Dance

• leading and following
• questioning and answering
• meeting and parting
• symmetry and asymmetry
• matching and mirroring
• contrast and complement
• physical contact
• co-operation and confrontation
• unison and canon

• Has the numerical variation added to the design and meaning of the work?
• Could duos have been solos, and trios and vice versa?
• Did the design of the group in terms of complementing body shapes, levels and complementing movement patterns emerge as successful and meaningful in the work?

• How much of the performance space are you gonig to use in relation to your idea?
• How are you going to create visual design in relation to your idea?

• What different ways of using unison when organising your dancers have you discovered?
• How have you developed the use of canon in your work?

• Can you make a list of words to describe the dynamics in your work?
• Do these words reflect the intent of your work?

Intent or concept

Personal style

Abstraction

Representational to symbolic

• reduce your idea or image to its most basic form
• dance movements communicate ideas, feelings, events and characteristics.

• Have you improvised and explored movement possibilities in response to your brainstorming?
• When working with your dancers are you clear about the movement and images you are trying to achieve and why?
• Are you listening to your dancers?

• Do your dancers have difficulty with a certain movement, phrase or transition?
• Are you alert to how they move and try to add the movement to your ideas?
• Have you drawn inspiration for movement from a variety of sources to communicate your ideas?

• How have you used movements to communicate your idea?
• Have you exaggerated, diminished and distorted movements, phrases, images in creating your work?

Motif

• finding
• choosing
• shaping

• Phrases are movement sentences
• Phrases must make sense
• Phrases have form and content
• Phrases use motifs in as many varied and developed ways as areneeded to emphasise the intent or concept of the work
• Phrases have a beginning, a middle and an end.

• Have you considered the number and placement on the stage when developing the motif?
• How many motifs are necessary to achieve your intent or concept?
• If the work needs to be stated simply, how have you used repetition to achieve this?
• Are the motifs apparent and foundational to the rest of the content of the work?

• Does your phrasing vary in length and provide structure to your work?
• Does your phrasing make clearer the idea by re-emphasising the same point, exposing a different view of the same thing, unfolding more content to support the intent or concept?

• Are the phrases clear for each of the dancers?
• Why did you place the phrases in that particular order for the two or three dancers?
• Have you placed the sequences so as to develop the intent, and to form the work as a unit?
• Can you demonstrate a sequence from your work and explain how it has been manipulated for two or three dancers to further the intent of your work?
• Why did you choose to manipulate the phrase in that way and place it in the work at that particular time or place?

Compose a movement phrase that may be performed in unison. Repeat this phrase with the dancers on different levels. Now vary the dynamics for each of the dancers. Is it possible to now canon a section of the movement?

• How did you use repetition between your dancers? Is the repetition in the form of a motif, phrase or dynamic?
• Is there enough repetition to reinforce the movement or motif for each of your dancers?
• Did you repeat a movement too often without manipulation?
• Have you made use of the canon? Why was this device used?
• Why did you have each dancer repeat a movement or phrase at a particular time or space in your work and did the repetition have the desired effect?
• Can you explain why you have repeated a particular movement and how this process has furthered the intent of your work?

Develop two movement phrases that contain high-energy movements. These phrases will need a common motif movement. Now complete the sequence by linking these two phrases together with a transition that highlights stillness.

• Have you used transitions that further the intent or develop a relationship between the dancers?
• Have you used your transitions to leave a lingering impression from the preceding section while acting as an introduction in to the next section? Are these clear for all the dancers?
• Did you intend to gain unity through the use of these transitions?
• Did the transitions effectively link the phrases and sections of your work?
• Can you demonstrate transitions and explain how these have furthered the intent, given unity to the work or added variety to the work?

Create a movement phrase that all the dancers may perform in unison. Have all the dancers perform the phrase at the same time but with varying tempo. This same phrase may then be repeated, with the dancers holding a common balance or shape to emphasise a shape or motif that may be integral to the work; this will also add unity.

Develop a movement phrase that contains movements building in intensity – juxtaposed with movements performed by the other dancers declining in intensity.

• In what ways did you use your two or three dancers to give variety to your work?
• What intent was there in varying the phrases between the dancers?
• How have you ordered your phrases to give variety and contrast?

• Why did you structure your work in the chosen form, and is the form clear?
• Does the form suit your stimulus and intent?
• Are the opening and closing images of your work strong, clear and intent-driven?
• How have you linked each section to the common thread in your work?
• What are the weak and strong parts of the stage? Have you used these areas to explore your intent?

Develop movement phrases that are unique to each dancer and have the same transition phrase or movement for all dancers.
One dancer may be performing a sequence from the work while the other dancer simply repeats the motif upstage.

• When you stand back from the work does it appear to hang together as a complete work? Do all the pieces fit together to form a whole like a jigsaw puzzle?
• Was the style unifying?
• How have you used movement content to achieve unity?
• What do you think is the most unifying feature of your work?

• Have you reached your objective?
• Did you achieve continuity in your work?
• Was every part of your work essential to the whole?
• Was there an element of predictability or did you manage to add an element of the unexpected?
• Did you make the actions more interesting by varied coordinations and juxtapositions?
• Were the two or three dancers necessary to portray your intent?

• Dance and music composed simultaneously.
• Dance created first and music later.
• Composed music with dance choreographed to it.

• When choosing these bear in mind that they must be a necessary part of the work. If they are not actually the stimulus, they should emphasise the images, illusions and design.

• Have you explored various accompaniments when manipulating your work?

• Have you mixed silence with sound?