PHILIPPINE NORMAL UNIVERSITY

The National Center for Teacher Education

Institute of Physical Education, Health, Recreation, Dance, and Sports
Department of Education

Name: REINIER C. BALINGIT

Course: Diploma in Teaching Arts Major in Dance
Subject: Understanding Human Movement and Dance (DTAD 102)
Professor: DR. MINERVA ATANACIO-BRILLANTE

I. Whole Body/Parts
II.
a. What do the dancers do with their body? (head, eyes, torso, fingers, legs, etc.)

The dancer’s body freely moves to the beats of the drums. Clapping of hands and stomping of
feet are natural part of any African dance. In this way, the dancer can exert more energy and
express its feelings through the dance. The movements are unpredictable, in which, no exact
or specific direction, formation, and shape does the body must show. In other words, the
dance shown on the video is simply a free style and the dancer/s perform on a small space but
creating and producing vigorous movements. The dancers used almost their whole body in
swaying, turning, twisting, pumping, and other form of moves that is in timing and relevant to
the beat.

b. How are different parts of the body used? (design and use of the entire body)

The dancers performed in different level in high-middle-low positions of the body portraying
flexible and responsive moves to the created sounds of the drums. The dance steps show
transitional movements that delineate various body shapes. Shapes of the body are in
asymmetrical, twisted, curved and rounded as shown in the video. The dancers have the
ability to do large-scale actions, were they can extend and stretch out their movements to
their fullest length. Their bodies invigorated with the vibe of the beats of the drums as it
shows much energy that lead to lively and powerful performance.
 III. Initiation: where does the movement mostly start?

CORE…………………………....………………………….DISTAL
Center of the body End of the body
torso, back, core hands, feet, head

I believe that mostly of the dances start form the extremities parts (hands, feet, head) which
are distal to the axial body. When people start to hear up beat music, they tend to clap, stomp
their feet, and even bang their head as their response to the sounds. These simple movements
are sometimes the automatic response of our body to certain stimuli. Just like what I have
seen in the video, the dancers start feeling the vibe of the sounds created by the drums by
doing these simple movements of our extremities body parts.

IV. Body Shapes

What shapes did the body make? Please draw or describe (symmetrical or
asymmetrical, rounded, twisted, angular, arabesque)
 What else did you notice about how the body was used in this dance?

The body moves mostly relying on the music or sounds use in the dancing. The beats of the
drums has no beginning or ending queue and the rhythm is not changing to slower and low
tune to which the dancer might find it difficult to adjust and create steps on the music.
Instead, the dancer find it easy to move and dance because of the steady loudness and speed
of the sound that any form of dance using the different parts of the body may not be difficult
to do. The body did not produce same and patterned steps that can be appropriate to the
music, yet it just move the way how more energy can be exerted so that the dances will
appear enthusiastic to the viewers.

V. Inner Self
What was conveyed by the dancer? (perception, emotions, intention, imagination,
senses)

Dance and music are both dimensions of human performances that involve rhythmic musical
sound and purposeful, expressive movements. It communicates to performers and observers
alike, either independently or interdependently, in a nonverbal, multichannel manner as a
form of aesthetic and social behavior which is often a nexus to religious, political, and even
economic dimensions of social life. Both dancer and musician played important role in the
video to which together to depicts their and culture. As the drums starts to play, the dancers
perceived the musician’s intention, then produce lively movements and expressions to deliver
festive and enjoyable performance. The dancers used their wide imaginations and deeply feel
the vibe to exert sufficient energy for each movement that result to a cultural-depicting
dance.

VI. Personal Reflection

Could you see yourself doing the movements? Why or why not?

Yes, I could imagine myself doing the similar moves in dancing. I found it something that
is a stress relieving activity and, in other way, can determine your strength and creativity as
a dancer in producing unusual yet entertaining and a joyful performance. It will not also take
too long time to allot efforts on practicing and improving choreography since the dance is a
free style. Just simple improvisations of steps will have you dance the same way as how the
dancers express their emotions and imaginative minds.

