Are you bored tonight? Harry Potter questions

[harrypotterthemeyay]

Not a quiz but a plea for help. DC and their group at school need to do a project in which they explain every Harry Potter by movement or dance.

We saw HP 1 about 5 years ago but have never watched any others or read any (shocking I know!)

Have you watched or seen any and could you list off the books and films and the theme for each one? And even better could you suggest movement or dance which could express each theme?

You have no idea how grateful we would be!

The one who wanted to beat the kids?

Actually, one cane to the legs of bloody Harry would've stopped him whinging about his bloody scar

Book 1 - innocent wide eyed shock and curious about a new world

Book 2 - sliding around the floor as a snake, good triumphs

Book 3 - wrongly imprisoned in a jail, gets free but everyone still thinks you’re bad, go into hiding

Book 4 - olympics style events with everyone clapping as the hero wins. Tragic ending in shock death.

Book 5 - misuse of power, misunderstandings, frustration at not being believed. Fake news, maybe a social media twist?

Book 6 - out on a quest, in the country side, out of your comfort zone looking for something precious

Book 7 - final explosive battle of good vs evil. The set is destroyed. The goodies are victorious but left shell shocked about everything that’s happened. Peace reigns, for now.

Thank you!

The dementors are very floaty and menacing, I’m sure that could be portrayed. Book 3 Prisoner of Azkaban

Facing and overcoming your fear
Loyalty and friendship - Lupin and Sirius

Amazing, thank you!

this has all been superb, thank you so much

Book 6 isn’t them camping, that’s book 7!

There’s the boom we hear the car flies that would be a good movement.

The whomping willow would also produce a good dance move.

Expeliarmis runs throw the whole series and would create another move.

thinking main characters Hagrod, Delores umbridge and kreacher the house elf would provide good and differential types of move.

Yep you're right, sorry. He has to have the locket which turns them whingey in the tent.

I don't claim to be an expert, but I'd summarise as:

Book 1: innocence and friendship overcome greed
Book 2: evil people sow division through fear
Book 3: overcoming mental demons; search for belonging
Book 4: doing right when everyone else is doing wrong; deceit and loss
Book 5: vindication following long injustice; loss
Book 6: lost boys
Book 7: war brings out the best and worst in us; overcoming evil

Throughout: love trumps evil, search for belonging, people are easily manipulated, how early experiences shape lives, looming threat

Book 1: finding friends
Book 2: finding oneself
Book 3: the child is father of the man
Book 4: All for one and one for all
Book 5: to be true to oneself
Book 6: To learn ones deepest fears
Book 7: To be true in the face of these fears

I’d go for the car/spiders in book2 - pretty easy to show driving and pretend to be a spider

I'd be pretty mad at the teacher for suggesting homework that requires the child to watch 7 films/read 7 books

No no it wasn't this. The class were in groups and each chose their own theme. There was a lot of discussion in DC's group and eventually they voted in favour of Harry Potter and DC then asked the teacher how they could get a good mark doing Harry Potter and the teacher said by representing each book/film. I think the assumption was that everyone had already seen every film. DC was despairing but I really think the responses here are so good it will inspire DC and make it a lot easier, and they won't need to watch the films or read the books. I am very grateful!

Dance person here.
What you need are some clear key words or ideas from each book that can be translated into a movement - otherwise it'll just be am-dram play version of the film. Is this contemporary dance - sounds like it.
Lightning scar - zig zag movements
Friendship/support - fancy handshakes, holding hands, hugs, lifting/carrying
Secrecy - covering eyes, cloaking (covering/revealing)
Snake - snake like movements (not necessarily with the whole body. You are not trying to be a snake but using snake movement as inspiration)
Quidditch - the idea of chasing, catching up, over taking, bobbing/ducking
Weasley Twins - doing stuff in unison
Good vs Evil Battle - 2 opposite sides pushing and colliding etc, finishing with one side winning (high and low positions)

That's the gist of it. Put some of these movements together - experiment with speed, levels, qualities, repetitions, stop/start/pauses etc - basically variation. It's a bit like building a sentence, then a paragraph. Teach them to each other. Movements can be done with whole or part of the body.

Good luck. Kids are very imaginative and creative in this kind of thing. Don't let them fall into the mistake of just miming the movie!

Just tell the teacher you don’t know the books. What a bizarre homework exercise.

And why does it need doing on a Friday night?

This is great, thank you

The cursed child has some excellent cloak swishing and choreographed wand battles.

We saw that too.

@harrypotterthemeyay How about the Potter Waltz? That's in the Goblet of Fire book and is set at the Yule Ball which is one of the pivotal scenes in the film/book. Loads of dance schools have used that for shows etc, you are bound to find some of them on youtube.

There's a duel in book 2, and several smaller ones in book 5 that could be good movements.

He's 11. His parents were murdered, he's spent hid whole life being abused by his aunt and uncle, his life suddenly changes and he finds out traumatic things about his past, including that an evil maniac wants to kill him (and he's bullied by a teacher), and you think he's a 'whiney shit'? Ok.

You could say that for most queries on Mumsnet, but the whole point of a forum is to discuss things with actual people!

Book 1 - The children go to school, Voldemort tries to kill Harry, goodness prevails
Book 2 - The children go to school, Voldemort tries to kill Harry with a giant snake, goodness prevails
Book 3 - The children go to school, Voldemort tries to kill Harry with dementors, goodness prevails
Book 4 - The children go to school, Voldemort tries to kill Harry in a graveyard, goodness prevails
Book 5 - The children go to school, Voldemort tries to kill Harry in the Ministry of Magic, goodness prevails
Book 6 - The children go to school, Voldemort tries to get Draco to kill Harry, goodness prevails
Book 7 - The children go camping, Voldemort tries to kill everyone, goodness prevails

This isn’t a discussion, this is asking people on the internet to explain the themes of Harry Potter to her and suggest things for their child’s school project

Yes but his classmates only know this kind of vague myth that he survived Voldemort and that's about it. They don't know about the aunt and uncle, or Voldemort. If he went to your school you would be eye rolling every time you heard him pipe up in lessons and think the teacher was probably spot on to put him in his place a bit.