Description: According to the Ontario The Arts curriculum document, the dance strategy "flocking" can be defined as, "A type of improvisation in which students move in groups, with no set pattern or in a diamond formation, following a leader and all doing the same movements simultaneously. This is an extended version of mirroring for three or more people. Participants do not necessarily need to be able to watch each other, as long as they can see the leader."
Application: Flocking is a fun and engaging dance strategy that can be applied in a variety of ways. As mentioned in the description, flocking is based on improvisation. During a flocking activity students are required to follow the leader and to mirror the leader's movements. If an instructor is using flocking as a warm-up they may want to allow the leader's movements to be truly improvised. That is, as a warm-up activity, the leader's movements can be sporadic, working as a creative invention produced at the whim of the leader. However, if the instructor desires to use flocking as a focused and developed dance strategy they can establish particular requirements for the flocking leader. Some of these requirements might entail a focus on a particular theme, type of movement, energy, etc. For example, if the instructor desired to incorporate a First Nations theme into this dance strategy they might require the leader to focus their movements on their interpretation of First Nation dancing culture. Naturally, any interpretive cultural dance should be treated with due respect and sensitivity. Hence, it would be advisable for any instructor to communicate this latter point to students and perhaps provide them with some examples of First Nations traditional dancing prior to proceeding with the activity. An instructor can also use the flocking strategy to focus a dance class on a specific dance element. This is useful because it allows the instructor to focus student learning for a particular end. So, for instance, if the class is struggling with timing the instructor might ask 'the flock' to attempt to mirror the leader's actions as quickly as possible. Or, if preferable, if the class requires more work on relationship then the instructor might ask 'the flock' to attempt to mirror the leader as accurately as possible. Setting a goal for the activity provides students with a particular focus while simultaneously maintaining the important element of improvisation which is central to any flocking dance strategy.
Curriculum: The flocking dance strategy is most suitably incorporated with The Arts curriculum document. For example, it can correspond to the grade six specific expectation A1.3, which states, "use guided improvisation in a variety of ways as a starting point for choreography." However, if desired, an instructor can use the flocking strategy for cross-curriculum purposes. This can be achieved in a variety of ways. Sticking with the example of First Nations as mentioned in the "application" section above, an instructor could incorporate the flocking activity with Social Studies. For instance, the grade six specific expectation A1.2 states that, "evaluate some of the contributions that various ethnic and/or religious groups have made to Canadian identity."
Reflection: I think that the flocking dance strategy is both a fun and engaging dance strategy for students to partake in. In my experience students thoroughly enjoy activities where they can express their creativity, which the improvisation element of this strategy embraces. Furthermore, students often enjoy challenges that involve testing their working memory, which the mirroring requirements of 'the flock' can be associated with. This activity also has an added bonus for instructors because, through various modifications or set requirements, it can be easily adapted to suit student learning needs and a variety of curriculum requirements.
One issue that instructors might need to consider for this activity is students requiring accommodations. While accommodations can arises in a plurality of ways, perhaps one of the most significant accommodations for this dance strategy is students with visual impairments. Significantly, students with visual impairments may have difficulty observing the leader of a flocking activity making it challenging to mirror the leader's movements. One possible way to accommodate this would be to have the leader verbally identify their movements. For example, the leader might say, "waving hands up high, side to side, slowly," moments before engaging in the latter movement. Not only would this accommodation help provide direction for students with visual impairments, but it also adds a more conscious element to the leader's movements as they must identify and categorize each of their actions.
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