Dance Appreciation

Dance Appreciation

Leaving Certificate Applied

Sharon Phelan

· Leaving Certificate Applied Dance Appreciation Units

· Key Underlying Principles

· Sample Dance Appreciation Assignments

Sharon Phelan

Leaving Certificate Applied Dance Appreciation Units

Dance One

Dance Appreciation

The student will be able to:

· Actively notice and pay attention to dance as an art form

· Describe a performer’s/choreographer’s use of the body, timing and space

· Appreciate other students’ work, and comment constructively, with due regard for their creative efforts

Dance Two

Dance Appreciation

The student will be able to:

· Identify appropriate/inappropriate use of body parts and shapes, ways of travelling, space, energy and time in movement pieces

· Appreciate different dance pieces individually and in group situations and through written and oral work

· Investigate when, how, why and where people dance, through questionnaires, surveys, interviews, the internet etc

· Present his/her dance research findings to different audiences

· Observe two video recordings of different dance styles and discuss orally the similarities, and notable differences between them

Sharon Phelan

Key Underlying Principles

Guidelines:

The following are only suggestions where the Key Underlying Principles of Leaving Certificate Applied can be integrated into the Dance Appreciation Units of the Leaving Certificate Applied Syllabus

· Teamwork:

Allow students appreciate movement individually or in large and small group situations and through oral/written work

Students can appreciate each other’s work. [E.g. Did Group A use similar or different floor patterns than your group?]

· Active Learning Methodologies

Students can complement their oral/written description of a piece through demonstrating parts of the piece themselves

· Basic Skills [literacy]

Encourage students to use basic dance terminology [e.g. rhythm, set dance, space, waltz etc] when describing a piece

Let Students describe the travelling actions, [jumping, turning, skipping], the body parts employed [toes, hands, spine], and the body shapes [twisted, straight, wide] in a dance piece

Sharon Phelan

· Integration across the Curriculum

The student can identify the stimulus/stimuli behind any dance piece [e.g. Story, poem, word, and song, custom]

· Links with the Community

Encourage students to attend local dance shows and to provide oral / written reports of their evaluations

Sharon Phelan

Five Steps in Learning To Appreciate Dance

1. Perception Asks the person to actively notice and pay attention

2. Description Asks the person to give substance to their perception

3. Analysis Asks the person to examine relationships, characteristics, amounts…

4. Interpretation Encourages speculative [tentative] thinking

5. Evaluation Enters into preferences, opinion, and subjective layers of response

Sharon Phelan

Case Study:

A Visit to a Theatre Performance

Siamsa Tíre

The National Folk Theatre of Ireland

Before embarking on a dance appreciation exercise, the class should always explore the background of the performing company:

Siamsa Tire is the national folk theatre of Ireland. Broadly speaking, it is a theatrical representation of Irish folk culture. Based in Tralee, Co. Kerry, it also has two training centres – one in Finuge, near Listowel in North Kerry and one in Carraig near Dingle. Pupils complete a three-year course in traditional Irish dance, music, singing and mime. During springtime each year a show opens especially geared towards school pupils in the theatre in Tralee.

One show, Ding Dong Dedero, examines the life of Jerry Molyneaux a famed North Kerry dancing master. It explores his life and the legacy of dance that he left behind. The curtain opens with a prophet, who forecasts fame for the new–born blacksmith’s son [Jerry Molyneaux]. Later in the first act, dancing spirits emerge from the fires in the forge to perform a ritualistic dance around Molyneaux and he awakens into manhood.

In the second act, the ringing of a mass bell interrupts the men’s pagan ritualistic dance. The cast drift off stage holding rosary beads but the priest is not seen. As the chant of the rosary grows louder, Jerry Molyneaux dances to the rhythm of the rosary on the anvil. There is a suggestion that for this man his dance is his prayer and the anvil his alter. These scenes are reflective of the pagan influence already mentioned with reference to the Celts.

In The Chair Dance –the dancer, a piece devoted to the memory of Jack Lyons, [one of Molyneaux’s finer pupils], the dancers perform in Molyneaux’s unique style. It is a style often described as earthy, as the dancer performs close to the ground. [Molyneaux was said to write on the floor with his feet.] These steps are currently in Siamsa tire’s archives because Jack Lyons agreed to have them videotaped in 1983. Then he could only dance with the aid of a chair. The stage reflects this. Five dancers either sit or stand with the support of chairs.

Dance Appreciation Exercise

‘The Chair Dance’

Siamsa Tíre

· Can you name the dance form, the choreographic structure, the accompaniment, and the type of stimulus employed by the performers?

Description

· Examine the use of space and the relationship between the performers.

Analysis

· Investigate the use of lighting, sound and costume?

Analysis

· Were there original movements used that you had never seen before?

Analysis

· Why does the choreographer use periods of silence?

Interpretation

Sharon Phelan