"Reflecting back over the year, I see how my dancers have grown as both dance performers and academic students. As we investigated the meaning of risk taking, they have learned the difference between risk taking and risky behavior and how not to fear failure since failure is what usually leads to profound growth. Exploring this theme through reading, writing, journal activities, dancing, and choreography has empowered my students. My dancers leave school as more open individuals, hungry for new experiences and eager to engage in life." – Barbara Noel
At Santa Ana High School, creating the spring dance concert is more than just learning the steps to choreography. Barbara Noel's dance students use guided journals to explore the annual theme of the dances she wants to create. Inspired by the input from her students, the pieces slowly start to take shape.
Through the student journals, Noel tries "to seamlessly introduce writing and reading into the dance experience, developing richer dance choreography and performances. By selecting a theme each year and having all reading, writing, and dance choreography based on the theme, the students delve deeper into the ideas they we are trying to communicate to the audience. Dance journaling has made their performances more emotional and powerful."
The theme this year was "Taking Risks ... Living Fearlessly."
To get her students to understand how to move through the emotional moments that motivate the dance choreography, they must take the self-reflective time to understand how to find those emotions within themselves.
Over the course of the school year, Noel assigns a series of 20 to 25 journal topics using poetry, stories, images and written reflections to get them to dive deep into the year's theme.
Some of the assignments were:
- Tell your life story in 6 words.
- Make a list of your fears. Put together items that represent your fears and put them in a box. Take a picture of it and include it in your journal. Then write about your fears and discuss how you can over come them.
- List and explain five things you wish to accomplish before you die. Take a risk. Be fearless. Select grand adventures that will make you more fulfilled, more happy, more rewarded.
- Get a map of a place where you'd dream of going to one day. Don't make a safe choice! Draw a heart around the location. Explain why you chose this location. Be specific. List a minimum of five activities you'll do when (not if!) you get there.
See the students' responses to the assignment