Unit 38 Dance Review

The rehearsal process:

Talking about my rehearsal process my self-discipline was good during the lessons, I wasn’t wasting time during rehearsal, but sometimes I found it difficult to be more creative and think out of the box. I was always on time and haven’t missed any lessons. In the beginning of learning this piece my weakness was not getting into the character, I needed couple lessons to make it happen also research the piece more, watch it more than once. When I felt the character I was more concentrated on choreography, my moves were not strong enough and I needed to put more energy, although my movement memory was better than during the previous pieces we have learnt. I and my group were good in merging our choreographies, we made it look good. Also we had a really good time management and we were always sharing our ideas that shows that my group’s relationship was very good. The best rehearsal process was probably on the last day before the performance as my group didn’t waste any time and we were working hard and thinking how we could improve our piece, everyone seems very motivated and I was very motivated as well. Anyways my weakness while learning this dance was that I wasn’t really working on it outside college, if I were I would probably fix my other weaknesses quicker. So my target to improve was to be more self-managed outside college.

Choreographic process:

We were asked to create more our own movements this time.  I did have an idea of my character and also I had some warrior movements which shows fighting or getting back the energy or connecting to other dancers. But my weakness was that I didn’t have a big variety of movements. To improve this I needed to watch some “Youtube” videos which shows more capoeira movements. Also we had a lot of duet works which included trusting each other, lifting each other and supporting each other. Thinking about what we could do and trying it was interesting, also it was fun. Every time we thought of any move we tried to develop it so it could look much better and eye-catching. I and my partner had really nice lifting movements like rotating horizontally for 360 degrees, or rotating vertically for 180 degrees. I had certain movements which showed that I am fighting – keeping my arms in front of my face and being very determined and concentrated, also when I was getting my powers back my choreography was slow and I had a moments of suspension when all my attention was on my arm which just got its power back. Our experimenting gave us some really nice ideas of what we can do but my target was still to have some more ideas, be more creative.

My performance:

In the beginning my performance was very good, I was really concentrated on my character and on the choreography. I wasn’t nervous and I was feeling confident. My timing was good, same as a posture and coordination. My balance was good although I did lose my balance a little bit once in the first team’s merged choreography, it wasn’t really visible though. In my opinion I could be more flexible and then my Meia lua de frente kick in the first section would look better and stronger. My timing was quite good, musicality was good.  Stamina has improved during the rehearsals process, but I was out of breath after the first section as I did a lot of running and quick movements. In the bit when lights were switching off and on it was a bit difficult to notice everyone around be but I didn’t bump into anyone so I think my awareness of other dancers was good. My and my partners connecting movement went well, we did them on time and in a right way.  Also I did many different dynamics and it made my performance more eye-catching. My focus, energy and timing were good during the whole performance except the ending. After I and my partner did our last support exercise I started to feel a bit uncomfortable because of my appearance and it was distracting me for the couple next movements, this moment for me looked the worse out of the whole piece. The last thing I want to talk is my facial expression during the performance. My face did look determined when I was fighting and it did look tired when I was getting my powers back, also you could see a little bit of astonishment on my face when I felt the power in my hand, but I still think that my facial expressions could be better – change more often. Target for next time is to not get distracted during the performance no matter what.

Weekly blog for 'Certificate In Dance' course

Week 1
8-14 December

We were watching the piece, trying to understand the subject matter, describing what it means for us to be a spiritual warriors.

Week 2
15-21 December

Learning first section. I liked this piece from the beginning because many different dance styles are mixed and also I learned more about for example Marshall arts techniques.

My weakness in the beginning was to get into the character, I was concentrating more on the choreography, learning the movements

Week 3 
5-11 January

We learn more and more of the choreography, develop our characters more and more. I need to add more strenghts and energy to my movements, so the piece will look stronger, also I need to be more confident.

Week 4
12-18 January

Week 5 
19-25 January

Target to improve was to have a better idea of the character

Week 6 
26 January - 1 February
Working more on the first section. In the beginning of this week the end of first section was really weak, I needed to improve it much more, add more energy, have better movement memory and improve my accuracy. By the end of this week I did improve, but needed improve more.
Here is the video of our Monday's lesson:

Week 7 
2-8 February

Week 8 
9-15 February

Week 9 
23 February - 1 March

This week we were working on trusting each other. We begun with exercises when we fall backwards towards a partner. I found this exercise a bit scary in the beginning, thinking that the partner can drop me or don't manage to catch me on time, but after couple tries I was feeling comfortable and confident with falling as we did improve our trusts. Target after this lesson was to think about more moves which require trusting each other, don't be scared and fully use the imagination.

