Viewing and interpreting performances

Dance students respond to and interpret dance performances. This can be challenging for students, as dance performances are inherently multimodal, including a combination of

• movement
  
• gesture
• sound (music)
• spoken language
• written language
• lighting.

To make meaning from, or interpret a performance, students use Dance language and dance literacy to

• decode movement and gesture
  
• read spatial, temporal, dynamic and relational conventions
• identify the use of additional modes of communication, including sound and lighting.

When students understand how to read and interpret these elements,

• observation and interpretive skills are enhanced
• awareness of social, cultural, material, and historical contexts is expanded
• critical thinking skills are developed
• ability to evaluate the relationships between dancer, performance and audience is improved.

Joint deconstruction of a performance

Joint deconstruction is a collaborative strategy that may be used to make meaning from movement and performances. Joint deconstruction builds skills through discussion, as the teacher leads a shared analysis of performance. In doing so, the teacher can model to students how to consider how different ideas and viewpoints are expressed, and how they might be read and viewed by audiences in multiple ways.

To begin to unpack dance performances, teachers can ask students a series of questions to focus on different elements of the multimodal text, such as:

• What modes of communication does the multimodal text include? (For example, movement, music, spoken word, still projections)
• What information is provided by each of the modes of communication?
• Why do you think colour/sound/movement/positioning has been used in that way?

To jointly deconstruct a multimodal text, the teacher can answer the above questions with the class while viewing a performance.
Alternatively, teachers can present students with a graphic organiser or table, like the one below, to allow students to note down different modes of communication and their intended effect.

The strategy below is for analysing a recorded performance. If students are to view a live performance, the teacher may provide some context for the performance beforehand, and provide students with a graphic organiser, such as the one above, to take notes whilst viewing the performance.

1. The teacher explains that the students are going to watch a preview of a dance performance. The preview showcases limited sections of the entire performance, not necessarily in sequence.
2. The teacher explains the modes of communication that are present in the performance, such as:
• movement and gesture
• sound (music, effects)
• lighting
3. The teacher distributes a table to assist students to note down their interpretations or understanding of the intended effects of different modes of communication in the ads.
4. The students watch the preview once, without taking notes.
5. The teacher leads a discussion by asking students what they think the performance is about. Students should be encouraged to reflect on the title of the performance as well as the modes of communication they identified.
6. The students watch the preview several more times, this time taking notes about the intended effects of the modes of communication used.
7. The teacher leads a discussion about how the modes of communication were used in the preview to create meaning or an intended effect. As the students share their analyses, the teacher writes notes on the board.

For example, the below notes were generated by the class after viewing a recorded preview of Chunky Move 's Connected.

• It's about how people are and are not connected in our society.
• Discordant sound is unsettling and makes you think that people aren't connected, or something bad is happening.
• Space is used to show how connected people are/are not.
• Symmetry and mirrored movement are used to show people are connected.
• The net prop traps the person. Even though they're in a connected web, they are alone within it.
• Costumes are also used to show whether people belong to a group or not.
• Speed of movement is used to show how emotional/upset/angry a person might be. Faster, rapid, jerky gestures suggest the person is very angry or agitated.
8. The teacher may then use these notes to model how to write an interpretation response. (See 'Jointly constructing interpretation responses'.)

Curriculum links for the above activity: VCADAR038, VCADAR045.