Advanced High School Lesson Plan

Standard: Students will make connections between dance and other disciplines

Indicator of Achievement: Students will clearly identify commonalities and differences between dance and other disciplines with regard to fundamental concepts such as materials, elements, and ways of communicating meaning

Materials: a copy of a Jackson Pollock "drip" painting (may be found on the National Gallery site http://www.nga.gov/feature/pollock

Preparation: Have the students research Jackson Pollock and examine his work discussing the art elements of line/shape, color, and texture. Suggest there may be similarities between Pollock and the "chance" dance of Merce Cunningham and the music of John Cage. Give the students two days to research these two artists. Have the students examine the music elements of melody, tempo, rhythm, timbre, and dynamics and the dance elements of locomotor and non-locomotor movement, time, space, and energy.

Activity: Have students share their findings about Cunningham and Cage and compare their work with that of Pollock. Divide the class into groups of seven; have each student design his or her own movement sentence (e.g. "Enter from stage left walking, spin first one direction then the opposite, observe a period of stillness, exit with a run.") Each student works only with her/his sentence and decides the tempo of each activity, the duration, and when or where the exit will occur. The only stipulation is to be aware of others on the dance "canvas" and the spatial relationship.

Invite a music student to improvise music, independent of the dancers. Videotape the dance and music. Perhaps share with a visual arts class and discuss the relationship between Pollock's abstract painting, Cunningham's chance dance and Cage's chance music.

Assessment: Discuss the "chance" process with the students. Students write a critique of their work for their portfolios to accompany the videotape. Write an essay discussing how chance performance effects dance, music, and visual art elements.

Adapted from a draft of Delaware's "Visual and Performing Arts Curriculum Framework"

Submit your lessons for possible inclusion to:
lin.wright@asu.edu