As a teacher and choreographer I think of myself as something of an alchemist - striving to bring about change - a man on a mission - an explorer on a quest - the ultimate goal is that magical moment when you recognise that people are really dancing. By dancing I do not mean a technical ability - though this may contribute to the ability to dance - it is an essence more profound than the physical - it is the moment of alchemical fusion when intellect and imagination engage with the physical to communicate though dance.
Reflecting on my own practice and methodology, it is clear to me that the core of my work - the passion that drives me - is to encourage and support the creation of thinking dancers. The range of ages and experience I work with is very wide - I acknowledge that their physical or technical ability is not my primary concern - what fascinates me in dancers is to see the all consuming absorption in ideas which are manifested through original movement. Communication is the key. How can I empower others to communicate the intention of the dance through the development of a rich and varied palette of movement enabling the effective and thrilling translation of ideas into the expression of dance.
To facilitate the process of nurturing thinking dancers I rely on the presence of a versatile stimulus that will provide a clear intention for why we are dancing and promote a commitment to the movement. Finding the inspiration for the dance is the beginning. This may come from a variety of sources - stories, images, and objects drawn from a range of cultures or historical periods. Reading the words, observing the images, I know instinctively if they will be a rich resource for inspiring a movement vocabulary and offering choreographic possibilities. I imagine these possibilities, building compositions in my head, seeing the movement of bodies in space in response to the words and images, This vision of intelligent dancers, inspired by the source, is the goal for which I aim. The vision becomes the guiding light during the creative process that drives me on and gives me the confidence to explore and experiment in pursuit of fulfilling the vision. It may - and frequently does - change, as the creative journey unfolds and imagined responses become tangible, triggering off new possibilities - but for me, the vision gives me the security and confidence to take risks because I know where I am heading.
Then comes the process of deconstructing the vision into a physical reality, which can be communicated to others. It is a time for translating words, images and concepts into movement vocabulary and compositional devices. This is where Laban's Movement Principles help me to identify and articulate what it is about the stimulus that first inspired a dance response in me. I consciously examine the stimulus for its movement potential - words, images, patterns which suggest physical actions, body parts, shapes, possibilities of moving in relation to each other and ways of colouring the movement with a rich variety dynamics addressing time, weight, space, and flow. Laban's work is so useful because it makes the movement inherent in a stimulus explicit and therefore equips me, as teacher and choreographer, with the materials and tools for planning and communicating my ideas.
I picture the vision as a presence contained in a room at the top of a flight of stairs - having seen it and identified what it is about the stimulus that triggered off such a vision, I then have to go to the bottom of the staircase and work out how I can enable all my dancers to successfully climb, step by step, to reach the goal - the room at the top. This journey is the exciting challenge of my work with young people and community dancers. As teacher and choreographer I must ensure I bring everyone along on the journey - whatever their abilities and experience, whilst remaining alert and open to what they are giving and how this can influence and redirect the journey.
The primary focus of this journey is that it is a creative one for all participants - including myself. It is not about imposing a set of steps, technique and choreographic ideas on the dancers, which will replicate the vision - rather it is a journey during which the dancers are equipped with the skills, knowledge and understanding to become independent collaborators in fulfilling what becomes a shared vision.
The journey begins by equipping discovering a vocabulary of shared movement skills, enabling the dancers to experience and articulate physically the body's potential for moving in space - actions, shapes, levels, dynamics. It is a time of feeding in ideas through demonstration and modelling where I as a dancer lead by physical example and the dancers acquire knowledge through observing, learning and repeating. This is coupled with time to explore key movement concepts through structured improvisation where I as a teacher use words and imagery to stimulate the dance response. They demonstrate their understanding by translating the skills into their own bodies with accuracy and the commitment of the whole body to the movement. They are then given opportunities to work in relation to others to apply what they have learned in the solution of simple problems. This requires them to adapt and explore the potential of their acquired skills - how can they make the movement go around, under, over someone else? I am aiming to develop a sense of confidence and security in the dancers by feeding them with lots of ideas and skills so everyone in the group has a rich and varied movement base to draw on - and to give them the opportunity to 'play' and be creative with what has become familiar to them and thereby increase their confidence. It is, at this stage, a very physical response, demanding what could be described as a 'physical imagination' to acquire, understand and apply key skills. These areas of application, comprehension and knowledge are referred to by Benjamin Bloom as 'lower' level thinking skills in his hierarchy which attempts to define and categorise thinking skills. Once I feel the dancers are equipped with sufficient 'tools' to continue to climb, I use tasks demanding higher order thinking skills to make the work progressively more challenging and creatively stimulating. The aim is to use the acquired skills and understanding as a springboard for creative activity in which the dancers develop imaginative and original solutions to the tasks and questions set. I want their ideas now. I want to challenge them to create something new that they have never done before - but to feel secure in this exploration because there is the bedrock of a shared movement vocabulary to draw on should they need it.
