Logo

Laurel and Jenna are meeting for the first time. In this video we see how the girls establish a relationship through a series of leading and following actions. As Laurel dances on the mat, she turns her body toward Jenna, falls to her knees, and then looks at Jenna as if to say, “Did you see what I did?” Jenna responds by falling to the floor in imitation. Just as Jenna reaches the floor, Laurel stands up to begin a new series of movements. Jenna observes Laurel and quickly stands up to imitate her turning action. Perhaps because Jenna is turned away and unable to see Laurel falling to the floor for a second time, Jenna does not drop to her knees in imitation. Notice what other movements Laurel introduces and study how Jenna works to follow her lead. When another child joins them on the mat consider how his style of relating to Jenna differs from Laurel’s approach. Notice when the roles of leader and follower shift. Speculate about why Laurel may decide to join Jenna by sitting beside her on the edge of the mat. Notice that Laurel uses only nonverbal invitations to engage Jenna and consider why she may choose not to employ verbal cues. Observe how Jenna attends to the boy wearing overalls and consider what she may be thinking as she does so. What other nonverbal gestures do you notice the children using to engage each other and what meanings do you think the children may intend to convey?

Keywords: Ones, Child-Child, Gestures, Imitation, Body

Highlight the text above and paste to a document to have your own copy.

Length of stand-alone master video clip: 1 minute 34 seconds