Dissonance Day Eight: DADADAY!

I absolutely fucking love DADADDAY! Over the years it has had a few different names – Dadaland, Order out of Chaos, a Happening, but the spirit is pure DADADAY! With fewer students it is easier to have everyone have a kind of communal experience, but with 30 it necessitates smaller groups. The students were broken up into 5 teams, each with up to 6 members. Team Tzara, Team Janco, Team Hennings, Team Arp, and Team Ball. When the students entered the space they were asked to pick a “card” from the fanned out pile. The “card” was the team designation. Part of the reason for this is to break up groups consisting of students who always work together. Plus it’s a chance thing. Each group a totally different makeup. Each team had to sit at one of five tables. Each table had a different activity. Make a Dada Poem, Make a Dada Mask, Make a Photomontage or Hans (Jean) Arp inspired image, Create a simultaneous poem, and play this wonderful game called FatDada (really just a Fat Albert game ransacked with the card replaced by Dada cards that ask the players to debate, proclaim, respond to a series of Dadaquotes. Each team had 12 minutes at each station.

Here is what I fucking love about DADADAY! The same pattern happens every time. Students start quiet. They sit down at the stations and begin to do what they are told. The instructions indicate that once a Dada Poem is constructed the student is to read it out loud. Once the Dada Mask is complete the mask needs movement. The simultaneous poem can only exist as it is performed. In the first 12 minutes the students remain quiet. Then slowly things begin to change. My job is to not interfere. I play music, wander around, shout out some Dadaquotes, etc. I also tell them when they have 6 minutes left, and when they need to move on to the next station. Things happen slowly. First someone knocks a chair over. Next someone gets a bit loud at one of the tables. Then one group decides that they would rather play the FatDada game on the floor on an overturned table. Then someone reads a poem out loud. Then three people get up and perform a simultaneous poem, which may or may not include the sound of the piano. Someone writes on the chalkboard. Someone does a dance.

Then it happens. The place erupts. Students are screaming, banging on the floor, banging on tables and whatever they can find lying around. There is a reason why we need to be up in the gym – isolated from the other classes. When I used to do this downstairs I spent most of the time reminding the students to be quiet. I didn’t need to do that today. But, it does bring up an interesting point. The projects are all designed to frustrate – it is almost impossible to complete any of them in 12 minutes. Any group that plays the FatDada game generally gets bored with it in about 10 minutes or less. The first group that played this game ended up lighting parts of it on fire. But I expected them to play it for 50 minutes – 12 seems much more reasonable. The noise, the actions, etc are all an outlet stemming from the projects.  These actions build off of the projects, but also provide something different from sitting down and cutting out little scraps of paper.

As the room becomes more and more chaotic I wrestle with how far to let it go. If I court chaos I have to be prepared to accept chaos. But then, I don’t want anything broken. I don’t want anyone hurt. These become the ground rules. I need to add no live flames, and no broken glass. When we get to destruction projects probably also no toxic chemicals. It is for this reason I tend to hang around during these class days. In the past I tried a number of experiments. One, where I didn’t want to leave, but also didn’t want to be present as the “authority figure.” So, I sat in a chair in the corner with headphones on, a blindfold, and duct tape over my mouth. Big mistake. Once the chaos kicked in I was the target. I wandered out blindfolded with all kinds of shit draped over my body. Giving instructions and leaving altogether generally means that the room will be destroyed. Torn up papers, magazines, stuff hanging from the ceiling, overturned chairs and tables, chalkboard covered with all kinds of stuff. It is cool to see the smoldering ruins, but I really want to watch the process.

Like any process this one ebbs and flows. It generally reaches a peak crescendo about 10 or 15 minutes from the end of the class period, about an hour into it. In the future I may take advantage of this and harness the energy before it dissipates. But – we are only 4 weeks into a 15 week term. We have plenty of time to court chaos and use this kind of energy. I find that some students are ready to dive into the projects and assignments at this point, but I still need to get everyone moving in that direction. My hope is that the students had fun. It looks and feels like elementary school work, but similar to elementary school it is not just play-time, but time in which students learn something from the exercises. I will have to find out at the next class what they learned. Since I want to tie these ideas back to the S,S, and C stuff I may give them five minutes to ask me any questions about DADADAY! It will be interesting to see if anyone takes me up on it.

Silly, playful, nonsense, whatever. As a teacher I have a choice. I can either have the students read about Dada and then we can all sit down and have a serious discussion about nonsense. Or, I cant let the students play for a day. This way is much more entertaining.