Description: According to The Arts Ontario curriculum, choreographic form can be defined as, "A structure that organizes movements. Compositional forms may be defined as narrative or patterned (e.g., canon, call and response, retrograde, ABA, rondo)," and a compositional form can be defined as, "A dance sequence that is created with a specific intent to communicate a feeling, idea, or theme using movement; used in solo dance, as well as duets, trios, and small ensembles." As the curriculum document indicates, both compositional and choreographic forms share many similarities. For this reason I have chosen to include both forms in a single post and I will often treat these terms as interchangeable. How these two dance forms can be successfully integrated together will become apparent in the "application" section directly below.
Application: Choreographic and compositional forms can be used for various applications. For instance, they can work well together as a fun warm-up exercise for students or they can be used for more complex and planned presentations. One strategy these forms can be used for incorporates the use of words for the purposes of expressive dance. Applying this strategy, an instructor can organize an activity that requires students to engage in a creative dance that corresponds to their interpretation of a particular word. For example, an instructor might say the word "happy," and students might interpret this word by leaping high in the air and using open and expressive body movements. Or, to take another example, an instructor might say the word "angry," and students might interpret this word by making fast or sudden movements and by using closed body expressions. However, the vocabulary an instructor uses is not limited to human emotions. An instructor can easily incorporate a specific set of vocabulary into this activity and observe how students might interpret those words using dance as their expressive medium. For example, an instructor could use vocabulary from a science class and have students expressively dance to their interpretations of words such as "lava" or "diamond," etc. Finally, instructors can also have students choreograph a dance composition in groups with a prearranged list of words. The goal of this activity would have students expressively interpret a text through dance in an organized, as opposed to spontaneous, fashion. One method for implementing this latter strategy would be to have groups of students choreograph a dance composition to poetry.
Curriculum: There are various ways to align choreographic or compositional dance forms with Ontario curriculum expectations. The most obvious way to do this is by applying it to the Dance strand found in the The Arts curriculum. For example, the grade six expectation A1.2 states, "use dance as a language to interpret and depict
central themes in literature (e.g., develop a movement vocabulary that reinterprets themes such
as good versus evil or humans versus nature; construct a dance that explores
bravery in a legend or peace in a poem)." Further, as mentioned in the "application" section above, choreographic and compositional forms can also used for cross-curriculum purposes. Sticking with the example of science used earlier, the grade six Science curriculum expectation 3.1 "Understanding Life Systems" strand, states, "identify and describe the distinguishing characteristics of different groups of plants and animals." This expectation can be used with this dance strategy in a number of ways. For instance, students could express the characteristics of particular plants or animals individually and spontaneously or they could collaborate in groups and dance together in a choreographed "flock" or "herd," etc.
Reflection: In my opinion, choreographic and compositional strategies are both a fun and engaging way for students to enjoy and participate in interpretative dance. This strategy can easily be used as warm-up activity for students as they spontaneously dance to a specific vocabulary. It can also be employed as a group project where student plan and organize a dance according to their creative interpretation of a particular theme. For these reasons, choreographic and compositional dance strategies are both flexible and educational activities. That is, this strategy can be used to meet a variety of curriculum expectations and, significantly, it provides students with a creative outlet for their expressive interpretations to help solidify their learning.
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