“It is important for us to have our own voice... one that runs through the rivers of our experiences, threads past to future, entwines us with each other and unites us with the ocean of human existence.” which ignite, inform, and entertain young audiences. “Pieces of a Puzzle” is a theme song for these stories, each of which are separate and complete, yet part of a whole artistic vision. Three of the following four pieces comprise a standard program: Joanne Is My Middle Name (Nobuko Miyamoto); Guys Like Me (Calvin Jung); Trust (Louise Mita); Secrets of the Samurai Centerfielder (Daniel Kwong).
Creative Process of the Artist or Culture: For Joanne Is My Middle Name, Nobuko Miyamoto went deep inside herself to dramatize the dilemma of being a third generation Japanese American searching for a way to belong. She found the binding theme of trying to adapt her name and followed her trail of name changes. As a young girl, she connected with the magic of the arts through music, which in turn awakened her passion to dance and dramatically tell stories. Her process to create this theatre piece began with an exercise in writing her autobiography as a long story. She found it resembled a big song with a main theme or chorus, “I Had a Dream,” and different verses tracing her personal histor y. This songstory begins with her childhood experiences of livingin Japanese internment camps during World War II, and continuesthrough her various rites of passage to the acceptance of her heritage and her name.
Title of Work: A Slice of Rice Creators: Producer: Great Leap, Inc. Artistic Director: Nobuko Miyamoto b. 1939 Background Information: Nobuko Miyamoto began her career as a dancer, performing on Broadway and in film musicals, such as West Side Story, The King and I, Flower Drum Song and Kismet. She then went on to find her own voice in the concerns of the Asian American community. Songs she wrote and sang with Chris Iijima became the first album of Asian American music, “A Grain of Sand.” In 1978 she founded theater company Great Leap, Inc. and has guided the creation of original works in music, dance and theatre, presenting concerts at colleges and theatres throughout the United States. In 1983 she released her second album, a solo work of her original songs entitled, “Best of Both Worlds.”From 1987-1989, Nobuko authored the critically acclaimed musicals, Talk Stor y I & II. Her music and choreography were used for the major dance scene in the motion picture “Karate Kid II.” Nobuko has won a Woman Warrior Award from the Asian Pacific Women’s Network, the Vesta Award presented by the Los Angeles Woman’s Building, and a California Arts Council Music Fellowship. About the Artwork: In A Slice of Rice, three Asian Americans, three stories, three art forms - a songstory, a dancestory, a talkstoryare woven together to speak of the diversity that is Americana. They share their personal experiences California
THEATREMUSIC TRANSFORMATION THE POWER OF NATURE FREEDOM OPPRESSION&ENDURINGVALUES THEFAMILYHUMAN ARTISTIC PROCESSES 1. CREATING (Cr) 2. PERFORMING, PRESENTING, PRODUCING (Pr) 3. RESPONDING (Re) 4. CONNECTING (Cn) rtsource ® The Music Center’s Study Guide to the Performing Arts A MULTI-MEDIAEXPERIMENTALCONTEMPORARYCLASSICALTRADITIONALPhotocourtesyofGreat Leap, Inc.
Nobuko Miyamoto
• Read a folk tale from a selection of the Asian countries on your research list.
• Explore movement in freeze frame dances, focusing on elements such as big/small, sharp/smooth,
• Identify the continent of Asia on a globe or map. Make a list of all of the countries which are cultural homelands for Asian Americans. In a column next to the country’s name, write the name of its people.
• What were the camps she described?
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• Was she finally happy with her birth name? Why?
LEVEL II
The title means “to endure,” and the film explores, through the eyes of a young girl, the internment of 110,000 Japanese Americans in camps during World War II. Length: 6 minutes, color. Available for purchase at: www.twn.org
LEVEL I
Audio-Visual Materials:
Discussion Questions: After the video has been viewed: These questions pertain to the following segment: “Joanne Is My Middle Name.”
• Living together as friends is one lesson in cultural diversity. Find out how to say ‘friend’ in several languages. List them and practice their pronunciation.
