Hi Jasmine, what a wonderful project,I can only suggest to choose a particular bird eg. Swifts, Swallows ad House Martins arrive in the Spring and go back to South Africa in the Autumn. Other birds arrive in their thousands in the Autumn and over winter in the Uk. The experts here will be able to help you with your "moving performance". Cheers Pat
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In reply to northdevonfocus:
Jasmine, I am sure you can do something moving on this one. A local music teacher in my area has just published some musical operatic piece (it has a technical name but don't ask me). It is based on the Arctic Tern and its travels from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back each year.
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In reply to Bob Philpott:
A lot of birds go from Northern europe to Africa, visiting all the countries on route, braving the dangers of storms on sea crossings & or being caught in hunters nets or being shot on the mountain crossings. I'd have thought you could make an exciting dance from that lot!
Best wishes
Hazel in the Gironde estuary, France
Hi Jasmine
Well that's an interesting challenge!
You could focus on a particular species of bird which migrates - for example cuckoos might be interesting, given their breeding habits, and there is a project tracking them here
Or you could look at countries on the migration route, and their human culture - though the route depends on the species selected. Within the RSPB Community, the Loch Garten group has a lot of material on osprey migration - perhaps the best place to start is the blog Also, the Rutland Water Osprey project has spawned various cultural & educational initiatives, more singing than dancing though - look here and here
or you might go for a historical approach - the development of human understanding about migration - see this - though that might be a challenge to devise and perform!
Hope this helps.......Sue
Hi Jasmine, watched this wonderful documentary this morning http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018xsc1 If you want to be inspired check out the flamingos
In reply to Sue C:
Hi Sue,
This is extremely helpful, lots of different interesting ways in which me and my fellow dancers could take this! I shall feed back to my class and point anyone in the direction of you if they have any more questions!
Thank you ever so much,
Jasmine
This is great, very interesting! Thank you!
Hello,
It is a very interesting one, as a dancer we need all the help we can get from the experts! Yes, many other people have said that picking a specific bird would be helpful, I shall inform the other dancers and see what they think. I shall point my fellow dancers in this direction if they have any other questions!
Thanks,
In reply to Noisette:
Hazel,
That is a very interesting way of looking at it, the dangers is an area we haven't come across yet!
Thank you!
In reply to Jasmine H:
Jasmine, have you had a look at the material the RSPB produce about migration? Although this is produced primarily for children there may some material which would give you some ideas.
http://www.rspb.org.uk/youth/learn/migration/
There are even a couple of games to help kids appreciate what birds face on migration, the routes they take and why and the hazards they face.
http://www.rspb.org.uk/youth/play/migrationmap.aspx
http://www.rspb.org.uk/youth/play/dangersofmigration.aspx
Birds that cross from Europe to Africa have to cross the Mediterranean. In order minimise the distance they use certain flyways typically, although not exclusively, across the Straits of Gibraltar and over the land bridge at the eastern end of the Med. Some of the larger birds find it difficult to fly long distances over water. What they do is to use the thermals that build up over land to gain height so they can glide and thus conserve energy. They can gather in large numbers circling together before making the crossing. The photo below shows White Storks doing what I've described. This might lend itself to being incorporated in to a dance routine. Just a suggestion. Good luck
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Regards,Tony
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