Activity # 1

Generate a list of all the different actions and movement you see in the video. Discuss how
the movement choices suggest characters and the mood of this scene.

List of Actions and Movements done by the dancers in the video:

Stomping of feet Clapping of hands Circular rotation of Swaying of hips
arms
Kicking Pushing Pumping Jumping
Rotating Shaking Head banging Bending

Movement choices for this dance used by the dancers help them to exert more energy to
portray lively performance and entertaining for the audience. The emotions exhibit by the
dancers added impact in the whole appearance of the dance performance. It depicts the
nature and the culture of the dance of the people performing the dance.
Activity # 2

Select 5 of the Action words in the Elements of Dance graphic organizer to use in the dance
phrase you will choreograph. You will also pick a 6th choice, which can be any dance step or
movement of your own choice. For example, you might choose “twist, float, jump, slash and
leap” from the graphic organizer and decide to use a triplet turn as your 4th choice. You can
use any style of dance for this assignment. Here’s the game plan:

Use both axial and locomotor movements in your dance phrase.

Be inventive, but use only these 6 movements in the dance.
The phrase should be at least 30 seconds long with a clear beginning and ending –
- So you will have to:
Repeat at least some movements or create variations.
The phrase can be performed in silence or with music, so be prepared to explain your
choice

Use this above checklist to guide your work.

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER (ACTION)

AXIAL (in place)
Open……………………………..Close
Rise……………………Sink or Float
Stretch…………………………..Bend
Twist…………………….………..Turn
Laban Effort Actions
Press……………………………Flick
Wring……………………………Dab
Slash…………………………..Glide
Punch………………………….Float

Travelling (locomotor)

crawl, roll, walk, run, leap, gallop, slide, hop,

Skip, do-si-do, turns, jump, etc.

Review the dance phrase you made in Activity no. 2

Then, change the timing of your dance phrase to create at least two new variations
 Use the Elements of Dance graphic organizer to see some of the ways time can be
changed.

For example, you could:

 GO slower or faster for the entire phrase

 Vary the duration of just 1 or 2 movements – make them last longer or move quickly
than your original choreography
 Ad accent or syncopation
 Change the music – use a waltz rather than 4/4 for example
 Or any idea of your own

Ask somebody to videotape your original phrase plus the two variations.

Describe how you changed the timing in each variation

Variation # 1 Variation # 2
Duration: Long Duration: Brief
Speed: Slow Speed: Fast
Beat: Steady Beat: Uneven
Tempo: Slow Tempo: Quick
Accent: Single, Syncopated, Predictable Accent: Multiple, On Beat, Unpredictable

Between your original phrase and the two variations, which one is the most intriguing to you?
Why?

For me, the most intriguing variation of my dance was when I do the faster and quick
movements. The reason is I have to add accent to make the dance equal to the time duration
of the original and the slower version. The movements also require more strength and
balance to the same movements in a quick and faster version. Compare to the other two
versions, there more suspend movements rather than sustained movements in the dance.

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER (TIME)

Duration: Brief……………………Long
Speed: Fast………………….…Slow
Beat: Steady………..……..Uneven
Tempo: Quick…………………..Slow
Accent: Single…………..…….Multiple
On beat………………Syncopated
Predictable…………Unpredictable
 Mark how you think each kind of energy mostly happens in this dance.

EXAMPLE: Sharp Smooth

ATTACK

How does the dancer begin a movement?

Sharp Smooth

Sudden Sustained

TENSION

What’s the muscle tone like?

How much are the muscles engaged and working?
Tight Loose

FORCE

How much effort is used?

Strong Gentle

WEIGHT

How does the dancer work with gravity?

Is the dancer grounded and connected to the earth – or floating and lifting away?
Heavy Light

FLOW

How does the dancer connect the movements?

Is it tight and contained - or freely moving?
Heavy Light
What are some other words that describe the energy in this dance? Write them here:

Other terms that may describe the energy of the dancers shown on the video are the
following:

Impulse Swing Impact

These three completes the three-part phrase of energy in dance. Were movements are given
accent from the start – middle – end part of the dance.