Assignment/Activity Title Dada Performance

SkillPublic Performance/Creative/Group Dynamics

YearFreshman
Portfolio CategorySocial Awareness

This quarter in drama class we studied the Dada movement of the early 20th century. For this assignment we were
assigned the task of finding some type of controversial issue we find in today's society and portraying it in a "dadaesque"
fashion or in a way that steps out of the social norm. My group decided to address the issue of stereotyping in general but
more specifically stereotyping due to race. To come up with this idea, we really had to think deeply about what serious
social issues we have faced in our lives that we would like to change so as to best be able to demonstrate it through our
performance. For the performance, we each read our own little piece that addressed stereotyping whether it be a quote, a
poem, or even our own personal experience. We accompanied those powerful words with and ended the scene by dying
painfully to show that our voices are being killed before anyone can hear them and that it hurts to be oppressed in such a
way, that we are suffering.
Before this project, I believed myself to be very aware of racial stereotyping and the effects it can have on a
person, but I have found that I have grown from this project by talking to other people and learning about their
experiences, and simply by analyzing my own thoughts and feelings and how exactly it makes me feel. I believe that this
project has provided me with a greater understanding of the society of the world around me and from that I think I have
become much more socially aware. When we were first introduced this assignment I didn't think much of it, thinking it
was an easy A; however I found this experience to be extremely enlightening especially with recent issues of police
brutality concerning race. I feel very strongly about this resurfacing topic of racial profiling and am interested in getting
out there and leading movements like protests to make a change. For me, this dada performance was not just an
assignment but like the first step to actually getting out into the world and showing others what I think of whats
happening in our society and educating others of the ignorant mindsets that are monopolizing our society as a whole.
The main thing that I think my group struggled the most with during this project was how exactly we would set up
our performance to make it as powerful as we wanted it to be. An example would be that we had trouble deciding how
exactly we would end the scene, at first we thought we should pretend to painfully die to emulate all of the voices that are
silently being oppressed before their voices could make the change they were aiming for: however the second time we
performed our scene Ms. Jeral pointed out that maybe this wasnt the most powerful way to get our message across. If I
were to do this performance again I think Id want to improve it by finding some alternative ending that was better suited
for our message, Id want to work out the lighting better because that was another one of our downfalls, and I think Id
just simply spend a longer period of time really exploring my beliefs and figuring out what exactly my message is and
what exactly Im trying to convey.
This is a project that I think Ive learned and grown tremendously from. In the future I will be able to use what I
learned from doing this project from not only other people but also myself and apply it to the real world and help myself
be a better human being who tries not to judge or pin someone to a certain stereotype just because of what they look like
and where theyre from.

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Assignment/Activity Title
SkillWriting, Media, Research.

YearFreshman, Sophomore
PortfolioCritical Reasoning, Ethics.

Metacognitive ReflectionThe following questions ARE NOT A SCRIPT!! Use the ideas
within the questions to reflect on the assignment and its significance to you.
Your reflection MUST use Times New Roman font, size 11, single spacing

How does this assignment reflect your growth in the category in which you are placing it?
How have you changed as a result of this assignment?
Why is it important to include this piece in your portfolio?
How and where does this fit in with your prior knowledge?
How do you think that others will react to this product?
What process did you use to complete the product?
What did you learn by doing this assignment?
How does the portfolio product illustrate the connection(s) you've made between yourself and
the course material?
In what ways would you do things differently if you could do it over again?
What did you discover about yourself?
How does it relate to your future?
How does it illustrate your strengths and/or weaknesses?
What obstacles and challenges did you have to deal with, and how did this struggle change you?
How does the portfolio product show that your perspective on the world has deepened?
How does it relate to your understanding of the world around you?
Which of your accomplishments makes you feel most proud?

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