AQ WORKSHOP, DRAMA. DEC., 2006.
BEAR CREEK SECONDARY SCHOOL., BARRIE,ON.
·
In
unison, stretch and yawn (it will likely be ‘guardedly repressed’). Listen and
feel what happens inside your body as you do these following:
1)
do a HUGE LION'S ROAR yawn and a small, shy, repressed stretch. How did
that feel? Where was there tension created? Stored?
2) do a GIGANTIC stretch and a shy, quiet grunt of a yawn
(just make sure some noise comes out). What happened that time? How was
it different? How was it the same?
3) now try it, making voice and body the same size, so they fit together
perfectly. How did that feel? Can you tell when your voice/ body
are working together?...when they don't?
4) SHAKE-OUT: follow these by an overall
wriggle shake-out, which means shaking/jiggling your whole body after the
stretch.
--have them try it, holding breath; then repeat,
exhaling (audibly). Notice the huge difference. The breath holds the emotional
content of the work you’ve just done.
NOTE: Unless
you release your breath as you shake out your muscles, you won’t truly be
“cleaning the slate” for the next exercise or instructions to come…you’ll still
be literally “full” of the last exercise still.
·
TEACHING TIP: all exercises below can be done in slow motion & in “silent
yelling” (or stage whispers). As
well as eliminating the noise level, slow motion/silent yelling is harder to
do, and takes more energy and concentration.
♫
[NOTE: from the beginning,
add slow mood-based MUSIC AS BACKGROUND to help concentration and keep movements slow. ]
·
in
pairs; decide who is puppet first and who is puppeteer. Switch roles after
about 30 sec. to a minute.
·
with
index finger and thumb together (as if holding a string between them),
puppeteer points to body part that puppet is to more.
·
keeping
his/her fingers about 3-6 inches from the indicated part of the puppet's body,
puppeteer gestures slow, clear instructions (in silence) for the puppet to
follow.
·
when
puppeteer stops the movement, puppet stops.
·
puppeteer
"freezes" the string (and therefore the puppet) by opening the thumb
and index finger.
·
puppeteer then continues to direct another
part of the puppet's body
·
puppet is to work hard to follow the
puppeteer instructions as exactly as possible.
·
CONTEXT:
you can instruct puppeteers to "sculpt" a specific kind of
statue: e.g. .....of a strong emotion; ....a character from a
play or movie, or even be ‘elements’ of nature, ETC.
·
VIEWING:
have puppeteers create sculptures. Then, puppets stay frozen in
position. Puppeteers can step back and view puppets (they look like a
sculpture garden).
·
Have
them imagine a story created by any 3 or 4 or group of puppets, etc.
·
ACT-REACT.
Have 2 puppeteers; 2 puppets. Puppeteers are to create a meeting/
encounter, etc. between the 2 puppets.
TABLEAUX.
Have 2-3 puppets per puppeteer. Have puppeteer create a scene from a
play, story, etc. Or have 2 puppeteers and several puppets
MUSIC & IMAGES: simple, effective connections for
inspired literacy
·
♫
Premise: by playing slow, mood-based music while observing
illustrations, photos, artifacts, etc., a ‘dialogue’ is created between the
image and the music. If a second piece of music, with a very different mood is
then introduced, the ‘meanings’ created with the same illustrations, photos,
etc., will vary extraordinarily. The
images themselves may seem to change quite dramatically.
·
Students
divide into pairs or groups of 3; each group has one book (photo, or artifact,
etc.).
·
As
♫ starts, groups begin to look through their chosen book.; suggest they
look only at the pictures, and ignore the text (for this time).
·
NOTE: the observation must happen in silence! This is important so the students can
‘listen/see’ the dialogue that is being created between ♫ and image…it
will be very personal, so they need the silent time to be able to connect with
their own discoveries. However, as part
of the initial instructions, assure them that they will be given time to
discuss amongst themselves afterward.
·
Note: we used National Geographics; children’s
illustrated books also work wonderfully, as would videos…
·
After
about 1.5-2 minutes, stop the ♫ and ask students to close the books. Change ♫, and have them repeat the
exercise of looking through the book in silence.
·
Once
both pieces of ♫ have been used, ask students in their small groups to
discuss [and record] what they discovered…
·
Then,
revert to the full group to compare/contrast the discoveries of the different
groups.
