In-School Performance (intended for entire grade level to experience together).
March - June
In-School, In-School + Offsite,
$10
100
no
Other , Email , Phone
In advance: Print quality PDF of study guide; link to online slideshow of Study Guide images with appropriate captions; Performance Day: 3 performers, 1 stage manager/technician; costumes and props, sound system, backstage table, costume rack, mirrors.
Open Performance area -- stage, gym, cafeteria; private area adjacent to stage (or in wings) to be used as dressing area to accommodate three performers plus costume rack and one 6' table; on-site parking space for company van.
Open Performance area -- stage, gym, cafeteria; private area adjacent to stage (or in wings) to be used as dressing area to accommodate three performers plus costume rack and one 6' table. A lavatory is not acceptable.
I CAN explain how elements of dance are used in dances of different cultures. I CAN Isolate different parts of my body to execute some of the dance movements of Middle Eastern dance. I CAN use movement and dance to tell a story. I CAN understand that stories from different cultures often are very similar. I CAN create musical rhythms clapping and by singing the rhythm. I CAN tell you how countries within the same region share many similar characteristics, but are very different. I CAN use a map to identify the countries of the Middle Eastern region.
Middle East Mosaic: A Joyful Journey in Story, Rhythm and Dance, is an interdisciplinary assembly program for K-5, approximately 45-60 minutes with three performers. The student audience enters the auditorium to see the stage set with a few props and musical instruments. Two performers enter, dressed as Bedouin women, and describe the desert landscape and the Bedouin way of life, touching upon the folk customs of the culture, of which dance holds an important place. They demonstrate a Bedouin dance. Next up is an interactive segment on the rich and diverse variety of rhythms in Arabic music. Students become the percussion instruments, clapping or singing the rhythm. Each section has a short practice session, and one by one, each section joins the "orchestra" and the rhythm is clapped and sung, demonstrating the percussive richness of Arabic music. Following a demonstration of a typical folkloric dance of Egypt is another interactive session, during which students (selected by the classroom teachers) are invited onto the stage. The students are taught a few of the movements of Middle Eastern dance, showing how to isolate different parts of the body (i.e., hand, arm, head, hip) to create the movements and the steps. The art of storytelling is the final segment of the program. "The Scarab Beetle"s Daughter," a Persian folktale, is presented using narrative and dance to tell the story, through MDTC"s signature style of dance/story theater. The tale tells of the beautiful title character who has to choose between several suitors, each traveling from a different region of the Middle East, bringing the dance of his country with which to woo her. Following the story, which runs approximately 18 minutes, students will have a chance to ask the performers questions on the program. The Q&A will last as long as the teacher(s) allow.
Volunteer Opportunities: audience members
Grade K
Grade K: Geography: Geographic Representations: Spatial Views of the World: GEO K.3: Use maps, globes, and other simple geographic models to identify cultural and environmental characteristics of places.
Grade K: Geography: Human-Environment Interaction: Places, Regions, and Culture: GEO K.4: Explain how weather, climate, and other environmental characteristics affect people's lives in places or regions.
Grade K: Dance: Responding: Anchor Standard 7: Perceive and analyze artistic work. B. Demonstrate or describe observed or performed movements.
Grade K: Dance: Responding: Anchor Standard 9: Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work. A. Find a movement that was noticed in a dance. Demonstrate the movement that was noticed and explain why it attracted attention.
Grade 1
Grade 1: Geography: Geographic Representations: Spatial Views of the World: GEO 1.2: Use maps, graphs, photographs and other representations to describe places and the relationships and interactions that shape them.
Grade 1: Geography: Human -Environment Interaction: Places, Regions, and Culture: GEO 1.4: Explain how weather, climate, and other environmental characteristics affect people's lives in places or regions.
Grade 1: Dance: Responding: Anchor Standard 7: Perceive and analyze artistic work. B. Demonstrate and describe observed or performed dance movements from a specific genre or culture.
Grade 1: Dance: Responding: Anchor Standard 9: Apply Criteria to evaluate artistic work. A. Identify and demonstrate several movements in a dance that attracted attention. Describe the characteristics that make the movements interesting and talk about why they were chosen.
Grade 2
Grade 2: Geography: Human-Environment Interaction: Places, Regions, and Culture: GEO: 2.5: Explain how humans affect the culture and environment of places/region.
Grade 2: Geography: Human-Environment Interaction: Places, Regions, and Culture: GEO: 2.6: Identify cultural and environmental characteristics of a place/region.
Grade 2: Dance: Responding: Anchor Standard 7: Perceive and analyze artistic work. B. Demonstrate and describe movements in dances from different genres or cultures.
Grade 2: Dance: Responding: Anchor Standard 9: Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work. A. Observe or demonstrate dances from a genre or culture. Discuss movements and other aspects of the dances that make the dances work well, and explain why they work. Use simple dance terminology.
Grade 3
Grade 3: Geography: Human-Environment Interaction: Places, Regions, and Culture: GEO 3.4: Explain how culture influences the way people modify and adapt to their environments.
Grade 3: Geography: Human-Environment Interaction: Places, Regions, and Culture: GEO: 3.6: Describe how environmental and cultural characteristics influence population distribution in specific places or regions.
Grade 3: Dance: Responding: Anchor Standard 7: Perceive and analyze artistic work. B. Demonstrate and explain how one dance genre is different from another, or how one cultural movement practice is different from another.
Grade 3: Dance: Responding: Anchor Standard 9: Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work. A. Select dance movements from specific genres, styles or cultures. Identify characteristic movements from these dances and describe in basic dance terminology ways in which they are alike and different.
Grade 4
Grade 4: Geography: Human-Environment Interaction: Places, Regions, and Culture: GEO 4.3: Explain how culture influences the way people modify and adapt to their environments
Grade 4: Geography: Human population: Spatial Patterns and Movement: GEO 4.6: Explain how cultural and environmental characteristics affect the distribution and movement of people, goods, and ideas.
Grade 4: Dance: Responding: Anchor Standard 7: Perceive and analyze artistic work. b. Demonstrate and explain how dance styles differ within a genre or within a cultural movement practice.
Grade 4: Dance: Responding: Anchor Standard 9: Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work. A. Discuss and demonstrate the characteristics that make a dance artistic and apply those characteristics to dances observed or performed in a specific genre, style or cultural movement practice. Use basic dance terminology.
Grade 5
Grade 5: Geography: Human-Environment Interaction: Places, Regions, and Culture: GEO 5.2: Explain how culture influences the way people modify and adapt to their environments.
Grade 5: Geography: Human Population: Spatial Patterns and Movement: GEO 5.3: Explain how human settlements and movements relate to the locations and use of various natural resources.
Grade 5: Dance: Responding: Anchor Standard 7: Perceive and analyze artistic work. B. Describe, using basic dance terminology, the qualities and characteristics of style used in a dance from one's own cultural movement practice. Compare them to the qualities and characteristics of style found in a different dance genre, style or cultural movement practice, also using basic dance terminology.
Grade 5: Dance: Responding: Anchor Standard 9: Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work. A. Define the characteristics of dance that make a dance artistic and meaningful. Relate them to the elements of dance in genres, styles, or cultural movement practices. Use basic dance terminology to describe characteristics that make a dance artistic and meaningful.
