Unit Overview:
Debbie Allen's Pearl retells the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves against the colorful backdrop of the circus. In this unit, students embark on an interdisciplinary study of the circus—with emphasis on clowning. Students study the history of clowning, create an original clown face, and perform an improvisational clown skit. They also learn about promotional techniques used by circuses, and create their own poster and advertising copy to publicize the arrival of a circus.
Lesson Overviews:
Students learn about different types of clown characters, then create an original character and develop a skit.
In this lesson, students learn about the advertising techniques used to promote a performance (in this case, a circus). Students research examples of advertising, and ultimately produce a poster and a short article to promote the arrival of a circus.
Students create a timeline highlighting the history of the modern circus, then perform a movement piece based on it.
