DANCE TRADITIONAL ARTISTIC PERCEPTION (AP) ® CLASSICAL CREATIVE EXPRESSION (CE) Artsource CONTEMPORARY HISTORICAL & CULTURAL CONTEXT (H/C) The Music Center’s Study Guide to the Performing Arts EXPERIMENTAL AESTHETIC VALUING (AV) MULTI-MEDIA CONNECT, RELATE & APPLY (CRA) ENDURING FREEDOM & THE POWER THE HUMAN TRANSFORMATION VALUES OPPRESSION OF NATURE FAMILY Title of Work: painter, enthusiastically introduced her to the work Impressions #2 (Vincent van Gogh) of van Gogh when she was a girl. She says that “...under my father’s tutelage, I developed a ‘graphic Creators: Company: Lewitzky Dance Company eye’ that translates to my choreography. I care very Choreographer: Bella Lewitzky, b. 1916 d. 2004 much about the graphics of motion. How movement Composer: Larry Attaway b. 1949 involves space - creating and destroying it.” This work is Decor & Light Design: Darlene Neel, b. 1941 d. 1999 part of a trilogy, which includes Impressions #1, based Background Information: on the sculpture of Henry Moore, and Impressions #3, Bella Lewitzky was born of Russian immigrants in a motivated by the whimsical art of Paul Klee. utopian community in the Mojave Desert. She was greatly influenced by the space, stillness and beauty of Creative Process of the Artist or Culture: her surroundings. Although she loved to move as a child, Ms. Lewitzky brought works of art by Vincent van it was not until high school that she received formal dance Gogh into the studio for her dancers to view and training. At 17, she began taking classes with modern explore improvisationally. She selected specific dance pioneer, Lester Horton, with whom she worked movements and designs which she evolved into phrases closely as a dancer and collaborator until 1950. At that and patterns, weaving them into the completed time she began to teach and create independently, choreography. There are a total of eight sections in the forming the Bella Lewitzky Dance Company in 1966 work. However, two contrasting ones have been when she was 50. In 1970 she pioneered the National selected for our focus. The first is Landscape #1, Artist-in-Schools, Dance Component, and was influenced by two paintings: Starry Night and Starry instrumental in setting the standards for Dance Nights over the Rhone. The dancers move as if they Education. In addition to teaching and performing, were paint applied with strong she demonstrated how creative movement could be brush stokes. They move with the used as a tool for learning concepts within the school energy qualities of smooth, jagged, curriculum. Ms. Lewitzky was well known for the way wavy, pulsing, shimmering and she expressed her thoughts verbally, as well as exploding. It feels as if the dancers kinetically, and she was also a strong advocate for are inside the painting, transforming freedom of expression in the arts. Her artistic vision its vitality into motion. It is placed her in demand with important national and interesting to note that the music European art patrons for the creation of new dances. was created after the dance. Photo: Erica Davidson About The Artwork: “Change is the only Impressions #2, which premiered in 1988, is based on constant.” Bella Lewitzky Lewitzky’s responses to selected paintings by the artist Vincent van Gogh. Bella’s father, who was also a California Discussion Questions: Sample Experiences: After the video has been viewed: LEVEL I • What movements do you remember? • Circle these body parts: head, shoulders, hips, arms, • Can you show one movement idea from the dance? legs, hands, feet. Vary direction, size and tempo. • What do the movements suggest to you? • Create partner designs using ideas of: circle, high/low, • What actions in nature do the movements suggest? front/back, side/side, around/through, over/under. • What do you think this dance work was about? * • Put the following words into movement: sharp, • What kind of person do you think created this work? pulsing, smooth, jagged, wavy, swinging, shimmering. • What do you think the choreographer was saying? Combine two or three together. • What ideas came to mind as you watched it? • Read the book, Harold and the Purple Crayon. Explore • What was the mood of the music? Was there a ways to draw images using different parts of the body, strong beat? e.g. draw the moon using your nose). Sequence 5 - 7 ideas. • In Impressions #2, what paths did the dancers LEVEL II make on the floor? In the air? • Design shapes and motion based on these universal • Look at van Gogh’s painting, Starry Night. How * design motifs: straight, bent, curves, circles, spirals, dots. does the dance remind you of this painting? • Walk or run a spiral path. Begin at the small part and Multidisciplinary Options: get bigger; reverse. Try it alone, with a partner and in a • Be a dance critic and write your ideas about one group. Change level. Traveling backward, sideways. of the dances you saw. • Select a van Gogh landscape painting