• Artsource® video excerpt: “Joanne Is My Middle Name” from A Slice of Rice, courtesy of Great Leap.
Sample Experiences:
• Find pen pals in another country. Children Just Like Me, DK Publishing, Inc., 95 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016. www.us.dk.com (or other penpal service)
• Assume the role of playwright and write a monologue or solo speech about an important event in your life. There should be a beginning, middle, climax, and conclusion with a clear emotional progression. Use the monologue as a script for classroom presentation of these theatrical vignettes. * * * * Indicates sample lessons
• Gaman - a short art film combining drawings by Betty Chen with the music of Nobuko Miyamoto.
• Artsource® audio recording: Pieces of a Puzzle, courtesy of Great Leap, Inc.
• Inter view someone in your family and record a “personal history story.” Prepare it for a class storytelling session and cultural heritage sharing.
• Why was Joanne searching for a new name?
• Photos courtesy of Great Leap, Inc.
Multidisciplinary Options:
LEVEL III
Example: Vietnam - Vietnamese; The PhilippinesFilipino. In a thirdcolumn, write something which each group of people are known for, an agricultural product grown or a specific folk art or music practiced. When your list is complete, review the rich heritage that Asian Americans bring to the patchwork quilt of peoples and cultures which make up the United States.
• Ask students to watch television, major programming as well as commercials, and look in magazines to examine the roles in which they see their ethnic group cast. Are the images the media projects true to their experiences? How would they portray their own ethnicities?
• Select a fairy tale and tell the story through movement. Use gesture, body language and facial expression to project the characters’ emotions and plot events.
• What phases or changes did Joanne go through?
Additional References:
• Did she want to be something other than Japanese?
• Discuss the experience of living in more than one culture. What are the advantages and struggles involved in being, for example, Mexican American, Japanese American, etc.?
• Choreograph a “Name Dance” expressing your own name in movement. Write the notation in an acrostic. (each letter)
•heavy/light.Composea song about something you believe in. Write lyrics; set them to a familiar tune or an original melody.
INTRODUCTION: This exercise focuses on exploring movement and stillness (active and contained eergy) and how traveling movement can be varied with the use of opposites.
• Ask the class to brainstorm a list of opposites which could be expressed through movement and record them on the blackboard. Examples: big/small; fast/slow; sharp/smooth; high/low; heavy/light. Have the students assume a place on the dance floor with enough room about them to move freely. Using a drum, ask the students to move or travel for eight beats and then freeze for eight beats. Practice this several times. Locomotor movements such as walking, hopping, jumping, and skipping are used to travel.
• Demonstrate an awareness of their bodies as a means of communication and as a tool of expression. (Responding & Connecting)
MATERIALS:
3 TRANSFORMATION FREEZE-FRAME DANCES
• Repeat this idea reducing the number of counts to four and then two counts. Finally use one count, with a freeze-frame position between each movement.
• A drum and music, such as the Artsource® audio recording, Pieces of a Puzzle.
• Next, introduce the concept of opposites as a way to vary movement. Use the list of opposites from your brainstorming session and select an easy one to work with like fast/slow. Explore ways to move quickly and then slowly, adding sudden stops or freezes.
THEATRE/DANCE
OBJECTIVES: (Student Outcomes) Students will be able to:
LEVEL I Sample Lesson
• Describe, discuss, analyze and connect information and experiences based on this lesson. Refer to Assessment at the end of this lesson. (Responding & Connecting)
PROGRESSION:
• Create with ‘opposites’ in movement. (Creating & Performing)
VOCABULARY: travel (as it pertains to dance), locomotor ASSESSMENT: (Responding & Connecting)
DESCRIBE: Describe how you decided on your sequence of opposites.
Example: travel smooth (two beats); travel sharp (two beats); freeze (four beats).
• Variations of freezing include: “Freeze touching one person; freeze on one leg; freeze with one hand touching the floor; and freeze in a big shape, small shape, etc.”
