After a wi-fi issue destroyed my post last week, I have two weeks to talk about this time!
First of all, last week the Dance classes were part of two shows – one a secondary, evening event in conjunction with Miss Camp’s music classes and the other a primary school assembly.
The secondary event was an assessed part of the students’ programme. They were required to use the theme “Friendship” and the Jazz genre to develop and choreograph their own dances. Their expressive intent was to show friendship using various choreographic principles. Tying it into the Jazz genre meant the children had to investigate the kinds of steps and movements that were common to and typical of the Jazz genre. Jazz is very wide with a great deal of variety, so the students had a large scope from which to choose. The dances ranged from a saxophone version of Michael Jackson’s Billy Jean to an instrumental of the West Side Story musical’s Officer Krupke. The students were assessed on their use of Jazz, the extent to which they successfully showed their expressive intent and the length they went to when developing their performance principles. Overall it was an excellent evening, with the out of school timing encouraging students to raise their personal standards that little bit more.
The primary event was an assembly, where children could show what they learned about Jazz. Jesmika in grade two opened the event by telling us a little about Jazz. Then the students from K3 to Grade 6 demonstrated each of the dances which, according to age and stage became ever more complex in the use of steps, floor pathways, tempo and directions. The grade six students finished with a Broadway number (“Sing Sing Sing”) which had been given a bit of a modern beat. Again, a successful presentation! Thank you to the parents who encouraged their children to wear the stipulated colours – almost all were dressed uniformly which enhances the impact of the show. While the primary students were not part of a concert, an essential component of dance is performance – and clothing is integral.
Students this week have spent time assessing their performances and setting goals for their next set of dances. From K3-grade 2, the students drew and wrote about their understandings of Jazz and choreography. From grade three to six, rubrics which have been developed and refined by students over the last six years were used, each grade starting the year by establishing what would work for them in conjunction with the teacher. Students reflected honestly about their strengths and goals. The secondary students have a very comprehensive set of criteria and were asked to peer assess as well as self assess. The peer assessment gives each group the opportunity to consider what a dance may look like from the audience’s perspective and as such is valuable information. The self assessment forms part of the semester grade, in conjunction with the teacher assessment.
The next set of performances are scheduled for March. The secondary students will be choreographing for International Evening and the primary students within the school hours around the same time. The theme is folk dancing, in honour of the multicultural opportunities presented by the International Evening. Stay tuned for further information in coming weeks!
I enclose the following video clips of the Assembly and the evening show – we finally managed to get them online for you all to see!