DANCE 7–10 unit
GHOST DANCES
Practices: Composition, Appreciation, Performance
Length Of Unit: 5 weeks
This is the third unit of work that can be conducted as a 5-week unit in Term 3 dependant on the indicative hours per week
offered by the school.
Stage of Unit: Stage 4 (Year 8)
Content Area: Essential
Aims of the Unit of Work: The work Ghost Dances is used as a means to analyse how the choreographer expresses a
concept/intent. Students learn to deconstruct the components of the dance that contribute to the communication of ideas.
They develop an ability to articulate the body and use the body as an instrument for the communication of choreographic
ideas.
OVERVIEW OF SESSION 1:
Students are introduced to the cultural and social context of the work and
communicate their personal response. They study Christopher Bruce’s influences for the work. The focus is on the
element of space and the relationship between the characters
portrayed in section 1. They perform the introduction of the work involving the trio and discuss the body actions and types
of movement used in relation to safe dance practice. A dance journal is introduced.
OVERVIEW OF SESSION 2:
Students discuss a synopsis of the section 2 and 3 of the work in relation to the
communication of an idea. They discuss Bruce’s background and training in relation to the fusion of contemporary and the
folk dance styles. They participate in compositional tasks to vary the movement.
OVERVIEW OF SESSION 3:
Students explore partner contact work to develop dance technique and learn a movement combination using the work as a
stimulus.
OVERVIEW OF SESSION 4:
The students develop a further understanding of the thematic intent of the work. Students manipulate the different levels,
floor patterns and relationships to develop further movement sequences that communicate intent. The students continue to
record ideas in the dance journal.
OVERVIEW OF SESSION 5:
Students demonstrate their understanding of how relationships can be used to
convey intent. They further develop an understanding of structure and sequencing by
developing their own phrases based on an intention.
DANCE 7-10 SUPPORT, CURRICULUM K-12
OUTCOME 4.1.1
Demonstrates an understanding of safe dance practice and
appropriate dance technique in the performance of
combinations, sequences and dances






OUTCOME 4.1.2
Demonstrates aspects of the elements of dance in dance
performance
OUTCOME 4.2.1
Identifies and explores aspects of the elements of dance in
response to a range of stimuli
apply the elements of space and dynamics to dance
movement

how combinations of dance movement can be
varied using the elements of dance

identify and explore a range of stimuli to create
movement
explore the elements of space, time and dynamics
in relation to a stimulus
select and refine movement to communicate an
idea
improvise as means to explore ideas


OUTCOME 4.3.1
Describes dance performances through the elements of
dance
OUTCOME 4.3.2
Identifies that dance works of art express ideas
correct body alignment and placement while
executing movement
the role of strength, flexibility, agility, coordination
and body articulation in acquiring dance technique
the language of dance technique


OUTCOME 4.2.2
Composes dance movement, using the elements of dance,
that communicates ideas
move with greater body awareness
control non-locomotor and locomotor combinations
when performing extended sequences
use appropriate dance terminology when describing
dance technique and safe dance practice


stimulus as a starting point of dance composition
the elements of dance as the tools employed by the
dance composer to communicate ideas and feelings
through dance

link movements to create a sequence

transitions and sequencing movement

acquire, develop and apply an appropriate dance
vocabulary

the language of dance to describe movements in
space, time and dynamics

describe connections between dance works of art
and their own performances and compositions

the elements of dance as the common link between
dance performance and composition
DANCE 7-10 SUPPORT, CURRICULUM K-12
Integrated learning experiences
Evidence of learning
S E S S IO N 1
Introduce the work and Christopher Bruce
Introduce and explain the aspects of space.
View the first section of Ghost Dances. Students note about
how space has been employed by the choreographer.
Conduct a technical warm-up based on shape and changes
of level. Develop the floor and centre work movement and
combinations into progressions varying the floor pattern.
Teach a combination from Ghost Dances section 1. Discuss
the safe dance aspects of the combination.
In groups of 3, students manipulate the combination by
varying the levels and floor pattern.
Students perform and discuss variations in relation to the
aspects of space.
Watch section 1 of the work and evaluate students
understanding of how Christopher Bruce has communicated
meaning using movement.
