In contemporary dance, students can place themselves in relation both to others and to current socio-political issues. The Global Goals and the rights of children and adolescents can serve as conceptual orientation for the examination of such topics.
Things you can do with the cards:
combine them with different categories, for example:
self – interests shared with your counterpart – differences
combine them with cards from other focus areas. Take a look through the Choreographer Book in this regard too: for instance, in his pieces choreographer Alain Platel tells stories about people from diverse backgrounds that deal intensively with the problems involved in living together.
You can find ideas for developing assignments here.
In the focus area “Dance, Self and SOCIETY”, students devote their attention to socio-political topics that are either timely or relevant for them in a particular way. In doing so, they examine questions concerning the meaning of community, solidarity, mutual responsibility and social inequality.
One of the most significant characteristics of contemporary dance is its diversity in style and subject matter. Contemporary dance thus offers us a space to treat topics derived from the various lived realities of the students in a nuanced manner (including their social and political aspects) while incorporating them in the creative process.
In addition, the holistic nature of contemporary dance (encompassing the physical, emotional and intellectual) makes it possible to perceive the world “with all of the senses”. In the scope of their encounter with dance, societally relevant terms and topics become tangible for the students in a way that goes far beyond the rational acquisition of knowledge. Students can incorporate these experiential insights into the creative process and experience their own selves in constant relation to the selves of the others.
In a world in which political and social disputes are typically negotiated using reason, contemporary dance sharpens students’ perceptive abilities. Beyond that, it supports their ability to approach their SELVES and COUNTERPARTS with empathy.
Life reality
Roots
Interests
Self-image
Self-esteem
Living together
Differences
Common ground
Communication
Empathy
Politics
Social surroundings
Globalisation
Digitalisation
Nature
individually
Think back on your internship or imagine your dream job.
Call to mind the typical postures and movements associated with them. Think too about the postures and movements that you tend to adopt to relax after work.
Now try to connect both of these groups of movements and create a solo by fixing poses and movements as a repeatable sequence. Show the soli you come up with in the group and have the others try to figure out the professions behind the routines.
group
A “leader” moves in different ways around the room.
The rest of the group imitates their movements – either as shadows behind the leader or as a mirror image opposite them.
After a while, the leader passes the role on to another person by signalling with eye contact.
group
As a group, practice assuming responsibility for a classmate.
To do this, at least six students should form a circle with another student in the middle. The student in the middle lets him or herself fall in different directions, with eyes closed and body relaxed, while the others catch him or her.
This exercise helps to build trust within the group.