Medieval Nights

Nutcracker - Man in the Box

We watched several Nutcracker Suite ballet performances, specifically the male performers to see how ballet, traditionally thought of as a "feminine" artform, is extremely athletic and graceful for male performers as well. In particular, we watched the video "Man in the Box" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGZu7mji7B4) which has Kevin Terry of the 2006 North Atlanta Dance Theatre's production of The Nutcracker as The Nutcracker Prince. In that video, it shows the progression from practice to dress rehearsal to performance for Kevin Terry.

Several days after watching the video, P showed us his rendition of being a "toy soldier", a la the Man in the Box video:

ICU Drumming

P, not wanting to miss a beat while recovering from an asthma attack, practices his rhythms from the drum lessons he'd just started.

Legume/Grain Art

Using green split peas, brown lentils, kidney beans and short grain rice, (and the late addition of whole wheat pasta spirals) we all explored creating our own art.


Glue and paper were used as well, and the process was very methodical for P -- he created a medieval village.


Brown lentils in the middle of the page formed the town center, kidney beans symbolized guard towers, small scraps of blue papers represented the town militia, and yellow lentils were villagers. A small patch of rice was the armory/stable, and green lentils were soldiers and archers preparing for battle.


For K, the glue was applied in wide patterns, and various lentils/grains applied and shaken off, allowing what would stick to stay, and the rest being discarded.

During the making of the art, we briefly discussed how the lentils, rice, beans and pasta were different from each other and how they were part of our diets. The growing of the first three and the creation of the fourth from semolina were compared, and the differences in cooking time were also discussed.

Surprise Attack at Sunrise

A wooden guard tower, riddled with arrows and undergoing a continuous seige by both a seige tower (on right, with archers on several levels) and an approaching catapult (on left, with soldiers inside); the sun at midlevel.

[P wrote the "Oh No!" but had me write the "yeah!" of the attacking catapult.]

Battle Art

Seige tower against a guard tower, with soldiers with maces and swords "having a battle" with each other. Note the seige tower's levels with ladders between each one.

Preparing for Battles

P and K gear up with helmets (bucket and clear toy container), shields (two toy container lids), and weapons (Tyrannosaurus Rex and whiffle ball paddle) to battle their "foes".

Chess Practice

Drawing: Owl and Self-Portrait

Early Morning Chess

Animals drawing

Archers

Water Distortion

Placing a toy dinosaur in a sippy cup of water, P showed K how the combination of water and the curvature of the cup showed the dinosaur's shape to change due to water distortion.

Creating a Village

The general dynamics of a village were illustrated in the development of the "town village". Starting with a village square and creating pathways out, P made sure to include strategic buildings including a stable and blacksmith, marketplace, and armory. Defending the town was quite important, too.

Building Castles

P created a representational castle using large building blocks.

Homemade Catapults

Jeff helped P & K create catapults out of measuring spoons and string, and used river rocks from out front to knock down Lego towers. This followed a discussion of historic battles involving castle raids and the use of cobbled together catapults to break through town walls. Several attempts to get the correct trajectory with the homemade catapult were used to finally knock it down.