Scholarship Dance
Students will be marked on their a) choreography, b) their discussion of their
choreography, and c) their discussion of their performances. These three areas
have equal importance.
Teacher Notes
One of the topics for the 3.8 external is dance and politics. I thought it would be
interesting to use the same idea for some choreography work and perhaps even use it
as a stimulus idea for 3.1.
This resource uses the idea that dance can be used to make political statements, but it
is hoped that students will also see how some of the ideas can be adapted to the topics
they have chosen. Students could also use ideas suggested in previous years, for
example water in 2012 or the idea of waiting in 2011.
Ideas for exploring politics through choreography include:
 Exploring a school, local or national issue eg Do governments have the right to
spy on their citizens?
 Using a political speech as the stimulus for a dance eg Nelson Mandela,
Emmeline Pankhurst
 Using a person who has stood up for the rights of others as the motivation for a
dance eg Maya Angelou, Whina Cooper
 Discuss the political ideas that concern the students’ peer group and use one or
more of these as stimulus for a dance
 Some young people think political discussions are boring and of no concern. Find
out what students think and make a dance about indifference or involvement
 Find out why some people are prepared to die for their political beliefs.
The list can be expanded.
Below are some ideas for the choreography and associated workbook entries that
students might do for Scholarship related to this topic. These ideas can be adapted to
other topics. Because the workbook is restricted to 18 sides, teachers will need to guide
students toward the ideas that are most relevant for their choreography and
performance.
There are more ideas than students need. Choose what is appropriate, or adapt or
produce ideas of your own.
Some of the bullet points may give ideas about how the choreography could be
developed.
The performance material may be generated from performances used for 3.1, 3.2, or 3.3
or performances done as part of extra-curricular activities.
Choreography and Workbook
Students will choreograph a dance for Scholarship:
 Do some research about students’ attitudes to politics. Explain how anything you
found out influenced your work.
 Explain how you got your dancer(s) to understand the ideas you wanted to
express in the performance.
 You decided to use the voice(s) of the dancer(s) in your dance. Explain how you
used their voices and comment on the effectiveness of this.
 Make a dance that shows both sides of a political argument using an AB
structure.
 Take a photograph of moments in the dance that show strong contrast or strong
emotion. Explain, with reference to the photographs, how you captured the
emotion / idea through the body shapes, use of space, and relationships.
 Describe the ways you used ideas from a political speech as stimulus for
improvisations and for developing movement ideas.
 Watch a person speaking about a political issue. Use their gestures as the basis
of movement motifs for a dance.
 Create a diagram to illustrate the structure of your dance and show how it follows
the same structure as a political speech you studied. Comment on the
effectiveness of the structure for dance.
 Explain how you explored sounds and music and how you arrived at your final
decisions about the sound that accompanied your dance.
 Photograph a moment where the lighting effectively contributes to conveying the
mood or idea in you dance. Explain how the lighting does this.
 Explain how another dance or dances that dealt with political issues influenced
your ideas for this dance
 Explain how the work / technique of a New Zealand choreographer influenced
you.
 Explain how you achieved a sense of unity with your dance ie a sense that
everything in the dance belonged together.
 Explain the title of your dance. How does it reflect or allude to your main idea?
 Take a photograph of three moments from your dance and use them to explain
how you achieved unity in your dance.
 Explain how another dance that did not have politics as its theme influenced your
ideas or movement choices.
 You have decided to use one large and one smaller object as a set on an
otherwise bare stage. Discuss your choices and explain how they relate to your
theme.
 You have made a site-specific dance about a community issue that is performed
in the community the issue affects. Explain your choice of site and how the site
influenced the movements you choreographed.
Performance and Workbook
The students might include one dance, excerpts from several different dances or several
different genres, two versions of the same dance with different choreographic intentions
or other combinations. Remember, the performance will not be marked but will provide a
context for workbook comments about performance.
Teachers could use or adapt some of the following questions and activities for their
students to include in their workbooks:
 Show a photograph of a moment from your dance and discuss your use of focus
at that moment.
