Sunday in the Park with George Music and Lyrics by Stephen ...

Sunday in the Park with George - Post - Show
Drama/Dance – Choreographing Characters in a Painting
Grades 7- 12
Main Activity - Choreographing Characters from a Painting
Ask: There is no dance in the musical Sunday in the Park with George. Why?
Ask: Do you agree with the author’s choice?
Ask: Where would you have placed dance in this musical? Why?
Display a print of Georges Seurat's painting, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande
Jatte”.
Explain: This painting is the basis for the musical Sunday in the Park with George. Through creative
movement, we will explore characters in this painting and create a short dance composition.
Explain: Assigning a gesture to a character that appears in Act I of Sunday in the Park with
George, students will create a dance phrase. The strategies for composing a dance phrase are
many and varied. The following strategy, comprised of five compositional steps, is just one
method.
Five Compositional Steps
1. Choose a gesture.
2. Make the movement faster or slower than normal.
3. Perform the movement while traveling.
4. Change the level of the movement twice.
5. Create a short, patterned phrase of movement from these experiments.
Explain: To begin, all students will focus on the character of the nurse in order to learn the steps
to create a dance phrase. As a group the teacher will guide the students through the following
steps:
1. Choose a gesture
Instruct: Starting from a seated position, the arm starts in close to the body and then opens out
as if to guide the steps of another person.
2. Make the movement faster or slower than normal
Instruct: The right arm starts in close to the body and very slowly begins to extend to the front
of the body as the body leans forward. The arm continues to slowly circle out to the side as the
upper body follows the movement of the arm to the side.
3. Perform the movement while traveling
Instruct: The movements of the arm and upper body are repeated from #2 as the feet take the
body in the same direction, quickly traveling (walking or running) forward and then gradually
curving out to the side.
4. Change the level of the movement twice
Instruct: Assume the beginning pose of the character in the painting. As the body rises and the
hand is in, take small steps beginning out to the right side with the steps making a circular path
(as in #3) to end up facing a different direction.
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