MOVING THROUGH COLOUR

Created by DRILL in partnership with the Department of Education (Tasmania) in 2020, Moving Through Colour is a contemporary dance and movement program, aimed at upper primary students. This collaboration was a response to restrictions around teaching and learning within schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Each of the four lessons below focuses on a particular colour, exploring emotions, objects and places associated with that colour, and how these can be translated into movement and improvisation. There is a focus on play and imagination through movement, and episodes contain a warm-up and the delivery of set choreography with time for improvisation/personal interpretation.

Suitable for classrooms or at home, Moving Through Colour is a great introduction to connecting dance, movement, creativity and imagination.

At the end of each lesson, participants are invited to keep creating and make a response to the session. For a list of all responses suggested at the end of each episode, download the document here.

EPISODE 1: RED

Episode 1 begins by exploring the emotion of anger, and how you can transform this emotional energy into constructive power. We focus on the movement quality of strength, through angular shapes and rhythmic beating patterns. It references Tasmanian red flora and icons, and takes inspiration from the power found in the natural landscape of this state.

EPISODE 2: GREEN

Episode 2 explores themes of growth and balance. Inspired directly by growth and breath in your own body, participants are asked to focus on their breath and take imagery from green fauna, flora and objects. It begins with a fun explorative game of balance using different body parts, challenging balance and coordination in the body, then transforms into learning choreography inspired by the green items mentioned at the beginning of the lesson.

EPISODE 3: BLUE

Episode 3 explores emotions and sensations of trust and sadness, and aims to bring a sense of calm to participants. Inspired by the bodies of water surrounding and passing through Tasmania students learn about liquid, circular and rippling movement qualities. It aims to use movement to promote a sense of calm in the body and mind after acknowledging how sadness manifests in the body.

This choreography expands and finishes with a short moment of improvisation for students to interpret the information of the lesson in their own individual way.

EPISODE 4: YELLOW

This is a dynamic and fast paced episode that explores joy and celebration through contrasting movement qualities. This episode builds to a pinnacle of using the skills learnt in visualisation over the course of the lessons. It takes inspiration from a variety of yellow places, textures and objects unique to Tasmania, and asks young people to embody their visualisation of joy, and then focus that into the final choreography.

MORE INFO

About DRILL

DRILL is one of Australia’s leading youth dance companies, dedicated to fostering the growth of the contemporary dance industry, through a youth lens, in lutruwita/Tasmania. Based in nipaluna/Hobart, we connect young Tasmanians with inspiring professional and emerging artists, to create ambitious dance works, through artistic programming and schools-based programs.

DRILL empowers the next generation of leaders, thinkers, nurturers, and change-makers with a commitment to collaborative creative process and peer to peer learning. Our works encourage young people to tell their stories, share their values, and voice their thoughts through performance and physical expression. We bring young people together to form a tight-knit community of like-minded peers fostering a space for self-development and discovery built on trust and supported by kindness.

Meet the Choreographers

ISABELLA STONE

Isabella was the Artistic Director of DRILL from 2020 until 2023. Originally from Perth, Western Australia, which is Whadjuk Noongar Country. She is a performer, choreographer and teaching artist with over a decade of experience in Western Australia and Tasmania. Isabella is a graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and LINK Dance Company.

HK VERMEULEN

HK is a Hobart-based dance artist, holding a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Tasmania. After performing with youth dance company DRILL periodically since 2007, in 2018 they began leading the company’s work in schools, and also co-choreographed Cybernetic for the DRILL Junior Company 2018. HK is a regular independent performer in the Hobart arts scene.