A Dancer's Journal: Learning to Perform the Dances of Martha Graham
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/multimedia/series/AEMicrosites/martha-graham.aspx
At the entrance to this site, users are invited to view the journals of Jordy Kandinsky, the newest member of the Martha Graham Dance Company. Entering the site produces a virtual locker full of notebooks, video and audio clips, a folder for teacher resources, and other information. Each notebook corresponds to one of four Graham dances: “Errand Into the Maze,” “Diversion of Angels,” “Appalachian Spring,” and “Lamentation.” The notebooks contain various digital objects related to the dances, including photographs of dancers, video and audio clips, and background information. This information is presented through the lens of the young dancer Jordy, whose side notes encourage users to ask questions about the symbolism, history, and deeper meaning of the dances.
For teachers who wish to use the site as something more than a source of engaging information about Martha Graham’s dances and their place in the world of modern art, the site provides four collections of lessons that correlate to the four dances highlighted by the site. Each lesson collection provides detailed activities, teaching strategies, and assignments that fully integrate the dances with other topics such as literature, creative writing, art analysis, history, and even research skills. These lessons require students to make a number of intellectual connections between subjects and think originally and creatively. Also, they address a variety of learning styles, including kinesthetic, visual, and auditory learners. The culminating assignments for each lesson collection include rubrics for assessment.