Introduce the cultural and social context of the work and
provide
discussion questions to elicit their personal response.
Explain Christopher Bruce’s influences for the work.
Provide a brief background of folk dancing (origin,
movement and
timing , music and costume)
4.1.1
• Physical demonstration of appropriate
body actions
• Recall and safely execute movement
sequences
• Perform non-locomotor and locomotor
movements with correct body alignment
• Display agility, coordination and body
articulation
• Move with a sense of strength and power
4.1.2
• Move using different directions
• Move through a variety of shapes and
levels
• Move with control and spatial awareness
4.2.1
• Explain Christopher Bruce’s inspiration for
the work
• Application of space and time in their own
compositions
4.2.2
• Organise personalised movements into
sequences
• Link sequences with transitions
• Perform movement in contrast to other
movement
4.3.1
• Oral responses
• Written responses in journal
• Appropriate use of terminology
Conduct technique exercises based on triplets and discuss
the
concept of time signatures
4.3.2
• Compositions that communicate intention
Teach a folk dance routine.
Hand out synopsis to summarise and read for homework.
DANCE 7-10 SUPPORT, CURRICULUM K-12
Resources
Language
Video of Ghost Dances
Concept/intent
Hand out on the element of space
Level
• high
• medium
• low
Information on Christopher Bruce
• his works
• choreographic influences
Folk dancing origins and
characteristics
• pictures
Pathways
• straight
• circle
Direction
• forward
• sideways
• diagonal
Metre
Accent
Phrasing
Combination
Sequence
Weight
Force
Shape
• straight
• curved
• angular
Relationships
• groupings
• spatial
• interaction
Triplet
Context
Warm-up
Dance technique
DANCE 7-10 SUPPORT, CURRICULUM K-12
Integrated learning experiences
Evidence of learning
S E S S IO N 2
Discuss Christopher Bruce’s background and training.
Discuss his choreographic style in relation to dance technique
applied to Dance performance
• how the elements of dance have been used in the performance
of
Ghost Dances
• interpretation
• the realisation of the intent of section 1 of the work
View the 2nd section of Ghost Dances and describe the folk
dance movement in the journal. Rewatch and note the
contemporary
movement in the journal. Discuss the similarities and differences.
Discuss Bruce’s use of movement, choreographic style of fusing
both styles. Discuss how he changed the folk movement.
Link Bruce’s background and training in ballet to characterisation
within the work.
Warm-up based on off-centre and sustained combinations
Recap the folk dance combination.
Students to vary the combination by manipulating:
• Level
• Direction
• Shape
• Pathways
4.1.1
• Recall and safely execute movement
sequences
• Perform non-locomotor and locomotor
movements with correct body alignment
• Display agility, coordination and body
articulation appropriate to the style
4.1.2
• Move with control and spatial awareness
4.2.1
• Ability to describe how Christopher Bruce
has used space in the work.
• Application of space and time in their own
compositions
4.2.2
• Apply the elements of space and dynamics
in their own compositions
4.3.1
• Oral and written responses in journal
describing choreographic style and the
relationship between Bruce’s background
and training and the work
4.3.2
• Articulation of how Bruce has used
movement to communicate intent
Manipulate the folk style of the movement to change it to offcentre
Manipulate the force of the movement to include a sustained
dynamic
Manipulate the grouping, spatial and interaction between group
members
Students to discuss their synopsis summaries.
View students work and discuss their work in relation to their
summaries.
DANCE 7-10 SUPPORT, CURRICULUM K-12
Write an evaluation of the process used to vary the movement
content.
Resources
Language
Video of Ghost Dances
Choreographic style
Manipulation
Variation
Information on Christopher Bruce
• background and training
• choreographic style
Handout to record the folk and
contemporary stylistic
characteristics
Modelled journal entry or scaffold
DANCE 7-10 SUPPORT, CURRICULUM K-12
Integrated learning experiences
Evidence of learning
SESSION 3
Warm-up arm strength and upper body carriage in relation to the
high centre of the folk style previously explored.
Lower leg strength exercises leading to progressive jumps.
View and discuss the Ghost trio section 1 that includes larger
jumps and leaps. Identify the range of body skills required to
safely execute the phrases.
