The Impact of lights on stage

       One of the biggest and most important aspects of performance other than music is lighting. Lighting is very important when creating a production. Lighting production is used in both dance and theater. We use lighting for many reasons in dance, the most important factor being is to simply make the dancers look flawless. Lighting increases body appearance from an audiences perspective. Certain colors used on the stage can increase the muscle structure on a dancers body, making one look much stronger then they may appear walking down the street. Lighting is also used to compliment the costuming that the dancers are wearing to support the intent of the piece. Lighting can be very complimentary if used correctly, but can also create conflict on stage when rushed or not planned out. Special effect lighting can also be used to create imagery on stage. In some cases the lights will be flashing to portray the intent that the choreographer is trying to investigate and show their audience. Spotlights are used a lot during performance to focus the audiences attention on a specific dancer or group of dancers. Spotlights can be very effective because it really focuses all the attention on the dancer and distracts the audience from the rest of the other movement happening on stage. Lighting is very important in stage production and makes a big impact on the dancers. Although the dancer is the prime importance on the stage, the embellishments of lighting, music, and other technological media make an extreme impact on the stage. 

 

Remixed Canvas

          After viewing many of my fellow students lesson plans on their canvasses I came across Miles Cody's very successful lesson plan on The Underground Railroad and how it relates to music. This lesson plan he created was very creative and informative. It allows the students to truly understand the history of the Underground Railroad by referring it to the song “Follow the drinking Gourd”. I felt an immediate connection to dance when I saw Miles' canvas and lesson. I felt that The Underground Railroad would be an excellent lesson not only in music but in collaboration with dance as well. Dance and music are very essential to one another. I took the basis of Miles' lesson and incorporated dance. I will begin by introducing the history of The Underground Railroad to my students, I will then introduce dance and music. I will use a dance Piece as the base of the lesson. The dance piece I will be using is called “Revelations”, I will be using a specific section from the piece called “Wade In The Water.” This dance piece was choreographed and performed by the Alvin Ailey dance company. “Wade In The Water” is a piece that holds great symbolic meaning and historical value that relates back to The Underground Railroad. The song and dance both represents a signal sent to the runaway slaves. This movement performed by the dancers represents somewhat of a storyline of the Underground Railroad, in the end the piece is upbeat and high energy representing Freedom. I feel that there is no other way to better represent this extremely important historical event then find symbolism within art. This will get students involved emotionally and physically, while truly comprehending the history behind it. I will also incorporate the song that Miles had chose for his lesson “Follow the drinking Gourd,” I will have the students really breakdown the lyrics and create symbolic movement to the song.

Overall this time around remixing Miles canvas was much more difficult then when I created my own.               The PLAYground application was not cooperating at all. It was not allowing me to publish the canvas until I continuously retried. It also would not allow me to rearrange where I wanted each text box. It would not allow me to drag any of the widgets, so unfortunately I had to keep the current format with no change. Although remixing the canvas gave me a lot of trouble, I feel that Miles lesson really opened up my eyes to ways that I can incorporate the history aspect of dance more into my future lessons.  

Here Is my remixed canvas

http://www.play.annenberginnovationlab.org/play2.0/challenge.php?idChallenge=2730&mode=edit#network6

Incorporating Technology in choreographic work

             I have been extremely motivated to create a choreographic work using technological additives to support the intent of the piece I am creating. I feel that my ideas will be very beneficial in supporting the intent of my piece. I have been working on a dance piece I will be setting on a group of high school dancers. My idea behind the piece is Hurricane Sand. I was really emotionally touched by the tragic event that happened a year ago and decided I wanted to do something with it. The hurricane really put a strain on my family because we lost a house, and I was inspired and motivated to create a dance piece with the idea of Sandy. I really want to incorporate the event throughout the dance piece not only through movement but with actual footage of the hurricane. I have been doing a lot of research on the internet and on youtube and have found some video clips of the event that I would like to incorporate on a back drop as the dancers dance in front of the screen. I want the back drop of the footage to be in silence and just simply be a slide show of tragic footage of the storm. I feel this will an an embellishment and background for the dancers to feed off of. I also want the sound to be an actual record of the storm. I have been using garage band and playing around with different youtube videos of families telling their stories during the storm along with the different news reporters updating the world with what is happening. I am trying to create a soundtrack by cutting and pasting different youtube footage to be the actual soundtrack of the piece. Since Sandy was such a devastating historical event it is important to be reminded of what we have overcome. I feel that I need to use technology within this piece to really get my audience emotionally involved. For this piece I think the use of technology with the sound and the backdrop of actual Sandy footage will be very beneficial and serve my intentions well. In most cases dance is very much about the movement that we create with our bodies. For this piece I am in the process of creating I want the movement to be simple so that the footage in the background of the piece of and the recording being played throughout doesn't seem to complex. I think each of these elements will cohesively blend and support the idea of the piece.

Unit Plan Canvas

        My Unit plan was for a second grade class and was on locomotor and non locomotor movement. I want to have my students explore both types of movement using their bodies. I really liked using the PLAYground and creating my canvas. I felt like I could really use my own creativity and ideas, to create a formatted type lesson outline for students. The canvas is an extremely interesting and beneficial way to get not only teachers involved with technology but can really help students at a young age get involved with the idea of technology. I was very intrigued by all the applications that PLAYground has to offer. It is extremely creative and hands on for all types of learners. I feel it can be very beneficial to all types of learners and can be used throughout all content areas. It feels like a very kid friendly website for all students to learn and research a unit.  I also feel like this website can be a breakthrough into the arts. I have been having a lot of difficulty trying to find ways to integrate technology into my dance classes, other than using music. This is an excellent way for dancers to view videos of dance companies and comment and research on what they observed. This website provides video clips, photos, and links to continue ones research. It is very straight to the point and can be a great way to begin integrating technology into a younger age group such as second graders. The only problem I was facing was that the website would freeze and I would have to log in and out of the canvas multiple times. It was very frustrating and time consuming. Other than the slight problems I was facing creating the canvas, I feel that viewing the canvas will be very straightforward and easy to use for just about any grade level. I am extremely excited to use this and integrate this application into my curriculum and future teaching. 

http://www.play.annenberginnovationlab.org/play2.0/challenge.php?idChallenge=2292&mode=view#network6