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Moving Landscapes

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Writer: Julie Cadzow

Curriculum Focus: Dance
Curriculum Level: 2
Years 2-4
Duration: 20 integrated lessons (approximately)

Students become part of the scenery for three innovative New Zealand landscapes. Through a variety of learning experiences, the students will learn about five New Zealand landscape art works, create dances about the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and their changing local landscape, and will consider the concept of citizenship.

Focus for the Unit:

How can we look after our local landscape?

Values

Students will be encouraged to value ecological sustainability by learning about the history of their local community, the changes that have occurred, and what can be done to ensure there are resources for the future.

Key Competencies

Thinking
Students will learn about five New Zealand landscape paintings and their local area through group research activities, and by exploring, composing, combining, organising, performing, reflecting on and interpreting dance.

Relating to Others
Students will be encouraged to listen to others, to negotiate, and to work together to create artwork, research presentations and short dances.

Managing Self
They will be encouraged to develop an awareness of how their actions can affect others, the need to make wise decisions about the way they care for the environment, and to use safe dance practice around others. By participating in a range of dance activities, students will develop their co-ordination, flexibility and agility, and an awareness and control of locomotor and non-locomotor skills.

Achievement Objectives: Level 2

Developing Practical Knowledge in Dance (PK)
Students will explore and identify through movement the dance elements of body, space, time, energy and relationships.
Developing Ideas in Dance (DI)
Students will use the elements of dance in purposeful ways to respond to a variety of stimuli.
Communicating and Interpreting in Dance (CI)
Students will share dance movement through informal presentation and identify the use of the elements of dance.

Learning Goals for Dance

The student will:
LG1 (PK and DI) Explore the dance element of Space by creating and performing movement along air and floor pathways.
LG2 (PK and DI) Explore the use of a variety of body parts and bases to perform curved and angular body shapes.
LG3 (DI) Create abstract movement based on features of natural landscapes.
LG4 (CI)Perform and reflect on their own and others' dances about New Zealand landscapes

Resources

Source Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa: The information for the following resources has been modified for use in this unit.
Photocopy for use with the whole class.

'New Zealand Landscape' - Gordon Walters (1919-95)
Ship Cove, Queen Charlotte Sound
'Where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed', 1882
Landscape with Settlers
Toy Town Model

Interactive sites
The following sites are either lesson plans or interactive sites where students are guided through some basic principles of landscapes and use these to create their own landscapes.

Suggested Music

101 Kiwi Kidsongs: Hutia; 'Yesterday Tomorrow' by Rādha Wardrop; Aotearoa by Mary Chetty
Kiwi Kids Waiata; Waitangi Te Tiriti (Track 8, or the instrumental version on Track 17)

Summary of activities covered in this unit:

Activity One: New Zealand Landscapes
Students will identify features of New Zealand landscapes and will use Maori vocabulary to describe those features.

Activity Two: The Original New Zealand Landscape
Students will consider how New Zealand may have looked prior to human habitation. 'New Zealand Landscape' by Gordon Walters is introduced and discussed.

Activity Three: Moving Landscapes
Students create a short dance using air and floor pathways to represent features of the New Zealand landscape. They perform this with others in a group dance and this is developed into a full class dance.

Activity Four: Early New Zealand Landscapes
Four landscapes of early New Zealand are the focus for a series of questions and activities to answer those questions.

Activity Five: Creating Moving Landscapes
Students explore curved and angular body shapes and relate these to landscape features. Stage 'blocking' positions are taught and reinforced with an activity based on the game 'Shipwreck' entitled 'Block the Stage'.

Activity Six: 'Where the Treaty of Waitangi Was Signed'
Students consider the importance of the Treaty of Waitangi. They recreate the signing of the Treaty though the painting 'Where the Treaty of Waitangi Was Signed' by Alfred Sharp. This becomes a full class dance.

Activity Seven: A Changing Landscape
A research project about the local landscape: the original landscape; the present day landscape and the landscape of the future.

Activity Eight: Painting a Changing Landscape
The students create three 'Changing Landscapes' backdrops for dance: The original landscape; the landscape today; the landscape of the future.

Activity Nine: Dancing a Changing Landscape
The students compose a full class dance in three parts.

Suggested Learning Sequence
Activity One: New Zealand Landscapes
  1. Class discussion:
    We are all artists. Let's imagine that we especially love painting landscapes. What is a landscape? What kinds of things might we paint in a landscape?
    Definition of a landscape: An extensive piece of scenery, especially rural, seen from one place
    Answers may include: mountains, hills, forests, fields, trees, plants, sea, lakes and rivers.
  2. Introduce the word geography = physical features of a place or region.
  3. Introduce Maori vocabulary for geographical features:
    Land Whenua
    Mountains Maunga
    Forest Ngahere
    Tree Rākau
    Sea Moana
    River Awa
    Sun
    Rock Toka
    Hill Puke
    Sand Kirikiri
     
  4. What colours might we use to paint our landscape?
    White
    Whero Red
    Kowhai Yellow
    Karaka Orange
    Kahurangi Blue
    Kakariki Green
    parāone Brown
    Māwhero Pink
    Pango Black
     