• Continue to combine the various phrases of movement opposites until you have several in a repeatable sequence. Once the students know their sequences, set the movement to music and perform the ‘freeze-frame’ dances.
DISCUSS: Discuss the part you enjoyed most in creating your dance sequences.
Members of Great Leap, Inc.
ANALYZE: Think about what parts of your dance sequence you would change if you could do it again.
Photo: Craig Schwartz
• Change the count of each sequence to two beats, using one beat each for a freeze frame. Example: beat one (big); beat two (small); freeze (two beats).
• Change the count of each sequence to four beats, using two beats each before a change in movement.
EXTENSIONS: • Practice the same combinations of movements to different musical selections and styles. Allow the musical moods to shape the way the body assumes and explores the different positions.
Emphasis on: Common Core - CA State Standards for Language - Reading; Writing; Listening; Speaking 4
• Now practice performing the set of fast/slow movement opposites within an eight count phrase. Then progress to another set of opposites such as: forward/backward; high/low; big/small; smooth/sharp. Give the students eight counts to explore each ‘opposite’ idea and then ask them to combine the ‘pair of opposites’ using 16 counts and ending with a freeze-frame position for 8 counts. When students freeze, the entire body must be still, including facial expressions.
INTROYou and me - we fit together You and me - we fit together You and me - we fit together .....(repeat 2 times)
5 PIECES OF A PUZZLE
of a puzzle Pieces of a puzzle Pieces of a puzzle Pieces of aVerse 1different shapes, different sizes different colors, we’re full of surprises all together, see the pictures that we make there’s no time for hesitating can’t be missing in the making each one special, each one has its place
CHORUS Verse 2 feel it - in your body from your head down to your toes each part - is interconnected where it stops nobody knows in your head - in your shoulders in your arms - in your elbows in your ribs - in your hips in your legs - down to your toes ... ahhhhh .... CHORUS Verse 3you lead, I follow - I lead, you follow (repeated) you and me are partners in this game ... when you move, I will do the same ... mirror, mirror - see the reflection you and me can make perfection (repeat) Ahhhhh CHORUS.... Verse 4 (Rhythm CHORUSsection)
Verse 5You lead, I follow - you follow, I lead .... (8 bars of 4/4) in this world we have the power inside we can show them how to harmonize You lead, I follow - you follow, I lead .... (repeated) You and me we fit together .... (4 times) Pieces of a puzzle .... (5 times) Ahhhhh .....Hey!
© Nobuko Miyamoto, all rights reserved, use by permission
1989
CHORUSPieces
only
PROGRESSION:
THEATRE/DANCE
• Clear the desks in your classroom so there is room to move. Direct each student to find a space he/she can work in to create a personal dance. Instruct them to take each letter of their first name and make up movement to it. Then, have them put the various moves or steps together to complete their ‘name dance.’ Have the students perform their work in a “Name Dance Suite.” 6 Nobuko Miyamoto Photo courtesy of Great Leap, Inc.
• Create original movement expressing individual personalities by choreographing their name and writing notation for their name dance. (Creating & Performing)
• Describe, discuss, analyze and connect information and experiences based on this lesson. Refer to Assessment at the end of this lesson. (Responding & Connecting)
Dance is an integral part of Great Leap’s performance and is used as a way to express feelings and ideas. Dance is created by a choreographer who imagines or designs original movement. Each move or step is recorded in a series of notations. These notations are the record or basis for the art of dance, the same way a script is used for a live theatre production, or a musical score for an orchestral concert. Notation insures that a dance can be created again and again.
DANCE YOUR NAME TRANSFORMATION
OBJECTIVES: (Student Outcomes)
• Ask the class to think about specific characters in the performance and remember the way they moved. Did their movement seem to express something about their personalities? In what ways?
• Next, ask the class to think about the way people move in daily life. Do some people seem to run or skip through life while others trudge along? How does our personal energy or ways we move or walk convey who we are? Could that be the basis or starting point for dance?
