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Residency Packet


A GUIDE FOR SCHEDULING AND PLANNING A RESIDENCY

Dear Residency Coordinator:

I am excited to do a residency at your school! This letter will be a start to planning that residency. I am available for performances, classes, choreography and any combination of those. I find that doing an assembly performance on the first day of a residency helps build excitement as well as introduces the students and teachers to us and to modern dance. I will need 1-1/2 hours preparation time before performing for setup and warmup.

In preparing the schedule for our upcoming residency, I’d like to give you some guidelines and ideas. There are 5 contact periods available each day. A single class takes one contact period. An assembly performance takes 2 contact periods. I prefer a maximum of 20-25 students per class. If you would like an evening concert for your school and/or community, I can't teach classes on that day. This is because of the approximately eight hour set-up and technical preparation time required for a full concert.

A contact time of 45-60 minutes per class works best depending on the grade level and school schedule. I can work with any grade level and will adjust our teaching and activities to the specific class. I can also work with community groups, adult education, special interest groups and teacher in-service. For additional activity and lecture ideas, please see the enclosed packet.

In order that there be some carry-over, I would like to see at least one class or group 3-5 times per week (the core group), for at least 45 minutes each meeting. Please let me know if I will be working through any particular school academic or activity program, such as Music or PE. If you have me working with movement and curriculum, please have the classroom teachers prepare a list of subjects they are currently covering or would like to have me work from. I appreciate receiving those lists a couple weeks before the residency to aid my planning.

A large, open space that can tolerate noise, preferably with a wood floor, is the best space for any dance/movement class. Because of the nature of creative movement classes, separate spaces are needed for each class. The gym, music room, art room or any other large space available usually work well. Classrooms can be used; I will bring small space activities if this is the case. Large spaces are preferred, especially for the older students.

I will need at least a 2-hour uninterrupted block of time, any time between 10 am and 7 pm for my own class and rehearsal in a large, open space with a wood floor. A gym, stage or large classroom would be fine. Observers are welcome. If there are any dancers in your community who would like to join me for my technique class, they are also welcome.

From you I will need a grid schedule listing each class, grade level, teacher's full name, number of students, where the class is meeting, the beginning and ending time of each class, and the number of times each class meets. If you can send that schedule to me at least three weeks before the residency, it will greatly aid my planning.

In keeping with AIS/C guidelines, there must be a teacher from the school in the room with each class for liability reasons, for program carry-over and for teacher enrichment. Teachers and parents are welcomed and encouraged to participate, but should also feel free to watch. Often students act very differently in a different space, with a different voice, and frequently the "naughty" students do very well in a structured creative movement class. Teachers should feel free to take and adapt any ideas they think might work for them. This program doesn't regard the artist as a teacher, but as a resource person who can augment and enhance the teacher's role, and the arts, and general curricula. The artist can bring inspiration and expertise to teachers and students alike.

If you can arrange it, I'd like to meet with the teachers early in the week, perhaps Monday during lunch or after school, to answer any questions, address any concerns and talk about what I'll be doing with the students during the residency. The meeting should take only 15-20 minutes.

If you have any questions or need more support materials, please don't hesitate to call. There is usually someone at the telephone between 9 am and 11 am. If not, and you don't mind talking to machines, the answering machine should be on. Leave a message and I'll get back to you. My email address is v@vjw.biz. I look forward to working with you and your students.

Sincerely,

Valerie Williams 





Co'MOTION DANCE THEATER RESIDENCIES


Valerie Williams Co'Motion Dance Theater is a full time, professional modern dance company. An thirty year veteran of the Artist-in-Schools program, the company has demonstrated a strong commitment to dance education, and has created innovative and exciting residencies for more than 600 communities and schools throughout the Midwest.

Choreography Residency

The company will be in residence to create and set, for a select group(s) of students, a dance(s) in either modern dance or musical theater style. The emphasis is on frequent rehearsals and technique classes and an intensive experience with both the process and product of dance as a discipline. Choreography can also be requested for a specific musical theater production.

