Spring is here! Flowers are blooming, animals are being born, and new creation is happening everywhere! Our Jazz & Ballet Academy students are beginning their student choreography projects. For those students in our VPA classes, we like for them to try to work beyond the "choose-a-popular-song-and-add-your-favorite-moves" method of choreography. We want them to think deeper and work on their storytelling abilities in their movement. It is also a perfect time to add a cross-curricular connection. Last year we delved into history and this year we are working with English. At a VPA staff meeting 1st semester, I started the planning with English and some other fellow VPA teachers were willing to go along for the ride, making for a huge school project.
I am happy to share full post dedicated to: Look. Listen. Create.
Project Summary: Music theory kids have created student-composed pieces of music as part of their curriculum. That music was then played in Art classes as the inspiration for the students to create their artwork. That artwork has now been passed to the English department who are currently creating student poetry. That poetry will come to the dancers to create their student choreography projects. Select pieces from the choreography projects will presented on stage at our annual Student Choreographers' Showcase which is open to both the public and the school. Student creation and collaboration at it's finest!
STEP 1: ARTWORK
While we had our PIE grant yoga mats out, the students continued to rotate through different stretches while we did some role reversal to put ourselves into our fellow students shoes and think about their creation process. We downloaded 2 apps: Brushes Redux and Drawing Desk. I then played 1 of the student-created music pieces. Students then drew/sketched their own digital art. We repeated the process with a 2nd piece of music to show how we don't just draw the same thing, we can be inspired in different ways be different sources.We are NOT trained in art but I was so excited at how they came out and the students really enjoyed the activity!
When we finished, we loaded our art work into a student-portfolio app, SeeSaw, and wrote a reflection on the experience and the outcome.
I am happy to share full post dedicated to: Look. Listen. Create.
Project Summary: Music theory kids have created student-composed pieces of music as part of their curriculum. That music was then played in Art classes as the inspiration for the students to create their artwork. That artwork has now been passed to the English department who are currently creating student poetry. That poetry will come to the dancers to create their student choreography projects. Select pieces from the choreography projects will presented on stage at our annual Student Choreographers' Showcase which is open to both the public and the school. Student creation and collaboration at it's finest!
STEP 1: ARTWORK
While we had our PIE grant yoga mats out, the students continued to rotate through different stretches while we did some role reversal to put ourselves into our fellow students shoes and think about their creation process. We downloaded 2 apps: Brushes Redux and Drawing Desk. I then played 1 of the student-created music pieces. Students then drew/sketched their own digital art. We repeated the process with a 2nd piece of music to show how we don't just draw the same thing, we can be inspired in different ways be different sources.We are NOT trained in art but I was so excited at how they came out and the students really enjoyed the activity!
When we finished, we loaded our art work into a student-portfolio app, SeeSaw, and wrote a reflection on the experience and the outcome.
STEP 2: POETRY
Next, it was time to step into the shoes of the English students. My students got to complete a "gallery-walk" of student art work (as created when listening to the student music). They chose a piece that spoke to them and were instructed to write their own poem. The had the option to use apps such a Theme Poem, Haiku, Diamante, or Poetreat to help them or create their own. They found this activity even harder than the art creation. Then in SeeSaw they loaded the artwork they had chosen, the poem they wrote, and a reflection of the experience and the outcome.
STEP 3: POEM SELECTION & PHOTOGRAPHY
Dancers then chose the groups they would be working with for student choreography. I had loaded all of the poems written by both English I and IV students into a collaborative Google Folder for all groups to access. After reading the poems, they chose one that they would be analyzing and creating a dance around. Since dancers are more comfortable using their body to story-tell, they were then instructed to create dance photography that could represent parts of the poem. Using various photo editing apps and Text on Photo, they add text from the poetry to the photographs. These will be used to display at the student choreography showcase. These were loaded into SeeSaw.
STEP 4: CHOREOGRAPHY
Students have now begun their journey into the choreography. They must chose and edit music, chose costumes, and be sure that their dance meets the requirements of the dance rubric. Level 1-3 Jazz must do small group projects, Level 4 has the option of group or solo projects.
There will be a final product documenting the entire process, that the students will be able to add to their final submissions in their SeeSaw portfolio.
Next week I will continue share updates on the project along with some sneak peeks!
Elsewhere in dance land...
- Dance 2 used Padlet for their cultural dance note taking and well as a Google form for doing a self-analysis of their student choreography projects.
- Dance & Media are working on their transmedia project using choreography, improvisation, still photography, videography, and editing. We Hope (fingers crossed) to be able to play it at the student showcase. The name of it is called Cybershadow. Keep an eye out for some early social media previews #cybershadow
- All classes are still completing journal entries in Google Classroom
Comments
Post a Comment