Mathinna (2008)

Next Steps

FOR YEARS 5/6

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

Explore different movements based on daily activities (waking up, cleaning teeth, getting dressed, and eating breakfast).
Experiment with these movements making them larger and simpler (just choose the important movements and remove most of the repetitions).
Move on different levels (high, medium, low), on the spot and when travelling.
Explore movements which describe wearing different clothes. Ask if another person can guess what you are ‘wearing’.
Pretend to hold an object which is precious to you. Show its size and weight in the way that you hold it.

Transfer and apply information in one setting to enrich another.

Write or find a story that describes losing and/or finding something precious
Use mime to describe the story through movement
Travel across the room while you hold your object.
Exaggerate and simplify the movements so that the gestures become easy to see.
Explore different dynamics as you vary your movements and what you do with the imaginary object, for example, scoop the object into your hand, hold it tight, throw it in the air playfully, run to catch it, and/or swing in around.

Make dance sequences.

Select your favourite parts of your precious object ‘story’ making sure that you keep a mixture of different travelling movements. Repeat this sequence so that you are able to perform it in the same way each time.
Teach your sequence to another student or small group.

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

Choose a series of different sounds or play different pieces of music to accompany the movement. Which suits the mood /ideas of your dance best?
Experiment with facing different directions and travelling to different parts of the room whilst performing your sequence.

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

Try performing your dance sequence at the same time as several other people.
Watch another group do this with their sequences. What do you see? Can you watch all of them at once or do you focus on one then another?
What catches your attention?
Try performing your sequence close to another person.
What does it look like if they are standing still? What does it look like if you are both moving?
Organise your sequences so that there is a point where you meet. What happens if you cross or interrupt each other’s sequences? Create a new duo section you could perform together (you might drop or pass your object and the other person picks it up and/or uses it).
How else could you link or contrast these sequences?

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

Use gesture and mime to describe parts of other stories you know or are reading.

Communicate ideas through art works.

Combine several different dance sequences to show different scenes in a story.
Place them in an order which helps the audience to understand the series of events.

Reflect on, explain and check the processes used to come to conclusions explaining ways students can 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? PSC

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 your idea/s?
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 people and creating sequences based on their movements?
What movements could you learn, and use in a dance, based on everyday activities and other cultural practices?

FOR YEARS 9/10

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

Explore different movements based on daily activities (waking up, cleaning teeth getting dressed and eating breakfast).
Abstract these movements (eg make them larger, remove or add repetitions, use different body parts).
Pretend to hold an object which is precious to you. Show its size and weight in the way that you hold it.
Explore movements which describe different activities. Ask if another person can guess what you are doing.
Abstract these movements by altering the dynamics of the movement.
Turn non-locomotor movements into locomotor movements.
Experiment with moving on different levels.
Respond to words as stimulus for movement (eg run, jump, catch, slide, wobble).

Transfer and apply information in one setting to enrich another.

Write a letter to someone you know describing a new experience or place that you have experienced.
Underline all the verbs in your letter then use these verbs as stimulus for movement, keeping in mind their meaning in the context of your letter.
Experiment with a mixture of whole body movements and isolations, locomotor and non locomotor. Try to avoid using movements from a specific genre.

Make dance sequences.

Select your favourite movements maintaining the original order and a variety of body actions. Being aware of your breath, form these into phrases of movement which flow comfortably together. Repeat these phrases so that you are able to perform them in the same way each time. Link phrases into longer sequences where appropriate. Is there still any link with your letter or has a new meaning developed?
Teach one of your sequences to another student or small group.
Record your sequences using your own notation.

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

Explore the potential of text based accompaniment.
Experiment with making and performing your sequence/s to an audio recording of your letter. Allow the words to ‘coexist’ with the movement rather than attempting to match them up.
Try saying the words at the same time as you perform them.
Vary the relationship by altering the dynamics of the text and/or the movement.
Incorporate text with other found sounds and/or music.

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

Try performing your dance sequence at the same time as several other people.
Watch another group do this with their sequences. What do you see? Can you watch all of them at once or do you focus on one then another?
What catches your attention?
Try performing your sequence close to another person.
What does it look like if they are standing still? What does it look like if you are both moving?
Develop a duo which involves two different sets of words.
Allow yourselves to cross or interrupt each other’s sequences.
How else could you link or contrast these sequences?

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

Utlise another person’s list of verbs or completely reorder your own. Develop a sequence using the same processes as you did for your own set.
How different is it to work with words that lack a context?

Communicate ideas through art works.

Combine several different dance sequences to show different ideas or emotions.
Place them in an order which helps the audience understand the narrative or as a contrast experiment with using unrelated or non literal movement ideas.

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

If you are communicating a story in your dance, is it clear? Reflect on this order to see if you now have a clear beginning, middle and end.
Alter the order to improve the transitions between each sequence.
If you are working with a non lliteral sequence, is it still necessary to have a beginning middle and end?
Perform your dance to another group. Ask them what they saw and they felt when they watched your dance. Did they see a story, series of events or an idea? Could they see different actions without being aware of a specific narrative?

Explain and justify ideas and outcomes

How would you describe your dance? Write a short statement of intent?
How is the movement of the body used to represent your intention?
How did the dancers use space and dynamics to create the ideas/feelings in this dance?
How did you incorporate text into the accompanying soundtrack?
What kind of costume could you make or choose to enhance your dance? Why have you made this choice?
What could you learn from using text as a stimulus for movement?

Based on Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) Level 3 statements from the Critical and creative thinking learning continuum for generating ideas, possibilities and actions, Reflecting on thinking and processes and Analysing, synthesising and evaluating reasoning and procedures areas. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Australia (CC BY NC SA) licence. Accessed June 2013.