The first of three sessions retelling the traditional Russian story of The Firebird and which music from Ten Pieces including Stravinsky's dramatic score.
1. The Firebird and Prince Ivan
The first of three sessions inspired by Igor Stravinsky鈥檚 score for the ballet The Firebird, composed in 1911 and based on a traditional Russian folktale.
Resources
Download the audio for this dance session as an mp3 file.
Guidance on using the dance sessions in this unit with your group (pdf)
'The Firebird' - dance the complete final dance with all the music and narration.
Lesson summary
Warm-up: Listening, then moving freely to Stravinsky鈥檚 鈥楩irebird鈥 music.
Sequence 1: The Firebird Motif. Introduce The Firebird motif (on the spot): fingers and hands flickering like flames 鈥 varying the speed, level and direction as they reach high, low and all around. Keep flickering fingers and hands as you lift and lower relaxed outstretched arms 鈥 like the glorious wings of The Firebird.
Firebird travelling: Maintaining a proud, magnificent pose with head high, outstretched arms gracefully lifting and lowering, and fingers and hands flickering, the children experiment with different ways of travelling 鈥 dipping and diving, soaring and whirling, leaping and turning energetically through the spaces like The Firebird.
Sequence 2: Prince Ivan. Show off a proud, regal pose with shoulders back and head high. Hold imaginary reins and lift knees high to gallop happily through the spaces.
Sequence 3: Prince Ivan and The Firebird. Responding to the music, half the class perform The Prince鈥檚 movements and the other half perform The Firebird鈥檚 movements. Swap groups and repeat. Music in sections: The Prince 鈥 The Firebird 鈥 The Prince 鈥 The Firebird.
Sequence 4: Dance drama. In pairs 鈥 one person as Prince Ivan and the other as The Firebird. Partners respond to the music collage to tell this part of the story through movement and mime.
Performance of the story so far: The Firebird 鈥 Prince Ivan 鈥 Prince Ivan and The Firebird 鈥 Paired dance drama.
Cool down: Slow, relaxed walk around the magic garden. Slow, gentle stretches 鈥 tall and then wide.
More from Time to Move: Ten Pieces
Planet Mars. 2: Dust storms and two moons. audio
The second of two sessions exploring planet Mars through dance to the 大象传媒's 'Ten Pieces'.
The Firebird. 2: The magic garden. audio
More from the retelling of the traditional Russian story 'The Firebird' with dances to music from the 大象传媒's 'Ten Pieces'.
The Firebird. 3: The giant Kastchei. audio
Pete Hillier concludes his unit exploring the story of 'The Firebird' with music from 'Ten Pieces'.