Move: Dance and Choreography

You need: a clear space · a drum, tambourine or clapping sticks · a list of the five dance elements

1. Walk around the space, filling the gaps. No talking.
2. When the drum sounds, the leader calls one change: a new body part leads (elbow, knee, head), a new level (low, middle, high), a new pathway (curved, zigzag), a new speed, or a new energy (sharp, smooth, heavy, light).
3. Add relationships: meet a partner and mirror them, then move away and move towards them.
4. Freeze on the final drum beat in a shape that shows how you feel right now.
5. In pairs, name which element changed the feeling of the walk the most.

How you'll know: You can name body, space, time, energy and relationships and show each one in movement.

Safety: Clear bags and chairs; walk, don't run; keep one arm's length from other dancers.

Go further: Lead a round yourself and combine two changes at once (for example, low and sharp).

You need: a recorded kapa haka performance and a siva Sāmoa or other Pacific dance item · a three-column page: See / Think / Wonder

1. Watch once just to enjoy it. No writing.
2. Watch again and write only what you see: formations, hand movements, footwork, facial expressions, the leader's role, how performers enter and exit.
3. Write what you think the movements might mean, with a clue for each idea.
4. Write questions you would need to ask someone from that culture to understand it properly.
5. Compare with a partner: which conventions did both forms share (unison, strong lines, a leader, storytelling hands)?

How you'll know: Your notes separate what you can see from what you are guessing, and your questions show respect for the knowledge-holders.

Go further: Read about ihi, wehi and wana on Te Ara. Where did you feel each one in the performance?

You need: a partner or small group · your idea sentence · a device to film hands and feet (optional)

1. Choose an everyday gesture that links to your idea, such as shading your eyes, rowing, waving, sweeping, or wiping rain away.
2. Perform it normally three times so the group can see it.
3. Change the size: make it tiny, then huge.
4. Change the speed: slow motion, then very sharp.
5. Change the level or body part: do it lying down, or with your foot instead of your hand.
6. Keep the version that feels most like dance but still carries the idea. That is your motif.

How you'll know: Someone watching can still guess the original gesture or idea, but it now looks like dance.

Safety: Warm up first; take care with sudden, sharp movements of the neck and back.

Go further: Add a sound (a breath, a stamp, a clap) to your motif and use it as a signal for the group.

You need: A3 paper and coloured pens · masking tape in three or four colours · a clear floor

1. Draw the performance space from above. Mark where the audience sits.
2. Draw each dancer's pathway in a different colour: straight lines feel direct and strong, curves feel gentle or flowing, zigzags feel unsettled.
3. Tape the main pathways onto the floor.
4. Walk the pathways slowly, then at performance speed, checking for collisions.
5. Adjust so the strongest moment happens closest to the audience or in the centre.

How you'll know: Every dancer can walk their pathway without looking at the tape by the end of the session.

Safety: Remove the tape afterwards so no one slips.

Go further: Design a pathway shaped like something connected to your idea (a river, a spiral, a waka route).

You need: your group's motifs · a steady beat (drum or music) · a notation page

1. Perform motif 1 in unison, all dancers together, all facing the same way.
2. Perform it in canon: dancer 1 starts, dancer 2 starts two counts later, and so on.
3. Pair up and perform motif 2 as a mirror, facing each other.
4. Try a formation change: from a straight line to a circle to a cluster.
5. Choose which device suits each part of your idea and write it in the score.

How you'll know: Your group can switch between unison and canon on a signal and explain why each fits the idea.

Go further: Try 'accumulation': dancer 1 performs one move, then dancers 1 and 2 perform two moves, and so on.

You need: a film of your rough run · your score · the performance space

1. Watch the film and mark every moment where a dancer walks, waits or looks around.
2. For each gap, choose a linking movement: a roll, a turn, a travelling step, a slow walk in character, or a freeze that becomes the next shape.
3. Rehearse only the transitions, one after another.
4. Run the whole dance and film it again.
5. Compare the two films. Where does the energy now flow?

How you'll know: The dance has no dead moments, and the transitions help the mood change the way you intended.

Safety: Practise rolls on a mat first and roll across the back of the shoulder, never over the neck.

Go further: Use a transition to change the mood deliberately, for example a long stillness before the climax.

You need: one prop per group (a length of fabric, a chair, a torch, a bowl, a stone) · a light switch or lamp · your dance

1. Perform one section of the dance without the prop.
2. Perform it again with the prop. How does the meaning change? (A blue fabric could become a river, a flag or a wave.)
3. Try one lighting change: full light, then only a torch or one lamp.
4. Ask an audience of two: which version told the idea best?
5. Keep only what adds meaning. Cut what distracts.

How you'll know: You can explain in one sentence why your chosen prop, costume colour or light supports the idea.

Safety: Fabric stays below shoulder height when dancers travel; torches are never shone into eyes.

Go further: Design a simple lighting cue sheet: which light, on which count, and why.

You need: an A3 page or visual diary · pencils and coloured pens · your motifs and floor patterns

1. Draw each motif as a stick-figure sequence of three or four frames.
2. Add arrows for direction and symbols for energy (a wavy line for smooth, a spike for sharp).
3. Write counts under each motif (for example: 1–8, 1–8).
4. Add the floor pattern and the order of sections.
5. Give the score to someone from another group. Can they perform one motif from it?

How you'll know: Another student can read your score and reproduce at least one motif without being shown.

Go further: Research Laban notation, a system used to write dances down, and try one symbol.