 Explain how you developed the dynamics of the movement in order to convey the
ideas in the dance
 Explain how you used paintings or photographs in order to understand how to
express the intention of the dance.
 Describe ways you used energy to enhance the ideas in the dance.
 Draw the floor pattern and annotate for a dance to show where in the space you
conveyed the strongest emotions or the strongest ideas. You might add
photographs to this.
 Discuss ways that the music influenced your performance.
 Describe the costume worn for the performance. Explain how you used the
costume to help convey the ideas in the dance.
 Comment on the various ways you use expression when you perform your
dance.
 Explain how you interpreted the choreographer’s idea or intention for the dance.
How did your understanding influence the way you performed?
 What technical skills did you need to perform the dance well?
And / or to show versatility students might also include one or two more excerpts from
dances that demonstrate other performance qualities. For example, for an ethnic dance:
 How did you convey the traditional meaning of the dance in your performance?
 What emotions are expressed when people perform this dance? How did you
convey those emotions?
 If there were some parts of the dance that were traditional and other parts that
were more contemporary, how did that influence the way you performed the
dance?
 Photograph three gestures used in the dance. Explain what each gesture
suggests and how that influenced the way you performed it.
 Describe the techniques that are important for this performance.
Resources for Dance and Politics
An online exhibition Politics and the Dancing Body that explores how American
choreographers between World War I through the Cold War used dance to celebrate
American culture, to voice social protest, and to raise social
consciousness. http://myloc.gov/exhibitions/politics-and-dance/pages/default.aspx
Hofesh Schecter: politics and dance – Israeli choreographer and composer based in the
UK whose first full-length work, Political Mother, played at the 2012 New Zealand
International Arts Festival. This interview was aired on Radio New Zealand National in
2012 http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2510345/hofeshschecter-politics-and-dance
Look at images of Schecter’s dance Political Mother. Use them to stimulate ideas about
group choreography
https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=Hofesh+Shechter+Political+Mother&client=firefoxa&hs=3pW&rls=org.mozilla:enUS:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=e2zTUfisOrCyiQfS8YDoBw&ved=0
CCsQsAQ&biw=1426&bih=858
Read a review about Political Mother
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/may/23/hofesh-shechter-political-mother-review
Watch sections of Political Mother http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_06hcelswgc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv4TBdmeZs8
Atamira – Ngai Tahu 32 tells the story of a man, Wi Potiki, the loss of Ngai Tahu land,
file 32 containing his Potiki whakapapa, and his descendants' survival.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw8sWtD9IUQ
Atamira – Wai – issues associated with water excerpts at the end of this clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLSSU1eoZn8
Ghost Dance – Christopher Bruce took the theme of the Day of the Dead, simple
symbolism and indigenous dance movements to convey the plight of the innocent people
in Chile and their courage in the face of adversity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRcdlqAyIps
Dance and Human Rights: An interview with Christopher Bruce
http://www.criticaldance.com/interviews/1999/cbruce990700.html
Swan Song by Christopher Bruce is a dance performed by a trio – two guards and
a prisoner, with the former torturing the latter. This dance also deals with human
rights http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=038BdfaaVVs
A unit of work Dancing Towards Respect Part Three: Respect for Human Rights by Julie
Cadzow
http://artsonline2.tki.org.nz/resources/units/dancing_towards_respect/respect_for_huma
n_rights/
Black Grace – Gathering Clouds
This was Neil Ieremia’s response to controversial claims made by economist Greg
Clydesdale in which he warns that Polynesians display “significant and enduring underachievement” – a problem he believes immigration is making worse.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAZtZFQMY7k
Steps in the Street – Martha Graham
This dance was choreographed in the same year that Marha Graham turned down
Hitler’s invitation to perform at the 1936 Olympics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtoIsk8GXtU
Martha Graham’s Dance Company Political Dance Project 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut9XjQ8RESE
Many sites deal with Flashmobs as a form of political demonstration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8d6H5SSgMk