Performing Arts

the arts have existed as a vital part of every known culture throughout time. through dance, drama and music we are able to shape and reflect the culture from which we emerge.

By providing rich learning experiences which draw on the works of professional artists we can allow students to problem solve, draw links between their own practice and that of other artists, develop their own creativity, imagination and individuality.

In this project the starting point will be William Shakespeare, his works and the greater meaning and inspiration for these works. The work that we have chosen is 'A Midsummer night's dream'. Excerpts from the work were selected for student work.

The over arching research question which forms the foundation of this learning project is:

how can learning be enhanced in the creative and performing arts by providing students with opportunities to undertake integrated rich tasks which lead to authentic learning assessment?

Some of the contributing questions which we have posed to help focus this research are:

how can learning be connected between dance, drama and music?

how can integrated rich tasks develop student’s perception of the artist’s capacity to reflect and change society?

how can rich learning experiences allow student’s to draw relevance from seminal artist’s works in today’s context?

after immersing students in this interrelated project will their interest in the arts be ignited and sustained beyond their school life?

The original project design came from several teacher discussions late in 2007. From these discussions the framework for the research project was formulated.

The students selected to take part in this research were yr 10 elective Music, yr 10 elective Dance and yr 11 Drama. The project involves three stages:

Stage 1

Data will be collated and used as a basis to develop and fine tune the rich learning tasks for students in stage 5

Student voice forum to establish how students value the Arts

Survey of student interests/concerns and preferred styles of learning

Teacher voice forum to establish challenges, ways to foster creativity and imagination and ways to help our students make links between Dance Drama and Music

The student voice podcast has been included as raw data

Stage 2

Students will be introduced to the world of Shakespeare. They will explore Shakespeare’s texts in an original and personal way, selecting a scene from one text that captures their imagination and developing an original presentation. They develop a creative response in one of the areas below:

Duologue

Scene

Adaptation

movement and dance ( original composition)

Music composition- original score/lyrics

Music performance

Costume design

Set design

Film

This will culminate in the public viewing/performance of student works at the college mini shakespeare festival( Thursday 8^th May). from this level student works will be selected to enter the regional shakespeare festival and may progress to the state and national festivals if successful. All works will be supported by a comprehensive journal of the student’s process.