TEACHER STUDY GUIDE 2019/2020 SEASON

Alaska Junior Theater n 430 W 7th Ave, Suite 30 n Anchorage, AK 99501P 907-272-7546 n F 907-272-3035 n www.akjt.org

TEACHER STUDY GUIDE2019/2020 SEASONSchool Shows: Oct. 30 - Nov. 1, 2019

10:00 & 11:45 AM Discovery Theater

Public Show: November 2, 2019 7:30 PM Atwood Theater

n Curriculum Connections

n Learning Resources

n Performance Background

n Activities for the Classroom

n Theatre Etiquette

National Standards for Music Education

2 ALASKA JUNIOR THEATER 32nd Season

Alaska Junior Theater is a private, nonprofit organization that has been bringing the best in professional theatre from around the world to Alaska’s young audiences since 1981. Each year, more than 40,000 students attend

a variety of live performances at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts. For many students, our school show presentations are their only exposure to live performing arts.

Each show we present has a strong educational component, and are linked to Alaska Content Standards. Alaska Junior Theater also offers teacher and student workshops, study guides and classroom transportation to our performances.

We are committed to keeping ticket prices low, allowing children of all financial levels to experience live professional theatre. Our low educational ticket price of $8 covers only half our costs of presenting shows. To subsidize the remaining $8 of each ticket, we actively fundraise and rely on the support of corporations, foundations and individuals. In addition, we fundraise to offer full scholarships to students with financial need.

Discovery Theatre, ACPA

Alaska Junior Theater asked area teachers to review our 2019/2020 performances for direct connections to Alaska Content Standards. The direct connections for Soul Street Dance Company are listed below. They will assist in lesson planning and will assure teachers that Alaska Junior Theater programs help classes meet curriculum connections.

To get a complete copy of the Alaska Content Standards, visit: https://www.asdk12.org/commoncore/.

Carr Gottstein Lobby

Common Core State Standards

Alaska Junior Theater Page 1

Curriculum Standards

Special thanks to Deanna James, Michael Jereu and Donna Williams for their help in this effort.

Picture & Chapter Books about ToysThat Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown by Cressida CowellToys in Space by Mini GreyToo Many Toys! By Heidi DeedmanKnuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo WillemsToys Go Out by Emily JenkinsTeddy & Co. by Cynthia VoigtThe Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate Dicamillo

Picture Books about the DarkThe Dark by Lemony SnicketThe Darkest Day by Chris Hadfield & Kate FillionOrion and the Dark by Emma YarlettGeorge in the Dark by Madeline Valentine

Non-fictionPaper Science Toys by Richard ChurchillToys and Games Around the World by Moira ButterfieldMake Your Own Teddy Bears and Bear Clothes by Sue Mahren

E COWELLE GREY

E DEEDMANE WILLEMS

J JENKINSJ VOIGT

J DICAML

E SNICKETE HADFIELE YARLETTE VALENTI

J 745.592 CHURCHIJ 790.133 BUTTERF

J 745.59243 MAHREN

LIBRARY

RESOURCES


Check out ebooks and audio books by these authors and many more at the ListenAlaska and hoopla and download music at Freegal on the Anchorage Public Library Website:

www.anchoragelibrary.org

Resources related to


About Soul Street Dance Company

Javier Garcia – Known for his aggressive style, Javier’s self-taught moves add excitement to each piece. Power moves, weight sharing and break dancing (B-Boying) tricks are his specialty. He has also performed with many Hip-Hop groups such as The Roots, and has toured throughout the United States and other contries as a principal dancer for Fly Dance Company.

Roy – is a well-rounded b-boy, with skills including power moves, blowups, footwork, uprock and toprock. He has won Red Bull battles in Houston and throughout Texas. He is also a member of United B-Boys and dances for the Houston Rockets.

Cedric – aka “Ced”: At age 22, Ced is the youngest and newest member of Soul Street Dance. He has appeared with The Houston Rockets Launch Crew, Houston Comets, Southern University Dance Company and has danced as a featured guest with local artist Paris House and numerous hip-hop teams.

