Sample Lessons

 

CINQUAIN (2/12)

A cinquain is a poetic structure consisting of a noun, two adjectives, three verbs, a four word phrase, ending with a noun or synonym of the first noun.  It is descriptive in nature and can tell a story or be more abstract.  Example:

Labrador

Loving, boisterous

Running, sniffing, chewing

Curled at my feet

(My) Pet

-or-

Dance

Personal, social

Leaping, Twirling, Sliding

Telling my own story

Life

 

Goals:  creating-meaning making, phrasing, performance, core-distal/weight shift, responding-recognizing meanings in viewed dances, connecting-poetry/language arts

Warm-up:  Core distal whole body…parts of body, organically segue into exploration #

Exploration #1:  Curl and stretch

  • Curl around different axises (body parts, imaginary boxes/poles, etc.)  Reach to different parts of imaginary “box”(diagonal high, low, mid front back, side, etc…)
  • Reach part way, whole way. Curl back in part way, whole way.
  • Reach let it pull you off center to travel.  Then reach & travel at same time (Two different

Exploration #2:  Travel across floor/ weight shift on & off/locomotor practice

  • Big walks, big lunges, lunge w/ one foot lunge roll out of it to floor, lunge then return to center, lunge then shift weight and travel.
  • Repeat w/ tiptoe…tip toe forward, backward, side; repeat w/ body high/mid/low; repeat w/ lots of space, little space between tip toes.
  • Repeat w/ leaps…long walks, long runs, low long leaps.  Definition of leap?  Leap over something of various sizes vs. skimming leaps.  Leap sideways, leap backward.
  • Repeat w/ lunges & reaches at same time.
  • Repeat w/ tiptoes and curls at same

Improvisation #1:  Phrase practice

  • Lunge, lunge, lunge, reach big, curl small, FREEZE
  • Tiptoe, tiptoe, lunge, lunge, leap
  • Stretch, curl, stretch, curl, tiptoe,

Composition #1:  Read Cinquain description & the cinquain.  Create group poem.  Make dance selections those that match

Show:  Half class at a time

Discuss:  Cinquain’s that are movement based vs. symbolic

Improvisation #2:  Could insert here either some abstraction activities (qualities of ‘puppies’ for example…but most like that would be in a prior lesson) OR could insert the following OR could jump into Comp #2.  Any of these choices would work depending on student experience.

One option for Improvisation #2:  Developing material

  • Retro-grade
  • Perform fast/slow
  • Insert pauses
  • Play DVD game

Composition #2:  Write your own cinquain about something important to you.  Create new dance using same structure as group cinquain.

OR—if developed materials using Improvisation 2: Developing material, above, then use this composition:

Composition #2:  Using material from second Improvisation, make new dance inspired by Cinquain—no new words, but order, repetition, etc. can remain same…remind them last week did SIZE shift and REPEAT…they can use any of these for new dance.

Show:  One at a time

Reflect:  What see/what do?  What affect of Cinquain as structure in either case?  If chose the symbolism extension—what choices did dance maker use that helped us see and read poem?  If choosing the developing extension—reflect on use of choreographic tools.