Teaching Residency

This residency places more emphasis on modern dance/creative movement as creative and physical education/exercise. Discussion of dance as an art form and the practice of dance as an expressive art is stressed. It is not geared to a final product, but instead is designed to give students an experience in the many elements of dance/movement (e.g. shape, space, time and rhythm, sources of movement inspiration, movement quality, level, direction). Improvisation and composition are part of every class session. Emphases are placed on problem-solving and participation. A show-and-tell can be arranged for the end of the residency.

Curriculum Development

The purpose of this residency is to assist a school or system of schools in creating a curriculum in movement and dance, and training teachers to continue that curriculum. The field of knowledge is presented to teachers through in-service training and direct time spent in teacher training, as well as in class with the students. The company members will teach students, then assist the local teachers as they learn the lesson plans and observe and critique teachers as they teach lessons. The school will be given a printed Curriculum Guide which includes lesson plans and ideas, and audio tapes to accompany the lesson plans. The curriculum development can include creative movement and social and folk dance or can concentrate on one subject.

Children's Dance Theater Workshop

VWC'MDT contends that good art is appropriate to all ages, and the sooner we train people to expect high production values and well-rehearsed and produced programs, the more they will demand those as the norm. The Children's Dance Theater Workshop is designed not only to produce an accomplished dance performance, but also create a more informed audience for modern dance and performing arts production. During this residency, the Company will conduct intensive modern dance rehearsals and/or classes for children ages 8 through 18. The Company will provide professionally designed sets and costumes for the production as well as set the choreography on the students. This workshop will culminate in a fully produced, original dance concert showcasing the student's work. Through the classes/rehearsals, the Children's Dance Theater Workshop provides an opportunity for students to explore and expand their own potential, as well as learn about a vital performing arts discipline. The students also have an opportunity to experience, first hand, the amount of preparation, physical work, creative thought, and expertise that are required to ensure a quality dance performance.

Some added benefits of a Co'Motion Dance Theater residency include:
- A Curriculum with Cross Referenced Lesson Plans designed for Physical Education teachers without dance experience.
- Teacher-In-Service Workshops to share methods of teaching dance.
- Three Experienced Dancer/Teachers working with your students each day of the residency.
- Company Performances are included in any residency


BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF CLASSES IN A TEACHING RESIDENCY


CREATIVE MOVEMENT--classes in basic problem solving using movement. The class would first learn, then improvise en masse with basic components of dance/movement (direction, level, speed, force, quality, shape, etc.), using those components to create combinations of movement. Problems are given involving individuals, partners and groups. There is no right or wrong combination as long as the problem is solved. Cooperation is stressed.

COMPOSITION--classes in learning to compose dance, i.e. choreograph. Ideas, improvisation and problem-solving are the modes for this class. Besides interesting movement, subjects such as shape, line, form, dynamics, use of music and idea are addressed. Students are expected to become visually aware of movement choices. Aspects of design are stressed.

DANCE TECHNIQUE--modern dance, ballet, theater and Renaissance dance techniques are taught (one style per class period). All styles can be addressed during a residency or the concentration can be on just one style. Exercises are done to promote better strength, flexibility, coordination and control. Posture and pattern recognition are stressed, as is a kinesthetic sense of the movement.

CHOREOGRAPHY--special interest group would learn a dance choreographed by Valerie Williams or another company member, either commissioned or from existing repertory. Requires ample rehearsal time (generally 1-2 hours per minute of finished dance). Children's Dance Theater productions with costumes and sets are available for this kind of residency.

DANCE HISTORY--a "listening and doing" class devoted to western dance through the ages, most specifically from the Middle Ages through the present. Short dances and parts of dances are taught (geared, of course, to the abilities of the students) for a "feet on" acquaintance with the steps and styles. Costuming is discussed. The dances and styles are examined with a background of the socio-economic and political conditions of the time.