Rock Williams – Rock is an outstanding dancer and highly energetic performer with 24 years of experience. Through Poppin’ N’ Lockin’ and house footwork, he can make you believe that you are seeing impossible things. He has toured the United States and Europe as a principal dancer for Fly Dance Company.

1. What are the four original elements of hip hop?2. How did break dancing originate? 3. Who would participate in the dance off? How was the winner determined?4. According DJ Afrika Bambaataa, which song inspired crowds to imitate the singer’s dance moves?5. Who is credited with first doing break dance moves on the floor, including spinning on backs, heads, and hands?6. Which sentence could be the thesis of this article? a.“The dance-off, which pitted the gang leaders against each other, mirrored the upcoming confrontation and was used to determine whose turf would play host to the rumble.” b.“For Morning Edition, Mandalit Del Barco talked with some of the icons of hip hop’s triumphant adolescence. As part of “Present at the Creation,” NPR’s ongoing series on the origins of American icons, she digs down to the roots of b-boy culture.” c.“Hip hop and b-boying was quickly taking on a life of its own in discos and parties.” d.“Unable to find a way to sell the dancing, the burgeoning hip hop industry embraced the music as its primary focus.”

Reading Comprehension Questions for the article “Breakdancing”

Breakdancing


Oct. 14, 2002 -- To most American radio listeners, even to casual fans of hip hop, breakdancing was a fad whose moment passed before the end of the ‘80s, tossed into the decade’s time capsule along with acid wash and decent John Hughes movies.

And in some sense, they’re right. Breakdancing burst onto the national scene in the early 1980s, fueled by a media obsession with hip hop, enjoyed a love affair with the spotlight that lasted a few years, and then fell out of the glare just as quickly as it had located it.

Breakdancing may have died, but the b-boy, one of four original elements of hip hop (also included: the MC, the DJ, and the graffiti artist) lives on. To those who knew it before it was tagged with the name breakdancing, to those still involved in the scene that they will always know as b-boying, the tradition is alive and, well, spinning.

For Morning Edition, Mandalit Del Barco talked with some the icons of hip hop’s triumphant adolescence. As part of “Present at the Creation”, NPR’s ongoing series on the origins of American icons, she digs down to the roots of b-boy culture.

According to b-boy “Track 2”, a.k.a. Louis Angel Matteo, the dancing began, in its earliest formal stages, as a way for rival gangs to mediate differences and set the location for upcoming rumbles. Bronx area gangs in the mid-1970s would meet on neutral territory for a party the day before a rumble was set to take place. The dance-off, which pitted the gang leaders against each other, mirrored the upcoming confrontation and was used to determine whose turf would play host to the rumble.

“It was basically a lot of shuffles (with) stabbing or the punching or the hitting with a stick, and a chain swinging,” Track 2 recalls, “but without any of the physicality. It’s a lot of motions, a lot of gestures, what one person was going to do to another.”

The winner was the one who could bust out moves that hadn’t been witnessed before; who could do something the other guy couldn’t match.

This was reason enough for b-boys to spend their free time working on their moves -- not that they needed the excuse. Hip hop and b-boying was quickly taking on a life of its own in discos and parties.“When you’re dealing with the b-boys and b-girls, you can take it... straight back to the Godfather of Soul [James Brown],” says DJ Afrika Bambaataa, who owns a place in the same musical lineage, as the Godfather of Hip Hop. He says that the song “Get on the Good Foot” inspired crowds to imitate the singer’s dance moves.

“He was flipping his legs from side to side, and doing things with his hands,” Bambaataa remembers. “It was a big dance, everybody was doing the Good Foot, and you was playing all the James Brown records... and then you expand on it.”

The expansion from the Good Foot/gang battle style of dancing came when b-boys got down -- literally. Spinning on backs, heads and hands, dancers like Keith and Kevin Smith, the twins who get credit for first hitting the floor, turned breakdancing into a phenomenon all its own.

Soon after they did, the media came calling. Richie Colon, who is still known as b-boy Crazy Legs, experienced the explosion firsthand. He and other members of the Rock Steady Crew were featured in the movie Wild Style, and Colon doubled for actress Jennifer Beals during her breakdancing scenes in the movie Flashdance.