Teach or modify several phrases from section 1 to suit the skill
level of the students. Outline and emphasise correct placement of
the
upper body and execution of landing from jumps.
Students perform in pairs and complete a peer evaluation of each
other’s performance.
Conduct a contact improvisation class including:
• laying silent listening and relaxing
• trust exercises partner A rolls partner B from prone position by
gently pushing the shoulder and hip. Partner B must allow body
to
be manipulated without trying to control the movement
• mirroring exercises
• partner A eyes open manipulates the body action of partner B
with
eyes closed
• develop incorporating locomotor movement
• explore leading with a variety of body parts aiming for
continuous
movement and sustained contact.
View section 1 and discuss the action reaction contact work to
discuss how Christopher Bruce has used it to communicate
meaning.
Revise the previously learned jump phrases from section 1.
Develop the jump phrases in pairs to incorporate contact work.
4.1.1
• Ability to control and maintain upper body
alignment and placement whilst performing
the phrases.
• Demonstration of correct landing
technique (hip, knee and ankle alignment,
demi plie, articulation of the foot, heel
lowered)
4.1.2
• Demonstrates personal awareness of
space in relation to a partner.
• Ability to maintain the desired body shape
whilst executing the body skills.
• Ability to give and share weight with a
partner.
4.2.1
• Ability to continuously respond to the
kinaesthetic cues of a partner in contact.
4.2.2
• Demonstration of sequencing movement
using 2 people.
• Use of transitions to sequence reworked
movement incorporating contact work.
4.3.1
• Use of a technical vocabulary in the peer
assessment.
• Oral response in identifying body skills
• Discussion of the use of space and
relationships in relation to the work
4.3.2
• Exposition outlining the use of the body
skills in their work.
DANCE 7-10 SUPPORT, CURRICULUM K-12
Resources
Video of Ghost Dances section 1
Handout summarising body skills and safe
execution of jumps and landings.
Language
Contact improvisation
Transition
Body skills
Safe Dance
DANCE 7-10 SUPPORT, CURRICULUM K-12
Integrated learning experiences
Evidence of learning
SESSION 4
View and discuss the significant movement that characterise the duo
in section 3 (swinging, loping, reaching, gesturing and travelling).
Identify the underlying themes of the section.
• The ghosts and the peasants (dead)
• Life and death
• Vigour and apathy
• Happiness and joy
• Suffering and sorrow
Read and discuss the extract of an interview with Christopher Bruce
and the contextual notes. Discuss the themes in relation to the
political regimes where oppression is evident and links drawn to the
message of humanity.
4.1.1
• Performing the movement and partner
work with due consideration to safe dance
practice
4.1.2
• Ability to perform with an awareness of the
performance space in relation to their
intent.
• Control of the movement within the
dancers kinesphere to perform safely in
proximity to a partner
4.2.1
• Respond to an ideational stimulus
to create movement based on an intent
Explore the movements of:
• swinging
• loping
• reaching
• gesturing
• travelling
4.2.2
• Demonstrate the ability to sequence
movement into a phrase.
• Create phrases based on an idea
Develop the movement based on the idea of meeting and parting.
4.3.1
• Describe their work in relation to the use of
movement and space
Develop the combinations to include contacting, turning and leaning
movements.
Vary the element of space through changes to level and floor
patterns
4.3.2
• Discuss their work in relation to the
compositional process
Choose one of the underlying themes from above and continue
developing the movement into phrases that explore the thematic
intent.
Resources
Video of Ghost Dances section 3
Extract of an interview with Christopher Bruce
Contextual notes
Language
swinging
loping
reaching
gesturing
travelling
Vigour and apathy
DANCE 7-10 SUPPORT, CURRICULUM K-12
sorrow
intent
theme
DANCE 7-10 SUPPORT, CURRICULUM K-12
Integrated learning experiences
Evidence of learning
SESSION 5
View and discuss the Ghost trio in section 1 starting from where
they are linked by the arms in the line formation in relation to
Christopher Bruce intent.
Discuss the use of relationships in terms of:
• groupings
• spatial relationships
• interaction
Students learn the trio sequences to where they separate (modify
to suit students ability).
Brainstorm the theme of The Oppressor and the Oppressed.
Discuss the types of movement, use of relationships and space that
may be employed to convey this theme.
Students manipulate relationships to convey the intent of
The Oppressor and the Oppressed. Students are to re-work the trio
movement using the aspects of relationships.
Include:
• grouping- connected, apart; solo, duet, trio; formations/group
shape
• spatial relationships- over, under, around, side-by-side,
supported,
near, far
• interaction between and sensitivity to other dancers- leading,
following, mirroring, canon, parting
Continue to develop further phrases maintaining the style of the
original trio.
4.1.1
• Perform with correct body alignment and
placement while executing the trio
sequence.
• Maintain strength in the upper body and
legs throughout the performance of the
trio sequence
• Demonstrate coordination in performing
sequenced movement in close proximity
to partners.
4.1.2
• Perform with a sense of the position of
the body or group of bodies in space
4.2.1
• Clear use of space and relationship for a
group of three dancers that
communicates the intent.
• Characters and roles delineated through
movement choices and use of
relationships.
4.2.2
• Movements linked in a logical sequence
that consistently conveys meaning.
4.3.1 & 4.3.2
• Ability to describe groupings, spatial
relationships and interaction of the Ghost
trio and their own composition
Sequence the phrases to show a clear beginning, middle and an
end that conveys the intent of The Oppressor and the Oppressed.
DANCE 7-10 SUPPORT, CURRICULUM K-12
Resources
Handout of the aspects of
relationships
The Oppressor and the Oppressed journal
entries
Language
oppressed/oppression
canon
mirroring
sensitivity
supported
solo
duet
trio
connected
re-work
DANCE 7-10 SUPPORT, CURRICULUM K-12
W OLLO NG O NG HIG H S CHO O L O F THE P E RFO RMI NG A RT S
A S S E SS ME NT T AS K YE A R 8 2 0 04
T AS K NO :
2/4
T O P IC :
M AR K S :
30 / 100
D AT E D U E :
W EIG HT ING :
20 %
Ghost Dances
Term 1 Wk 10
O UT CO M E S T O B E A S S E S S ED
4.1.1
Demonstrates an understanding of safe dance practice and appropriate dance technique in the
performance of combinations, sequences and dances
4.1.2
Demonstrates aspects of the elements of dance in dance performance
4.2.1
Identifies and explores aspects of the elements of dance in response to a range of stimuli
4.2.2
Composes dance movement, using the elements of dance, that communicates ideas
4.3.1
Describes dance performances through the elements of dance
4.3.2
Identifies that dance works of art express ideas
T AS K:
The students:
• Perform movement sequences developed in class
• Sequence movement phrases to communicate the intent of The Oppressor and the Oppressed
• Submit journal entries
M AR K ING C RIT E RI A :
Your task will be marked according to your ability to:
• demonstrate appropriate body actions
• recall and safely execute movement sequences
• display agility, flexibility, coordination and body articulation
• move with a sense of strength and power
Weighting
10
• manipulate and sequence movement to develop characters and roles delineated
through movement choices and use of relationships
• use space for a group of three dancers that communicates the intent
10
• use appropriate terminology
• describe movement selections and the related movement created
• discuss how movement selections communicate their idea
10
YE A R 8 A S SE S S ME NT T AS K MA RK ING S CHE ME : G host Da n ce s
DANCE 7-10 SUPPORT, CURRICULUM K-12
Ma rk s
At tr i bu tes
1–2
Limited use of terminology and structure
3–4
Elementary
Some use of terminology little structure
5–7
Some use of terminology and structure
8–9
Strong use of terminology and structure
10
1–2
3–4
5–7
8–9
10
Cri t er ia
Limited ability to describe their composition using
basic terminology and showing a weak link
between their movement selections and the
communication of their idea.
Limited ability to describe and discuss their
composition using some appropriate
terminology and showing some link between their
movement selections and the
communication of their idea.
Ability to describe and discuss their
composition using appropriate terminology and
linking their movement selections to the
communication of their idea.
Ability to describe and discuss their
composition using appropriate terminology and
clearly linking their movement selections to the
communication of their idea.
