"Movement involves the development of a responsive and expressive body. Movement gives one an opportunity to explore, interpret, and express oneself through non-verbal communication."
~ Mrs. Penner
Picture Gallery
Movement was offered last year as period five, from 3:30 till 4:30 every day in semester two. There were a total of eleven girls in the class; more had enrolled, but soon dropped out; some couldn't juggle movement with the rest of their schedules; one moved; some were just overwelmed because of all the activities already planned for us (Mrs. Penner had been waiting for this class for many years now, and had already planned out most of the year with what she wished to do with us.)
Even so, we had eleven girls to make all of Mrs. Penner's dreams for the semester come true. We were all excited; as Mrs. Penner put it, we were such an awesome class, because everyone there wanted to be there. We all wanted to stay at school for an extra hour to take movement (as we all agree, it's better than before school). On the first day, Mrs. Penner handed out a schedule for the semester. I told you she had planned out the class. On it was:
Dates to keep FREE:
March 20 1-3pm Grade Eight Orientation Presentation (Int. Hall)
7-8:30 Parent & Student Orientation Presentation *tentative booking
April 22 Evening Performance by Movement 15 class
May 4 "Rythm & Motion: an evening of dance and music" Festival Hall
May 9 & 10 Provincial Drama Festival (Evening) *specifics TBA
May 11 Afro-Cuban workshop DJD Calgary
June 7 "Perched on the Edge of A Quarter Note" DJD Calgary 8pm
June 10 Technical Rehearsal (3:30-?)
June 12 Dress Rehearsal
June 14 & 17 Final class performances (6pm call)
* one pair of rubber boots that fit you by March 25th (borrowing is best)
See what I mean? That's a lot of planning. But you know, we were all excited.
We performed three different shows during the year. The first had STOMP, called African Buckets, where we did different scenes with bucket drumming; we also had an African dance, taught to us by David Thiaw and Willy. It was the fishing dance (cause that's what it was). That was basically the first show lol.
The second had more. It had African Buckets, and the Fishing Dance again, then it had Gumboots (which we called Boot-ylicous, lol), where we slapped rubber boots to make tunes. We also had this funny little 'I'm too sexy' (not the same tune or words) dance number. This is where Steff did her butt shake. Which makes me laugh every time. In addition to all this, we had a little number called 'Sassy Hats' where we danced to Janet Jackson's song 'I get so Lonely'. We had wanted to do Janet Jackson's song 'What About', but it has swear words. Which is a no no for school.
The third was the most fun. It had Afro-Cuban Mixology, which was a mixture of a lot of things we had learned in our Afro-Cuban class we took, with a lot of stuff we got from Mrs. Penner; Steff's and my Moulin Rouge, where we did the "Elephant Love Medley". She was Christian, I was Satine, and it was loads of fun. We also did: a section of gumboots (I'm too sexy section) with Laura and Steff, who end up fighting over Steff's butt shake; mine and Krys' combat scene, where we fight over our shirts (they match); the battle drumming fights, where Carly and Amanda fight (for no apparent reason), then Kelsey comes out, does her little song number, then Diana and her fight (because she 'sucks' at singing). Then, there is Kelsey's and Diana's cool hip hop sequence to Scream by J. Jackson, and M. Jackson. After that, there is certain scenes from Sassy Hats done again, then our Matrix scene, where half of us are slow motion fighting, while the other half are speed walking (to show the contrast between the two speeds), then we switch. Followed by that, we did our combat Show and Tell, where we showed the audience how we did combat moves (very slowly and scary) with creepy music in the background, I might add. Then, last but not least, we do our last hip hop routine, to the hip sounds of Dance and Shout by Shaggy.
Unfortunately, on the night of our last performance, we found out that there will be no Movement for the Stage 25 (at least not for us). Mrs. Penner cried, told us we were her dream class, which made me cry, which made Krys cry, etc. Anyways, we were all happy we knew before our last performance, so we made sure to enjoy it while it lasted. Which we did. And it was the best performance we had ever done. I know I'll miss it.
And now... a word from the Artistic Director:
"It has been awesome working with these ladies! This is the first year that this class has been offered. I couldn't be more pleased with the experiences and time we've shared together.
All the ladies come from different backgrounds. We have full I.B. students, Fine Arts students, dance background, no dance background, and Athletes alike. This group has worked so well together. Everyone has contributed along the way to make this class really spectacular!
The thing I am most proud of is they have all stretched their comfort zones a little further while performing in this class. Confidence is something they have all developed here.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the ladies for allowing me to stretch my own comfort zone a little. (I always tell them I have all these ideas in my head and I finally get to try them out in our class.) Is this a sign of creativity or crazy??.......... you be the judge."
~Mrs. Trina Penner
This was on the inside of our last performance program. See? Even my teacher is crazy! :)
Dictionary for the little people:
STOMP A style of sound made from hitting various objects not thought to be instruments to create a unity of sounds that in turn make beautiful music. (hey I just made that up.. not bad eh?) Anyway, if you want to know more, go and rent STOMP.
Gumboots Gumboots is a certain dance that was developed in old gold mines in Africa. In the mines, the slaves, Africans,
weren't allowed to communicate to each other, so they developed a signal system based on the sounds their gumboots (worn to protect the feet from the sewage water) and shackles (they were tied together) made. They were allowed to sing, so singing was often involved also. When having slaves was outlawed, the slaves turned the signals into a style of dance, adding a lot of the songs they sang. There is also a movie for this; its called *gasp* Gumboots.
Afro-Cuban A mixture of African and Cuban dances. It includes the salsa, african field dances (cut the hay girls) and this really funny chicken mating ritual dance. It is based on the movement of the torso and chest.
Moulin Rouge Only the best movie ever made. The best musical this world has ever seen. Portrays the best actors around. It's only a story about... love. But you know. Go look at my Moulin Rouge page if you want to learn more (which you had better).
Matrix "What is the matrix?" "Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself." Yes. Good advice. Go see the movie :)
Government This thing that seems to have no apparent purpose. Has been known to cut people's lovely dreams short by cutting certain classes. Also associated with crooks, thiefs, lyers, cheaters, and idiots.
Still don't know why this was my favorite class? Because it was the most fun! Gee I thought that was apparent..