and brainstorm • What do you think the choreographer was the movement words it suggests to you. Write them saying in movement? down. Look at them in terms of which words suggest • What kind of movements were selected? Why? motion, time, space, shapes and moods. Select three to • What do you especially like about the dance? five of the words and develop them into a dance study. • What would you change about the dance? • Have students work in partners; one designs three • How did the music work with the dance? shapes which are copied by the partner. Reverse roles. • Did the choreographer show impressions of Copy from the front, side, back, close and far away. van Gogh in the same ways in which you view LEVEL III his landscapes or portraits? How is your view • Look at the video of the dance. Select one phrase from the same? How is it different? either dance section and learn it. Perform it for others. Audio-Visual Materials: * • Look at a reproduction of the painting Starry Night or • Photos courtesy of the Lewitzky Dance Co. Starry Night on the Rhone. Discuss how space is used, • Artsource® video excerpts of Impressions #2: Vincent brush stroke technique, colors, mood, images, balance, van Gogh, Starry Nights, courtesy of the New York energy, unity. Explore these ideas and develop a selection Public Library for the Performing Arts (NYPL call of these ideas into dance impressions, separately or combined. number: *MGZIC 9-5177), 1988. • Explore the eight Laban Effort Actions of press, flick, punch, float, slash, glide, wring and dab. Select two and Additional References: contrast. (Dance Addendum, “Tools for Viewing Dance.”) • Johnson, Crockett. Harold and the Purple Crayon, Harper Trophy, © 1955. LEVEL I, II and III • Joyce, Mary. First Steps in Teaching Creative • Think of poetic phrases that describe natural images Dance to Children, Third edition, Mayfield (i.e., “wind-swept surf”). Use these word images to Publishing Co., Mountain View, CA. 1994. stimulate original movement and dance ideas. * Indicates sample lesson. 2 DANCE WORDS IN MOTION TRANSFORMATION LEVEL I Sample Lesson INTRODUCTION: Words can be used to stimulate ideas in movement. Words which have action, shape, energy or time concepts work best. Onomatopoeic words, like ooze, fluffy, rip and bubble, are also effective. Words can be explored individually or combined in a variety of ways, such as: an action verb with an adverb (turning slowly); rhyming words (pick, flick, click); action words (run, bend, stretch). It is important to set an atmosphere where each person's interpretation is respected. OBJECTIVES: (Student Outcomes) Students will be able to: • Create original movement motivated by words. (Creative Expression) • Describe, discuss, analyze and connect information and experiences based on this lesson. Refer to Assessment at the end of this lesson. (Aesthetic Valuing) MATERIALS: • Cards with selected words. • A drum or selection of small rhythm instruments. PROGRESSION: • Select some of the following words (or think of your own) and put them on cards. Have the class interpret the word in movement as you show the word or call it out. Encourage spontaneous motion (improvisation) which shows the idea in several ways, rather than stopping after one motion. Sharp • Smooth • Jagged • Wavy • Swinging • Pulsing • Shimmering • Exploding Tasks: • Have each person take one of the words and develop it into a movement phrase with a beginning, middle and ending. For younger or beginning students, the idea can be improvised; older students should select and develop their idea so it can be repeated. Have the students perform their ideas in groups of five to seven. • Divide into small groups and give each group two cards with words on each side. Let them select two of the words and create a movement idea in an AB (2 part) form. Repeat it. They should have a clear beginning and ending to their idea. Simple percussion instruments can be used to accompany the movements. 3 Suggested Criteria for Dance: • Strong focus • Show originality in choosing movement to express each word • Clear beginning, middle and end EXTENSIONS: • Use the words explored in class to write a short story or poem. This can be done by each student, in small groups, or as a class. • Create a dance where words are used as part of the dance. They can be used rhythmically or as cues for the movement. One person can be the leader and call out different selected words for the group to improvise. VOCABULARY: improvise (improvisation), phrase, AB form, percussion ASSESSMENT: (Aesthetic Valuing) DESCRIBE: Describe how it felt to move the various words. DISCUSS: Discuss what you found most interesting when you watched others showing their interpretations of the words. ANALYZE: Describe the difference between verbally saying a word and moving that same word. CONNECT: Discuss why you think that words are important in communicating feelings or impressions.