MOVEMENT AND CURRICULUM--using curriculum ideas to create dances, or using movement/dance to teach curriculum. See the next page for some ideas. Teachers are encouraged to identify areas of curriculum for use in dance class. A curriculum guide and lesson plans are available for teachers interested in pursuing the use of movement in the classroom.

COSTUMING--an informal exemplary talk about the design of costume for dance; discussing problems, fabrics, construction techniques and color.

LIGHTING FOR DANCE--a theoretical and/or practical session on design, using color, placement and hanging, caring for instruments, general lighting schemes and specific design problems.

PHYSICS OF DANCE--a movement, kinesiology and biomechanics class exploring inertia, axis, angular momentum, force, weight, rotation, friction, efficiency of motion, etc., in dance and pedestrian movement.

LECTURES AND SEMINARS: Reviewing and reporting dance; Creative writing and dance; Producing a concert; Fencing; Auditioning; Non-performing jobs in dance and theater; Dance as a business; Stage movement; Movement and curriculum; Question/answer session; Survey of 20th Century dance history; Survey of dance styles; Kinesiology; Music and dance; Design; etc.



LECTURE AND ACTIVITY IDEAS

Below are some ideas for introducing dance activities, philosophies and related work to a school and/or community. Besides the obvious movement applications of dance, other topics can be addressed for interested groups and academic classes, such as English language, literature and creative writing classes, World History, Theater, Visual Arts, Business, Vocational Education, Home Economics, Industrial Arts, Music and Music Theory. Other ideas are welcome.


Dance techniques
Musical theater choreography
Improvisation and creative problem solving in movement
Dance composition
Creative movement
Movement and curriculum
Teacher in-service
Question/answer session
History of dance in America
Dance reviewing
Creative writing and dance
Renaissance period and dances
Composition and design
Non-performing jobs in dance and theater
Dance as a profession
Dancers as role models
Arts administration
Dance as a business
Producing a concert
Lighting for a dance
Stage movement
Fencing
Costume design and construction
Auditioning
Kinesiology
Physics of dance
Dance and creative movement as physical education, not sports education



Valerie Williams Co'Motion Dance Theater
MAKES YOUR SCHOOL COME ALIVE!


During your Co'Motion Dance Theater residency three dancer/teachers will excite your student's minds and imaginations using curriculum ideas to create dances. This is a fun and imaginative way to reinforce your classroom topics.

The following are just a few ideas for using dance to help support curriculum.



SCIENCE

Solar system - near/far, orbits
Outer Space
Planets
Science Fiction
Rockets
Physics - force, friction, gravity, centrifugal/centripetal forces, weight, momentum, angular momentum
Dinosaurs
Biology - Viruses,
Brownian motion
Temperature
Kinesiology--study of movement
Skeleton, muscles, nervous system, movement analysis,
coaching
Elementary Science--bubble, levers, planes, forces


LANGUAGE ARTS

Creative writing - Writing from watching a dance; creating dance from writings:
Dance to tell a story
Dance to create an atmosphere
Dance to show feeling/emotion/attitude
Movement for its own sake
Poetry and dance
Personification
Taking Dictation
Reporting vs. Reviewing
Interviewing Artists
Questions to ask
How to prepare for the interview
Abstracting
Rhythm, substance, content, style


MATH

Fractions
Arithmetic--Addition, Subtraction, Division, Multiplications
Dance Equations



GEOGRAPHY

Map reading
Geographical formations
Folk dances from different countries
Costuming and why
Why different types of dances are from different regions


MUSIC

Rhythm
Note values
Moving parallel to the sound: with a steady beat; with a rhythm above a steady beat; with a changing beat and rhythm
Clap dances (creative movement game-like dances)
Folk dances
Music and dance
Listen to different styles of music and creat dances from the musical ideas
Using rhythms from specific pieces of music to create dances
Sound and movement


ART

Positive and negative space
Interdisciplinary art projects
Abstracting
Elements of design
Understanding the human body and weight placement for life drawing


HISTORY

'Feet on' introduction to dance history
Costuming and how it affects movement
How dance styles follow political and social trends


CAREER

Job opportunities in the arts--performing and non-performing
Education requirements for working in the arts




IDEAS FOR TEACHER IN-SERVICE TRAINING


Programs can be presented as introductions to the use of dance/movement or as comprehensive workshops. Lesson plans can be addressed to the general classroom teacher or the specialist.