·
Educational
value: the meaning created when image
and music are combined is so strong that it can serve as an excellent catalyst
for those students who may find writing, discussion, or any kind of
communication difficult…it allows them to ‘read’ meaning, it helps them connect
emotionally with the material, and it helps free them to discuss what they
observed, felt, understood, etc.
·
This
technique can be applied to science, health, civics, politics, literature,
social studies, etc. Any subject that
involves images!
·
Note:
this exercise will also work with WORDS: e.g., give groups an envelope which
contains a ‘concept word’ [e.g. war, peace, repression, transformation,
discovery, creation, bullying, destruction, etc.] See how the thought processes change as the ♫ background
changes. Again, it can be very dramatic.
Premise: any source material at all can be taught, explored, reviewed,
reflected on, by using a series of simple symbols to present all or part of the
material. In effect, the symbols work
as hieroglyphics.
·
In
our workshop, we used a section of a Soundtrack Performance Group narrative
tape as the source material: from the CD, The Aztecs, we used the
myth of darkness and lightà the story of the god
brothers, Quetzalcoatl and Texcatlipoca.
·
Participants
divide up into small groups (3-5 people).
·
Let
the groups listen to the myth once or twice: establish that they are members of
an Aztec tribe, and that this myth is central to their faith and their culture.
·
Once
they have heard the myth, explain that they must leave, but before they go,
they will leave behind evidence of their existence and of their culture….
·
Give
each group a set of the 11 symbols (groups may choose to use only some of
them). These are the signs through
which they will ‘write’ their myth.
Explain that where and how they choose to display them is part of the
message…
·
Give
groups 7-10 minutes to arrange the symbols.
[Tip: if anyone wants clarification, or states that (s)he ‘doesn’t
understand’, then simply repeat the directions. You may want to add that “just
like the Egyptians, Assyrians, and many other cultures, you will use these
symbols to translate your myth for future generations…”. After a few minutes of general angst…the
groups will simply start to work.
·
Once
the 7-10 minutes are up, ask the groups to stand, and step back from their
symbols. Explain that they are to turn
their backs on them, which signifies their leavetaking.
·
Groups
are to move clockwise, to place themselves in front of the next symbols grouping. Tell them that as
they move, they are to imagine that 1000 years is passing. They are the descendants of the original
peoples, and they have heard the myth as it has been told to them through
generations.
·
They
are now on a journey back, to honour their ancestors, and to see the message
that was left by their ancestors.
·
When
the groups arrive clockwise at the next set of symbols to them, they are to
imagine that this is the site and message that their ancestors left for
them. They will notice that it is not
exactly the same message that they had been toldà it has altered over time…
·
The
groups are to study the ‘found’ message, to see how/what/why their ancestors
wroteà they are to decipher the myth.
·
MOVEMENT
ADDITION: once the groups have
deciphered the ‘found’ myths, they are to prepare a ritual celebration, to
honour their ancestors and their myth by recreating the myth as a movement
ceremony. The symbols are the ‘text’
they are to follow. All participants
must be part of the ritual.
·
♫
ADD MUSIC just as each group presents.
·
REFLECTION/DISCUSSION: you will want to discuss each groups
deciphering of ‘found’ messages and compare them to the ‘original’ groups
ideas.
·
NOTE: using symbols to ‘trranslate’ lends itself
easily to discussion of perception, communication, meaning, messages, the
importance of ‘being understood’, of the fact that what may seem meaningless to
one person, or group of people, may have great significance to another…
·
OTHER
APPLICATIONS: these symbols are extremely versatile, and may be used, either by
individuals or groups for such things as:
conflict resolution; showing plots from plays, stories, literature;
journeys; natural processes; political, social, religious or historical events;
to explain a person’s character, emotional make-up, or rational for doing
certain acts; for creating new stories, etc.
·
RE
SYMBOLS THEMSELVES: I am often asked why students can’t create their own
symbols, rather than use those provided
below. This is an excellent ideaà just be sure to warn students not to make
their symbols too ‘realistic’ or crowded, as, the more ‘info’ in them, the less
universal or versatile they become…but creating a ‘communications system’ is
an exciting task.
·
ACETATE
VARIATION: try putting the symbols on acetates, so that they can be
superimposed on each otherà this creates endless
variations on how the symbols ‘look’.