  5. What special geographical features do we have in Aotearoa/New Zealand that are different to other countries?
    Answers may include: lots of water - sea, beaches, lakes (such as Lake Taupo and Lake Whakatipu), rivers (such as the Waikato and the Clutha); high mountains, such as the Southern Alps, Mt Taranaki, Mt Ruapehu; green fields with lots of sheep; native trees such as kauri, rimu, tī kouka (cabbage tree) and pohutukawa.
  6. Encourage students from countries other than New Zealand to talk about their own country, what it is like and how it is different to New Zealand.
  7. What special buildings or structures are special to New Zealand?
    Suggestions: Larnach's Castle, Manapouri Dam, the Beehive, and the Sky Tower.
  8. Extension
    Visit Google Maps to find the locations of selected New Zealand geographical features and man-made structures.
    Pairs select one geographical feature or structure to research and become 'experts'.
    Interview via email/ Skype an expert living in or near a chosen geographical feature.
  9. What special geographical features do we have in the area where we live?
    The students may be able to identify and name hills, valleys, rivers or streams, a lake or a coastal area.
  10. What special geographical features do we have in our school?
    Look out of the window or take the class outside for a walk.
    (Note the fields, the shape of the landscape and the buildings, and any gardens or large trees).
    Students could sketch the scenes (possibly in their visual diaries if these are used in the teaching programme).
Activity Two: The Original New Zealand

Suggested instructions for teachers:

  1. Let’s imagine that we live hundreds of years ago when the first Māori people came to New Zealand. This was a time when there were no houses, no shops, cars, bikes, no TV or electricity. There was also no paper for painting on and no paints to paint with!
     What are we going to paint on?
     Some suggestions: large rocks or cliffs; cave walls; large tree trunks; the bases of nïkau palm fronds; ourselves; the sand (kirikiri).
  2. What shall we use for paint?
     Ground up earth of different colours, mixed with egg whites and plant extracts.
  3. What shall we paint with?
     Sticks, brushes made from branches, feathers.
  4. Close your eyes and paint your landscape in your mind.
     (Note: It may be appropriate for students to sketch their landscapes on paper so that they can be used in the next activity, or even to create a collaborative class sketch on paper.)
  5. Show the students a picture of ‘New Zealand Landscape’, by Gordon Walters.
    In what ways is it similar or different?
  6. This painting is an example of abstract art where the lines and shapes represent the main features of something, rather than trying to look exactly like it.
     What can you see?
  7. What could each of the lines represent?
  8. Describe the colours used in the painting.
    Why do you think Gordon Walters chose these colours?
Activity Three: Moving Landscapes

This dance activity is based upon the work completed in Activity Two. Where possible, photograph or film the students as they develop their work. Use the resulting images and film for regular feedback and feed forward sessions, allowing time for the students to use the new information to develop their work further.

  1. Organise the students to sit or stand on their own 'paint spot' around the dance space (classroom with desks moved back, hall, playground or field).
     Introduce the dance term 'Air Pathway' to the students.
     An air pathway is a pattern made in the air by the use of body parts (e.g. arm, leg, head).
  2. In front of you is an imaginary rock wall! Pick up an imaginary paintbrush and paint an air pathway in the shape of a wave on the moana (sea).
     Make your air pathway reach as far as you can without stepping off your paint spot.
  3. Now paint an air pathway in the shape of a huge maunga (mountain).
  4. Now paint an air pathway in the shape of a tï kouka (cabbage tree).
  5. Think about the landscape you painted in your mind.
    Find a way to make that feature with your body. This can be the starting shape for your ‘Moving Landscapes’ dance.
  6. You are now going to paint your whole landscape.
     What order are you going to paint the other features of your landscape?
    Pick up your imaginary paintbrush and paint your whole landscape on the imaginary rock wall in front of you.
  7. Now paint over again but paint it as small as possible (shrink it).
  8. Now paint it much larger (expand it).
  9. Now paint your landscape taking up as much space as you can but keeping one foot glued onto your paint spot.
  10. Now let’s imagine that your elbow is your paintbrush. Try painting your landscape once again. Remember to reach up as high as you can and as low as you can. (A high level and a low level).
  11. Your knee has become the paintbrush!
  12. Now your nose is the paintbrush.
  13. Find an interesting way to sit down or lie down and paint with your feet!
  14. Now see if you can paint each part of your landscape with a different body part.
  15. Think of another exciting feature from your landscape that you can make with your body. Create the shape and see if you can stay in this shape for five seconds without moving.
     This is the finish shape for your dance.
  16. Finally, see if you can perform your whole landscape, beginning with your starting shape, painting each feature with a different body part and holding your finish shape for five seconds.
    Practice it a couple of times to make it as smooth and flowing as possible.
  17. Mirroring Air Pathway Landscapes:
    Divide the class into two lines (tahi and rua) facing each other about one metre apart. (Have one group of three if necessary).
     The lines take turns to perform their landscapes while their ‘mirrors’ reflect every movement they make.

    • What does it feel like to have someone reflect every movement you make?
    • What are the hardest moves to reflect?
    • How do you reflect a movement that goes towards you?
    • How do you reflect a movement that goes away from you?

    Organise some pairs to sit down and watch others perform their mirrored landscape dances.

    Extension: Select students with strong dances to have two or three mirrors reflecting the dances. This could help develop less detailed or imaginative dances.

  18. Group Work

    Divide the class into groups of four or five and allocate each group a larger ‘landscape spot’ around the dance space. 
     When the music starts, everyone performs his or her landscape dances at the same time.

    NB. Some students may have been unable to compose their own dance or they may have been absent. These students can then be included simply by reflecting/mirroring another student’s work (as in Number 17).

    Encourage the students to consider where they are positioned in the group (their formation).
     Examples of possible formations: Diagonal lines; random placements; s or t shapes; using levels, with some students standing è others lying down

    After group rehearsals, the groups take turns performing their ‘moving landscapes’ with their group for the whole class. Encourage the dancers to freeze in their finish pose until everyone has finished and for the audience to watch silently.

