other sections where you travel.

Communicate ideas through art works.

Combine a sequence based on specific gestures, with a sequence using air pathways and a sequence of different group shapes. Choose the order in which you will perform each sequence and in which direction or part of the room you will perform the sequence.
Is there a story in the dance?

Reflect on, explain and check the processes used to come to conclusions. explaining ways they check their thinking and deal with setbacks.

Reflect on this order to see if you now have a clear beginning, middle and end. Alter the order to improve the changes between each sequence. If you are communicating a story in your dance, is it clear?
Perform your dance to another group. Ask them what they saw and felt when they watched your dance. Could they see different pathways, formations and gestures? Did they see a story, series of events or an idea?

Explain and justify ideas and outcomes

What could you call your dance? What kind of costume could you make or choose to go with your dance? Why have you made these choices?
How is the movement of the body used to represent the animal or idea?
How did the dancers use space and energy to create the ideas/feelings in this dance?
Which elements of dance were used?
What could you learn from watching animals and creating sequences based on their movements?