Aspects of Drama included in the Drama Arts Toolkit 2nd Edition contains a diverse array of video clips, from activities to performances and readings. The first pair of videos, taken from KET’s Imagine That series, model creative dramatics exercises dealing with creative movement and controlling energy.
Creative Flow
Host Curt Tofteland leads students in activities that encourage them to make believe and explore the flow of creative movement. In the activity “Becoming,” students pretend to be bacon frying, popcorn kernels popping, and balloons filling with and emptying of air. Moses Goldberg and actors from Stage One in Louisville demonstrate how actors might prepare for roles as animals. Then students “Move in the Manner Of” various animals and objects and respond to music with movement.
Suggested Uses:
Watch as a guide to leading your students in these or similar exercises.
Show one or more exercises to students to try as they watch the video.
Show one or more exercises to students as a discussion prompt after they have tried the exercises in the classroom.
Use the exercises shown in the segments as a starting point for students to come up with other objects to “become” or “move in the manner of.”
Controlling Creative Energy
Host Curt Tofteland leads students in exploring how actors use energy. In the activity “Passing Energy,” students pass an imaginary ball of energy to one another. Then Jean St. John and Steve Roenker of the My Nose Turns Red theater company give background information on commedia dell’arte, discussing and showing how actors control energy to perform their commedia-inspired physical comedy.
Suggested Uses:
Watch as a guide to leading your students in this exercise or similar activities.
Show the commedia dell’arte segment to introduce or explore this type of theater.
Show the commedia dell’arte segment to inspire students to create and perform physical comedy routines in the spirit of commedia dell’arte.
Show this segment, then show a performance segment and discuss how the actors use and control energy. Explore variations on the “Passing Energy” activity. For example, have students pass different types of objects, concentrating on how the object is passed (passing a kitten vs. passing a heavy jug of water).