Workshop 6: Telling stories: Aboriginal Dance

Week 10 Thursday 13th September 2012

Jacqui Dreesens

The first activity was based on the Gahu Dance which is a dance that is a tradition of the people of Ghana. The dance originated in Ketornu, later being introduced into Nigeria and Ghana. It is a popular communal dance performed to celebrate life at weddings, funerals and other formal celebrations (African Dance Drumming Tradition, n.d.). 

To start the Gahu dance, we stood with our knees slightly bent in line with our toes and shoulders above our hips. Our head and shoulders were loose ready to start the dance.

Then we learned the locomotive movements that were part of this traditional dance. Some of these movements included stomping (with a flat foot, ankles and heels relaxed and knees bent), waving arms (loosely from side to side), swaying body (from side to side) and chest thrusting.

After we had learnt these movements, Jacqui explained in African dance, the dancer has:

• Moonshine (your rump)
• Sunshine (your chest)
• The stars (you pelvis)

All the movement we do uses these regions of your body to represent a certain gesture in Africa. Jacqui referred to these terms throughout the lesson to encourage everyone to use these parts of our bodies.


Jacqui then introduced another movement at the end of the movement phrase. This gesture was the "Paper Says" hand movement. Your thumb and fingers of one hand are held like they are holding a small ID card and moved forward to highlight the card.

We continued to learn more locomotive movements from the Gahu Dance. The next movement phrase was with a partner.

In pairs we faced each other and joined hands high above our heads. We swung our arms back and forth, from side to side, whilst one foot of each pair moved in and out. This movement symbolised a greeting to your partner, welcoming the.

In the circle, we also added in walked in a clockwise direction, joining by our hands and shoulders,

As well as moving our shoulders, and hips individually.

After learning the locomotive movements, we performed the Gahu Dance in a large circle, with pairs moving into the middle of the space, and performing their greetings to each other to celebrate life.

We then watch a production from Hawthorn West Primary school, in which Jacqui Dreesens along with Kath Murdoch create and choreographed.

The Production was about ‘spirit’, including spirit in the sky, storms, birds, ocean, animals and land. The concepts portrayed throughout the production were unity, community, one-ness and togetherness.

When choreographing Jacqui had to think about the macro-perspective of the production, including who, what, when, where, how. This is the bigger picture, and is the first move in developing a production. Once this is sorted, they looked at the micro-perspective including the use of time, energy and space, where and how the children will move in the space, especially in regards to safety of entering and exiting the space.

We watched the grade 1/2s perform their theme of weather first.

They represented the lighting, by moving to sharp drum beats and pausing between each. They were still, and used repetition with the music as well as the dance moves.

They portrayed the clouds, by moving in small groups, being raindrops, swaying from side to side. They turned and swirled within the space, entering and exiting from the sides.

We then watched the grade 3/4s perform their theme of the ocean. They had more structure, compared to the 1/2s as they knew when to start and stop. They did wave like motions with their arms, and had to work out pathways to move in their ‘wave’. They had to perform in unison with their wave group and created a canon by doing this. They used retrograde as well to complete the ‘wave’ motion.

The preps were next performing their theme of animals. The animals used were, king fishers, frogs, kangaroos, wombats, possums and platypuses. They had masks on the top of their heads to display the animals, as it is easier for to preps to concentrate and dance than having the masks on their face. They all moved to the drum beat, in their groups of animals, repeating the same movements to a constant rhythm.

Lastly the grade 5/6s performed their theme of the land. They used rhythmic and body percussion to represent different movements and sounds in accordance with the poetry voice over. They performed in unison and moved in circle floor patterns. When the rhythm change the movements changed and the children adapted well.

In creating productions you must have good concepts so children can relate to them.  

Motif:

The motif of the lesson was African and Aboriginal dance. The moves were meaningful to their culture, and enabled the dancer to tell a particular story. I think this motif was very important, as it teaches children about different cultures and respecting these, as well as showing that dance can portray a particular story to display certain emotions.

Adaptation for different VELS levels:

As seen in the production video, this style of dance could be used at any VELS level; with the complexity of the movement qualities being altered to suit each level.

VELS level:	Adaptation of lesson:
Level 1	VELS level 1 states ‘students’ natural tendency to discovering possibilities and limitations is encouraged through exploring different ways of using performing’ (VCAA, 2009). Due to this, I would allow these students to explore movements through aboriginal themes such as animals or the weather.
Level 2	For level 2, I would use more structure, with time for students to improvise. E.g. giving them a theme and movements such as animals, however allowing them to choose when to do it and in what order.
Level 3	For level 3, I will start to add in choreographic devices such as canon in their aboriginal dances.
Level 4	For level 4, I would give students a lot of freedom in this style of dance, allowing them to decide a theme and what type of movement qualities they will use to tell their story.

Integration with other subjects:

• History – Students could look up the culture and develop an understanding of the past behind the dance movements.
• English – Students could create a poem and perform an Aboriginal based dance complementing the poetry.

Main arts learning processes:

• Representation
• Interpretation

Personal Reflection:

This lesson was quite enjoyable. The Gahu dance was very different to what I have done in the past, however I had a go and had a lot of fun doing it. The lesson was inclusive, as I felt comfortable to explore with the different steps, even some which I have never really done before.

Watching the production was great, as we were able to watch something that is used in schools, and were able to understand the mechanics behind the performance. From watching this and exploring the different styles in dance, I would love to help in a dance performance like this in schools, as I think it really enables children of all abilities to be involved and have fun.

References:

African Dance Drumming Tradition, n.d., retrieved 24 September 2012, <http://home.comcast.net/~dzinyaladzekpo/Kusum/Dance%20Agahu%20Lesson%20Plan.htm>.

Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority [VCAA] 2009, Prep to Year 10 Curriculum and Standards, State Government of Victoria, retrieved 17 July 2012, <http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vels/>.