Materials:
• Big open space
• A library of scripts
• Clip board and paper
• The Viewpoints Book by Anne Bogart (source of activities and exercises)
Educational Objective:
Students will demonstrate their understanding of the Viewpoints of kinesthetic response, spatial relationship and shape by participating in class and group activities involving these viewpoints and discussing it afterwards.
*Rules of Viewpoint activities: Remind the students that this is not meant to be a chasing game or that they are trying to perform to us as their audience. We are not trying to get a reaction of others. We also don’t think of what we want to portray and then do it. Their goal is to listen to their bodies and react to their impulses. To not think “Why” but “how”. Biggest focus is on impulses.
Hook:
Have the students play Shape Tag. Have the students clear a space in the middle of the space. Inform the students that they will make a shape every time they enter into the space. Have one student start in the middle and create a shape. Then have a second student come in and add a shape. Then have a third student come in and add to the shape. When the third student comes in the first student will leave. Then the fourth comes in and the second leaves. The purpose of this exercise is to act on instinct. To not think about what they are going to do. They are to just move. Have the students go through this a few times
Step 1:
Discussion: What kind of images did you see? What took place in this activity? What Viewpoints of space did you notice in this activity? (shape, spatial relationships, kinesthetic response) How did working on impulse affect what you did and created? What kind of story does a shape tell? Point out how the movement of one coming and one going is the kinesthetic response to what is going on.
Step 2:
Define what shape is. Review the different ways to make shape: Lines, angles; circles and curves; combinations. Then review what spatial relationship is.
Step 3:
Instruction: Reiterate the difference between kinesthetic response and special relationships. Review a kinesthetic response activity. Have the students go on the grid and not move until they feel motivated to move. Have them stop when they feel motivated to stop. Now spatial relationships deal with
Step 4:
Group activity: Now have the students create one big giant image. Give the students a word such as hope, fear, and friendship. Their job is to enter the space and create a shape that will add to the image of that word. Have one student start the image and then whenever the student feels that they can join the image they may. More than one student can go at a time. When the image is complete, have a few students step out of the image and view what is being created. Ask the students to share with the class the use of shape(line, curve, level) and spatial relationships. Repeat this exercise a few times. Allow the students to come up with the word for the next two.
Step 5:
For the rest of class have the students look over scripts and figure out what they are going to do for their scene for class and what they are going to do for region. Review the qualifications and answer any questions that they may have. If they have decided on a scene then have them write down on a paper on the clip board of who their partner is, what show and scene they are performing from and if they are interested in region.
Assessment:
Participation in the Viewpoints activity and discussion.