“Coming out of the ghetto and watching yourself on the big screen was mind blowing,” he says. “And then everyone’s treating you like you’re a little star. You’re above ghetto celebrity status.”

Crazy Legs and other members of the Rock Steady Crew kept breaking, but the public’s attention was turned elsewhere when economics entered the equation. Unable to find a way to sell the dancing, the burgeoning hip hop industry embraced the music as its primary focus. But b-boys have managed to stick around: The Rock Steady Crew celebrated its 25th anniversary last summer. Crazy Legs doesn’t think it’s an accident.

“This dance was born here, right here in the South Bronx, and how many other dances have been created over the past 25 years that have survived this long? It’s a true American art form.”

By Mandalit del Barco

http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/breakdancing/


ACTIVITIES

Word Search

BackBronx

Graffiti ArtistJames Brown

PhysicalSoul Street

Dance Off Freeze

Hip HopMoves

Rock Steady CrewToprock

BreakdancingCreative

DownrockHead

Power MovesBreaker

Key Words:

ACTIVITIES


Breakdancing VocabularyToprock is a major element of b-boying. It generally refers to any string of steps performed from a standing position, relying upon a mixture of coordination, flexibility, rhythm, and most importantly, style. It is usually the first and foremost opening display of style, and it serves as a warm-up for transitions into the more acrobatic maneuvers of downrock. Breakers may devote considerable time to developing their toprock, and the style they display is a point of pride.

Downrock is an element of breakdance that includes all footwork performed on the floor. Downrock is normally performed with the hands and feet on the floor, as opposed to toprock. In downrock, the breakdancer displays his or her proficiency with foot speed and control by performing footwork combinations. The foundational move of downrock is the 6-step, and combinations often transition from it into more athletic moves known as power moves.

A freeze is a breakdance technique that involves halting all body motion, often in an interesting or balance-intensive position. It is implied that the position is hit and held from motion as if freezing in motion, or into ice. Freezes often incorporate various twists and distortions of the body into stylish and often difficult positions. Spins are often combined with freezes, and the spins are usually done in the form of kicks. Various handstands (Inverts, Nikes and Pikes) can be frozen, and skilled breakers sometimes incorporate the technique of threading into handstands by forming a loop with one arm and leg, then “threading” the other leg in and out of the loop.

Power Moves are actions that require momentum and physical power to execute. In power moves, the breakdancer relies more on upper body strength to dance, using his or her hands to do moves. Power moves include the Windmill, Swipe, and Flare. Because power moves are physically demanding, breakdancers use them as a display of upper body strength and stamina. Many moves are borrowed from gymnastics, such as the flare, and martial arts, with impressive acrobatics such as the Butterfly kick.

ACTIVITIES

Name:Alaska Junior Theater Page 7

After the students have watched the performance, have them list all the bones in the body that are in motion in each of the activities.

ACTIVITIES


Coloring Sheet


ACTIVITIES

The Benefits of DanceDance is a powerful ally for developing many of the attributes of a growing child. Dance helps children mature physically, emotionally, socially, and cognitively. The physical benefits of dance are widely accepted, but the emotional, social and cognitive attributes have only recently begun to be appreciated.

Physical DevelopmentDance involves a greater range of motion, coordination, strength and endurance than most other physical activities. This is accomplished through movement patterns that teach coordination and kinesthetic memory. Dancing utilizes the entire body and is an excellent form of exercise for total body fitness. Young children are naturally active, but dance offers an avenue to expand movement possibilities and skills.

Emotional MaturityDance promotes psychological health and maturity. Children enjoy the opportunity to express their emotions and become aware of themselves and others through creative movement. A pre-school child enters a dance class or classroom with a history of emotional experiences. Movement within a class offers a structured outlet for physical release while gaining awareness and appreciation of oneself and others.

Social AwarenessDance fosters social encounter, interaction, and cooperation. Children learn to communicate ideas to others through the real and immediate mode of body movement. Children quickly learn to work within a group dynamic. As the ongoing and sometimes challenging process of cooperation evolves, children learn to understand themselves in relation to others.

