Teacher: Jennifer Landa
School:  Ridgewood High School
Location: Ridgewood, NJ
Grade: 9-12
Subject: Dance
Lesson: Portrait Study

One Semester Course – PEARLS Project Unit

1. Limited Physicality Study
2. Poem Study
3. Portrait Study
4. Solo Portrait Study
5. Group Piece

Objective:

• Students will be introduced to the idea of creating a character study
• Students will be able to create movement from a portrait which illuminates a character
• Students will be able to create a short dance study bringing a character from a portrait to life

Duration: 4 Class periods

Materials: Music, Mirror, Video, Portraits including those created by the PEARLS Project

Procedure:
Intro

• Students are exposed to the idea of creating dance from a character point of view
• Students view video of various dance pieces incorporating characters in both narrative and non-narrative structure
• Students reflect on what they have seen

Body

• Students create a short dance study from a portrait
• Students create a movement vocabulary designed to bring a character to life
• Students create a trio dance study which incorporates their characters
• Students perform trios

Finish

• Students and teacher give feedback on performance.
• Students reflect on the use of characters in dance and the use of portrait to flesh out these characters.

Student Outcomes/Assessment: By the end of the lesson the students will have created and performed a trio study bringing a portrait character to life. They will be assessed through verbal and written feedback, both self-assessed and teacher assessed.