It is at this point that I introduce the stimulus or theme explicitly to the dancers - asking them to analyse their movements and make connections between the physical experiences and how these relate to the stimulus. They begin to interpret - layering a dynamic quality onto their movement, which illuminates the intention of the dance beyond the fulfilment of a purely physical task. This transition to 'higher' level thinking skills increases the cognitive demands placed on the dancers as they are asked not simply to repeat or demonstrate, but, through improvisation, discover original ways of bringing ideas from inside themselves in response to the theme. The introduction of the stimulus facilitates this shift from working on a purely physical dimension to one of imaginative engagement in fulfilling the creative intention of the dance. 'Why are we doing this?' is no longer about line, shape or pattern; rather it is their ability to understand how to use these aesthetic qualities to communicate artistic intention. I require the dancers to awaken a 'dramatic' imagination that engages with the theme and forges a link with the 'physical' imagination - a process manifested in an outward expression.
What does this look like? How do you know if it is happening?
What I see at this point is a subtle shift in focus in which individuals are immersed in their work and totally engaged both physically and imaginatively in their exploration, selection and composition.
Reflecting on my own experience as a dancer, these moments of immersion occur when I am working on my own or collaboratively and have a peripheral awareness of others around as a landscape of moving bodies, but I remain engrossed in a fusion of intellectual, imaginative and physical pursuit.
So midway along the journey I aim to see a process of internalisation in which the dancers have been empowered to take words, actions and images and internalise them and then translate them outwardly into their own physicality. It is absorbing to allow the ideas to enter the imagination, filter through the body and discover expression in dance. As a teacher the challenge is gauging how long to allow for this process of translation - theoretically, sustained periods of intense exploration should happen, but often the tight parameter of a short time scale promotes greater creativity than a seemingly endless exploration. Limitation can promote the burst of internalisation - but this only works if the foundations of skills, knowledge and the confidence to 'play' are there to draw on. Observation of others, demonstrations, taught sequences, technical warm ups, structured improvisations - all these provide scaffolding and tools which ensure everyone is equipped for and secure in the journey of internalisation and exploration. The dance response can be completely original or a creative adaptation of ideas previously explored - as long as it is relevant and true to the intention, it is valid.
The promotion of thinking dancers must be informed by an awareness of the unique ways in which each individual with whom we work will learn and respond. The work of Dr Howard Gardner has confirmed my own passionate conviction in the ability of dance to embrace a wealth of learning styles. Gardner has developed a theory of multiple intelligences, in which he identifies seven different types of intelligence. He defines intelligence as: 'the ability to solve problems or fashion products that are of consequence in a particular cultural setting or community.'
An acceptance that intelligence comes in many forms raises awareness that all learners will have particular, preferred learning styles. One classification of these learning styles by Dryden and Vos [1994] categorises learning in the following way:
Category of learner and Preferred learning style
Visual; likes to see pictures or diagrams
Auditory; likes to listen
Kinaesthetic; likes to use the sense of touch or movement
Print orientated; likes to read
Group interactive; likes to interact with others
This classification makes me very aware of the range of ways in which I must communicate my ideas and theme to the dancers if I aim to stimulate original imaginative activity. I must appeal to the range of learning styles in any one group, drawing on visual, tactile, kinaesthetic, musical, textual and interpersonal references to inspire each individuals interest in and commitment to the dance. My use of language in the teaching context tries to balance explicit instruction and appropriate questioning with a wealth of vivid imagery to forge strong links between logical, sequential physical activity and the intuitive, imaginative medium of expression. Research indicates that the two hemispheres of the brain operate in different ways and specialise in different areas. The left hemisphere is said to be the analytical side controlling the development of language, logic, and numerical concepts whilst the right hemisphere is the intuitive or non-verbal side controlling the development of visualisation and imagination. The step-by-step methodology outlined which supports an unfolding journey across a spectrum from teacher directed to independent learning, is based on the premise that the most effective learning occurs when both sides of the brain are engaged at the same time. Within the parameters of short-term structured tasks and the multi sensory communication of information, the dancers are encouraged to self-select from a wide menu of ingredients, arriving at their own, original responses.
As we near the top of the staircase, the cumulative effect of the leaning situations experienced on the journey contribute to the emerging realisation of the dance vision. More importantly, these experiences have nurtured the fusion of physicality, imagination and intellectual understanding in a process of transmutation, to produce the 'gold' of thinking bodies expressing themselves through dance.
Michael Platt is the Advisory teacher for Dance with Suffolk County Council. Email: michael.platt@educ.suffolkcc.gov.uk
Notes:
- Suffolk County Council [2002] 'Learning and Teaching - a discussion paper'
- Gardner [1993] 'Multiple Intelligence: Theory and Practice'
- Dryden and Vos [1994] 'The Learning Revolution'