Brainstorming--Big+Ideas+in+the+Arts


 * Big Ideas in the Arts ** - Add words or phrases below each "Big Idea" that you feel elaborate on, relate to, support, or explain the Big Idea. You can change the **font style** or ** color ** (in Edit mode, click on the "T" in the toolbar above) to differentiate your contributions from those of your colleagues.

**1. SKILLS, TECHNIQUES, and PROCESSES:** Through dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts, students learn that beginners, amateurs, and professionals benefit from working to improve skills and techniques over time. Repetition - (specifically to theatre - plan/play/evaluate cycle) is a part of creating theatre. Theatre is created by applying arts disciplines, techniques and processes

Vocal training (such as Skinner or Linklater), the use of dialects, IPA, and what it can do for character. Movement theories, and how they can help build a stronger character (Building outside-in).

Two thoughts initially: repetition is a vital part of all of the performing arts. Repetition is an essential element of all skill building whether it creates muscle memory (dance and vocal) or physical or emotional character memory (Drama) and there is a great deal of creative freedom geenerated within the boundaries of the repetition of physical/character memory. All theatre work is about skill development beginning with the ability to be seen and heard. Nicholas Cage talks about BUILDING a character. If I do not have those "carpentry" skills I cannot build an effective character. Acting is first of all a craft not an art.

Theatre specific - plot structure; historical changes to the works How can culture influence art? Social plays, etc. In all arts which present a story or situation there are/should be organizational elements. Plot, structure, and character are elements in dance, drama, and musical (or operatic) theatre. Part of those vital underlying elements which which all of the people listed above must be aware are the cultural and psychological elements of how the presentation will affect the audience (responders) emotionally, culturally, ethically and historically.
 * 2. STRUCTURAL ORGANIZATION: ** Works in dance, music, theatre, and visual art are organized by underlying elements and principles that guide creators, re-creators, and responders.

**3. ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT:** The arts are inherently experiential and actively engage learners in the processes of creating, re-creating, and responding to art. Theatre creates a relationship of the actor & audience; write a play, read a play, be in a play

Learning to listen, not just react Active engagement is about our ability to suck an audience into the world of the play (after we have sucked oursleves in). Tommaso Salvini when asked if he actually cried on stage answered that the only relevant question was whether I can make you cry in the audience. Can the creator (playwright, director), the re-creators (actors), and the responders (the audience) respond (each at his own level) in what the creator had envioned when he/she created the piece originally.

**4. COGNITION and COMMUNICATION:** Individual cognition, self-expression, documentation, and communication with others are central to the arts. Student self-assesses by responding to critical analysis is demonstrated by an improvement in self performance. Student responding to performance of others through written or verbal critical analysis. Aesthetic analysis of components of a production in terms of a unified theme or message. Reflecting upon and assessing characteristics and merits of student's own work and work of others. Learning to see the created world of theatre through the eyes of the playwright, actor, designer, and director. Developing deeper understanding of personal issues through theatre. Developing broader world view/global view through theatre. Arts use all senses to communicate - sight, sound, touch (kinesthetic/movement), smell,taste (sensory recall) - more than just words. Theatre is essential for thinking and learning - for activating the brain and body to be able to perceive, analyze, synthesize and evaluate.

Improvisation and exercises that examine the psychology of human behavior. //The ability to understand and articulate (verbally or in writing) your responses to your personal work or the work of others in class, and the works presented on stage is essential to your development as an actor and as a person who acts The ability to communicate the results of this understanding is essential to your development as a member of the arts community, performing ensemble, or as a discerning citizen. // //The critical thinking skills honed in the process of self-evaluation or critical evaluation of others performances is essential to the building of the intelligent, critical performer and/or audience member. // //“A life unexamined is not worth living” //

**5. HISTORICAL, GLOBAL, and FUTURE CONNECTIONS:** The arts foster understanding, acceptance, and enrichment among individuals, groups, and cultures from around the world and across time; and this new perspective helps individuals appreciate existing works and create new ones. Do it, be it - don't just read it. Universal themes Theatre is a vehicle for divergent thinking and learning. What is the relationship between theater and society at different times and locations?

//Theatre is a very provocative medium. Good theatre, well presented can both engage the audience in the immediate and in the long term. Whether universal themes or particular ethnic, cultural or regional themes, the discussions provoked in class are excellent opportunities to discuss other worlds, other meanings, other sensibilities and to advance the student actor, or the audience members understanding of the world around them Proust had a wonderful comment on that which I will try to find //

**6. AESTHETIC and CRITICAL REFLECTION:** The arts actively engage the creator, re-creator, and responder in the processes of assessment and analysis. Open to experimentation Creates possibility for change. Reacts positively to change.

Enables students to become aware of metacogniton, as well as viewing media presented to them in their lives with a more critical eye.

**7. ARTS and the ECONOMY:** Arts-related careers and 21st-century skills gained through learning in the arts are transferable and integral to local and global economies. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Technology - theatre tech. draftging, lighting and sound How to survive on an "arts budget" (business of theater)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">**8. RELATIONSHIPS ACROSS ACADEMIC CONTENT AREAS:** Dance, music, theatre, and visual art are often infused with each other and with other academic content areas. I <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">nterrelated conditions (economical, social, political, historical - time and place - ) influence and give meaning to the development and understanding of concepts in the arts. Understanding that arts provide the human element for studies in many areas. Integral in "putting it all together" - the seemingly isolated subjects of history, science, literature, social studies,... Story of humanity is reflected through its plays. Arts reveals universal themes. Do it. Be it. On your feet learning linked to historical, social and literary studies.