Movement Technique
Alignment/Posture. Exercises to build strength, flexibility, coordination and control. Injury prevention through warm-up, strength and flexibility exercises and awareness of correct alignment.

Creative Movement
Teachers will learn and understand the movement concepts of shape, locomotor patterns, movement quality, speed, level, direction, force, weight, energy, floor pattern and methods for teaching students those concepts. Methods for teaching improvisation and informal composition are shown and explained.

Social Dance
Teaching students what they want to learn in social dance steps and moves, solo and partner, taught in a way that is palatable to grades 7-12. Posture and etiquette are addressed. Methods for teaching and specific steps are shown. An accompanying video tape is available. Unlike the specific styles and steps of ballroom dances, social dance includes room for the individual imagination and style.

Rhythmic Activities
Using creative movement, simple folk dances and movement 'games' to have students moving rhythmically. Ability to maintain and change both the basic beat and the rhythm will be stressed.

Movement and Curriculum
Using movement and dance to teach and promote interest in and understanding of curriculum subjects: language arts, geography, health, art and design, music, and science - space, physical science (i.e., concepts of gravity, friction, fulcrum, centrifugal, and centripetal forces, angular momentum, force, equal and opposite forces). For a more complete list of ideas, please call or write to the address below.

Curriculum Development
Developing a dance unit. Specific lesson plans and teaching techniques are shown.


Valerie Williams and Co'Motion Dance Theater have been presenting teacher in-service programs since 1979 on a variety of subjects as they relate to dance. Besides being an accomplished dancer and choreographer, Williams also does research in early dance and maintains an active curiosity about the world. She uses those experiences to excite students and teachers to look at their subject matter with a fresh eye.



WHAT IS MODERN DANCE?


What is modern dance? Briefly, modern dance is a dance discipline akin to ballet, jazz and tap the way painting is a visual art akin to printmaking. Sometimes called contemporary dance, or contemporary ballet, many modern dancers do not wear shoes (in order to feel the floor better, to enhance sensitivity, for better control, for aesthetic reasons). Modern dance developed as a rebellion against ballet in the early 20th century. Those early dancers felt that there was more to dance than doing steps in an admittedly unnatural technique, wearing fancy costumes, telling the fairy stories that were very popular in the 19th century (i.e. Swan Lake, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty). So they searched for a new way to speak in movement, a way of moving that come from the individual, rather than a technique that had been passed down from the courtly social dances in the Renaissance and Baroque times. Unlike most other dance forms, modern dance has no systemized or codified set of steps. With each dancer and choreographer comes a new way of moving because each individual is unique and modern dance accepts that uniqueness, often exploiting it. Practically any size or shape of body is accepted because modern dance techniques are flexible and individualistic. The movement is based on a natural flow and rhythm which frees rather than restricts the body. Modern dance is also a truly American dance form, with almost all the early experimentation taking place here (then travelling to Europe in order to gain acceptance here). The innovators were American and their originality reflected the society that bred them.
________________________________________________________
For a reasonable overview of dance styles, techniques and fads in the 19th and 20th centuries, read "Dance Now" by Jan Murray, an easily read paperback published by Penguin Books.


