Topics: Why do we dance? | The primary tool of dance is the human body | Natural and Internal Environment | Internal environment | Interpersonal Environment | Music | Rhythm and Movement: Drums and Feet | Movement Styles

Why do we dance?

People dance everywhere in the world. Dance tells us something about the way people think, what they feel and who they are. Dance can be done for many reasons. Ask your students and list on the board reasons they might dance. Start with examples from your own lives: e.g. "I dance when I am really happy" or "I danced at my cousin's wedding" and steer your discussion to point out that around the world, there are examples of dance connected to every life cycle event. Dance can be found at birth celebrations, rites of passage into adulthood, marriage ceremonies, in religious ceremonies such as those commemorating a death. Are there examples of dance or dance-like processions that the children know of (e.g. Day of the Dead, Asian New Year celebrations, processions of Christian saints in the church, or dance associated with Jewish holidays)? Can the children think of life cycle events where dancing or processional movement would not be welcome?

The primary tool of dance is the human body

In the concert, you will see many dancers who move in different ways. Some cultures pride themselves on moving isolated parts of the body (note the hands of the Balinese and Indian dancer and feet of the West African and Mexican dancers), while others dances are characterized by fuller use of the entire body (note the Chinese dancers). Some of the movements may be familiar to your students and some may appear to be strange. What we perceive as strange or familiar may be dictated by our own culture's view of what is aesthetically pleasing.

Natural and Internal Environment

At the concert, even though it is presented on a warmly lit stage, you will see examples of how dance reflects and responds to the natural world we live in. The Russian dancers enact a festival which symbolizes the passing of the harsh winter and the beginning of spring and rebirth of the earth. If it is cold outside or hot and humid, how would clothing influence how you dance? How do heavy winter clothes impact how you move? Compare these costumes to the African costumes? Does clothing affect movement? What other environmental factors might affect the way dancers would move?

Internal environment

Dance is always about feelings and ideas.

What are appropriate moods for dances?

How does what you feel influence your dance?

Do dancer's perform roles like actors?

Consider the idioms we use in our everyday language to express our feeling states: Jumping for joy, shaking with fear. Can you think of other examples?

• Can you identify how we associate certain emotions with locations in the body or body parts?
• What feelings are associated with the heart? (love, tenderness)
• Where do we feel fear? (chest, stomach ache)
• Where in the body do you express anger? (clenching fists, red face, stomping feet)

How many students speak another language besides English? Are the same body parts associated with the same feelings as in the English language? For example, in the Farsi language of Iran, feelings of love are associated with the stomach as well as the heart!

Interpersonal Environment

Discuss the difference in mood when the dancers perform as soloists and then when they form a group to perform as an ensemble. Soloists often "tell stories" when they dance. Look for the dancing "storytellers" in each dance. Which movements make us know what he/she is like as a person, or how he/she is feeling? How do we "read" him (or her) by observing his movements on stage?

Coordinated ensemble dancing takes a lot of practice and communication. What might the dance mean to individuals who grow up watching their families and friends all participating together? Have the children note dances or parts of dances in which individual expression is highly prized, and dances in which group unity is important. Which ones have both?

Music

What one listener finds "weird" sounding may be "cool" or "beautiful" to someone else. Our tastes--our likes and dislikes-- are formed by our cultural experiences. As the children speak about their reactions to the music, consider how to speak about it in a respectful way. How could you speak about it as a "cultural insider?" Was today's musical accompaniment well done? Did the music work well with the movements? Have you heard or seen other performances of the same kind before? How did today's performance compare?

How do the music and dance relate to each other? Is it easy to find and count out the rhythm of the music you hear? Which music styles are more difficult to count out? Does a West African performer and the Balinese performer hear the music for their dances in the same way?

What instruments do you see? Can you hear them all clearly? Which do you hear? What other sounds accompany the dance besides music? Do you hear the feet stomping, the sound of breathing, chanting, singing, hand clapping, finger snapping, yells and shouts, the sounds of costumes swishing? Are all these sounds part of the "music"?

Rhythm and Movement: Drums and Feet

Drumming and rhythm are very powerful aspects of dance traditions. You will experience live West African drumming as well as live music from Bali. Both use drums in their music. How are these two types of drumming similar? How are they different? What emotions do you associate with drums? How do the drums affect your breathing? Does the rhythm of the drum affect the way you move? Notice how the drums affect the way the dancers move.

Polyrhythms are two or more rhythms happening at once. As you listen to the drums, see if you can hear more than one rhythm at a time. Watch the dancers and watch how their bodies respond to the many rhythms. Can you see how the feet hold one pattern of movement while their arms hold another? Footwork is another way to highlight rhythm in dance. You will see the fancy and complicated patterns of the Mexican dancers. Notice how they hold the rest of their body. Complicated patterns of the heel, toe and whole foot create sound patterns that are like a drum beat. Footwork is another important element in the West African dance, Indian dance, and Russian Dance too!

Movement Styles

In all dance traditions, a "vocabulary" of movements is considered to be appropriate and aesthetically pleasing. For example, in some Balinese dance styles, a changing movement dynamic that switch from slow to quick and back again is considered a desireable flow of events. These Balinese dancers seem to "burst" from their "restrained" postures, then compose themselves again. Mexican music often has a strong, regular rhythm indicated in the music. Chinese theatrical dance might seem more fluid and sustained with its reference to Western ballet techniques. How does the movement in each of these dance styles go with or go against the music? Which group(s) use the entire body to dance? Which group(s) emphasize certain body parts?

What do you prefer? Do you naturally gravitate to a certain style of movement, vigorous and choppy, or languid and dreamy?