Creative Class Syllabus

Improvisation and Creative Expression

Dance is an innately human form of expression. It resides in every individual, waiting to be expressed. We aim to offer dancers a space that is safe for exploration and experimentation, with prompts and guidance for students to understand the patterns and possibilities of their bodies.

Class Structure

1. Warm up sequence – New students will be guided through a series of stretches. Senior students will warm up on their own.

    

2. Warm up Improvisation – Students will improvise to further warm up their body, focusing on every small parts and then larger parts, with movements such as wriggles, twists, and undulation, finishing with a full body awareness and stretching through core-distal, body-half and cross-lateral shapes and movements.

    

3. Guided improvisation – Students are given prompts for the creative exercise for the day, such as:
   

• • Elements of dance from Laban Movement Analysis:
    • Motifs
      • Body parts/orchestration
      • Space
      • Energy
      • Time
  • Music
  • Theatrical devices such as word, poems, storylines and charaterisations
  • Abstract concepts and imagery
  • Emotions 

Movements traverse the various elements of body parts, space, time and is expressed in different levels of energy.

Each of these variations has the potential to communicate and evoke various emotions and helps to tell non-verbal stories intricately.

As students train to vary their  abilities to express these elements, they not only become more able to project their dance intentions and aesthetics, but in the process, they also discover more aspects about themselves, expand their style, personalities and potentials.