DOCUMENT RESUME ED 398 607 AUTHOR Morin, Francine L.

Dance Drama9Burton, 1955; Preston-Dunlop, 1980; Booth & Lundy, 1985;Gell, 1973; Goodridge, 1970).Simpler pieces of ashorter duration can result from conveying the messageof a proverb or magical saying.Questions and answersto riddles can provide humorous content.Nursery rhymesand poetry provide a wide range of level specificcontent for children's dance dramas.Longer and moreelaborate works can serve to communicate events ofethnic folk tales, fairy tales, stories, myths, legendsand even excerpts from classical literature.Aesthetic content can also be selected from a widerange of stimuli that function to arouse the child'sthinking and provide the impulse for the making of theirown story content.Possible clusters of stimuli mightfall into the following categories:auditory, visual,ideational, philosophical, or antagonistical.It might be helpful for the reader at this pointto be somewhat more illustrative about the stimuluscategories.Auditory stimuli encompass referentialmusic, vocal/instrumental/environmental sounds, andsound/song stories (Way, 1967; Preston-Dunlop, 1980;Burton, 1955; Smith, 1976).Some ideas might be stirredusing visual stimuli such as pictures, statues orobjects (Smith, 1976).Comprehensive lists ofideational stimuli can be found in Ellfeldt (1967).

Dance Drama10Examples of this category are historical events,religion, nature, rituals or everyday activities(Gell, 1973; Laban, 1980; Burton, 1955).Questions that have plagued man about life forgenerations can be classed as philosophical stimuli.Dance dramas built around themes like birth, death,growth, decay, struggle, victory, defeat, and fate areof the philosophical sort (Burton, 1955).Challen(1973) suggested that the darker, more serious themesof life should be included along with the light, moreinnocent themes in educational dance drama.He pointedout that dance dramas provide a safe forum for childrento dramatize serious themes and release fears.Way (1967) and Nash (1974) pointed to the use ofabstract-opposites as possible catalysts for dance dramacontent.The present author has decided to label theseas antagonistical stimuli because of their overridingpotential to evoke intense conflict.Possible pairs ofstimuli are war/peace, water/fire, rich/poor, light/darkor loud/soft.Although these ideas could easily beimmersed in other categories, the dual and ongoingtreatment of tension and resolution tends to set themapart.The extent of teacher involvement in thedevelopment of aesthetic content is not given much

Dance Drama11attention in the literature.Directives which areoffered tend to be rather conflicting.Way (1967) andChallen (1973) suggested leaving children to decide forthemselves what is to be expressed.McGregor and others(1977) recognize this approach, but caution thatchildren often take too long in making decisions.Inaddition, they asserted that there is no guaranteechildren will significantly challenge themselves.Thewhole process, then, might result in superficial subjectmatters and lines of inquiry.A more structuredapproach seemed favored by these authors.Teachers givea specific stimulus, explore particular ideas along withchildren as they are guided in expressing theirfeelings.A wise bit of advice from Challen (1973),however, is noteworthy.He suggested working with andaccepting what children offer and then attempting toextend their range of problems to those which stretchthem further along.What seems most logical to this author is that theteacher clearly must facilitate and ensure growth.Thelevel of involvement would simply exist on a continuumfrom greater to lesser amounts as the teacher makesjudgments about the quality of aesthetic content drawnfrom children and its potential for new learnings.addition to preventing children from exploring theIn

Dance Drama12simplistic, this principle would also protect childrenfrom selecting content too complex.The Study of Expressive DevicesThe student of dance drama needs to be fully awareof the character being represented, the values afterwhich the character strives and the situations whichdevelop out of the striving (Laban, 1980).As part ofthis expressive function, students must, then, selectmovements appropriate to the character, values andparticular situation.Children's skills in making theseselections do not happen simply by chance.Thefundamentals of communication and symbolizing must beidentified and taught (Preston-Dunlop, 1980; Barton &others, 1969).Everything must be analyzed in termsof movement and appropriate expressive means.From the onset, children will need to understandthat communication in dance drama is quite differentfrom communicating through ordinary language.It willbe necessary to learn a special dance drama languagethat will open up avenues for sending ideas and feelingsto others, a language of movement symbols.Effectivearticulation of movement symbols will help participantsmake clear their intentions.The meanings which can bediscerned from dance drama will, then, depend upon theperception and comprehension of the language of dance

Dance Drama13drama, the code of artistic symbols employed.Before movement can be used as a means ofexpression, controlled use of the body in reference tomeanings communicated must be cultivated(Pemberton-Billing & Clegg, 1968; Lockhart & Pease,1977).The exploration of movement symbols inaccordance with well-established expressive deviceswill help bring conveyed intentions into focus.Theseinclude techniques and concepts related to tempo,dynamics, movement qualities and gesture.Here, itis important for children to understand that eachexpressive device elicits a different general feelingor affective state.Students should be givenexperiences that will help them become aestheticallyconscious of the impact of moving in a particular wayto achieve a representation of the subjective response.Children should be aware of the link between symbolicmovement and expression; the ways in which expressivedevices more saliently transfer ideas, moods and eventsinto action.This ability to sense the subtle and thedistinct in movement will serve to enhance the dancedrama experience.The primary instrument of expression in dance dramais the body; however, much support is given bytheatrical devices.These include stage movement, music17