    Take digital photos of the students’ final poses.
     Print and display on the classroom notice board.

    Use music to accompany the dances if appropriate.
     Suggested music: Hutia; 101 Kiwi Kidsongs (instrumental version or with lyrics)

    Lyrics:
     Hutia te rito. Hutia te rito o te harakeke. Kei hea to kōmako e kō?
     Ki mai ki ahau. He aha te mea nui? He aha te mea nui o te ao?
     Maku e ki atu He Tangata! He Tangata! He Tangata.
     Translation:
     Pull out the shoot. Pull out the shoot of the flax. Where will the bellbird sing?
     Say to me, what is the greatest thing? What is the greatest thing in this world?
     I will say the people! The people! The people.

    Possible questions for reflection:
     What landscape features did you see the dancers make?
     What body parts did they/you use?
     What was the most interesting part? Why?
     How could they/you make the dance even more interesting?

    Formative Assessment Opportunity:
     LG1 (PK and DI) Explore the dance element of Space by creating and performing movement along air and floor pathways.
     LG3 (DI) Create abstract movement based on features of natural landscapes.
     LG4 (CI) Perform and reflect on their own and others’ dances about New Zealand landscapes.

  19. A ‘Moving Landscapes’ Dance

    The entire activity above could easily be developed into a class dance.
     Give the groups time to rehearse their ‘moving landscapes’ and allow them to travel around and between each other if they wish to further develop their movements.

    Encourage them to create a group landscape shape to open their dance and one to finish.

    Organise each group to have a performance ‘landscape spot’ on the school stage or an appropriate performance area. All students keep as low to the ground and as still as possible when not dancing.

    As the music begins, the first group moves slowly into its’ opening shape and performs the dance. The first group freezes in its’ finish shape and slowly sinks down to the floor as the second group moves into its’ opening shape and begins the dance.

    Repeat with the remaining groups and as the last group finishes, everyone moves into the finish shapes once more to create a frozen class landscape.

    Easy Production Suggestions:

    Stage Set: Project Gordon Walters’ ‘New Zealand Landscape’ onto the back of the stage/performance area.
     Costumes:
     Each group wears a different colour (a consensus perhaps of clothes they already have.)
     Each group wears a band of coloured fabric around their waists or wrists.
     Fabric ‘bibs’ upon which each student has painted his or her landscape (perhaps not so easy!)
     Music:
     Hutia; 101 Kiwi Kidsongs – play the song twice as it has a duration of 1:22.

    Encourage the students to take still photos of each other performing their still shapes during the learning process. The photos could be re-purposed to reinforce dialogue and understanding of the process, to reflect on performance, to determine the next stage in the learning process, and at the end to evaluate the learning.
     Film the group and final dances, and view the dances with the class for peer and self-assessment discussions.

    LG4 (CI) Perform and reflect on their own and others’ dances about New Zealand landscapes.

Activity Four: Early New Zealand Landscapes

Resources:
Ship Cove, Queen Charlotte Sound
'Where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed', 1882
Landscape with Settlers
Toy Town Model

Questions and Activities

There are many possibilities for using these resources.
 The list below contains suggested activities and questions that may be helpful to initiate discussion, be a starting place for research or to stimulate thinking about life in early New Zealand.
 Teachers can select one or more of the most relevant activities for use with their students.

Encourage the students to generate their own questions about the resources and facilitate ways for them to find their own answers.

Using all the resources:
 How do the four landscapes differ from Gordon Walter’s ‘New Zealand Landscape’?
 Arrange the landscapes in time order (earliest to most modern).
 What do you know about each landscape without reading the information?
 Identify the location of each landscape on a map of New Zealand.
 Identify the foreground, middle ground and background features of each of the paintings.

Background is the top area of a picture where the objects are behind the other features. The objects are smaller and have less detail so they appear to be further away.
 Foreground is the lower area of a picture where the objects are in front of the other features. The objects are larger and more detailed so they appear to be closer.
 Middle ground is in the centre of the picture, between the background and the foreground.
 Horizon line is the imaginary line that divides the sky and the ground. Compare these paintings/models to Gordon Walter’s ‘New Zealand Landscape’ where the features are not specific to a foreground, middle ground or background.
 Work in teams of six to find answers to three selected questions (two students for each question). Present the findings as a group on a shared workspace: Web based: Wikispaces for Eduction
 Easy to use online space for creating 'living' documents that may include any sort of interactive media and can be viewed and/or edited and commented on from anywhere with Internet access.
 See an example of a shared workspace from students at Buckland's Beach Intermediate who have created a wiki to share their inquiry into a local community issue. Each group has created a page on the wiki. Images, video, files, text and hyperlinks can also be added.
 Inviting feedback on a wiki: Wikispaces for Education includes a discussion forum that enables a discussion for each page or to set up one main discussion for the entire wiki.

Ship Cove, QueenCharlotteSound
 What was life like for Māori people before European’s arrived?
 How did early Māori people catch fish? Trap birds? Store food? Shelter?
 How do you play traditional Māori games such as string games, kites, hoops or tops?
 Why is it important to have customs and to remember and respect traditions?

‘Where the Treaty Of Waitangi Was Signed’, 1882
 What is a treaty?
 What is the Treaty of Waitangi?
 Why did the Māori and European people sign the Treaty?
 Why is the Treaty of Waitangi important to all people in New Zealand?
 What are some ways that we can show respect to every New Zealand citizen?
 Develop a class Treaty about citizenship

Citizenship = the duties and responsibilities that come with being a member of a community
 What should be written in our Treaty?
 Who should be included?
 What does the word ‘respect’ mean?
 How do we show that we respect the people in our class?
What does it feel like to be treated with respect?

