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Clarissa Ochoa
Period 6
10/26/15
Mr. White
Senior Research Project Final
For my senior project I plan to choreograph a dance for middle school students to
perform in the amphitheater at Santa Susana High School. I plan on choreographing a Modern/
Contemporary piece. What I will be introducing to you in this paper is who started the Modern
dance movement, the explanation of fall and recovery and contraction of the body,how to teach a
dance class, and how to choreograph a piece along with costuming.
The Modern Dance Movement Impacting a Piece of Choreography
Dancing is a lot more than knowing and learning the motions, executing and performing with
grace is necessary (Choreographed Dancing).There are multiple types of modern dance (Brown).
The first step to creating a dance before even creating the movement is to determine whether you
want your dance to be kinesthetic or tell a story(Contemporary Dance Choreography). Martha
Graham one of the founders of Modern Dance told a story through her dance or sent a message
without words or literal movement, interpreting it was more about what the audience felt
(Chapter 3: The Modern Dancers). The next step is picking out the music, when choosing the
music (or if you prefer dancing in silence) the movement does not have to match the rhythm or
the tempo but can a lot of times use soundscapes (Contemporary Dance Choreography). The
other founder of Modern Dance Doris Humphreys style of dance was more about the music and
the way you move to it and not so much telling a story or making the audience feel some type of
way. Humphreys music is based more on the rhythms and sounds of the piece of music being

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used (Chapter 2: The Solo Dancers). As oppose to Martha Grahams style often showing a lot of
emotion and sometimes telling a story (Chapter 3: The Modern Dancers).
Fall & Recovery and Contractions of the Body
Its important for students to understand their bodies while dancing (Pollack). Fall and Recovery
is the tension and relaxation of the muscle while they contract and release each muscle
movement by exaggerating their breathing cycle. (Chapter 2: The Solo Dancers) When you use
this technique you must release by letting your body go from the muscular tension (Modern
Vocabulary). It's good while working with middle school students to teach use of space (Pollack).
Space is important for the time in between your fall and releasing to recover, and what you need
to know about space is there is kinesphere space which is using your body to reach around the
space around you and your the center.This also works well and is crucial to improvisational
contact which is when you improvise and use other bodies to make contact and use as props
(Brown). Another type of space is scenic space which is creating a path with your body to move
all around your space and area of dance and way of traveling (Dance Composition. Tools and
Exercises). What sets Martha Graham apart from Humphrey is Graham created a new type of
movement where you contract which is creating tension in the muscle then relaxing them
(Chapter 3: The Modern Dancers). A contraction is when the muscle tenses up and you exhale,
you must use your core strength which is when you tighten up the muscles in your torso, hips,
and shoulders to be able to contract(Rn). The development of Modern was built on the
movement of contraction and release (Chapter 3: The Modern Dancers).

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How to Teach a Dance Class

When it comes to modern/contemporary dance there is a lot more to choreographing than
just making up a dance, the choreographer is also the director, producer, manager, and sometimes
one of the dancers to create their vision for the dance (Contemporary Dance Choreography). A
Choreographer as well needs to be a mentor for teaching students and knowing the best
techniques to use like teaching the dance first so the dancers have a feel for what they are about
to do and mirror it. You can take it step by step and teach one step then practice next step practice
and so on (Dance_instructionalstrategies). Make sure you have choreography set or have
something to teach so dancers aren't waiting around for you, play on each dancer's strengths,
utilize what they can do to make your piece cleaner (Contemporary Dance Choreography).
Dance and technique has evolved and choreography is a lot more abstract and more unique
instead of the same steps in difference sequence (Choreographed Dancing). This leaves room for
the teacher to get creative and ask the dancers a question like make a round shape and everyone
respond differently (Dance_instructionalstrategies). As much fun you can have with being a
choreographer you should still always be considerate of the dancers (Contemporary Dance
Choreography).It's best to have a warm up for at least ten minutes (Pollack). You shouldnt
change your choreography to often because if the dancers get used to dancing a certain way it
will be difficult for them to reteach themselves and feel comfortable doing the movement no
matter how stressed you are always give your dancers a break (Contemporary Dance

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Choreography). Health is always an important factor to think about while choreographing and
teaching a dance class (Dance Teaching).
Choreographing a Piece and Costuming
Choreography have basic steps that are simple to learn but you can add something more
challenging with your own flavor (Choreographed Dance).The first step in creating a dance is
improvisation and once you have the chance to fix it and improve it (Dance Composition. Tools
and Exercises). There is also a type of modern dance called Post Modern which expresses new
ideas and concepts in the dance world. (Brown).Dance and technique has evolved and
choreography is a lot more abstract and more unique instead of the same steps in difference
sequence (Dance Composition. Tools and Exercises). Another way you can choreograph is by
creating technique and randomizing it all so you get a whole other dance from what the original t
would look like (Brown). With choreography you want to think of the three essentials which are
the body, space, and time, and you can use all this and think of it as a puzzle to making
movement (Dance Composition. Tools and Exercises). There is more to being a choreographer
than being a mentor, this is your vision so costuming is very important to the performance,
costumes for the most part should show beauty and help demonstrate grace (Choreographed
Dance). Costuming is the choreographers vision, when it come to costumes there is no specific
dress code just as long as the dancer is in comfortable costume because if not, that can affect the
dancers performance quality and posture (Contemporary Dance Choreography).

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Using all this information will help me to establish working with others and teaching a class and
to know exactly what Im talking about while I teach the class. I will make sure to use all the
helpful teacher strategies like giving the students break and being aware of warm ups and health.
As well as the whole teaching process I now know the basic and the history of Modern and
Contemporary dance and terminology to be able to teach effectively. Not only did I learn all
about the choreography process but now I can share my knowledge with the student and be able
to tell them exactly where I created a set of movements from.

Work Cited
Brown, Jean Morrison., Naomi Mindlin, and Charles Humphrey. Woodford. The Vision of
Modern Dance: In the Words of Its Creators. Hightstown, NJ: Princeton Book, 1998.
Http://mondavicenter.ucdavis.edu. Web. 16 Sept. 2015.
"Chapter 3: The Modern Dancers." Pitt.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2015.
."Chapter 2: The Solo Dancers." Pitt.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2015.

. "Dance_instructionalstrategies." Dance_instructionalstrategies. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Sept.

2015.
"Choreographed Dancing." Galegroup.com. Arts and Humanities Through the Eras, 2005, n.d.
Web. 17 Sept. 2015.

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"Contemporary Dance Choreography." Contemporary-dance.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept.

2015.
"Dance Composition. Tools and Exercises." Contemporary-dance.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept.
2015"Dance Teaching." Contemporary-dance.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2015.
Pollack, Pam, Paul L. King, and Joan Finkelstien, comps. "Making Decisions About Diverse
Learners." (2000): 1-116. Artsandspecialprojects@schools.nyc.gov. New York City Department
of Education, May 2009. Web. 16 Sept. 2015.
Rn, O. De. "Modern Dance Vocabulary." Neutral Standing Position First Position (rotated/turn
Out) Second Position (rotated/turn Out) Narrow Parallel Position (six Position) Wide Parallel
Position (n.d.): n. pag. Gmu.edu. Web. 17 Sept. 2015.

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