Lessons Three to Fifteen
(Option B): Dance-making (continued)

Lesson Five: Finding a Starting-Point for Dance

Remind students that the large context or theme they will be working with in this module is "Where do we go from here?". For specific information and steps to guide students in their dance-making process, refer to the Planning Guide and the section entitled "Planning for Student's Dance-making". Discuss the objectives for the dance-making activity with the students. Discuss and negotiate the assessment criteria that will be used to evaluate each group's work and each student's work. Some teachers may prefer to have each group develop a learning contract based on the objectives that have been identified. See the Evaluation section for a sample learning contract.

Within the main theme, students will need to find a starting-point for their dances. Remind students that starting-points are only places to begin. They will recall from previous dance-making experiences that, as a dance is made, the starting-point will evolve and may not even be evident in the final dance.

• explore, develop and convey their own ideas through dance

Have students form small groups to create dances that reflect some of their ideas about stages or transitions in people's lives. These ideas might include stages from the students' past, present or predicted future.

Recalling the work of Jean-Pierre Perreault, some groups might consider including in their dances the idea of individuality and conformity. Others might use an element of dance such as "space" as a starting-point and may explore the related concepts of "stages" or "transitions" in a more abstract way.

Recalling the work of choreographers Robin Poitras and Tracy Pfeiffer, other groups may want to begin with music or text as a starting-point and include narration or props in the piece.

• continue to record, recall and reconstruct their dance creations using invented and/or traditional notation symbols, when appropriate

Ask the students to look back in their dance journals for the ideas they recorded earlier about important stages of their lives. Some of the students may have already developed in their dance journals some sketches and ideas they would like to begin exploring.

To ensure that a wide range of ideas is considered, before each group decides on its starting-point ask the students to add a few more stages or transitions to their earlier ideas. They might add such ideas as leaving home, searching for a job, entering or graduating from a post-secondary institution, career stages, ending or beginning relationships, setting up a home, etc.