by Rachel Hellwig

Seeking inspiration for improvisation and creative dance exercises? Then you’ll want to check out Sari Eran-Herskovitz’s “Dance Inspiration Cards”.

Eran-Herskovitz, an artist with a master’s degree in psychology, has designed 29 cards with illustrations featuring animals, nature, and abstract images. The collection also contains one blank card on which you can draw your own picture or simply use as “a joker representing any image you choose during the game”. The instructions explain that “the aim of the game is to allow experimentation and expansion of the range of self expression through movement”.

Suggestions are offered for different types of group games and the use of background music is encouraged, but there are many ways to use the cards. I enjoyed just going through the deck at home and improvising on my own. In class, teachers may want to stick to the cards depicting animals for younger students as movement ideas will be more readily apparent. For older students, including the abstract images will enhance the challenge. The cards could also be used as prompts for more formal choreography exercises and projects.

Regardless of how you employ them, the “Dance Inspiration Cards” will be a helpful, creative tool in group settings or in individual artistic exploration.

Beautiful idea. Beautifully created.