Names to reference:
Isadora Duncan
Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn
Martha Graham
Loie Fuller
Lester Horton
Merce Cunningham
Paul Taylor
Alwin Nikolais
Twyla Tharp




THOUGHTS ON CREATIVE MOVEMENT


It is an undeniable fact that movement is good for anyone's life. It helps in relaxing, coping with inner frustrations, gives feelings of well-being and helps keep us trim and fit. Movement is a natural part of our total being. Active people live a much fuller life. They have more stamina, resist illness better and stay in shape easily. They are less depressed and often late in life are still working at new efforts with good personal energy for the future.

So why creative movement? Some of my thoughts:

Creative movement experiences can help people discover the many wonderful ways their bodies can move. It can constantly challenge their imaginations and muscles to reach farther. Everyone has a body and is going to have it for the rest of their lives. Learning to work and maintain it is a real part of our everyday education. Creative movement can teach not only knowledge of, but awe for our marvelous machine.

Creative movement can encourage people to explore total body movement, to strive to get all body parts working together. Movement is so much more than just arms and legs.

It can help people discover that because each of us is different from everyone else, we each have our own individual ways of moving. None of these ways are necessarily right or wrong or better than anyone else's, they are merely different. And we can all learn from those differences.

It provides an opportunity of sharing with other people in discovering new and different ways of moving and looking at movement.

It is non-competitive, allowing people to work on developing physical skills without regard to winning or being better than (which is not always good enough). Each person's individual response is the most important factor.

It provides an opportunity for problem solving through movement, so the total self - mind, body, spirit - is involved and functioning.

It can help improve listening skills, ability to concentrate and to focus all energy on a given problem, and to increase awareness of movement in all its many aspects; sports, dance, pedestrian movement.
It can help people feel good about who they are as physical, moving beings. It has the potential to develop real self-awareness and self-esteem in people of all ages and sizes. It can be used as a tool to explore and focus in on emotions and feelings.

With its emphasis on constantly searching for new solutions, for different ways of moving, creative movement helps develop all people's creative potential. This is a necessary part of everyday education if we are to prepare people for life's problems.

Children love to move and are generally open to new movement experiences. If they can participate in an eager and uninhibited way, perhaps this open response to things new and different will carry over into other life experiences.




Co'MOTION DANCE THEATER ASSEMBLY PERFORMANCE

TEACHER'S GUIDE

Co'Motion Dance Theater will be in your school soon to do an assembly performance. In the past, many teachers have asked for some notes on the performance so they could prepare their students for the performance. We consider this an admirable intention: to make an informed audience. Therefore, this synopsis is made for you, the teacher, principal, or coordinator, to help you and your students acquaint yourselves with some modern dance concepts, the music and composers we use, some of the process of choreography, and with dance as a performing art. This collection of thoughts is meant to introduce you to the dances Co'Motion Dance Theater will be performing, and also to provide some ideas for discussion and activities for preparation and follow-up. It is important that some element of surprise be present for a performance, so we would appreciate your not giving all the details of the dances to your students.


On Viewing Dance and Understanding Movement

Dances can tell a story, show an attitude, create an atmosphere, or be movement for movement's sake. You and your students may see very different things in the same dance. That's fine! Each of us brings our own background to a performance and the beauty of a live performance is that we, as both performers and audiences members, are expected to use our individual eyes and experiences to participate in that performance. It is not necessary to search for meaning, it is entirely appropriate to just enjoy watching the fascinating interactions of human bodies moving through space. Modern Dance is usually quite accessible to young people because it is very athletic with leaping, jumping and strong movement. Even in serious dances, young students can learn to watch for interaction of the dancers, shapes, use of music, and movement qualities.

To people who have only seen structured movement with recognized rules (e.g. basketball), modern dance movement may look strange, but the movement itself is really similar. We all have two arms and legs, etc. It is the intent in dance movement that is different, and, in dance, the movement is more complex. Dancers aren't allowed to skip any muscles; feet are just as important as arms, as backs, as faces, as fingers in communicating an idea to an audience.

To fully understand dance, especially modern dance, it is important to understand some basic movement anatomy. In other words, it is important to understand the human body: joints, bone structure, muscles, body parts. All people move in basically the same way because all have basically the same body: arms, legs, head, torso, etc.

