2.2 Warming up to music

Change legs.

• Bring both legs into your body and hug your legs. Lift your head and shoulders slightly off the floor. Hold for eight counts.
• Drop knees to the left side while keeping upper body and shoulders on the floor and arms stretched to the sides.
• Change sides.

• Return legs to centre and sit up with knees bent – hands on knees. Straighten your back and pull your body through your legs with your hands on your knees.

• Slowly get up onto your feet by lifting your buttocks off the floor.
• Keeping knees bent, slowly curl up. Head comes up last.
• Shake all moveable parts of the body.

All stretches should be held for eight counts/beats.

The cool down should not be shorter than three minutes or longer than five minutes.

All stretches should be done slowly to avoid injury.

Assessment

Memorandum

Activity 1

WARMING UP

• Before any physical and / or creative activity, the body should be warmed up and relaxed so that the learner will be able to execute the ensuing movements and move with ease. The warming up process also serves as an introduction to the movements that follow.
• To avoid any injury during the class, it is important to warm the main muscle groups. Start all warming-up sessions with a breathing exercise (controlled inhalation and exhalation), so that the muscles will receive adequate oxygen needed to carry out the movements. This exercise can be done to music, preferably modern pop music that the learners are familiar with. The tempo must be between approximately 125 and 136 beats per minute. This is a moderate tempo, compared to a slow tempo (84 - 125 beats per minute) and a fast tempo (139 - 160 b.p.m.).
• Refer to "Activities for Learners" for the exercises. Any, or all, of these exercises can be combined with one another. Warming up should last no fewer than 3 minutes, and no more than 10.

Hints / Suggestions

• Learners should breathe normally during the warming-up exercises.
• Ensure that the learner carries out the entire extent of each exercise or movement.
• Count out loudly during the warming-up process.
• The learner must be able to see and hear the instructions and demonstrations above the music.
• Take note of any learners who do not do the exercises correctly.
• Rectify faulty posture or movements to avoid injury.

Activity 2

HIP-HOP

Background

• From the start Hip-Hop was a fusion of jazz, soul, funk, rock 'n roll, Nigerian drum sounds, etc. An increasingly skilful ability to manipulate pre-recorded (sampled) sounds, intertwined with live artistic expression, emerged. Everything from the scratching of a needle on a record to the superimposing of records, to the skilled cutting from one track to another was used in this fusion. The future of this genre lay in a creative disrespect for technology and musical tradition.
• The Bronx Hip-Hoppers in the USA transformed the turntable from a static playback machine to a highly expressive instrument. Hip-Hop represented the politically motivated alternative to crime and violence; it was the voice of the silent masses; it kept children on the straight and narrow.
• In between the current overload of extremely individualistic rap, the societal emphasis of Hip-Hop was reinforced.
• As the electronic sampler became available in the late 1980s, Hip-Hop as we know it today started emerging. The sampler could render any sound electronically. Looped drum-fills and parts of old recordings were spliced, edited and restructured through the “science” of Hip-Hop.
• Texture, rhythm, structure and melody are paramount in Hip-Hop, but traditional views and ideas of Western musical artistry were diminished and democratised and replaced by more accessible technology in the hands of the youth. True Hip-Hop strives towards taking the “funk” out of “dysfunction” by transforming it into a positive artistic and political statement that can be danced to.
• Hip-Hop dancing is a conglomerate of various dance types - modern dancing, jazz, African, etc. - that moves away from the classical and technical. This dance form had its roots on the streets and in clubs.
• Hip-Hop is physical, abstract, undefined, soulful, and true to the beat. The arm movements are derived from Rap movement - loose or stylised, depending on the mood of the music - and are always exaggerated. Technically there are no new steps, only different and very energetic interpretations of existing ones. The relationship between the dance and the music is of cardinal importance, creating a drama of the human body. All movements are important and have a rightful place in the dance.

The Hip-Hop dance

• With this module learners are expected to investigate and demonstrate dance techniques associated with this genre. They must be able to create the movements in accordance to the expressive elements of the music. They must also be able to choreograph a movement sequence for a variety of locations and goals, and to review and refine the dance.
• Since Hip-Hop had its origins in popular culture, the style and movements change regularly. Before creative work can commence, the learners must first be introduced to basic Hip-Hop moves. They must also practise simple sequences and be introduced to performance skills.

Hints / Suggestions

• Make sure that the choreography adheres to the agreed upon criteria.
• Video-tape the dance and have a feedback session.
• Use costumes and, if possible, build a set and use lighting to enhance communication.
• Use different starting points – ideas, movement, hearing and tangible stimuli, including dress, literature, poetry and visual stimuli.
• Select appropriate content to reflect expressive intention – actions, qualities, spatial and relationship characteristics, including specific acquired dance skills.
• Stylise the content appropriately and coherently throughout the dance.
• Use principles of form – motif, development, repetition, variation, contrast, transition, climax and unity when creating the Dance.
• Pay attention to audibility – spatial placing, form, line, focus and projection.
• Do repetition in the appropriate space to improve the presentation of the dance.

Activity 3

COOLING DOWN AND STRETCHING

• It is important to stretch all the muscles that were used during the activities, and to cool the learners down, so that they can function normally and tranquilly in their other classes.
• Muscles contract during exercise and dance, and lactic acid builds up in the muscles. If the muscles are not stretched after the exercise, the lactic acid can cause stiffness of the muscles. Stretching causes the lactic acid to be redistributed to the rest of the body.
• Choose music with a slow tempo (between 84 and 125 beats per minute). Ballads are suitable.

Hints / Suggestions

• Maintain all stretches for eight counts.
• The cooling down and stretch exercise should not be shorter than three minutes and not longer than five minutes.
• All stretches should be executed slowly to prevent injuries.
• Make sure that the learners execute exercises correctly to prevent injuries.
• Instructions and demonstrations must be clear and audible.
• Should class still be restless after cooling down session, the stretching time on the floor should be extended while music is playing softly.