Pokon

Cuesheet Performance Guide

Performed by dance company De Dansers from the Netherlands

Presenting Sponsor of Performances for Young Audiences

Play Time!

Two performers improvise with wooden dowels (rods), using them as instruments, tools, and blackboard chalk.

Get ready for a show with fun-filled, fast-paced music and movement.

The performers call Pokon (pronounced POH-con) a “whirling, twirling, hiccupping, tumbling, rumbling, and singing stream of playful necessity.” That’s important— because not only is play necessary—it’s also natural. It helps you to imagine. And to grow. Think about the games you play with friends—perhaps at recess, in gym class, or at the playground. What makes you excited about these activities?

Play is also a way of learning boundaries. The performers explore these limits and take risks as they dance, perform acrobatic feats, and interact with everyday objects including ladders, wooden sticks, and branches, among others. You’ll also hear instrumental and vocal music. Listen for repetition of the melodies created by guitar, harmonica, drums, and voice.

Prepare to witness a super-charged game of playful pretend.

Uh oh—who can help this performer free herself from the ladder?

Propped Up

The performers look at simple objects and—with the help of their imaginations—find new ways to use them. For example: A small tree begins the show standing still on stage, as you might expect. But, soon, it also… l

sways in the wind,

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provides a branch with leaves to serve as a broom, and

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drops leaves that an actor can pretend to eat.

A ladder provides rungs (steps) to climb, which is what ladders typically do! It also… l l

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balances on the back of a crawling actor, becomes a prop, along with additional ladders, for actors to use when moving their bodies creatively, and traps an actress’s body, forcing her to ask audience members to help her escape.

Observe how a few ordinary props provide power. An actor holding a branch can use it to interrupt a singer’s performance. A pole mysteriously cures hiccups, but only for the person touching it.

After the show, play around with your own props. Select a simple object—a tissue box, spoon, or stool, for example—and see what meaning you can give it.

PHOTOS BY THOMAS GEURTS

Risk It

The show’s three performers rely on their muscles as they run, jump, and roll across the stage. This strength and trusting collaboration also helps them to support each other’s weight and rely on each other’s bodies to help them balance.

With each acrobatic move, the dancers put themselves at physical risk. But all art forms involve risk and courage. A benefit, though, is that creating art can feel good—often it allows an artist, and the audience as well, to feel a release of emotions.

Consider: How can we take risks in play and performance and still make sure we are providing a safe space where people’s bodies and emotions are respected?

Games You Can Play

De Dansers uses pantomime, such as when they lean backwards to show the effect of the wind. The group also uses improvisation, like when they reach out to audience members. At other times, they play childhood games as they run, jump, cartwheel, and freeze. You can play just like that, too. Here are several simple games inspired by this performance. Give them a try: l

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Tag – The tagger chases the others. If you get tagged, you’re the new chaser. There are endless versions of tag. For example, you can also play freeze tag, where the person who gets tagged has to stay frozen in place until another free player tags him/her.

Push/Pull – Find a loose object, such as a stick or hula hoop.

By yourself or with others, try to keep it upright (or, in the case of the hula hoop, in motion), using only a quick push of your fingertips or the palm of your hands.

Find the Leader – This group game requires three or more players.

When one person leaves the room, the others pick a leader. The leader makes movements, and the other players copy them. The missing person returns to the room and, by watching the group’s movements, tries to identify the leader.

The dancers engage in a rare moment of stillness.

What to Look and Listen for… l

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Watch how the dancers use each other’s bodies by acting as a counterweight, a source of balance, or, perhaps, as an obstacle.

Listen and watch for forms of repetition. How do repeated rhythms and movements enhance the performance? How do simple choices that dancers make early in scenes complicate their movements and their interactions with props as the scenes develop?

Note the way the audience interacts with the performers. When and how do the dancers ask you to participate? Do their requests help you to care more deeply about the show?

What to Think About… l

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David M. Rubenstein Chairman Deborah F. Rutter President Jordan LaSalle Interim Senior Vice President Education

Reflect on how taking risks in a play environment helps us to learn and grow. Through pretend play, we can experiment with situations that could test us in real life. How would you react if you were physically (or emotionally) stuck? That’s the situation one of the dancers finds herself in when she is trapped in the ladder. How did she solve her problem?

Listen to the way Pokon’s instrumental music, voice, rhythm, and movement continue without interruption. When one tune ends, a new beat immediately begins. The same is true for their movements. Where else have you seen constant activity? Consider performance, play, and nature—the ocean, wind, life itself.

Think about the show’s subtitle: An Unstoppable Game of Growth. How does “growth” apply to the characters’ movements, their use of props and set pieces, and their character development? Not all growth is obvious on the outside. If you were to tell a story through your own dance performance, how might you express an idea such as growth? (Consider that “pokon” means plant fertilizer in Dutch.)

Additional support for Pokon: An Unstoppable Game of Growth is provided by A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation; the Kimsey Endowment; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; and Paul M. Angell Family Foundation.

Generous support is also provided by the U.S. Department of Education.

Major support for educational programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by David M. Rubenstein through the Rubenstein Arts Access Program.

International programming at the Kennedy Center is made possible through the generosity of the Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts.

Additional support for Pokon: An Unstoppable Game of Growth is provided by Dutch Performing Arts.

The contents of this Cuesheet have been developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education and do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education. You should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.

© 2020 The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts