BC Education - Dance 11 and 12

Choreography 12: Creation and Composition

This sub-organizer contains the following sections:

Prescribed Learning Outcomes
Suggested Instructional Strategies
Suggested Assessment Strategies
Recommended Learning Resources

Prescribed Learning Outcomes

It is expected that students will:

evaluate improvisation as a creative tool
create compositions for a variety of purposes:
- to respond to or represent a range of stimuli
- for a variety of audiences
- for a variety of settings
- to represent different points of view
apply elements of movement to develop a choreographic motif
apply the principles of design to create dances in a wide range of pattern and narrative choreographic forms
evaluate their choreography in terms of choreographic intent
design stagecraft for a chosen choreography
apply one or more methods to record choreography

Suggested Instructional Strategies

Provide opportunities for students to transform dance sequences composed by other students (e.g., changing the elements, music, emotion) and to share their ideas with the original choreographers. Have students write analyses of their own choreography, justifying their artistic choices and comparing the original works with the transformed pieces in terms of choreographic intent .
Ask students in groups to create movement sequences and notate them using any of various systems (e.g., video, computer notation, invented notation, standard notation, flip books). Invite groups to exchange notations and attempt to reproduce one another's dances. As a class, discuss how easy or difficult this process was and whether a standardized system of dance notation is necessary or possible.
Have students create a forum of dances based on a single issue or concept. Discuss the range of choreography that can represent the same idea.
Ask students to choreograph narrative dances for video, including references to music choices, storyboards, camera angles, and so on. Students could also design stagecraft for the dances (e.g., costumes, sets, lighting). Invite students to videotape their dances and present the videos in a dance-film festival.
Challenge each student to select a simple arm gesture, then develop this motif using the elements of movement (e.g., use another body part, reverse the order). Have them work individually or in groups to select their five favourite motif developments and apply the principles of design to develop sequences based entirely on manipulation of the motifs. Ask them to consider phrasing, intention, staging, and so on.
Invite a guest teacher to conduct a contact improvisation class. Afterward, ask students to articulate their successes and frustrations and to reflect on the creative potential of this approach to movement creation.

Suggested Assessment Strategies

As students create compositions for a variety of purposes, observe the extent to which they are able to:
- clearly communicate choreographic intent
- effectively select and sequence elements of movement
- artistically apply the principles of design to develop choreographic forms
- creatively apply and, where appropriate, design elements of stagecraft
- effectively adapt or expand their original ideas to create new compositions
- appropriately integrate their creations with another fine arts discipline (e.g., use a music composition as a stimulus for dance choreography)
After students create a series of motif developments and select five of them to combine in sequences, pose questions such as the following:
- Have you placed your variations adjacent to similar or contrast ing motif developments?
- Which variation feels strongest (like a climax)?
- Where is the original motif placed?
- Should the climax be at the end?
- What staging considerations are used in the sequence?
Provide opportunities for students to apply the principles of design to create dances in a wide range of pattern and narrative choreographic forms. Have students in small groups choreograph dances for videotaping. Ask groups to provide feedback to one another by using questions such as:
- Was the intent clear to you?
- Did the dance effectively create a mood? Tell a story? Create intriguing images or textures? Show a theme and variations?
- Did the music suit the purpose? Was it well chosen?
- Were the movements original? Creative?
- Was there some kind of tension to hold the audience's attention throughout?
- Can you describe your favourite passage?
- Was the opening engaging? Was the ending effective? What images or impressions stay in your mind?