Landscape with Settlers
 Why are there two names for Mt Taranaki?
 What are some of the reasons early Europeans left their native lands?
 How did early Europeans prepare land for farming?
 Where did the land for farming and towns come from?
 How do we use the resources from our environment?
 In what ways have we wasted resources from our environment?
 How can we make sure there are enough resources in the future?

ToyTown Model
 Who was John Saxton?
 Why did the children make a model that looked like their hometown in England?
 How might they have felt when they first saw that New Zealand was very different to their hometown in England?
 What was life like on the first ships from England and Scotland?
 On a world map, trace the journey that a sailing ship filled with new immigrants would have taken from England to New  Zealand.
 What did people on the early sailing ships have to eat and drink?
 What is it like to have new people arrive in your area to live?
 How do you make new people feel welcome?
 Interview a person new to New Zealand. How did they feel when they first arrived?
 Has anyone in the class come form another country? Encourage them to share their story.
 
 Extension Activities (optional)
 Visit the National Library site:
 This site contains many examples of early New Zealand landscapes and other artworks by a range of artists.
 Create a shared workspace for storing and retrieving information about life in early New Zealand.
 

Activity Five: Creating Moving Landscapes
  1. Revise work created in Activity Three: Moving Landscapes.What is an air pathway?
     What is a geographical feature?
     Show me how you can paint an air pathway of long and curved awa (river) with your little finger.
     Paint an enormous (sun) with your elbow/chin/big toe.
     See if you can wiri your wrist.
     Wiri = hand quiver or tremble. This is a wrist action with the fingers remaining relaxed but extended
     Show me how you can paint shining down on the awa.
     Now repeat this movement but add in a wiri with one or both of your hands to make it look as if the water is glistening in the sun.
     Show the person next to you what you have created.
  2. Curved and Angular Shapes
    Paint the shape of a huge wave in the air. Was your shape curved or angular?
     What is a curve?
     Make your body into one big curve on the floor.
     Join up with another person to make a longer curve.
     Make a whole ‘class curve’! Have some people lying down, others sitting, some bent over and others standing up.
     What is an angle?
     What parts of your body can make an angle? These are called joints.
     Make a shape with your body that has lots of angles.
     Make another angular shape with a different body part on the floor (body base).
     Follow these instructions, making new shapes every time:
     Curved - Angular - Curved - Curved - Angular - Angular - Curved
     Find a partner. Listen to the instructions again, but this time, make curved or angular shapes with your partner.
     Curved - Angular - Curved - Curved - Angular - Angular - Curved
     Join up with another pair. Now make curved or angular shapes with four people.
     Curved - Angular - Curved - Curved - Angular - Angular - Curved
     Show the students ‘New Zealand Landscape’ by Gordon Walters.
     In your group of four, create one of the shapes from the painting with your bodies.
     Is your shape angular or curved?
     Now make your shape travel across the floor
     Make a different shape from the painting and find a new way to travel across the floor
     Show the students ‘Landscape with Settlers’ by Mary or Louisa Messenger.
     See if you can find two features in the painting that were built by human beings. Are the buildings curved or angular?
     With your group, show me how you can create the shape of a house with your bodies.
    Make the shape of another house using everyone in the class! How much detail can you make – windows, a door, a chimney. Formative Assessment Opportunity:
     LG1 (PK and DI) Explore the dance element of Space by creating and performing movement along air and floor pathways.
     LG2 (PK and DI) Explore the use of a variety of body parts and bases to perform curved and angular body shapes.
  3. Foreground, Middle Ground and Background Revise the landscape terminology of foreground, middle ground and background. If appropriate, explore the Landscape Adventures website.
    Compare the three areas of a landscape painting to similar positions on a performance space for dance or drama: The term ‘blocking’ is used to describe the positions of actors and dancers on a stage. This derived from 19th Century directors using small blocks on a model of a stage to represent the positions of the actors during each scene of a play.‘Up-stage’ and ‘down stage’ come from theatre in the Middle Ages when the stages were ‘raked’ or sloped down towards the audience to provide an improved view. An actor was said to ‘up-stage’ another actor when he or she moved further up the slope (away from the audience). Although the audience appreciated a raked stage, it was difficult and dangerous for actors and dancers who had to pretend the surface was flat!
  4. Game: ‘Block the Stage” (Based on the game ‘Shipwreck’)
    Mark out a stage area (or ‘canvas’) on the playground, field or dance space.

    Revise with the students the possible calls and the positions on stage:
     Foreground, down stage, middle ground, background, up-stage, house left, house right
    (Extension: include ‘Stage left’,  ‘Stage right’, ‘Prompt’ and ‘Opposite Prompt’ if the students need more of a challenge.) Begin with the students standing in ‘middle ground.’

    The teacher calls out two instructions at one time – a stage position and a locomotor movement (travelling movement.) The students move to the stage positions called out by the teacher using the locomotor movement. For example:

    Up-stage - crawling; Foreground - tiptoeing; house right - marching

    Add in more calls or ask students to invent new ones. For example:

    Paint palette – students curl up into a tight ball on the floor, pretending to be dollops of paint.
     Paintbrush – students find one or two other students and lie down in a line holding onto each other’s feet. The top student makes a brush shape with his or her arms.
     Geographical feature – tree – three people – students create a still shape of a tree in a group of three.
     

Activity Six: ‘Where the Treaty of Waitangi Was Signed’
  1. Show the students 'Where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed', 1882
     What is a Treaty?
     What is the Treaty of Waitangi?
     Why did the Māori and European people sign the Treaty?
    Why is the Treaty of Waitangi important to all people in New Zealand?

    Refer to the class Treaty about Citizenship thatmay have been developed during Activity Four.
     Why did we write our own class Treaty?
     What does it say?
     What does citizenship mean?
     Why is it important?
     What is respect?
     What do we each have to do to treat the treaty with respect?
    How do we show respect to each other?

    What features are in the foreground of the painting?  Rocks, water
     What features are in the background of the painting?  Distant hills, the Treaty House, trees
     Do the background features appear to be close to us or far away?
     How has the artist shown this?
    What are the features in the middle ground of the painting?  Large rocks, large trees, water

    If this painting was real, which geographical features in this painting could move? Water, trees
     How far could the trees move?  Trees have long roots and are only able to move on the spot
    How far could the water move?  Tides, rivers, storms è travel a long distance

  2. Recreating ‘Where the Treaty of Waitangi Was Signed’
     Where possible, photograph and/or film the students as they develop their work. Use the resulting images and film for regular feedback and feed forward sessions, allowing time for the students to use the new information to develop their work further.

    Part One: Dancing Signatures
     The students write their initials on a piece of paper and make observations about the letters, noting the shape, size, and angles.
     They trace their initials on the floor using their hands or feet as ‘pens’.
     The students ‘write’ their initials in the air using various body parts as ‘pens’.
     Each student creates a short sequence by combining floor and air pathway letters of their name. Encourage them to make their movement smooth and flowing as if the letters are linked as in signature written on paper.

    Part Two: Creating the Landscape
     Divide the class into four groups and allocate them a foreground (Group 1), middle ground (Groups 2 and 3) or background spot (Group 4).
     Foreground: Rocks and water
     Middle ground: Large rocks, large trees and water
     Background: Distant hills, the Treaty House, trees

    Give the students time to:
     Explore ways to create their geographical features.
     What shape can a rock be?
     See if you can make a still shape of a rock that has many sharp points.
     How can you work together to make a still shape of a huge rock?
     Are the background hills curved or angular?
     Show me how you can work together to make a still shape of the hills.
     Where does the tree attach to the rock? How are you going to do this?

    Decide if and where any of their features can move:
     Recall the wiri to represent glistening water.
     The sea moves around, over and between rocks – how are you going to move safely between those rocks, as if you were the sea?
     The tree is moving in the breeze. Find a way to move without simply waving your arms. Show me how you can move your head/spine/shoulders/hips and knees.
     Explore ways for the students to enter the painting – how to move onto the ‘canvas’; to hold their part of the geographical feature and to move onstage if necessary.
     Show me how you can be a ‘rolling rock’ to move onto the canvas.
     Is there a way that the people who make the enormous tree can make their shape off the canvas and move together in their shape onto the canvas?
     I wonder if the enormous tree (or the huge rock) could be created on the canvas like a jigsaw puzzle – one person at a time.
     The ‘water’ people might like to try entering the canvas as single drops, little waves, or perhaps larger waves with two or three people making one wave.

    Organise the students to stand around the edge of the ‘canvas.’
     Group 4 (Background) enter first and create their geographical features.
     Groups 3 and 2 enter second and create their geographical features.
     Group 1 enters third and completes the painting landscape.
     Encourage ‘water’ students to travel through and around the space.
     Encourage ‘trees’ to gently sway in the breeze.
     Rehearse for recall and clarity.

    Part Three: Signing the Treaty
     (Each group takes turns to perform their Dancing Signature)
     Suggested process:
     With the whole class now ‘on’ the canvas, Group 4 (background) moves through the others to down stage right as Groups 1, 2, and 3 move up-stage behind them.
     (The Treaty House in the background of the painting is very indistinct. The idea in this dance is for the Treaty House to be ‘enlarged’ so that the signing can be emphasised.)

    Group 4 creates the shape of a large piece of paper (the Treaty) – sloped down to the floor like a raked stage. The students need to be spaced closely together on a middle to low level with some crouched or lying down, and others sitting or kneeling.

    Group 1 moves forward to position themselves downstage left beside and behind ‘The Treaty’ (Group 4).

    Groups 2 and 3 create shapes in pairs or threes to represent the Treaty House behind Group 1.

    Groups 4, 2 and 3 remain motionless.

    Group 1 performs their signature sequences from Part One.

    When they finish, they take the place of the Group 2 students, who in turn move forward, perform their initial sequences and replace Group 3.

    Group 3 students move forwards and perform their initials sequences. They then create a still shape of a new ‘paper’ downstage left.

    Group 4 then rise and perform their initials sequence downstage right.

    Finale Suggestions
    Group 3 remains in their ‘Treaty’ shape while the other students gather solemnly around them as if they are posing for a photograph to record the event.Groups 2 and 1 remain in their positions and the Group 4 students join up with the Group 3 students to create a much larger Treaty.

    The whole class gathers in a linked circle to represent the idea of unity.

    Performing the Dance
     Encourage the audience to sit on the stage of the hall (if available) and for the students to perform on the main floor of the hall, so that the audience can appreciate the ‘painting’s ‘ perspective.
     Project a copy of the painting behind the canvas for further emphasis.
     Film the final performance

    Music Suggestions:
     Kiwi Kids Waiata; Waitangi te Tiriti;

    Reflection:
     View video footage of the rehearsal process and the final performance.
     What dance skills do your think you have learned?
     What else do you think you need to learn?
     How well was the dance performed?
     Did we make our curved and angular body shapes as clear as possible?
     How did we make the air and floor pathways in our signature dances as large as possible?
     Did we try to make all our movements flow smoothly from one move to the next?
     How could we improve the way we performed our dance?
     How well did we work together?
     What helped us to do well?
     What was the hardest part of making the dance?
     What was the hardest part of performing the dance?
     What was your favourite part of the dance?

    Formative Assessment Opportunity:
     LG1 (PK and DI) Explore the dance element of Space by creating and performing movement along air and floor pathways.
     LG2 (PK and DI) Explore the use of a variety of body parts and bases to perform curved and angular body shapes.
     LG3 (DI) Create abstract movement based on features of natural landscapes.
     LG4 (CI) Perform and reflect on their own and others’ dances about New Zealand landscapes.

Activity Seven: A Changing Landscape

Encourage the students to participate in a small research project about the history of their ‘local landscape’ and school.
 What did our area used to look like before people lived here?
 Which native trees and plants used to grow here?
 Which native birds and animals used to live here?
 How has our ‘local landscape’ changed?
 What (and where) are the positive changes that have occurred?
 What (and where) are the negative changes that have occurred?
 How could our local landscape be improved?
 What will our ‘local landscape’ look like in the future?
 What can we do to protect our local landscape?
 Extension: Future New Zealand landscapes
 What will New Zealand look like in 100 years?
 What are we doing to protect what we have now?
 What can I do to protect my part of the New Zealand landscape?

Suggested research activities:

Visit the school library and the local library to find early photographs of the area.
 Visit to the National Library of New Zealand’s Timeframes website.
 Invite a kaumātua to speak to the class about the first Māori people who lived in the area.
 Interview a long-term resident of the area.
 Invite the mayor to come and speak to the class and discuss with him/her the possibility of replanting a small area with native plants.
 KCC (Kiwi Conservation Club): www.kcc.org.nz
 Forest and Bird: www.forestandbird.org.nz
 Department of Conservation: www.doc.govt.nz

Presentation suggestions:

Create a digital presentation using PowerPoint , Photo story , iPhoto or Kidpix , and include photographs taken during the research process.
 Digital photographs taken of present day geographical features can be compared to original photographs.
 Share research online using a class wiki: Wikispaces for Eduction
 Create your own website using the Living Heritage site or view examples of other schools undertaking similar inquiries
 Record the interviews using Garage Band or Audacity .

Activity Eight: Projecting a Changing Landscape

The students create their own ‘changing landscapes’ backdrops using selected photographs.
 Divide the class into three groups.

Group A: The original landscape prior to human contact.
Group B: The landscape today.
Group C: The landscape of the future.

Using information gathered from Activity 7, each group selects up to three photographs from their allocated time area that they feel best communicate the landscape of that time.
 The photographs can then be included in a PowerPoint presentation to be projected onto the back of the performance area for the completed dance in Activity 9.

Note: This activity could form the basis for a large visual arts unit where the students paint the backdrops.
 The landscapes could be:

  • Very large so that they physically fill the back of a performance space. The landscape would need to be kept very simple, and possibly abstracted. A photo or image could be projected up and drawn directly onto a large sheet, drop cloth or board.
  • Small, digitally photographed and projected onto the performance space.
  • Made up of several parts (e.g. as a grid or collaged overlays) so that each student contributes one section.

Appropriate ways for the three landscapes to be displayed on a stage or performance area will need to be considered.

Activity Nine: Dancing a Changing Landscape

Using the knowledge gained from Activity Seven, and the backdrops created during Activity Eight, the students create a dance in three parts, based on the idea of the changing nature of their local landscape.

Part One: The original landscape prior to human contact (Group A)
Part Two: The landscape today (Group B)
Part Three: The landscape of the future (Group C)
Using the same three groups from Activity Eight, the students will create a short dance (perhaps 1 – 1 ½ minutes for each group) based on the landscape they created.

  1. With the whole class, discuss the three landscapes the students created in Activity Eight.
     Which features can move in some way?
     How would they have moved?
     Trees – non-locomotor, moving on the spot in the wind
     Rivers – flowing down a hill
     The sea – waves swinging in and out
    Cars/trains – winding through houses and buildings
  2. Revise dance vocabulary previously explored in this unit:

    Abstract movement   
     Movement to represent an action – not mime.
     Air Pathway               
     A pattern made in the air by the use of body parts (e.g. arm, leg, head).
     Body Base                           
     This is the body part/s on the floor, such as 2 feet, or 1 hand and 1 foot.
     Floor Pathway            
     A direction taken across the floor such as zigzag, curved, straight or diagonal.
     Levels                        
     This is the height in space (high, medium or low) at which a dancer moves.
     Locomotor Movement
     This is a travelling movement across the floor.
     Mirroring                    
     Reflecting the movements of another person as if they are a mirror image (facing each other).
     Non-Locomotor Movement
     Movement performed on one spot.
     Still Shape
    A shape made by one or more people that can be held for a certain time.

  3. Organise the students into their three groups, with a Task Card and a copy of their landscape close by for reference.

    Group discussion:
     What are the three main features of our landscape?
     Which features in our landscape can move?
     How can we ‘make’ this landscape together?
    What does our Task Card say?

  4. Mini-Groups:

    With a class of 30 students, three groups of 10 can make the creative progress difficult. Therefore it is suggested that before any creative movement occurs, the teacher divides each group into three mini-groups of three to four students in each.

    • Number each mini-group A 1-3, B 1-3 or C 1-3
    • Give each mini-group time to decide which landscape feature is to be the focus of their work.
    • Using the Task Cards give each mini-group time to create its’ part of the landscape. 
    • Present their work in order – mini-group 1, 2 3.
    • Mini-groups 1 and 2 hold the final shapes until mini-group 3 has completed their sequence.
    • Encourage the whole group to work together to create a final tableau (still shape) of their landscape.

    Music Suggestions:
     For the entire dance: 101 Kiwi Kidsongs; ‘Yesterday Tomorrow’ by Radha Wardrop
     This song is in three parts and is about New Zealand in the past, today and in the future.
     Or
     Use three different pieces of music and sound. For example:
     Part A:
     Voice recordings of a kaumātua or of an elderly resident who may have visited to talk about the early times in the area or sound effects of native birdsong/waves.
     Part B
     Sound effects of traffic and city noises or voice recordings of the students talking about their favourite places in the local area.
     Part C
     Use a combination of native birdsong and traffic sounds, or voice recordings of the students talking about future landscapes.

    Record each part onto one track using Garage Band or Audacity

    Production suggestions:

    • The teacher changes the PowerPoint slides of the landscape photographs (from Activity Eight) and starts the sound for each part of the dance.
    • Two non-dancing students could be in charge of changing the slides and starting the sound.
    • The sound selected above and the landscape photographs from Activity Eight could be put into a movie, which is played/projected during the performance.
    • If painted backdrops were created, they could be hung at the back of the performance space, one on top of each other and lowered after each part of the dance by a team of stagehands from each group.
  5. Putting the dance together

    Suggestions:
     Part One: The original landscape prior to human contact
     Group A:
     Students begin lying on the floor of the dance space (or stage).
     In order, mini-groups 1, 2 and 3 perform their sequences of still shapes and movement.
     A final group shape to recreate their landscape is performed downstage.
     Students exit the dance floor/stage to the left and right using movement appropriate to their dance.

    Part Two: The landscape today
     Group B:
     Students enter up-stage as Group A dancers are creating their final landscape shape.
     They perform a group shape to represent their landscape.
     In order, mini-groups 1, 2 and 3 perform their sequences of still shapes and movement.
     A final group shape to recreate their landscape is performed downstage.
    Students exit the dance floor/stage to the left and right using movement appropriate to their dance.

    Part Three: The landscape of the future
     Group C:
     Students enter from all directions of the dance space using movement appropriate to their dance.
     They find their mini-groups and together they form their first still shape.
     In order, mini-groups 1, 2 and 3 perform their sequences of still shapes and movement.
    A final group shape to recreate their landscape is performed upstage.

    Finale:
     Group B enters from stage right and reforms its’ final group landscape.
    Group A enters from stage left and reforms it’s final group landscape.

    Photograph and record the development of the dance, and the final performance.
     Reflection:
     View any video footage or digital photographs taken during the learning process and compare with film of the final performance.
     What do we now know about our local environment?
     How did we communicate our ideas about the local environment?
     What is your opinion of the whole performance?
     How have we developed our dance skills?
     How could we improve the way we performed our dance?
     How effective was the backdrop? Did it help communicate our ideas?
     How effective was the music or sound? Did it help to communicate our ideas?
     How well did we work together?
     What was the hardest part of making the whole performance?
    What could we do next to help protect our local environment?

    Assessment Opportunity:
     LG1 (PK and DI) Explore the dance element of Space by creating and performing movement along air and floor pathways.
     LG2 (PK and DI) Explore the use of a variety of body parts and bases to perform curved and angular body shapes.
     LG3 (DI) Create abstract movement based on features of natural landscapes.
     LG4 (CI) Perform and reflect on their own and others’ dances about New Zealand landscapes.

    Next Steps
     After using the feedback from reflection time to develop any identified sections of the dance, perform the final dance for a community audience to highlight the need for the protection of local resources.
     Plan with the students an environmental project the class could undertake around the school or in the community. Students may have identified this work during the research processes in Activities Four and Seven.
     Record the process and action taken on your class wiki for others to follow.

Assessment

Student Self-assessment Sheet
Teacher Assessment Sheet

New Zealand Landscape

Description

 This is an oil painting by New Zealand artist Gordon Walters (1919-95).
 It is a landscape painted in earth tones in a style inspired by ancient Māori rock drawings.
 The conventional landscape features of trees, grass and sun are formalised and abstract. There is no perspective or horizon: the shapes are laid flat on the surface of the painting.
 The painting was created in 1947 and measures 32.5 cm x 42.5 cm.

Source Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Educational Value
 This asset shows the work of Gordon Walters, an influential New Zealand artist.
 It represents an important development in New Zealand art. Until this point, most traditional landscape art emphasised an idealised-type representation of the New Zealand landscape, dominated by mountains, rivers, lakes and bush.
 With this work, Walters broke from the mainstream and established himself as one of New Zealand's leading modernist painters. It, together with the works of Theo Schoon, inspired a fresh and distinct nationalist expression within New Zealand art through the use of abstract imagery.
 This is an early example of Walters' work, which developed into his koru (unfurling fern frond) paintings of the 1960s, in which he used both the rock drawings and Māori kowhaiwhai (patterns painted on rafters) to move into abstract modernism.

Ship Cove, Queen Charlotte Sound

Description
 This is an image of an oil painting of Ship Cove in the Marlborough Sounds, South Island, New Zealand.
 It was painted by John Webber (1751-93) in 1788. In the foreground is a small group of Māori and behind them are others, some in canoes, and a tent-like structure on the edge of a bay. A harbour and distant hills can be seen in the background. 

Source Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Educational Value
 This asset was painted 11 years after Webber visited Ship Cove as expedition artist for James Cook's third voyage to the Pacific. Webber painted from sketches he made while on the voyage, a common technique employed by artists, as the cramped conditions on board made painting too difficult. Webber combined his desire as a documentary artist to record accurately what he saw (such as the people wearing traditional clothing) with his desire to compose a landscape according to artistic conventions of the time (a carefully balanced foreground, middle ground and background, lit by a calm golden glow from an undefined source).
 Webber presented the unfamiliar and exotic as acceptable and comforting to the European public by employing the artistic conventions of the day to create a familiar harmony and beauty in the scene.
 Cook revisited Ship Cove on his third voyage. He had also spent time there on his second voyage.

'Where the Treaty of Waitangi Was Signed', 1882

Description

 This is a watercolour by Alfred Sharpe that shows the house where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840, as seen from Motumaire Island in the Bay of Islands (far north of the North Island of New Zealand) in 1882. Steep exposed rocks, with a number of trees growing on them, dominate the foreground. The Treaty House is visible in the background, in a gap between the rocks. The words 'Where the treaty of Waitangi was signed' appear in the bottom right-hand corner of the painting, which measures 21.3 cm x 36.1 cm.

Source Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Educational Value
 This asset highlights the work of Alfred Sharpe (1836?-1908), an English immigrant who arrived in New Zealand in 1859 and, while working as an architectural draughtsman, became a renowned and accomplished watercolourist. His contribution to New Zealand and Australian landscape painting provides a valuable insight into colonial art of the 19th century.
 It highlights the place of the Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand history. This important agreement was signed between some Māori and representatives of the British Crown at Waitangi in February 1840. While the British regarded it as having given them sovereignty or control over New Zealand, Māori considered it to be a power-sharing arrangement.
 It highlights a distinctive style of painting that, while recognised in its own time, was dismissed by some critics as being 'painfully elaborate', 'harsh' and 'photographic' - Sharpe responded to the criticism in published letters that outlined his aesthetic credo; this credo revealed his keen awareness of posterity, belief in his work's importance, and passionate interest in the development of a local landscape tradition.
 Alfred Sharpe exhibited extensively from the 1870s to the 1890s, producing between 100 and 150 paintings throughout his career in New Zealand. His exhibitions included now-famous works, such as 'Sunset on the Puhoi River' (also known as 'Wenderholm'), that combined technical brilliance and landscape realism, and were much more than mere topographical paintings.
 It highlights the work of a man who biographers have described as New Zealand's leading art theorist of the 19th century. Sharpe provided an unparalleled commentary on the procedures behind some of the period's most original landscape watercolours, in the form of essays that he submitted to the New Zealand Herald in the early 1880s. These were published each week as 'Hints for landscape students in watercolour'.
 Sharpe published a significant number of pseudonymous articles in Auckland newspapers, under names such as 'Asmodeus', 'Censor' and 'Conservator'. In the articles, he addressed a host of wider issues such as arboriculture, acclimatisation of vermin, and political corruption.
 Sharpe had a troubled life. He turned to writing as a creative outlet when he became profoundly deaf and had to cope with an alcoholic invalid wife. In January 1880 Sharpe was convicted and fined for assaulting a female servant. He was convicted again for abandoning his wife when he moved to Newcastle, New South Wales in 1887 (though he paid for her upkeep in an old people's refuge in Auckland until her death in May 1888).

Landscape with Settlers

Description

This is an image of a small painting (23.8 cm x 32 cm) showing two settlers (a man and a woman) on the veranda of a colonial house, and another building close by. In the foreground a cow grazes among tree stumps and logs, and in the background an impressive Mount Taranaki overlooks the scene. The painting was probably created around 1857 by Mary or Louisa Messenger.

Source Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Educational Value
This asset indicates, by the naive style of painting, that women artists were often untrained - this painting, signed 'Miss Messenger', was probably painted by one of the two Messenger sisters, of whom little is known other than that they lived in Taranaki with their artistic family at the time this work was made.
The painting depicts the harsh conditions that early European settlers often found themselves in and provides an example of the style of housing they erected.
The Messenger family migrated to the Taranaki area in 1853, so it is likely the scene was painted from observation.
The mountain dominates the Taranaki landscape.
European settlers knew the mountain as Mount Egmont, named in 1770 by Captain James Cook in honour of Earl Egmont, First Lord of the Admiralty.
Today it has two official names, Mount Egmont and Mount Taranaki (its original Māori name). Settlers didn’t use all the trees they felled. In the foreground of the painting, grazing pasture is shown strewn with timber, which has been left to rot.

Toy Town Model

Description

This is a model town made by the children of John Saxton during their voyage out to New Zealand aboard the 'Clifford' in 1842.
It is made of paper, card and paint, and is set in a wooden box frame. In the foreground is a village scene with animals fenced in a yard.
It has a landscape background of rolling hills.

Source Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Educational Value
This asset suggests that keeping children occupied on a 3-to-5 month voyage to New Zealand might have been a challenge for some immigrants. It would have taken the Saxton children some time to complete such a complex and detailed model. The Saxton children made the voyage as first-class passengers. Had they been in steerage class their time would have been largely taken up with chores such as cleaning, washing and cooking. First-class passengers had the resources, such as paint and craft materials, to entertain their children during the long voyage.
It shows that the Saxton children had an idealised vision of country life with neat and ordered towns and gentle rolling hills. Their arrival in New Zealand would have revealed a different reality.

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