Things you can do with the cards:
pass them out individually to students and give them assignments, for example:
BODY – body actions – locomotion
“Try out various kinds of locomotion!”
combine them with different categories, for example:
BODY – body actions – locomotion and PROPULSION – space
“Choose a type of locomotion and move through the room alternating between purposeful and aimless motion.”
combine them with cards from Dance and the Creative Process, for example:
BODY – body actions – locomotion and PROPULSION – space with
DANCERS – group constellations – trio und TIME – transform
“Move through the room as a trio, at times purposefully, at times aimlessly, at times as in slow or fast-motion.”
You can find ideas for developing assignments here.
In the focus area, BODY and Movement, students pay particular attention to their bodies and what happens to them while practicing contemporary dance.
Perception, exploration, experience and practice are at the centre here: through conscious PERCEPTION of their own bodies as well as the bodies of the others, students experience the RELATIONSHIP between themselves and their environment. Through IMPROVISATION, the young people develop a personal movement language.
Based on Rudolf von Laban’s movement analyses, we can both individually treat and combine diverse aspects such as body, FORM, SPACE, PHRASING or relationship, in order to get to know our own bodies and different QUALITIES OF MOVEMENT better and thus to arrive at a more conscious mode of expression. By incorporating different techniques like contact improvisation, martial arts or somatic practices (such as the Feldenkrais Method for instance), contemporary dance not only promotes young people’s physical awareness, it also supports them in developing overall self-awareness and self-expression – all without the presence of the competitive attitudes that are otherwise typical for the world of sports.
Head
Shoulder
Chest
Waist
Pelvis
Leg
Knee
Foot
Toes
Arm
Elbow
Wrist
Hand
Fingers
Locomotion
walking
running
crawling (on all fours)
crawling (on belly)
Jumps
jumping into the air with both feet
jumping from one foot to the other
Turning and Rotation
rotating individual joints
turning on one’s own axis
rotating around another person
Gestures
only moving a single body part,
for instance an arm, a leg or the head
Standstill
freezing the whole body
only freezing a single body part
linear
like a pencil
flat
like a wall
round
like a ball
twisted
like a screw
thrusting forwards
withdrawing backwards
spreading out
closing up
climbing
sinking
close to body
for example: washing one’s face
medium range
for example: everyday movements like cutting vegetables
far away from the body
for example: picking an apple from a tree
on the ground
in a squatting position
standing
on tiptoes
in the air
vertical dimension
high and low
for example: hopping in place
sagittal dimension
back and forth
for example: reaching out to shake someone’s hand
horizontal dimension
right and left
for example: opening a sliding door
Door – vertical surface
high and low
right and left
for example: moving flatly as if in a doorframe, cleaning windows …
Wheel – sagittal surface
forwards and backwards
high and low
for example: sitting down and standing up, doing a somersault
Table – horizontal surface
right and left
forwards and backwards
for example: wiping off a table, stirring soup
beginning
action
end
simultaneous
multiple body parts move at the same time
successive
neighbouring body parts move one after another
sequential
non-neighbouring body parts move one after another
active
passive
leading
following
perceiving
looking
moving towards one another
being close
touching
giving up/taking on weight
supporting one another
looking away
moving away from one another
distancing one’s self
Weight
heavy or light
Flow
guided or free
Space
direct or aimless
Time
fast or slow
fluttering
aimless
light
fast
for example: twitching
thrusting
direct
heavy
fast
for example: stomping
floating
aimless
light
slow
for example: flying, swaying, like astronauts
wringing
aimless
heavy
slow
for example: turning a heavy screw or wringing out laundry
dabbing
direct
light
fast
for example: tapping, shaking, knocking
lashing
aimless
heavy
fast
for example: tossing things around, flinging
gliding
direct
light
slow
for example: smoothing, stretching, wiping
pushing
direct
heavy
slow
for example: pressing, sliding furniture
When teaching contemporary dance in schools, improvisation is a part of everyday life. We use it to explore movement possibilities, to sharpen awareness and to find out what sort of physical abilities students bring with them to the dance project.
We make a rough distinction between “free” improvisation, during which spontaneous decisions are made from the inexhaustible pool of possibilities, and “structured” improvisation, in which rules for “play” are provided in advance.
Improvisation techniques can be applied alone, with a partner, in small groups or with all participants together. They also benefit from the presence of spectators, who can describe their impressions or put them into practice later themselves. In addition to its overall didactic significance, improvisation has established itself as its own genre in post-modern and contemporary dance, one whose various processes you can research and apply to your own work. (see Glossary/Links)
in pairs
Move parts of your body that your partner touched previously. Cultivate an awareness of the movement potential of the various body parts.
How flexible and supple is the body part in question and how precisely can you perform the movements?
Keep your eyes closed and trace your movements in your mind.
individually
Close your eyes and use your body to portray the forms of three objects that you saw in the room. Try to translate their contours into movements.
Now, alter the form of the portrayed object, for instance when the music stops, by sinking, climbing, melting and so on.
individually, group
Form a circle, in the middle of which a single dancer can explore the various ranges of motion of his or her movements.
In doing so, the dancer in the middle should be guided by the tip of their index finger, which can move either close to or relatively far away from their body.
By touching the tip of another person’s index finger with their own index finger, the dancer in the middle hands over the dance space and sits down or takes up a position within the circle again.
Everyone watches the next dancer as the process continues.
group
Make up a movement for every syllable of your name and connect them with one another. Show the others in the circle this short sequence and say your name while doing it.
The others imitate the movement sequence.
Create a new movement sequence by showing your favourite movement from one of the names. The person to whose name the movement belongs then answers with their favourite movement and the process continues from there.
in pairs, group
Position yourselves in two rows facing one another and walk at first towards and then past each other.
Try out different variations. For instance, walk by one another with or without eye contact.
Or walk towards one another, hold eye contact for three seconds and touch one another as a greeting before then walking past one another.
Pay close attention to how the relationship to your partner changes during this process.
individually, group
I have: Choose one light and one heavy object, for example a towel, a balloon, a feather, a stone, a medicine ball or something similar. Dance and explore the special characteristics of your objects (light, heavy, fast, slow...).
I had: Now dance without your object while recalling how you felt doing the movements with the object.
I am: Dance as if you yourself are the object in question.