Cognitive DevelopmentYoung children will create movement spontaneously when presented with movement ideas or problems that can be solved with a movement response. Movement provides the cognitive loop between the idea, problem, or intent and the outcome or solution. This teaches an infant, child and, ultimately, adult to function in and understand the world. The relationship of movement to intellectual development and education is an embryonic field of study that has only recently begun to be explored.

How to do a six step-dance moveStep 1: From a push up position bring your left leg out infront of you.

Step 2: Put your right leg forward until it is bent and is touching the back of your left leg.

Step 3: Get into crab position. Put both your legs shoulder width apart.

Step 4: Bring your right leg around and in front of your bent left leg.

Step 5: Move your left leg behind you

Step 6: Extend your left leg back and put your right hand down, going into a push up position again.

ACTIVITIES



ACTIVITIES

How to do a baby freezeStep 1: For beginners you would want to start on the floor. First you stay on your knees.

Step 2: You put which ever hand you use (left handed, right handed) on the ground as a stabbing hand.

Step 3: You have to put your other hand on the ground so you have 2 stabbing hands.

Step 4: After that you push your body up and your stabbing arms will hook to your body.

Step 5: You keep your legs up and push higher to stand on for longer. Extra: If you have tried and got it you can start to do different styles and poses like the last pictures.

ACTIVITIES


Fallen Phrase Puzzle

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ACTIVITIES


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ANSWER

KEY

Crossword puzzle is on page 5

Word Search Answer Key


ANSWER

KEY

A = 7B = 12C = 13D = 14

J = 1K = 3L = 4M = 6N = 8

E = 2F = 5

G = 11H = 10

Human Skeleton Answer Key

Activity on Page 7

“Dancing is the body talking, you can say anything you want.”

Crypstogram Answer Key

Activity on Page 13

Breakdance is a street dance style that evolved as part of the hip hop movement in the South Bronx of New York City.

Fallen Phrase Answer Key

Activity on Page 12


ETIQUETTE

Theater etiquette and experiences We have a wonderful opportunity at this performance to help youth learn about attending live performances. Please discuss the following with your students:

1. Sometimes young people do not realize how a live performance differs from watching a movie or television show. A live presentation has not been pre-recorded with the mistakes edited out. This makes it riskier for the performer and more exciting for the audience. It also means the audience has a real contribution to make to the overall event. Each audience member affects those around him/her as well as the performer. Concentrate to help the performers. The audience gives energy to the performer who uses that energy to give life to the performance. 2. An usher will show you where to sit. Walk slowly and talk quietly as you enter the theater. 3. For safety’s sake, do not lean over or sit on the balcony railings or box ledges. Please be careful on the stairs. Avoid horseplay and running throughout the building. 4. If necessary, use the restroom before the performance begins. Adults need to accompany young students. 5. You may talk quietly to the people next to you until the performance begins. 6. When the lights in the theater begin to dim, it is the signal that the performance is about to start. Stop talking and turn your attention to the stage. 7. Stay in your seat throughout the entire performance. 8. During the performance, listen quietly and watch closely. Talking during the performance will distract other audience members and performers. Try not to wiggle too much and don’t kick the seat in front of you. These disruptions make it hard for others around you to concentrate on the show. 9. Sometimes during a performance you may respond by laughing, crying, or sighing. By all means feel free to do so! LAUGHING IS APPROPRIATE. (Teachers, please do not hush the students while they are laughing.) If something is funny, it’s good to laugh. If you like something a lot, applaud. This will let the performers know that you are enjoying the show. 10. At the end of the show, applaud to say thank you to the performers. The performers will bow to acknowledge your appreciation and thank you for coming. 11. When the lights get brighter in the theater, the show is over. Stay in your seats until the OnStage Coordinator dismisses your school. 12. Please remember:

•Taking photographs or using recording devices is strictly prohibited. •Beverages and food, including gum and candy, are not allowed in the theater. •You are only one person among several hundred in the audience. •Please respect the performers and your fellow audience members.

Please inform your adult chaperones that ushers will be available throughout the performance if there are any difficulties.

Thank You!

TEACHER STUDY GUIDE 2019/2020 SEASON

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