INTRODUCTION:
Students will be able to:
LEVELII Sample Lesson
MATERIALS: Paper, pencils or pens.
VOCABULARY: notation, choreography, suite, acrostic
CONNECT: Discuss other aspects of your life that tell something about who you are, like your name does.
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DISCUSS: Discuss what you might change or add if you could do your dance again.
• Choreograph a story about something that happened to you in your life, an event that was important to you for a specific reason.
ANALYZE: Decide whether you used contrast in your dance or whether the movements flowed from one to the other smoothly. Discuss how the choices you made in your dance differed from those made by others.
I - stand up and hold your arms out to the sides - twirl and freeze
E
• To preserve the choreography so that their dances can be performed again, have the students record the steps using an acrostic. For example:
• Have the students collaborate to write a motto or short description of their class’s character or personality. Using the corresponding movements from the alphabet exercise above, create a group dance with everyone dancing in a unison “Class Act.”
• Assign a letter of the alphabet to each student and have them choreograph movement to it or to a movement word beginning with their letter. Put the 26 movements together for an “Alphabet Dance.”
J - one big leap with arms straight up over head A - lowly contract your body into a ball M - unfold onto your back and stretch your arms and legs into the air
ASSESSMENT: (Responding & Connecting)
DESCRIBE: Describe the feelings you had when you performed your name dance.
Emphasis on: Common Core - CA State Standards for Language - Reading; Writing; Listening; Speaking
EXTENSIONS:
INTRODUCTION: Families and relatives know many stories about our personal histories which are rich in culture and tradition and give us a sense of our past and an indication of our future. Great Leap’s performance contains stories about the artists’ families which help link their pasts with their presents.
MATERIALS: Paper, pencils or pens, or audio recording devices.
• What songs or rhymes were they taught?
• Gather personal history stories for storytelling sessions using inter viewing techniques. (Connecting)
THEATRE
PERSONAL HISTORY STORIES THE HUMAN FAMILY
• Describe, discuss, analyze and connect information and experiences based on this lesson. Refer to Assessment at the end of this lesson. (Responding & Connecting)
• Interviewing is an easy and interesting way to tap into your family “story lode” (a rich source). Ask your students to choose someone in their family to inter view, a parent, a grandparent, aunt, uncle, cousin, etc. They should prepare a list of questions to ask concerning family history. For example:
PROGRESSION:
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• Have they continued to tell those stories and sing those songs, passing them from generation to generation?
LEVELIII Sample Lesson
• Is anyone in the family carrying on a family work tradition? (shop keeper, farmer, artist, etc.)
• How did they make a living?
• What folk tales were they told as children?
• When did members of our family first come to America?
OBJECTIVES: (Student Outcomes) Students will be able to:
• Why did they come and what were their expectations?
• Who was the stor yteller in the family?
Immigration stories, stories of courtship and marriage, travel stories, and folk tales and myths, all provide a wealth of material for storytelling. Ask your students to select a story they learned about through the interviewing process, and prepare it for a class storytelling session. When the students tell their stories, ask themto be the person that they interviewed and tell the story from the personal point of view of the interviewee. Encourage them to use the gestures, posture, body language, and vocal qualities of the person they interviewed. These personal history stories can enlighten and instruct us, while providing opportunities to introduce and share our cultural heritages.
• Add music or dance to each story to further express its themes in another art form.
DESCRIBE: Describe your inter view experience.
CONNECT: Think of stories from your own life that would interest others.
ASSESSMENT: (Responding & Connecting)
Emphasis on: Common Core - CA State Standards for Language - Reading; Writing; Listening; Speaking
9
• Use the storytelling exercise as a way to introduce the study of genealogy, and have the students trace their family trees.
DISCUSS: Discuss the things you learned about your family that most surprised you.
ANALYZE: Discuss the differences between telling the story in the first person and telling it as a narrative.
• Transcribe the stories and bind them in a class book.
VOCABULARY: personal history stories, genealogy
EXTENSIONS:
