Movements of the Body as a Reflection of the Soul

Teaching the Hard Stuff

One of the most difficult parts of being a teacher is delving into the more difficult topics; one of which is bullying. Today, we were guided through a beautiful lesson on empathy and bullying. I can imagine it having a very lasting effect on students by both providing those who have experienced bullying to release some emotion and those who have acted as a bullies to visually witness the difference in power. It could also be a great discussion starter to encourage students to find the similarities between both bullies and victims.

We began the activity by brainstorming emotions, feelings and behaviours of both bullies and victims. As mentioned earlier, it was interesting to see how often the two overlapped. This is a great way to start any activity with students, as it gives everyone a place to start. Some students have a very hard time developing baseline ideas and using this as a strategy creates those for them so they can get into the bulk of the activity without spending all of their time coming up with ideas.




We were then split in half: half of the class
 empathizing with the bully and half with the victim.

We were required to choose three Action Pak
words to connect together into a short movement phrase.

After we had developed our independent movement phrases we were put into groups of four to combine them through shadowing. Shadowing is a dance technique in which students stand in a diamond formation, all facing the same direction. The leader is at the front of the diamond; they control the movement of the Pak. After each movement sequence the entire group rotates ninety-degrees therefore creating a new leader to follow. This pattern is continued until a full rotation has occurred. We were given about ten minutes in our groups to learn each other's movement phrases and combine them to demonstrate shadowing. 

Shadowing: 'Victims'

Shadowing: 'Bullies'

Creating Visual Impact

As noted above, it can be very difficult to teach the heavy topics. The following activity provided a great example of allowing students to visualize a difficult subject and make sense of it on their own without forcing information on them in a less engaging and understandable format. 

After we had practiced our shadowing routines we were combined with an opposing group (ie., one victim group combined with one bully group). We were then instructed to intertwine our shadowing diamonds (ie., victim leader stood facing forward with group members in diagonal behind them, bully leader stood facing a diagonal between victim leader and victim group member on the left side of diamond, the rest of the group filled in in the same format). 

As the two dances were performed simultaneously, it was made extremely clear who were representing the bullies and who were representing the victims simply by the way they were moving their bodies. The activity showed the highs and lows experienced for each character and provoked understanding and empathy amongst the audience. 

Overlapped Shadowing: 'Bullies and Victims'