Excellent ability to describe and discuss their
Excellent use of terminology and structure composition using appropriate terminology and
clearly linking their movement selections to the
communication of their idea.
Known movement
Movements drawn largely known from known
source. No communication of intent through
characterisation.
Predictable
Minimal generation and manipulation of
movement with a personal style. Minimal
communication of an idea using characterisation.
Some generation and manipulation of
movement in a personal style.
Some communication of an idea using
characterisation.
Some personal style
Strong personal style
Generation of movement in a personal style.
Strong communication of an idea using
characterisation.
Excellent presentation of a Dance
Sense of interpretation
Excellent ability to link elements of dance to
composition of movement in a personal style.
Excellent communication of an idea using
characterisation.
DANCE 7-10 SUPPORT, CURRICULUM K-12
YE A R 8 A S SE S S ME NT T AS K MA RK ING S CHE ME : G host Da n ce s
Ma rk s
Cr i t er ia
1–2
Developing use of body action demonstrating
agility, flexibility, coordination, body
articulation and strength.
3–4
Elementary use of body action demonstrating
agility, flexibility, coordination, body
articulation and strength.
5–7
Satisfactory use of body action demonstrating
agility, flexibility, coordination, body
articulation and strength.
8–9
Proficient use of body action demonstrating
agility, flexibility, coordination, body
articulation and strength.
10
Skilled use of body action demonstrating
agility, flexibility, coordination, body
articulation and strength.
DANCE 7-10 SUPPORT, CURRICULUM K-12
Ye a r 8
G HO S T DA NCE S
JO URNA L Q UE ST IO NS
1. Using the synopsis, in your own words outline the story behind Ghost Dances.
2. What was the main source of inspiration for the creation of Ghost Dances.
3. Bruce uses elements of several genres of dance in Ghost Dances. Identify the various styles observed.
4. Describe the folk and contemporary characteristics you have observed.
5. List the range of body skills and safe dance considerations needed to perform the larger jumps and locomotor
movement of the Ghost trio.
6. This work is based on oppression through dictatorship regimes such as the Pinochet regime in Chile. List other
regimes where oppression of human rights still exists. The Amnesty International web site may be useful.
DANCE 7-10 SUPPORT, CURRICULUM K-12
CHRISTOPHER BRUCE
Christopher Bruce’s position as Britain’s leading choreographer working with both classical and contemporary companies
worldwide was acknowledged in March 1993 when he received the International Theatre Institute Award for excellence in
international dance. This follows a host of other awards throughout a rich career including the first Evening Standard Award
for Dance in 1974 for his contribution to British Dance as both a performer and as a choreographer.
An interest in varied forms of choreography developed early in his career from his own exposure to classical, contemporary
and popular dance. Born in Leicester, Bruce grew up in Scarborough where his father encouraged him to take classes in
ballet and tap. He won a scholarship to the Ballet Rambert School at the age of 13 and after a brief period with Walter
Gore’s London Ballet he joined Ballet Rambert in 1963. He began to perform solo roles while Rambert was still primarily a
classical company and in 1965 created his first role in Norman Morrice’s Realms of Choice. After the Company’s
reformation to become a more creative company in 1966 Bruce emerged firstly as its leading dancer – he was described as
the ‘Nureyev of Modern Ballet’ – and a few years later as one of its major choreographers, the last to be nurtured by the
Company’s founder, Marie Rambert.
As a dancer Bruce was recognised as an artist of intense dramatic power and is particularly remembered for his impressive
interpretations of the title roles in Glen Tetley’s Pierrot Lunaire, Vaslav Fokine’s Petrouchka. Also for the roles he created
including, in full-evening works, the Poet in his own Cruel Garden (choreographed and produced with Lindsay Kemp) and
Prospero in Tetley’s The Tempest.
As a choreographer Bruce was undoubtedly stimulated by the variety and experimentation of Ballet Rambert in the 1960s
and in particular the work of choreographers Glen Tetley and Norman Morrice who shared a similar background that
combined a knowledge of academic and contemporary techniques. His first work in 1969, George Frideric, a response to a
sonata by Handel, was followed by twenty further creations for Rambert with whom he also regularly performed until the
end of the 1970s. Between 1975 and 1979 he was Associate Director of the Company and then, as he was increasingly in
demand internationally as a choreographer, became Ballet Rambert’s Associate Choreographer (1979 – 87).
