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Set-up
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A large, clear space is necessary. Desks and chairs should be cleared away and pushed to the sides of the room. Students should feel they have an open space to work in which it is their job to fill. Each student should understand the concept of a “personal space” and be standing where he will not interfere with anyone else’s movement. This sense of a “personal space” should be kept even when students are moving. The class should always begin with a simple warm-up.
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Warm-up
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Involve the students in a physical warm-up, eg. stretching, running in place or moving around the room following directions such as, “Move slowly, quickly, like you’re small or very large.” This warm-up should last as long as the students need to settle down and focus on the movements the teacher is asking them to make. There should be no talking though making sounds should be encouraged. The teacher is always the leader and designates when to begin, change activity or end. The warm-up should last about five minutes.
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Activity
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This activity is pure and simple creative movement. It will be different every time it is led. There is no specific length of time for this activity though, at first twenty minutes is about right. As the students become used to this type of movement the time can run as long as a half hour or forty-five minutes.
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Ask the students to begin in their “personal space” standing up. Ask them to close their eyes. The teacher will have already told or have read to the class the Greek myth of
The Creation.
Ask the students to think silently about this story and to see it in their minds. Using a tambourine as a guide ask the students to begin to move like an element in the story, eg. chaos. Now some controls are needed or the whole class will truly create chaos. Shake the tambourine as a signal for the students to freeze. Pause then change the element of movement. Side coach, (A theatre term which means to direct the activity with verbal commands by encouraging students to keep up with a good pattern of movement or to stop a negative one. Playing music can set just the mood you want and may help the students to concentrate.
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I would begin to narrate the story after the warm-up and ask the students to become the inanimate elements, moving, making only sounds, not speaking. Students would move as chaos, then freeze. Side coaching could include: “Move as Night.” “Freeze.” “The sky and the earth come together.” “As a group come together. “What is the earth?” “Move like the earth.” “Move like mud.” “How does it feel to be mud” What sounds does mud make?” “Move like the creatures that live in mud.” “Move like the sea.” “Move like creatures that live in the sea.” And so on. Using this technique the teacher would direct the class in acting out the story and the elements of creation as well.
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Conclusion
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This activity is very free form and takes on any flavor that the teacher wants to give it. The children like this method of non-verbal expression. A firm hand is needed however to see that no child disturbs another or gets out of control. If that should happen simply stop the activity and allow the group to discuss why you stopped. Trust is very important here. After the movement activity is completed the group should discuss the experience. “What happened?” “How did people feel?”
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