LESSON 2: Telling a Story in Ballet

LESSON 2: TELLING A STORY IN A BALLET

LESSON OBJECTIVE: The students will perform basic ballet steps and watch a scene from The Nutcracker. Students will also complete a venn diagram and compare their experience of doing ballet steps versus pantomime.

DURATION: 50 mins

MATERIALS: YouTube video of “The Battle” scene from The Nutcracker, The Nutcracker Curriculum Video, Handout 2: Ballet Steps, and Handout 3: Venn Diagram.

STANDARDS: CCSS ELA/Literacy: Reading Standards for Informational Text, Grade 5: 5 Compare and contrast the overall structure of events, ideas, concepts in two or more texts. CCSS ELA/Literacy: Speaking and Listening Standards, Grade 5: 5.1 Engage effectively in a range of discussions with diverse partners on Grade 5 topics and texts, building on other’s ideas and expressing their own clearly. VAPA Dance, Grade 5: 1.5 Use appropriate dance vocabulary to describe dances. VAPA Dance, Grade 5 1.2 Name and use a wide variety of movements.

CONCEPTS/VOCABULARY: Battement Tendu: A movement in which one leg is extended until the point of the stretched foot barely touches the ground. Choreographer: The person who creates or composes and arranges dances. Choreography: The creation and composition of dances by arranging or inventing steps, movements and patterns of movement linked together in a sequence. Demi-Plie: Half bend. A position in which the knees are half bent. Five Positions: The 5 basic steps used at the beginning and end of movements and in passing from one movement to another. Grand Jete: A big jump from one leg to the other, with legs outstretched in the air. Grand Plie: A position in which the legs are fully bent. Pirouette: To whirl about on one foot or on the points of toes. Pas De Deux: A dance for two. Releve: Raised. A movement in which the body is raised on pointes (points of toes) or demi-pointes. (Half raised on ball of foot) Saute: A jump. Venn Diagram: a diagram that shows the relationship between two groups of things by means of overlapping circles.

GUIDING QUESTIONS: How does seeing the ballet steps and hearing the music from an actual scene of The Nutcracker help you to better understand how telling a story in ballet is similar and different from pantomime? Why is movement effective in telling a story?

LESSON PLAN

Mini-Lesson: Watch a Short Scene of The Nutcracker

Remind students that the pantomimes from Lesson 1 used movement, gestures and expression. Ballet uses this as well, but the dancers use very specific steps which have been arranged in a variety of patterns and sequences by a person called a choreographer.

To help students better understand the language of ballet and some of the basic steps, watch The Nutcracker Curriculum Video. The video introduces students to basic ballet positions and steps with the narrator of the performance, Miss Caprice Walker.

The students can stand up facing their chairs or front of the room to watch and learn the steps with the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyX6IaJjlWI&feature=youtu.be After learning the steps with the video, call on a few volunteers to demonstrate some of the steps they just learned. For example, demi-plie and releve. Pass out Handout 2: Ballet Steps and finish reviewing the steps together as a class. NOTE: After the lesson, collect the handout to reuse in Lesson 4.

Main Activity Now that students are familiar with a few ballet steps, watch a short scene together from The Moscow Ballet’s version of The Nutcracker. They will also hear the music of The Nutcracker written by famous composer, Tchaikovsky. Students will learn more about him in Lesson 3. The scene they will be watching is one from the pantomime exercise of the battle between the Mouse King and the Nutcracker. The music written for this scene is called “The Battle.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfFLjXszBiQ As they watch the scene, ask students to observe the dancers movement, facial expression, gestures, and more theatrical elements (costume, music, specific steps). They will see a variety of ballet steps and movements, including some they just learned. Students can use Handout 2: Ballet Steps as a reference and guide. Task: Complete a Venn Diagram that compares pantomime and ballet. When the scene ends, ask students to complete Handout 3: Venn Diagram. Give students a few minutes to work with a partner on comparing pantomime and ballet. Ask students, what are some similarities and differences between how their pantomimes and this scene from The Nutcracker told the story?

Assessment Criteria:

• Students identified several similarities and differences listed on their venn diagram. • Students used some of the terms learned from Lesson 1 and 2. • Partnership worked cooperatively.

Purpose: To experience foundational ballet steps and have a better understanding of how a story is told in ballet, and how it differs from pantomime.

Reflection

Lead a class discussion on the students’ venn diagrams and what they observed. Discuss how seeing the scene and trying some ballet steps helped them better understand the way dance tells a story and what makes it different from pantomime.