MIMI I know. I should tell you ROGER I should tell you
Phantasiereise 2: Eltern und Obdachlose
Die Lerngruppe wird für diese Phase in Eltern, Obdachlose und Bohemiens eingeteilt. Alle setzen sich in einer bequemen Position auf den Fußboden. Beim Vorlesen der Phantasiereisen richtet sich die Lehrkraft nacheinander an die verschiedenen Gruppen, die Mitglieder der anderen Gruppen hören sitzend ebenfalls zu.
a) Parents:
− If you are part of the parent group, lie down again and close your eyes. If you belong to the other groups, stay seated comfortably, close your eyes or look into the distance.
− Now imagine you are the mother or father of the person you have just played. You are between 40 and 65 years old. You have a child or maybe several children. They have already left home or are about to do so.
− You have a day job, or maybe you are a housewife. Maybe you do volunteer work for your community, your church congregation or a charity institution. Maybe you live in another part of New York City, maybe you live in a small town or in the country somewhere. Imagine a normal day of your life.
− Your son or daughter has moved to East Village some time ago. You rarely hear from him or her, and maybe you sometimes worry about your child. Today you want to have a look around in the place he or she lives in now.
b) Homeless people:
− If you are part of the homeless group, lie down again and close your eyes. If you belong to the parent groups, sit down again.
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− Imagine you are living on the street. You do not care that much about art, but East Village is known for its tolerance toward homeless people, so you live here. So do many other homeless people, so you meet a lot of people you know here. You sleep in a tent at the edge of the Tompkins Square Park which is infamous for its high crime rate and many homeless people. Sometimes, the police clears the park of people like you.
− During the day, you try to make a little money, maybe by wiping windscreens of cars stopping at the crossroad, maybe you sing in the street or try to catch people's attention in other ways so that maybe they will give you some money. You used to have an apartment and a 'real' job, but that was a long time ago. Will you ever live like that again? The fact that you drink a lot of alcohol and look a little neglected will not make it easier for you to find a job again.
− Soon you will get up and be on your way through the streets of East Village again.
Straßenszene: Eltern, Obdachlose und Bohemiens Anleitung der praktischen Übung:
− As homeless people you go to the places where you normally like to spend time and see what is up today. Maybe you try to make a little money. You will repeatedly meet people you know.
Greet them, but do not start a conversation with them.
− While the homeless are about, the Bohemians walk through East Village again. Just like the first time, you have different things to do and have different aims. Sometimes you stay in a place or greet people you know.
− Now the parents come to explore East Village. You do not know your way around there yet. You keep making all kinds of new experiences and meeting the strangest people.
− Everyone is walking around and making brief contact when meeting others.
Charakteristische Tätigkeiten:
− Find a place in East Village where you can stay a while. Stand or sit and do something (have a coffee, make music, watch other people...)
− Stay in your role and keep up your activity. I will walk around East Village now to find out more about its people. If I ask you something, answer me as your role.
Mögliche Fragen der Lehrkraft an einzelne Figuren (Beispiele):
− What are you just doing? Why are you doing this?
− How was your day so far? What do you plan to do later?
− I really like the picture you are drawing. But what is this thing in your picture?
− Did you see that guy over there? What do you think about him? Etc.
Reflexion
Im abschließenden Unterrichtsgespräch werden die bisherigen Erfahrungen reflektiert:
− How did it feel to imagine your own role?
− How did it feel to move like someone else?
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− How did you experience the imaginary journey?
− How did you perceive the atmosphere in the East Village?
−
Which people do you remember most?6.2 Abschnitt 2 – Einfühlung in die acht Hauptfiguren Rollenspezifische Haltungen entwickeln
Anleitung der praktischen Übung zur Entwicklung von Gehhaltungen
Diese Anleitung wird zur Hintergrundmusik gesprochen (z. B. Lou Reed, Doing the things that we want to).
− Take another walk through East Village, now in your role as Mark, Roger, Maureen, Joanne, Mimi, Angel, Collins or Benny. Decide again? How do you walk as your role? Do you walk slow or fast? Do you take large or small steps? Do you keep your back and head straight or slightly bowed? Do you have any special habit while walking? Are you self-confident or shy? Do you have an aim or do you drift? Experiment until you have found a way of walking that fits your role.
− Decide where you are going right now – to a rehearsal, to your job or just to buy groceries? Or are you going to your drug dealer?
− On your way you keep meeting people you know. Some are good friends of yours, some you know less. Greet each other according to your degree of acquaintance and ask each other where you are going.