Dance Drama14and sound accompaniment, lighting, sets,makeup.costume andThe overall purpose of these devices is to makeclearer the meaning of the dance drama by.ornamentingthe action.Theatrical devices lend emphasis toimportant aspects of the aesthetic content by minglingand becoming absorbed with other aesthetic elements.TempoThe expressive quality of movement is affected byits overall speed.Children should experience and learnto apply those aspects of tempo that affect the dancedrama.Tempo is determined by meaning and is implicitin the feeling or image to be portrayed (Findlay,1971).For example, a sad situation will demand slowmovements and a happy event will require fastmovements.Children will soon discover that themuscular feel of motions of quicker durations are quitedifferent from the feel of those which take a longertime to execute (Cheney & Strader, 1975).In addition,it is useful to understand that totally distinctmovement qualities can be produced by manipulating thetempo of the same movement.Tasks must be designed to help children developacute tempo perceptions and to determine the appropriateblend of energy and space in executing a motion.Initially, the discrimination between fast and slow18

Dance Drama15tempi as they deter from the moderate can be targeted(Lockhart & Pease, 1977).Situational examples in dancedrama contexts can be used to clarify and associatetempo.To illustrate, the element of surprise or shockinterrupts a moderate tempo when images of fear, joy oranger are introduced to quicken the movement.Further exercises can be built around the idea oftempo graduations.Borrowing terms from the musicalworld, accelerando refers to a progressive increase ofoverall speed.A child quickens his pace when he looksup at the sky and sees the formation of rain clouds.When the speed of a movement gradually decreases, weare referring to the ritardando.A group of childrenrepresenting a train coming into the town station couldcreate a decelerating effect.It is probably importantto note at this point that young children findgraduations in movement difficult to control.Findlay(1971) also cautioned that problems arise when childrenare expected to synchronize movements to tempi farremoved from those within their natural realm.Teachersof dance drama, then, must ensure that exercises aredevelopmental and do not go beyond the muscular controllimits of the child.

Dance Drama16DynamicsThe expressive quality of movement is also affectedby the degree of muscular energy expended by the body inthe execution of particular movements.This provisionfor various shades of movement is referred to asmovement dynamics or movement tone (Lockhart & Pease,1977; Findlay, 1971).Dynamics, again, must reflect themood or image to be conveyed.For example, when angryor excited, the muscles contract intensely, and indisappointment or relief they relax.The re-creation ofparticular feelings will be most effective by clear andaccurate physical responses.Children must be givenevery opportunity to develop a kinesthetic sensitivityto dynamic changes and a broad range of controlleddynamic motions (Gell, 1973).Dance drama students willneed to discover that when the dynamics of a movementare altered, the overall movement tone or feeling isalso transformed.Initial tasks, again, should be aimed at dynamiccontrasts until the distinction between tension andrelease is realized.These might include weak/strong,light/heavy or soft/loud.Children dramatizing elvesand giants would be exploring these discriminations.A sudden change in dynamics, such as the expressiveaccent, can be studied as an additional device forcreating contrast.A group of children would enjoy20

Dance Drama17portraying jack-in-the-boxes as an application of thisdevice.Later tasks can focus on more gradual changes indynamics.A progressive increase of energy can becalled a movement crescendo.Children re-creating thecoming of a thunderstorm would be building a crescendo.The progressive release of energy can be called adiminuendo and could be produced as the thunderstormgradually dies down.These transitions demand thecontrol of accumulation and release of energy which,the educator again needs to be reminded, is not easyfor youngsters.Some thoughtfulness in the selection ofappropriate imagery should help children transform theseideas into dynamic action.Movement QualitiesIn building up the child's repertoire of expressivedevices, it is useful to study some basic movementqualities and the effort theories of Rudolf Laban.Because these more complex shades of movement deal withcontrol of muscular energy, timing of motion and the useof space, it is necessary for children to have had agood foundation in tempo and dynamic exercises separatefrom all of this.It is probably advantageous to begin with groups ofmovements with similar characteristics.21The broad

Dance Drama18quality categories prepared by Lockhart and Pease (1977)suffice for work with children.These fundamentalmovement qualities include swinging, sustaining,percussing, suspending, vibrating and collapsing.Children will need to become more sensitive to a morecomplex interplay between the application and release ofenergy to produce these qualities effectively.Eachfundamental movement quality, the treatment of dynamicsand the feelingful state evoked by each is given inTable 2.Teachers are encouraged to invent short dynamicscenarios that will give children an opportunity toexplore each category of movement.Swinging, forexample, could be stimulated through imaginary trapezeactivities performed to some circus music.Percussionand vibration, on the other hand, might be tried aschildren re-create the eruption of a volcano.Smokespiralling upwards could illustrate sustained movements.Leaping over imaginary puddles of water would provide afirst experience with suspended movement.Childrenalways enjoy scenes involving non-contact fighting, warsor group attacks so that collapsing movements will comeeasily.Teachers are cautioned, however, that childrendo need to be taught how to fall safely.2.2

