Spatial Play

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Creative activity for small groups

Divide the class into small groups. Pairs of groups are in charge of designing a set. The students in one group form a “living set”, created primarily with their bodies, with additional accessories or props of their choice. The students in the other group become performers. The living set is a springboard from which creative ideas can be developed.

Stage design

The stage design can be mobile or static, depending on how the groups wish to express their ideas.
For example, the dancers can:

• stand side by side to form a clear division of the stage space, thereby isolating some of the dancers;
• form a dense mass (core) that explodes each time a dancer crosses it;
• create a figurative form, such as a large tree, beside which a performer dances alone;
• form duos and adopt stances suggesting opposition or contrary desires.
  
  

Creating actions and cues

In addition to deciding on the living set’s form and spatial positions, the designer groups will need to consider the timing, order and types of actions the performers will carry out.

Actions will be initiated via a signal given by the living set performers. Signals could come from visual or aural cues.
For example:

• starting off the sequence with tiny steps when they hear a whisper;
• following up by falling as soon as the umbrellas are opened, etc.
  A creative constraint could be added—for example, the requirement to use the space and the forms created by the bodies in it to express the idea of loneliness, isolation or any other theme in Perreault’s work identified by the students.
  
  
  In the classroom…
  
  For more information

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As students prepare for the creative activity, teachers can suggest improvisations that will help them explore movement possibilities. This will enrich their choreographic vocabulary and feed their imagination.

Divide the students into two groups: A and B.
The students in Group A will initiate the action and those in group B will react.
These roles can be switched during the activity. All the students circulate in the studio space (the space can also be made smaller by choosing specific movement zones).

The teacher gives instructions: at a given moment, s/he calls “Stop!” and gives an instruction * that a dancer in Group A carries out by creating an obstacle in front of a dancer in Group B:

• by becoming a low-level form
• by becoming a mid-level form
• by initiating contact
• by challenging the dancer to move
  
  The students in Group B react spontaneously and successively: they can go around the obstacle, become one with the obstacle or react with an action or gesture, etc. The body of the other could therefore become an obstacle or a support.
  
  The activity continues according to the actions and the pace of the “stops” called out by the teacher (or by a designated student).

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Based on the notation for Vent d’est, students can appropriate elements of the imagery by creating codes that have specific meanings.
Examples :

• Circles represent immobile dancers or a group of dancers.
• Directional lines represent the dancers’ movements; each colour change corresponds to a different type of movement.
  
  Invite students to move along trajectories and to notice the effects that are created as a result of movements or positioning in space.
  
  In the classroom…

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