Although his productions have been mounted on numerous companies Bruce prefers to gradually build up a relationship
with groups of dancers and return to work and choreograph with them on a regular basis. He has been associated in this
way with Nederlands Dans Theater; the Royal Danish Ballet; Cullberg Ballet; English National Ballet (where he was
Associate Choreographer 1986 – 1991); Geneva Ballet and Houstan Ballet (of which he has been Resident Choreographer
since 1989). Bruce has choreographed for a wide range of productions including musicals (among them the original
professional production of Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and David Essex’s Mutiny); plays for the
Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company; Operas (working as producer and choreographer for Kent
Opera); for television and videos.
As a choreographer Bruce has shown awareness, idealism and sensitivity rare in dance. He has created works that are
directly concerned with social, political and ecological issues. For Those Who Die as Cattle (1972) was a statement about
the horror of war; Cruel Garden (1977) is based on the life, literature and art of the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca
who championed the cause of the gypsies during the fascist regime in Spain; Berlin Requiem (1982) looked at the
decadence and fall of the Weimar Republic in Germany. Ghost Dances (1981) for Rambert; Silence is the End of Our Song
(1985) a television production for the Royal Danish Ballet; and Land (1984) to Arne Nordheim’s Warsaw and Swansong
(1987) both for London Festival Ballet; were expressions of Bruce’s attitude towards political oppression.
Bruce’s serious works have their lighter aspects and most of his productions have at least an underlying emotional content.
Many are deliberately open to a range of interpretations rather than having a fixed story-line. His personal range of stimuli
is extensive including a wide range of literature and music. Although a number of his early works were performed without
accompaniment or had music added after they were choreographed he has repeatedly used scores by George Crumb and
more recently choreographed to masterpieces by Igor Stravinsky (Les Noces and Symphony in Three Movements) and
collaborated with composer Philip Chambon. He has also turned to popular music, choreographing to the works of Joan
Baez, John Lennon and the Rolling Stones.
Like many choreographers Bruce has regularly collaborated with a group of designers who have been sympathetic to his
work and who appreciate the need for dancers to move freely in an uncluttered space. Most of his early productions were
designed by Nadine Baylis and lit by John B Reed who together defined Rambert’s visual appearance in the 1970s.
Although he has worked with them in more recent years he has also been associated with the Dutch painter Walter Nobbe,
DANCE 7-10 SUPPORT, CURRICULUM K-12
Pamela Marre and his wife Marian Bruce. He has also been personally responsible for the design of some of his
productions including the Andean setting for Ghost Dances and Swansong.
Christopher Bruce has performed and choreographed for television. He was himself the subject of a BBC television
documentary in the Omnibus series ‘Voices of Children’ (1978) which included one of his works to George Crumb’s music,
Ancient Voices of Children. Among Bruce’s best known creations are Cruel Garden, Ghost Dances, Sergeant Early’s
Dream, Intimate Pages, The Dream is Over and Swansong, all of which have been televised. His most recent
choreography includes creations for Houston Ballet – Nature Dances, a collaboration with Philip Chambon; and Geneva
Ballet – Rooster to the songs of the Rolling Stones and Kingdom inspired by Max Ernst’s painting ‘Europe after the rain’.
Earlier this year he also created his first work Moonshine for Nederlands Dans 3 and Waiting for London Contemporary
Dance Theatre.
DANCE 7-10 SUPPORT, CURRICULUM K-12
G HO S T DA NCE S
Ghost Dances (choreographed by Christopher Bruce for Rambert in 1981) came about as a result of a letter
received by Christopher Bruce from a widow of a Chilean folk singer who had been murdered. He was asked to
do a work for the Chilean Human Rights Committee and was given a lot of South American music with which he
fell in love. This stirred him to be sympathetic towards the cause of the Committee who were against
unnecessary killings taking place throughout their country.
South America, at the time Christopher Bruce choreographed Ghost Dances, was a tragic place with
terrible things happening to the poorer, common people: fathers taken away from their families and shot or
thrown away in cells and tortured to death. Friends were murdered and children taken away.
