LESSON 3 Spaces and Places: Human Environments

Transcription

1 LESSON 3 Spaces and Places: Human Environments and Wilderness Background: This unit contains three activities in movement and wilderness aesthetics: Aimless Wandering Arcing The Grid This three-part unit uses human movement as a teaching tool to enhance aesthetic appreciation of place and inform students of their environments, its forces and metaphor. Spaces and Places: Human Environments and Wilderness was developed with the goal of enhancing students sense of place and increasing awareness of different environments. The unit integrates creative movement exploration, reflective thinking skills, self awareness and global awareness. Journal writing and class discussion follow each movement exercise to record personal insights and better recognize and appreciate human similarities and differences. Before Beginning this Lesson Discuss the different ways people inhabit human made environments such as cities and rural areas versus Wilderness areas. Show photos of urban, rural and Wilderness areas and analyze these environments visually and spatially. For example: Urban areas are densely populated centers represented by straight lines, angles and grids (seen in city street maps and a city skyline). Rural settings offer more open spaces than urban settings. Rural habitats are less densely populated areas and may be represented by curving lines, straight and intersecting lines and angles (seen in country road maps, fence lines, and dwellings). Wilderness areas are defined by natural conditions which are unaffected by human beings. As defined in The Wilderness Act, A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the Earth and community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain. For the purposes of this unit, Wilderness areas are random spatial environments, undesigned by humans (mountain ranges, land formations, stream and river beds). Straight lines are less common in the Wilderness. They usually signify human involvement. Page 325

2 Í Activity 1: Aimless Wandering Objectives: Students will: cultivate an aesthetic sensitivity to wilderness environments increase students sense of place identify the wild or untamed place within develop reflective thinking skills experience the formal elements of movement: space, time and energy develop appreciation of human diversity as well as shared experiences Duration: 45 minutes to one hour Location: Outside in a large, open, natural area. This lesson encourages an inner experience which simulates being in the wilderness. Aimless Wandering can be taught on school grounds, but is most effective in a more natural setting. For safety s sake, you may want to set boundaries. Materials: A gong or another percussive sound, used to begin and end exercises journals colored pencils, or magic markers Procedure: 1. Spend 15 minutes in group discussion to set the stage for this activity emphasizing the objectives and further discussion of Wilderness, space, and natural environments. 2. (30 minutes) Rarely do we walk anywhere without a clear purpose of where we re going and why. For this exercise we will attempt to suspend conscious direction and intention of where we re walking. When you hear the gong we will each take a vow of silence for 30 minutes. During that time we will begin to walk aimlessly, without letting our minds direct our bodies about where we go. Instead, let the walk be undirected. When you notice your mind beginning to direct where you re going, let the control go. Bring your awareness into your senses (sights, smells, sounds, touch, taste) as you walk aimlessly. After 30 minutes, sound the gong again to signify the end of the exercise. At that time, return quietly for writing and discussion. 3. (15 minutes) Journal writing followed by discussion. How did this exercise feel? Describe your experience of walking aimlessly for 30 minutes. What kind of mood did it create for you? How did you experience your mind? Your body? What was your experience of the environment where you walked? What kinds of emotions or feelings did you experience? What senses were you aware of? Would you have the same feelings in the parking lot of a large shopping mall? Why is it important to have natural, wild places? How do you feel now, immediately following Aimless Wandering? Page 326

3 Procedure continued: Jack Turner, a mountain climbing guide and nature writer, describes an experience in his essay The Abstract Wild which may be similar to Aimless Wandering when he discusses going... into a great forest at night alone. Sit quietly for awhile. Something very old will return... Alone in the forest, time is less dense, less filled with information; space is very close ; smell and hearing and touch reassert themselves. It is keenly sensual. In a true wilderness we are like that much of the time, even in broad daylight. Alert, careful, literally full of care. (P. 88) Activity 2: The Grid Objectives: Students will: cultivate a cultural aesthetic sensitivity to space size and density experience range of motion in a small space, dense with people simulate the experience of an urban locale deepen awareness of individual personal space requirements increase students sense of space develop reflective thinking skills experience the formal elements of movement: space, time and energy develop appreciation of human diversity as well as shared experience Materials: tape recorder and Í tape of Harold Faltermeyer s Axel F or another selection of computerized music. Duration: 55 minutes Location: a small, contained area about 30' X 30 Background: There are many political and social considerations when boundaries are defined for Wilderness areas. Wilderness managers must respect private and public land ownership adjacent to Wilderness areas. Wilderness boundaries don t always follow the natural land contours. The resulting boundaries can appear as straight lines which seem unnatural to the landscape. The following activity will simulate how boundaries affect people and the natural features of a landscape. Activities: movement explorations culminating in journal writing and discussion Page 327

4 Í Procedure: Part 1. (15 minutes) Identify the boundaries of an indoor area approximately 30' X 30. All the participants begin to walk freely throughout the space. After several minutes, cut the size of the space in half and again have the participants walk freely through the space. After several minutes, cut the space in half again so the participants are walking in a very small area. Instruct them to walk past each other without touching. Walk faster. Walk slower. (By now participants should be very close, making it difficult to not collide.) After several minutes, make the space twice as large. Finally open it up to the original size area. (15 minutes) Journal writing followed by discussion. How did these different size spaces feel to you? Which of the three size areas were you most comfortable with? Least comfortable with? What kinds of emotions did you feel? Were you comfortable in the close space? Claustrophobic? Would this experience be different if the other participants were strangers (i.e. in a big city)? How? Part II. (10 minutes) This time our experience of the space will be defined by a grid. Imagine lines running perpendicular to one another, like on graph paper. When the music starts, begin to walk on the grid. When you change directions you must turn sharply as if you were turning the corner. You may move forward and back but you must never arc or move along a diagonal in the space. Music suggestion: Axel F by Harold Faltermeyer or computerized music. Page 328

5 Procedure continued: (15 minutes) Journal writing followed by discussion This exercise simulates moving in an urban environment. Did you have the sensation of city streets and blocks? How comfortable were you in this space? Did the grid feel more predictable to you? How did you interact when you approached others on the grid? Did you find yourself interacting or moving away from others? How could the grid affect wildlife? Follow-up Activities: Divide the class into small groups (of 3-5 people). Ask each group to discuss how wilderness may be communicated metaphorically through movement. Instruct students to develop a short movement phrase around the concept of wilderness. Each movement phrase should have a beginning, middle and end and should be short, no longer than one or two minutes. Perform the short phrases to the rest of the class. Repeat the above activity but focus on communicating the concept of civilization using movement. After performing this phrase, discuss how these two movement phrases differed. Compare and contrast the different movement choices for wilderness and civilization. Have students watch the video Wilderness and Imagination. Discuss the inspirational impacts of wilderness. If you were an accomplished artist (musician, sculptor, poet, dancer, painter, novelist) where would you draw your inspiration? Does nature inspire you? How? What other things inspire you? Discuss the different career options presented by this lesson: dancer, nature writer, landscape architect, city planner, artist, musician, mountain climbing guide. Do any of these career options seem attractive to you? What kinds of steps would you take to achieve that goal? References: Blom, Lynne Anne and Chaplin, L. Tarin. The Moment of Movement: Dance Improvisation. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press Campbell, Linda. Campbell, Bruce. Dickinson, Dee. Teaching and Learning through Multiple Intelligences. Stanwood, WA: New Horizons for Learning Turner, Jack. The Abstract Wild, Witness. Vol. 3, No. 4 (winter 1989). The Wilderness Act of Wilderness America s Enduring Resource (video), U.S. Forest Service. An Act of Contrition and Wilderness and the Imagination, U.S. Forest Service. Page 329

6 Í Music References: The following music references may be purchased in most record stores, or ordered. Four Seasons, by Antonio Vivaldi. (There are hundreds of records of this on various labels; this is one example.) Environments (Series) Country Stream Gentle Rain in a Pine Forest English Meadow Beverly Hills Cop (soundtrack) Axel F. by Harold Faltermeyer. Supplemental Activity 3: Arcing Objectives: Students will: cultivate an aesthetic sensitivity to a defined environment increase students sense of place deepen awareness of individual personal space requirements develop reflective thinking skills experience the formal elements of movement: space, time and energy increase movement improvisational abilities develop appreciation of human diversity as well as shared experiences Duration: 40 minutes Location: a confined area approximately the size of a gymnasium Background: no previous experience needed Activities: movement explorations culminating in journal writing and discussion Materials: gong or a tape recorder cassette of Vivaldi The Four Season s, or space music, or environmental music such as trickling water, wind or aviary sounds Page 330

7 Procedure: 1. (5 minutes) For this exercise, limit the size of the exercise to an area the size of a basketball court. When you hear the gong or the music begin to walk throughout the area only using curving pathways. You may make small arcs and large curves and circles, changing directions frequently. You ll be crossing and passing other people, intersecting their lines, but you may never move in straight lines. 2. (5 minutes) Repeat this curving pathway but this time make all your curves travel backwards. Be sure to turn your head so you can see where you re moving in the space. Again you ll be arcing around and past the other people. 3. (15 minutes) This time we ll arc through the space with a no-walk rule. Instead of walking you must find a different locomotor movement to arc you through the space. Experiment with unusual ways of traveling. If students are unsure of what locomotor movement to use, first have them arc and curve using: jogging skipping jumping hopping crawling leaping galloping prancing marching floating soaring tiptoeing bouncing slithering Now, make up your own! Find how many new locomotor movements you can come up with. Change your locomotor movement frequently. You may also keep changing your direction so you travel both forward and backward. 4. (15 minutes) Journal writing followed by discussion Write in your journal how it felt to experience this continuous arcing and curving. Did it feel endless and continuous? Was it tiring? Energizing? How did you experience the space? How did you experience the other people moving in the space? If you were to compare this spatial movement experience to an environment, what would the place be like? How can you make a connection with natural cycles in wild places? Describe it visually. Page 331