Dance for Social Justice Workshop Series
Facilitated by: Marsha Parrilla
January 19, 2015
Goal: Participants will create a dance piece that addresses a concern in their
community.
Warm Up:
1. Participants will exercise solidarity by doing a circle group warm up. Each
participant creates a movement and the rest of the group repeats that movement
exactly as it was executed (no variations!).
2. Boal Exercise- 2’s, 3’s, 2 groups, all participants
3. Quick debriefing.
Introduction:
Explain basic dance composition tools:
-counts (8 count)
-levels (low, medium, high)
-literal vs. abstract
-canon
-repetition
-formation
Group Work:
*Bubble Map
a. Identify a concern in your community. (What?)
b. How does that issue impact the community? (How?)
c. What can we do to prevent/help/stop it. (Strategy)
Movement Process Work:
*Four movements per participant
a. Phrase A- Literal: Create a phrase that represents this concern. (Facts)
b. Phrase B- Abstract: How does that make you feel? (Emotions)
Tie the emotions up with the levels (choose a volunteer to demonstrate).
c. Phrase C- Choose one possible solution that will effectively address this concern.
As a group, build a phrase that symbolizes this solution. (We stand together, we
dance, we reflect, we organize… what do we do?)
Making the Dance:
*For the purposes of this workshop we will make the dance a narrative (ABC). Feel
free to use any of the dance composition elements discussed. Incorporate formations
that work well with your dance.
1. State your issue (inform the audience)- Phrase A
2. How does it make you feel (the subjectivity of the artist)- Phrase B
3. Proposal (Are you proposing a solution? Are you inviting them to reflect with
you? What should we do about this?- Phrase C
Sharing:
1. Share the dance with your audience.
2. Feedback:
a. What did you see?
b. How did it make you feel?
c. What do you think about their proposal?
d. Suggestions?
Debrief:
1. Take 5 minutes to fill out the “skills” chart.
2. Share your experience.
Cool Down/Closing:
Flocking
Vocabulary:
1. dance phrase: a set of movements put together
2. canon: people performing the same move one after the other
3. unison: two or more people doing the same movements at the same time
4. repetition: doing a movement more than once
5. levels: low, medium, high. Used to add dynamic flow to a piece.
6. counts: beats
7. formation: position of the dancers in space
8. flocking: moving together in space following the changing leaders, like a flock of
birds
Skills:
1. group-work
2. dance composition crash-course
3. critical thinking
4. literacy
5. constructive criticism
6. abstraction
7. empathy
8. solidarity
9. flocking
10. communication (learning how to talk to people and negotiate)
11. attention to others
12. listening with voice and body
13. teamwork
14. changing the world
15. decision making
16. validation
Materials:
Chart paper
Markers
Music or drum