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expression for it, improvisation and conceptual creation came to
the forefront. The movement of the human body has been
studied in more detail, in unusual spatial positions, through the
interconnection of movement patterns of animals and humans, or
natural phenomena. They tried to find possibilities to apply
improvisation as a principle of creating movement material and a
form of performance.

Contemporary dance is an open system

of training methods using concepts of movement developed from
a new approach to the body and understanding of dance. We
speak of an open system because it was not created by one
person – a dancer or a choreographer (as it was during the
development of the style of modern dance in the first half of the
20th century), but many teachers around the world are involved
in developing the system while constantly integrating theoretical
knowledge and practical experience. The form of movement is
therefore very open – the movement vocabulary is not codified
and the movement form is not systematized in steady exercises,
as it was known in modern dance. The basic principles on which
we are based are the effectiveness of motor coordination
(maximum performance with minimal energy), dynamic
understanding of the body and movement (perception and
respect of constantly changing relationships of body parts during
movement), dual body movement in motion and use of
movement throughout spatial spectrum.

4 Model of Forum Theater Performance – Cyberbulling

In this chapter, we describe a specific performance related to the
problem of cyberbullying. We will present students with a short
story in which the main character is a timid girl, Laura, coming
from a less financially secure family. Parents do not have the
means to buy their daughter the latest mobile phone, or designer
clothes and shoes. Ivana, a girl from a rich family who is the
main shot-caller in the class society, is placed in the role of an
antagonist. Her eyes and ears, that is, her friends Karin and
Slávka, will not miss any detail. Karin is Ivana's faithful
"sidekick", she agrees with all the ideas and opinions that the
leader presents. For Slávka, there are moments when she cannot
decide whether what they are doing is right or not. Another
character is the cutest boy in the class, Tomáš, whom Ivana
fancies very much and expects that the affection is mutual. The
characters in the story are completed by a class teacher and a
Joker.

4.1 Movement Characteristics of Characters

Laura (the protagonist) – shy and timid, violation of the basic
body posture, sunk-in chest, drooping shoulders, use of gentle,
slower, legato movements,
Ivana (the antagonist) – dominant and fearless, upright posture,
open chest, chin slightly raised, use of sharp, fast, staccato
movements, work in space,
Tomáš (classmate) – phlegmatic, movement mostly on the spot,
use of gesture and minimalism in movement, focus on detail,
Karin (classmate) – blindly following Ivana's opinions and
attitudes, natural body posture, use of sharp, fast, staccato
movements mostly on the spot,
Slávka (classmate) – indecisive, natural body posture, alternation
of legato and staccato movements,
Class teacher – in addition to movement in the final scene, she is
the only one who can use verbal expression,
Joker – mediator of contact between actors and spectators,
organizes individual activities, acquaints spectators with the
characters of the story, invites them to initiative and involvement
in the story, responds to their wishes.

The performance would consist of five scenes (parts), which are
based on the construction of a classical ancient drama:

Scene 1 (exposure) – the situation takes place in the classroom,
after the class teacher leaves, almost all the students pull out

POLÁKOVÁ, M. 2010.

Sloboda objavovať tanec. Bratislava: Divadelný ústav,

2010. s. 26-29.

POLÁKOVÁ, M. 2010.

Sloboda objavovať tanec. Bratislava: Divadelný ústav,

2010. s. 86-87.

their mobile phones and get on the internet. Three friends –
Ivana, Karin and Slávka look at the news feed on Instragram,
mockingly comment on the clothes of their classmates based on
pictures and photos from the most followed accounts. Laura is
sitting alone at her desk, upset because she does not have the
latest phone, mobile internet or an Instagram account.

Scene 2 (collision) – Laura comes to class after the holidays, she
is excited because she got a new phone. She wants to brag to the
class leaders, but Ivana brushes her off, because she still doesn't
have an account on Instagram, thus she doesn't have a clue about
the latest fashion trends. Surprised and sad, Laura sits down at
her desk. Tomáš notices this situation and decides to help Laura
create a new profile.

Scene 3 (crisis) – after a few days, Ivana notices that Laura and
Tomáš spend more time together. She starts to get jealous
because she fancies Tomáš and wants his attention only to
herself. As she confides in his two friends, Karin confirms to her
that Tomáš and Laura have something going on, on the contrary,
Slávka thinks that there is nothing between them. After the
lesson, Tomáš and Laura stay alone in the classroom and begin
to get closer.

Scene 4 (peripetia) – Ivana finds out that Tomáš was on a date
with Laura, so she and her friends start to come up with a plan to
discredit Laura and strike back at her. Since Laura does not dress
in a modern and branded way, they decide to take a picture of
her clothes every day and publish it with a mocking comment on
Instagram. Ivana's revenge culminates in the moment when
inconspicuously spreads glue on Laura’s chair during the break.
The class teacher comes to class and calls Laura to the
blackboard. As Laura stands up, her pants tear. The class leaders
pull out their mobile phones and start taking pictures of her. The
whole class laughs and makes fun of her underwear. The teacher
tries, in vain, to calm them down. Tomáš also laughs at Laura
and she, deeply embarrassed and crying, leaves the classroom.

Scene 5 (disaster) – everyone is in the class, but Laura. The class
teacher arrives and informs the students that Laura is no longer
their classmate and has transferred to another school.

5 Conclusion

The choice of theme is an essential step in staging the Forum
Theater. It usually corresponds and is based on the problems that
are current for the selected age group of participants. As the
topics of the Forum Theater focus on sensitive, in some cases
even controversial situations: drug use, racism, conflicts in
relationships, the exclusion of the individual from the collective,
we chose a similarly current topic of CYBERBULLING for our
model. Today, young people mostly function within the online
space, and this phenomenon poses certain dangers, such as
online bullying. Using modern means of communication,
adolescents can insult, threaten or reveal intimate information to
the public. Cyberbullying is an invasion of privacy, which lasts
much longer than ordinary bullying by comparison - what is
online cannot be removed so easily. The reason for selecting this
topic was also the fact that cyberbullying can be the result of
reckless action, when the aggressor does not think through the
possible consequences. However, even this act can have fatal
consequences for the victim.

That is why we want to bring this

topic to the attention of young people, to show them what their
actions can cause and how to prevent inadequate behavior.

Another fact is that we did not use music in the individual
scenes, as we did not want the performers and the audience to be
influenced by an external factor. It often happens that the music
pulls you to move, a situation we wanted to avoid in the
proposed model. Our intention was for the pantomime-
movement manifestations to be based on the inner emotions of
the performers.

Čo je kyberšikana. 2020. [online]. cyberhelp.eu. [cit. 2020-12-18].

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