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Week 1: 26/07/2020

Leading up to this seminar, the best way to describe my collection of thoughts was mild dread. Not dread for the unit itself but for the fact I read “wear comfortable clothes for moving around” in the blackboard announcement in week 1. That was enough to set my mind on a tangent of doom towards images of me, desperately improvising, to hide the fact I really don’t consider myself a drama person. Leading up until this point in my life I’ve always had the theory that you are simply a “drama person” or you are not. I’ve always operated under the assumption up until today that there is no grey area in this form of the arts. I held drama in the similar vein of maths; you either can do it or you can’t and in extension to this you either love it or dread it. I am the later. As I walked into the workshop and sat down the silence from everyone else was eerie. At least, everyone else seemed to be just as uncomfortable; everyone was simultaneously mentally bracing for the unknown.

Despite all my premonitions of doom I quickly felt at ease in the workshop, which I can truthfully say, surprised me. I personally have always gravitated towards visual arts, in particularly, the medium of drawing. Drawing is safe in that in drawing you have the magic of rewinding mistakes. Drawing also feels quiet and reserved and intimate in that it really is just you and your feelings. My perception of drama was that it was loud and that you and your feelings are placed in the open where people can judge you. Drama felt the opposite of safe in that you can’t reverse decisions and mistakes.

I enjoyed the workshop and I honestly enjoyed the activities. I particularly enjoyed that a connection to the other disciples in the curriculum was established. Drama can’t be contained like maths but rather thrives on saturating itself across the curriculum. Upon reflection, the statement that the arts aren’t truly appreciated is very much true.  I think this comes from seeing it as simply something only some children will thrive in and the unfair containment of it to itself and away from the other disciplines. It is a place to be free and a place where mistakes are simply part of the story, almost celebrated because drama is open ended and there isn’t no one answer.

I would like to sum up this week with an analogy of my own making that I thought up during the week 1 reflection. In maths 5x2 will always equal 10. No matter: your opinion, your interpretation, all over the world, throughout history, it will always be 10. In drama however, the 5 and the 2 are free for interpretation. You can make the 5 into whatever you want, and you can show and display the 2 in whatever way you wish. In drama the result can be anything you want or feel it to be.

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After the Week 1 seminar I decided to create my own Tableaux prompt cards as a resource I could use for a drama lesson with students. I’ve created simple, relatable scenarios that are broad enough to allow for multiple ways of interpretation. Students could be asked to provide a line or internal dialogue of whichever character they are playing to explain their interpretation of the prompt and create a scene.

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After this week’s activities I decided to do some further research into the art of puppetry. Immediately my first thoughts where of the movie “The Dark Crystal” directed by Jim Henson.  I was terrified of the puppets in the movie when I was a child because they felt so real. In other animated movies (such as Disney movies) I was able to retain a sense of ‘this isn’t real’ but with the Dark Crystal, they were, in fact real in that they were actual three-dimensional characters that you could touch. Recently I watched the new Netflix remake of the dark crystal and found it fascinating that they still chose to use the medium of puppetry to create the characters in an age that favours computer generated images. I watched “The Dark Crystal Puppeteers Chat About How They Bring Puppets To Life” on YouTube and found it interesting when the puppeteers explained how they give the puppets different styles of movement such as the Podlings’ being more slap-stick compared to the Skeksis’ being classic pantomime villains. They also demonstrate small tips and tricks to bring the puppets to life, such as how they create depth of field and line of sight.

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The Dark Crystal Puppeteers Chat About How They Bring Puppets To Life | Netflix

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In week 3 of AED1260 I expanded on the concept of teaching drama with a focus on dramatic play as well as choral speaking and readers theatre. One main element of personal learning this week for myself was how texts, of many kinds, can be brought to life through choral speaking and readers theatre. Choral speaking has useful teaching applications for children who may shy away from more outwards forms of drama and allows for a cross curriculum connection to English. Within our seminar, myself and others participated in a choral speaking activity and one thing that surprised me was that not all the other group’s texts were stories. Some were songs, poems and there was even a cooking recipe. It was interesting to see these texts interpreted and brought to life, even texts that would appear too vague or dull.

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I found this short text on the 'Mantle of the Expert' website. Originally, I was just browsing the website. I then came across this short article titled 'Four Projections of Role'  by Luke Abbott and decided to read it, in hope it would give me some ideas for my drama lesson plan assignment.  The text provides an example of teacher in role in the context of a wolf needing the children's help but it also touches on the work of  Heathcote, likening her work to many other artists. In that, it has become more appreciated over time.
Link for if the attachment fails to load: https://www.mantleoftheexpert.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/4-projections-FINAL.pdf

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In week 6 of AED1260 we were introduced to the topic of dance education. I already associate dance with physical education but also learnt dance has applications to improving mental development, pre-reading skills, poise and eye tracking. These skills are essential in children, but we tend to associate dance as a leisure activity rather than one that can assist in important neural development and motor skills. I had zero to very little understanding of the elements of dance before this week and had never encountered terms such as non-locomotive and locomotive in a dance context before. Dance doesn’t just focus on the actual method of moving but also draws on ideas of space, time and energy and relationships which are elements we see in the other art forms such as drama. Which was another realisation for me, seeing how it parallels with drama so closely.

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As part of the week 6 move to online learning we were asked to perform a short dance using a key associated with numbers. I found it difficult to transition between each move despite the fact each move was very basic in nature an execution.

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Above is a women from my own culture, Romani Gypsy, talking about the elements of, and what makes our cultural dances, unique. Words she used when explaining the dances I can now connect with previous weeks knowledge of dance elements. Such as the use of tools (the skirt), use of the hands and feet to make sound and high energy foot tapping. The dance has a dramatic and feminine feel. Also mentioned is the link between dance to other art forms, such as costume making.

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What is Romany/Gypsy dance - Что такое цыганский танец.

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Children are avid consumers of the media arts and are often able to operate the technology used to create it due to being 'Digital Natives'. My greatest realisation after completing the media arts module was that, they can utilise the technologies, yet need to be guided in how to use the elements to effectively express their vision. The true indicator of skill in the media arts is just how seamlessly and effectively we use the building blocks to incite emotion in the viewer. Being able to use symbolic and technical codes such as uniforms and lighting must be taught in children. There is no use filming or taking pictures if there is no understanding of how to get the point across. This was my second realisation. I am technologically proficient but that does not automatically mean I can create a piece of media art. They are two separate skills. I believe to further this knowledge to the point where I could pass it onto students, I need to look at media arts more deeply and not on a superficial level. Whether that is taking the time to notice the use of colour in an advertisement or why a character was shot at a certain angle in a television show.

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While completing the media arts module (particularly when reading about the use of camera angles and types of shots) I remembered a scene from a classic Alfred Hitchcock movie; “The Birds”. I watched the movie in a high school media class, and I remember my media teacher playing the above scene.  I found the scene technically clever but also effective in creating a sense of suspense and terror. The character in the scene has no idea the killer birds are gathering behind her, but the audience does. This is now a classic convention in horror movies but in the 60’s Hitchcock’s vision was considered new and revolutionary. Not only did he effectively use camera angles and point of view to create an emotion but also, to this day, has created an impact on the thriller/horror movie genre.

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Crows on the Playground - The Birds (5/11) Movie CLIP (1963) HD

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Upon reflection, looking back to my first timeline post, I have come on a fun, informative and slightly chaotic journey. At the same time as learning about delivering dance, drama and media arts education I also found myself gaining skills in the art forms themselves. As much as this was a journey mandated by curriculum it was also an expansion of my skills and knowledge. I find myself seeing small elements of drama, dance and the media arts in all things now and this is due to the fact my attention and focus have been developed to notice these small pieces of the puzzle. Actors, directors and dancers create multilayered works and this leads into the core personal development I took away from this unit; the link between reflection and creation. I found the cycle and interchangeable relationship between these core elements of arts education the most significant development of my understanding of how to develop a successful arts education.
This is because I now see the real-world applications of this knowledge and I can even confidently state I “see” more detail in artworks of these varieties. Ultimately, I feel like now I am enjoying the full experience and can now see what the creator of said works see, I can see into their thoughts and emotions. This was my second revelation, teaching the arts allows us to see more and experience more deeply. Its this journey of reflecting and feeling that I am excited to lead my future students along the most, as well as the creating itself. When working as a group to produce a performance, I found the processes to be slightly chaotic at first but as everybody converged together and ideas began to link I realised that suddenly everyone was thinking the same thing and travelling (mentally speaking) in the same direction. Each of us with different experiences and thoughts yet we all found ourselves creating the story in synchrony, all prompted by the common human theme of friendship.