Weeks 6-8: Putting it all together and BASEBALL!

Well, I got behind in my documentation but we have been very busy! 

Week 6 was spent getting all the groups onto the same page, as some classes were behind due to field trips. So we finished up earthquake material with them and the other classes got to review.

Week 7 was dedicated to material based on the baseball stadium that was constructed in 1907 on Valencia Street between 14th and 15th Streets, Recreation Park. We had the kids work collaboratively in pairs or trios to generate this movement, with the one rule that everything had to be in slow motion. They had a blast. Lots of collisions in the outfield and sliding under tags. One beautiful sequence made by some 4th graders is a canon of swinging motions capped by an umpire signaling safe.

Week 8 we put it all together, having groups perform their material simultaneously. I was hoping to alternate between them, so that each group could be featured, but they've made too much movement for this! It would take far too long, so each class (and all of 5th grade) is performing their work simultaneously. It works better for some sections than others.

I still wish I could have sited this in a more interesting way but in order for them to witness one another's work -- which I felt was important -- we will have them cycling through the performing area of the yard and then sitting and watching. In my head, though, I have them distributed throughout the yard, popping up unexpectedly to embody Mission Creek, the San Jose - San Francisco train line, Woodward's Garden, the 1906 earthquake, Recreation Park and their own, present day favorite locations in the school. Just like memories.

Week 5 -- Earthquake!

This week we had to jump around a lot, thematically, as some classes had to get caught up on train movement while other classes moved on to earthquake material.

The earthquake stuff, predictably, was fun. We explained (verrrrry broadly) the different types of seismic waves and built material from that.

Some gestures grew out of: recreating these waves with hands/arms, "passing" a type of shaking from one person to another, holding hands and snaking arms to represent S waves, traveling back and forth like 2 tectonic plates and jumping to imitate a compression wave reaching the surface.

And of course they did a lot of falling down.

It is looking more likely that we will have a showing with all three grades on Tuesday, 11/5. Fingers crossed...

Week 4 -- the Railroad that cut through the Mission in the 1860s

5th Grade

This week we finally hit our stride with the fifth graders. We spent the beginning of our time setting the spatial arrangements for each group's Mission Creek material and that seemed to help everyone focus.

We then made group choreography having to do with the San Francisco-San Jose Railroad, which was cut through the Mission on Harrison Street back in the late 1800s. It was really fun to see what each group did. Six of my kids laid down parallel with one another and then rolled into the space between the other four, creating a grid of tracks. Another group staged a train robbery, complete with passengers, a driver and thieves.

We have also added Melissa Martinez to our crew of adults, so we'll now have four facilitators instead of just three... it will help to be less outnumbered.

3rd and 4th Grades

We only met with one third grade class due to a field trip, but the ones we did see made some fantastic train material. The longer we work with them, the more they are branching out into more complicated spatial relationships. Groups are traveling, changing levels and staying more in sync. And they're collaborating better, incorporating one another's ideas. Totally satisfying. 

Because of another field trip last week, the fourth graders are a week behind the rest of the students, so we went back and did Woodward's Garden material with them. I had thought that generating movement having to do with the hot air balloon and animals would be the most fun and interesting for all of us but that hasn't been the case. It seems like the relative familiarity of this source material leads to less creative choices. It may also be that the way I structured making this movement -- each kid has a frozen position, a move and a second frozen position -- limited things too much.

Week 3 -- the aquarium/zoo/gardens/museum at Mission and 15th Streets

This was Woodward's Gardens week. Woodward's Gardens was open from 1866-1891 and was located on Mission Street between 13th and 15th Streets (more info here).

Each kid picked their favorite from a list of some of the attractions that were featured there:
aquarium
roller rink
hot air balloon
boat ride
animals: ostriches, deer, flamingos, bears, camels, seals, goats, parrots, eagles

They all made a frozen pose, a move and a second frozen pose based on the thing they picked. We then played variations on freeze tag or duck duck goose to cue individual kids to do their choreography. One of Rowena's third grade groups did a terrific sequence together, complete with working with partners to make seals sitting on rocks and a parrot that looked like a snow angel.

We continue to learn what works (and what doesn't) as we return to each class. For instance, having each group show the others what they've worked on really gets the kids to focus and perform. I'm pleased and impressed by how well the students are remembering material from the previous weeks. They need some cueing but they're really doing a great job. I'm also excited to have Colin Epstein along as an additional adult dancer/helper on Tuesdays with the fifth grade. He's going to fill in when others are gone and then be an extra hand when we're all present.

Next week we may just start shaping some of the material we already have. I'm trying to pace things so we don't get overwhelmed with material and I need to figure out how to link the different movement sections together. And the fourth graders were away on a field trip this week so we will need to get them caught up.

The project is changing, as I knew it would, adapting to the skills and needs of our performers and the features and needs of the school site. We will almost certainly limit showings to the yard, and while I'm sad to let go of the idea of traveling through the school, I'm excited to try to get all 6 classes together in one place in November to show what they've created.

Week 2 -- Mission Creek

This week we talked about Mission Creek and how it used to run through the Mission. I made a gestural phrase based on the map that's included in the mural going up on the play yard wall and taught it to all three grades. I was surprised how well they all picked it up and how focused they were while learning it. Even kids who can't contain themselves when we're working on larger movement were super still and attentive.

We also made phrases with the 3rd and 4th graders based on jumping over, into and around the water that used to run through the neighborhood. These were AMAZING. I had one boy in 3rd grade who could have choreographed the whole section for me, he was bursting with so many ideas. The kids are getting the hang of generating and linking movement more and retained what we did the previous week really well.

I tried teaching a set jumping pattern to the 5th graders but it created too much chaos. Since we see all 40 or so of them at once, any large group activities become much harder to manage. Won't be doing that again. This week I'll only work that material with them in their smaller groups.

I'm still not sure we'll get to show all the sections linked together. The scheduling is very complicated -- it has to work with when the yard is available and all 6 classes' schedules. But I've decided even if they are only shown individually that we'll construct the sequences based on the chronology of the history we're drawing from. So we'll start with the water, which feels perfect.

First Week -- What's your favorite place in the school?

We are under way after meeting with all the classes for the first time -- we being myself, Kevin Clarke and Rowena Richie. We have 5 groups: 5th grade all at once and 2 classes each in 3rd and 4th grade. It was a whirlwind of trying to learn names and personalities... and it was FUN. We're starting with the kids' favorite locations in the school -- places like the garden, the library, the playground -- and building movement about what they do in those places. Some kids drew pictures in the air, some acted out the activity they performed in their favorite space. We started linking them together, with the kids teaching one another their movement.

Favorite moments so far:

A boy grabbed a partner and created the shape of the circular courtyard and bench where assemblies happen, creating gestures that were surprisingly large, fluid and rhythmic.

A girl proudly told some boys that dance is indeed just as exciting and challenging as sports.

Several kids made sure their classmate who doesn't speak much English understood what he should do.

It's going to be a challenge to create 5 mini pieces that we can string together and the logistics of scheduling a group showing are complicated... but we have 8 weeks to figure it all out.

About this project

Choreographer Chris Black is collaborating with students from Marshall Elementary School to develop a dance-based, site specific performance that explores the students' relationships to the physical and cultural environment they inhabit daily at the school.

This project is made possible by Triangle Lab's Artist Investigator Project. Triangle Lab is a joint program of Cal Shakes and Intersection for the Arts.