MoonDance
The Magic Game of Stories
MoonDance is a magic game of stories – inventing them, writing or recounting or play-acting them, enjoying and sharing them.
There are as many variations as there are players.
The only limitations are the limits of the imagination, and those are very far indeed – much farther than we tend to believe …
MoonDance is for people of all ages and backgrounds. Anyone can play it.
MoonDance
- takes the player away to the wonderland of the imagination
- trains the use of mental imagery
- enhances expressive native and foreign language skills
- unleashes creative writing potential
- supports personal growth
- has been enjoying 20 years of sustained popularity among teachers, trainers, and players.
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is currently available in English, Spanish and German language versions.
MoonDance comes with its own soundtrack: to relax the body and at the same time stimulate the creative imagination, a music CD is included. It was especially composed for the game.
Here is how it looks
The coloured segments on the Moon Disc represent eight archetypal segments of a story:
Once upon a time, there was …
He/She/It lived …
He/She/It loved to …
And so on.
For each segment, there is a deck of 20 cards containing characters, activities, places, objects and so on.
And here is how it goes
Starting with the segment ‘Once upon a time, there was …’, the player picks any of the cards of the same colour and turns it over. It might read ‘… a dancer’. Maybe he or she begins by depicting the dancer. Or one waits until the next card belonging to the segment ‘He/She/It lived …’, and that could say ‘in a forest’ – and the story may start with a description of the surroundings and a dancer’s life in the forest.
With each new card, another image will unfold before the mind’s eye, and all one has to do is translate theses images into written or oral narration and develop or embellish them to one’s own liking.
In the end, there will be a complete story that can be funny, mysterious, or a lot of other things, with surprising twists and turns and solutions to problems.
MoonDance can be played on one’s own or in groups.
How to make the most of MoonDance
Native Language Teachers
Children, adolescents and adults
Trains expressive language proficiencies
- Enhances active vocabulary
- Activates especially the tenses (past tense, past perfect, present perfect …)
- Trains use of personal pronouns
- Direct and reported speech
- A great way to introduce creative writing
- Circumvents inhibiting and restricting belief patterns (“I have no power of imagination…“)
- Learners get to know surprising aspects of themselves and others
- Trains the imaginative powers
- Can be used in improvisational theatre
- Supports group cohesion (through sharing, enacting, posting …)
- Fun and and a great change from everyday classroom activities
Foreign Language Teachers
Children, adolescents and adults
Intermediary and advanced levels
- Practises oral and written expression in the target language
- Enhances active vocabulary
- Activates especially the tenses (past tense, past perfect, present perfect …)
- Trains the use of personal pronouns
- Direct and reported speech
- Hands-on activation of as yet unused coping competencies (expressing yourself even if you are not perfect …)
- Circumvents inhibiting and restricting belief patterns (“I cannot …“)
Lecturers and Trainers in Adult Learning
Combined individual and group activity
- Ideal for evening sessions
- Can be used in the context of personal growth, creativity, problem solving, working with restricting belief patterns, creative writing, …Unearths and harnesses hidden personal resources
- Counsel and projection screen for personal problems and questions
- Trains the powers of imagination and expression
- Encourages lateral thinking faculties
Therapists
Speech therapists, occupational therapists, psychotherapists, all kinds of therapeutic approaches that encourage expression
- Children, adolescents and adults
- Unearths unconscious material (desires, restrictions, apprehensions and resources)
- Strengthens the Ego / sense of self
- Work with the ‚inner critic’
- Playful exploration of unusual problem solutions and options
- Accesses the imagination and invites fantasies