Dance Drama19Table 2Fundamental Movement QualitiesFUNDAMENTALMOVEMENTQUALITIESQUALITY OFFEELINGDYNAMICAPPLICATIONswinginginitial applicationof energy gives wayto downward pull ofgravityfreedom, broadscope, openness,naturalness, easesustaining(smooth/constant, steadyapplication ofenergycalmness, tranquility, self-control,restraint, suspensepercussing(staccato)intermittent application of force orenergyvigorous, explosive, sharpness,aggressivenesssuspendingpull of two opposingforces is equal;strong expenditureof energy/briefsuspension/succumbsto gravitybreathlessness,weightlessness,soaring, anticipation, ecstacyvibratingquick recurringsuccession of smallpercussive movements; energyapplied in briefintermittent spurtsquivering, shaking,trembling, primitive ritual, exorcizing, evokingmagic, fear, ragecollapsingrelease of tension;gravity takes over;gradual or suddenfalling, fainting,sinkinglegato)According to Laban (1980), body movements areexpressive and are shadowed by particular effort23

Dance Drama20patterns.Effort, he stated, is manifested in bodilyactions through four motion factors:space and flow.weight, time,Accordingly, these motion factors arecombined in various ways to produce particular nuances.The student of dance drama, whose purpose it is tocommunicate thoughts, feelings and experiences throughmovement, must learn these patterns and understand theirexpressive significance.The child in motion should develop skill inadopting a definite attitude towards each of the motionfactors by applying different effort shades.Combinations of effort shading is evident in the primaryefforts identified by Laban (1980).Four actions aremainly used in quick reactions to some externalstimulus.flick.These include the thrust, slash, dab andBy outer resistance or inner hesitation, themovement can be delayed and become sustained, using fourother primary efforts.The press, wring, glide andfloat encompass this later group.Other movements canbe discerned as derivations or variations of primaryefforts (Nash, 1974).In addition to these, there aremany other action words which exaggerate these primaryeffort actions, such as smash, grope, or drag.Thereare also incomplete effort actions such as the fall orrise.Any of these movements may occur in time and24

Dance Drama21space with weight and flow.It is not within the scope of this paper to elaboratein detail the complexity of Laban's effort theory.Thepurpose here is simply to frame some of the main ideasfor those concerned with dance drama.A conciserelationship between Laban's motion and effort factorswith attitude and feeling are presented in Table 3.Asummary of his primary effort factors, derivatives andvariations of each are given in Table 4.There is muchsource material derived from the method theories ofmovement analyst Rudolf Laban.Teachers are encouragedto search out these materials and adapt them for thedance drama curriculum.Table 3The Relationship Between Laban's Motion and Effort LITY ldingliberatingpausingfluid25

Dance Drama22Table 4Laban's Primary Effort Factors, Derivatives and VariationsPRIMARYEFFORTSCOMBINATIONS OFEFFORT SHADINGDERIVATIVES ANDVARIATIONSThrustdirect, firm, suddenshove, punch, poke,pierceSlashflexible, firm, suddenbeat, throw, whipDabdirect, light, suddenpat, tap, shakeFlickflexible, light, suddenflip, flap, jerkUsed in quick reaction to some external stimulusPressdirect, firm,sustainedcrush, cut, squeeze,push, pull, hitWringflexible, firm,sustainedpull, pluck, stretch,twist, squeezeGlidedirect, light,sustainedsmooth, smear,smudge, sway, swingFloatflexible, light,sustainedfly, drift, strew,stir, strokeDelayed and sustained actions resulting fromouter resistance or inner hesitationGestureGesture can be thought of as characteristic movementsthat are commonly used by people in place of ordinarywords.In dance drama, gestures are communicated throughthese culturally established movement symbols(Preston-Dunlop, 1980).The more gestures in the child'spower, the greater will be his movement vocabulary and26

Dance Drama23force of expression (Gell, 1973).This large category ofknown movements called gesture can be further classifiedinto those which are social, functional, emotional orritual (DeHaan-Freed, 1976).Examples of these aregiven in Table 5.A good brain-storming session with children wouldsurely help to generate familiar gestures to classifyand practise.It would also be interesting for childrento classify, research and master the gestures of othercultures so that they can be used when ethnic sourcesare selected as aesthetic content.In dance drama, gesture scenes are often expandedinto dances.This kind of transition would be a usefulone to study with children.Some examples might begesture good-bye to a dance of parting, chopping wood toTable 5Classifications of enodhead shakebeckonpush mileangrypraysalutecurtseybowkneelknightingBecause gestures are culturally specific, when dealingwith ethnic content appropriate gestures might need to beresearched for authenticity.2d

Dance Drama24a work danc

DOCUMENT RESUME ED 398 607 CS 509 273 AUTHOR Morin, Francine L. TITLE An Investigation of Using Dance Drama as an. Expressive Idiom in Elementary Education. PUB DATE. 87 . drama into a unique art form called dance drama aims to create a kind of movement prose. The aesthetic elements of dance drama can be discerned as an intermingling of those .