Ghost Dances has a cruel relentless quality about it, so when people die they are smashed to the ground cruelly
or dragged off by the Ghost Dancers, cruel creatures who symbolise death. Bruce used the influences of the
Indian past and created a land – a kind of entrance to the underworld of heaven or hell – where these ghost
dancers came from.
Throughout Ghost Dances we see the peasant villagers carrying on their everyday lives, aware that death might
at any time, knock on their door and carry them away.
The dance takes on a mixed quality of fun, of trying to be happy knowing of the constant threat of death. The
villagers, no matter how much their people are hurt, murdered and taken away, show pride and
dignity and seem to accept the murderings as a fact of life.
DANCE 7-10 SUPPORT, CURRICULUM K-12
Da n ce a n d Hu ma n Righ t s:
Extracts from an interview with Christopher Bruce,
Artistic Director, Rambert Dance Company
July, 1999
By Stuart Sweeney
Dance and human rights.
Bruce was asked why a choreographer might include human rights themes in his work, particularly as there is a
view that the arts should only be concerned with creating beauty. He replied that, for himself, social and political
themes emerge naturally as a reflection of his own concerns, although his aim is always firstly to create a piece
of dance, rather than to make a statement. Nevertheless, he does not see a conflict between creating
interesting movement and tackling difficult issues. He believes that there is much beauty in Ghost Dances and
similar works, just as in the First World War poems of Wilfred Owen. Turning to propaganda pieces, such as the
work of filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl for the Nazis, he explained that a touchstone is whether there is some
underlying truth behind the piece, inspired by a desire to
promote civilised behaviour, rather than just an attempt to shape opinion.
In the 1970s, the focus for Bruce and many others was South America and Pinochet’s bloody coop against the
elected Allende government in Chile. He recalls the powerful impact of meeting Joan Jara, the widow of the
musician and composer Victor, who was tortured and murdered by Pinochet’s forces. This meeting led him to
choreograph, Ghost Dances. He described how he took the theme of the Day of the Dead, simple symbolism
and indigenous dance movements as a basis to convey the plight of the
innocent people of South American down the ages and their courage in the face of adversity. Certainly, Ghost
Dances has a tremendous impact and audiences in many countries have delighted in its
distinctive, rhythmic movement performed to haunting South American tunes. However, it is the
representation of the oppression of ordinary people, symbolised by the sinister ghost figures, which give the
work much of its resonance.
Bruce agrees that, on the evidence of Ghost Dances, Swansong and Cruel Garden ( about the death of Lorca at
the hands of the Fascists in Spain), human rights themes have provided him with a strong source of inspiration.
He remains a passionate advocate for the role of dance and the arts in society and believes that seeing good
work and the chance to perform, either as an amateur or a professional, can not only enrich lives, but can also
be a civilising influence.
DANCE 7-10 SUPPORT, CURRICULUM K-12
Ch a ra ct e rist ics of t h e Fo lk a nd Co nte m po ra ry G e n re s
FO L K
CO NT E MP O RA RY
DANCE 7-10 SUPPORT, CURRICULUM K-12
Da n ce T e ch n iqu e in co rp o rat in g saf e d a n ce p ra ct ice
Ju m p s a nd ae ria l wo rk
When developing jumps or aerial work, all the elements of the jump must be considered in the lead-up to the
execution. Most exercises will be executed in the centre; however, it can also be useful to consider the floor for
some strength-building exercises or the barre to aid in developing the kinaesthetic awareness of a body in flight
and articulation whilst performing.
In general, then, the following body skills need to be developed:
• take-off
• flight
• landing
• different types of jumps.
In all tasks there should always be a consideration and awareness of safe dance practices and alignment. Aerial
work can often demand a high order of strength, control and alignment, so students need to be aware of the
developmental nature of jumps and aerial work.
Dance training undertaken should consider:
• warm-up and cool-down
• floor work, barre work, centre work, moving in space leading to jumps and aerial work
• skills development, strength building, stretching, cardiovascular endurance and co-ordination exercises
• graduated training
• the relationship of the skeleton to the line of gravity and the base of support.
• the potential for force to propel or initiate the jump.
DANCE 7-10 SUPPORT, CURRICULUM K-12