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XIV B
ILINGUALERT
EILII (T
HEMENBLOCKII)
Übersetzung von Anja Rosenbrock
1 Material 1: The Tango Maureen – Dancing the Tango 1.1 The song as part of the musical’s plot
The performance artist Maureen has left her boyfriend Mark for Joanne. Confronted with technical problems when setting up the stage for her performance, she asks Mark for help. When Mark arrives, he only meets Joanne, who is not at all happy to see him. Joanne and Mark both describe their rela-tionships with Maureen in the duet Tango: Maureen.
Gender Roles in standard and ballroom dancing
Standard dancing clearly defines different roles for men and women:
Men lead, women follow. Most of the time, the man dances forward and determines the direction of the common movement, while the woman dances backward and has to rely on the man to lead her. This practise may have its practical advantages, but also mirrors certain gen-der roles in society. Leading and being lead enables a couple to spon-taneously execute certain figures of the dance together without deter-mining a precise choreography beforehand: The leading partner com-municates decisions about the current direction and figure of the dance through movement, so there is no need to interrupt the flow of the dance with discussions or questions. A taller leading partner can look
over the shoulder of the following partner, can recognize obstacles and make sure the couple avoids them.
On the other hand, one could argue that this kind of couple dancing at best creates a common harmony functioning only on the basis of command and unquestioning obedience, and therefore a relationship of dominance, not equality. Therefore, standard dancing with a leading male partner and a lead female partner may be seen as the symbol of a relationship in which the woman obeys the man.
However, contemporary dance practise can also break with such traditions. Same-sex couples decide for themselves who will lead and who will follow, sometimes switching roles for different dances. In dance classes with more female than male dancers, it is also practical to form same-sex dance couples.
Particularly Tango with its image of being a passionate, but also aggressive 'macho dance' is seen as a chance to question and re-think gender roles both in dance practise and in discussions (e.g. on queer websites).
1.2 Assignment 1: Dancing Tango: Leading and following
Form couples. To experience 'traditional' gender roles in tango, you should at first form couples in which a boy leads and a girl is lead; later, other constellations should be tried. In the following dance instructions, the terms 'man' and 'woman' are used for the dance roles 'leading partner' and 'following
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partner', as it is typical for dance instructions; however they do not need to concur with a dancer's biological sex.
a) Dancing rhythm: Both partners practise the rhythm of the dance:
Slow – slow, quick-quick – slow, quick-quick – slow. (In 4-4 time: /1 - 3 -/1 2 3 -/1 2 3 -/) The man starts with his left foot (left – right, left-right-left, right-left,right).
The woman starts with her right foot (right – left, right-left-right, left-right-left).
b) Basic step (using the rhythm above, practise separately first; the first two steps are not only slower, but also longer than the quick steps):
Man: Left foot forwards, right foot forwards, rockstep on the spot (left-right-left), right foot back-wards, left foot backback-wards, place right foot next to left foot.
Woman: Right foot backwards, left foot backwards, rockstep on the spot (right-left-right), left foot forwards, right foot forwards, place left foot next to right foot.
The basic step is repeated.
c) Posture: Man and woman face each other, removed slightly to each other's left (each right foot is placed between the feet of the partner opposite). The woman places her left hand on the man's right shoulder blade; the man places his right hand on the middle of the woman's spine. The other two hands are joined on the eye level of the woman. Both partners stand upright and with body tension, looking over each other's right shoulder.
d) Dancing the basic step together: Both basic steps mirror each other: When the man moves e.g. his left foot forward, the woman simultaneously moves her right food backward. Therefore, it is possible to dance the basic step simultaneously while in dance posture. If one's right foot is always kept be-tween the other partner's feet, stepping on each others' toes can easily be avoided.
e) Dancing together (with music): Using the basic step, the couples move around the room counter-clockwise. The woman faces the middle of the room while the man faces outward. By repeating the basic step, a fluid dance movement can be acquired.
f) Reflection: How does it feel to lead? How does it feel to follow?
g) Role reversal: Both man and woman trade basic steps and practise the step of the other partner; the man practices the woman's basic step (beginning with a backward move of the right foot) and the woman the man's basic step (beginning with a forward move of the left foot). Once this is mastered, the dance positure is also reversed: The man places his left hand on the woman's shoulder blade, the woman her right hand in the middle of the man's spine. The other hands are joined and held on the man's eye level. Now the 'reversed' basic step can be practised – first without, than with music.
h) Choosing a role: As all students know both roles in the dance now, new couples (of both sexes or same-sex couples) can be formed and can agree on who will lead, and who will follow. One more time the couples dance with the music.
i) Reflection: How does the difference between leading and following feel? Is it a small or large difference? What do you personally prefer? How important is the biological sex for the question of who leads and who follows?
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2 Material 2: The Tango Maureen – Tango for three
Assignment 1: Listen to the song Tango: Maureen and read the lyrics. Summarize