The dancer uses the body's capacity for movement combined with differences in speed, level, direction, movement quality, energy and shape to create dances. Sometimes, emotions provide the motivation for moving.

Questions and Activities

Before and after the performance

- Show your students a skeleton and identify the bones. Demonstrate how they articulate. Have the students try different shapes and movements on the skeleton to see how the bones work, and then try the same shapes and movements on themselves to see how they feel.

- Experiment with energy on your own and with your students--move with little energy and then with much energy. Discuss other forms of energy, like electricity, solar, magnetic, energy from food. Why do bigger people usually need more food?

- Have the students try many different ways of moving--you can supply the ideas:
Call out verbs and adverbs, combine them by intent or chance. i.e. run quickly; skip backwards.
Call out feeling words--students can show or reflect the feelings with movement and shapes. Ask them to try many different ways of showing those feelings.
Ask the students which they like best, try those again, then have them try the opposite. Try some movement improvisation using movement qualities, full body moving, isolating body parts, fast, slow, turning, jumping, traveling, stationary, etc. (Improvising means to make it up as you go along)

- How do people learn rhythm? Is rhythm innate? Walk, and feel your natural rhythm (everyone has s/his own comfortable speed). Notice how your arms and upper body react to your legs. Have everyone walk at s/his own speed, then on your instruction gradually adjust their tempi so eventually all are on the same walking beat. Try it in silence. Try it with you giving the beat by clapping (it is fun to make the students really listen by changing the beat). Dancers have to react to both internal and external cues. How does it feel different to make your own beat or to follow someone else's (internal-external)?

- What difference does your background make in how you view art? Your age? Experience?

During the performance:

- Look for how the dancers' joints operate individually and together.

- Listen to the music. Feel the rhythm the dancers keep without music. See how many different ways we move, and with what body parts. Can human beings ever NOT be in a shape?

- Is the same amount of energy used in every movement?

- Watch how the dancers use:
different directions - forward, sideways, backwards, diagonal, up and down
different movement qualities - sustained, percussive, swing, collapse, vibrating and suspension
different speeds - fast, slow, medium
different levels - high, middle and low (close to the ground), in the air
different ways of traveling - walk, leap, jump, roll, etc.
different shapes - self, partner and group shapes
different attitudes - How did the dance make you feel?

After the performance

- Do you think the titles were appropriate?

- Think about the movement and decide if you think it was "weird", or if the juxtaposition of the dancers is what made it "weird". Is "weird" the best word to describe a dance? What does "weird" mean?
Discuss unusual events, and what make them unusual. Apply that discussion to ways we treat other peoples and cultures and their common and unusual occurrences. Is there such a thing as a universal event or idea? Think about the foods people eat, the games they play, what they call a house or home. Why might we be so quick to call something "weird"?

- How do you feel when you are twisted? When you see a twisted thing? Does dance always have to be pretty? What do you think and feel when you see an unattractive shape?

- Dances come from many different ideas: music, story, emotion, pattern, movement, etc. How many different ideas can you think of? - Read e.e. cummings work. Try making short dances to poems or lines from poems.

- Compile a list of adjectives; make shapes and/or movement to go with the words.

- Listen to sounds. Collect some and bring to the classroom. Make your own sound score and try moving to it. How does it differ from music? Create a movement sequence and try it with both music and the sound score.

- Have your students look for design and pattern during the day and collect them on a sheet of paper. How could you make dances from those ideas?


Creating Dance

Dances are made by choreographers (explore the etymology of the word choreographer). Some choreographers "see" the movement in their minds, some need to see the movement on dancers' bodies before they know what it will look like. Some choreographers work in a specific style, some approach dance through improvisation. Improvisation serves to involve the dancers in the creative process, and ensures that the movement looks natural on the dancers.



Valerie Williams Co'Motion Dance Theater is in residence at Iowa State University Department of Health and Human Performance