Interpretive Dance
Background: Jenni Pike, a STEP member, found a wonderful audio tape of rainforest music. Using the music and a little imagination this is what we created:
Grade Level: all grades (a mature audience) Duration: 3-4 minutes
Setting: Large area with access to lights and electricity
Objective: The destruction of the rainforest is not just a factual issue but also one that affects us emotionally as well. Students gain an understanding that he/she needs to do something to save the rainforest.
Cast of Characters
The Life spirits- the
life of the forest (plant and animal) the rainforest's spirit.
Hope- the hope for the rainforest; especially
the children that work so hard to save it.
Death- Everything that destroys the rainforest
Materials: Blues from the Rainforest audio tape (available from Rainforest
Action Network)
Life costumes: colorful jungle patterns
with plastic reusable vines wound around the body and vines drawn on
the face with snake-up (costume can be changed to what you feel is appropriate)
Death costume: black, black mask or
snake-up. Cape and long flowing things preferably. Negative words about
rainforest destruction such as: overpopulation, deforestation acid rain
are displayed on-the costume.
Hope costume: preferably a child
plays this role and is dressed in white.
Procedure: Life spirits -arrange themselves
in compact positions some distance from each other on the floor. Once
the music sounds like plants growing, one by one the plants grow
and dance (slowly) around the room in the spirit of life. Thunder claps
represent the evil (death) forces in the rainforest and plant spirits
cringe when they hear that sound.
Death is wandering among the
plants in an evil way and strikes down the plants one by one. The strongest
life spirit takes the crowns off the dead life (crowns
symbolize their life force) and expresses grief over the death of its
fellow life spirits. When Death kills the strongest tree
spirits, Death takes all the crowns of the tree spirits
and triumphantly scatters them. Voices of the dead life spirits
can be heard chanting
After a pause, Hope comes in and
puts a crown on the strongest tree spirit supporting it into
a sitting position and holding its hand. Hope starts another
chant in which the life joins him/her. This chant makes Death’s
power crumble (and this is demonstrated) and this gives life to the
life spirits. The chant is "Hope, Life, Children" or any other
words you feel appropriate.
"Dancing is the loftiest,
most moving, the most beautiful of the arts, because it is no mere translation
or abstraction from life; it is life itself.”
“ The dance- it is the rhythm of all that dies in order to live again; it is the eternal rising of the sun."-authors unknown