Week 10 
2-8 March

This week we did many exercises about feeling each other, and using each other's bodies. Tried many support and balance exercises. First I thought that it is very difficult for a smaller girl to keep much bigger weight on herself, but then I realized that it is not that hard, as it depends on the posture mostly. If the person feels comfortable let's say when he stands on his fourths, then he will manage to keep much heavier weight on himself. During this week we were playing with different moves, exploring them. It was easier to create something new as we all had our partners so we were just trying everything what came to our minds and managed to create some really nice sequences

Week 11 
9-15 March

This week we tried many different lifting exercises, for example 180* rotation of the body vertically, or 360* rotation horizontally. I found them more difficult than previous ones, because they need more physical strength, but it didn't go too bad.

Week 12 
16-22 March

This week we did a harder level - lifting without one hand. Those movements were more limited comparing to lifting with both hands

Week 13 
23-29 March

Were thinking what we've done in previous weeks' lessons so we could add some new sequences. Experimenting with moves, making sequences. I found it challenging and at the same time joyful. My weakness was that I didn't have many contacts with other warriors which was needed so my target was to add more contacts

Week 14 
20-26 April

Worked really hard on team's work, where thinking and sharing ideas of how we could merge our choreography or motifs more so it could show that we all are warriors and that we are connected. Also We were adding some obvious contacts, the piece looked much more better. Target to improve was to have more different dynamics in the piece

Week 15 27.4- 3.5 

This is the last full week before the performance. This week I worked more on improving the choreography, thinking more about facial expressions, trying to connect myself more to the piece, getting warriors energy as much as I could as choreography was learn by hard by that time. Facial experience has improved, more dynamics have been added.

Performance day, 6th of May

On the performance day we had a really good time management and group management. We managed to find a space to rehearse and improve our choreography. We were free to share our ideas and our final piece appeared to be one of the strongest pieces 

Who Shall Go To The Ball and Dance Tek Warriors

Both dances are very similar, and both use a lot of contact work, connection is very strong. Both dances are very dynamic, powerful, moving, fast and audience's eye should be very fast as many things are happening at the same time. In my opinion Dance Tek Warriors dance is almost the same, but sometimes it has slower moments and it is not always very quick and sudden, movements are more spiritual, it changes dynamics more often and they have more whole groupe's sequences. Most of Tek Warriors movements are copied from Tekken game, when others are just created experimenting with contact work. First dance has more straight movements as very straight arms or very straight legs, or very straight full body - from feet to the head.

Not to mention, Who Shall Go To The Ball dance has disabled dancers which makes this dance even more incredible.

                      

Dance Tek Warriors

This dance is based on a Play Station's game Tekken

In this dance we can see different dance styles as hip hop, contemporary, martial arts and voguing. The dancers pretend to be spiritual warriors. What does spiritual mean? For me it means to relax, to feel what I want, to let all the bad energy go, get a contact with another world. It means reformation, recovery. Being with myself, feeling a peace, also being very focussed and careful.

Tek warriors dance has 7 different sections. Some of the show how spiritual warriors get power, spread  the energy. In the last section warriors lose their powers, they are exhausted.

During our classes we were doing many different exercises. We did duet work, linking with each other, trusting each other, also lifting movements. I think it is really important to develop a trust between two partners as some movements can be risky and both partners need to be sure that they can do it. Also we needed to do as many connections as possible because this dance is mainly about how connected can spiritual warriors be. Sometimes it was hard to keep physical contact all the time when we were exploring new cominations improvising but depending on each other. On the next lesson we were practising to do some supportive work but not using our hands. I found it very challenging. It was easier to keep the partner on my shoulder without using arms. Everyone had different personalities as everyone understands spiritual warriors differently. Spiritual warriors personality can be dominant, peacemaker, brave, timid and determined, focused which is mine. Also we use different dynamics, first it can be fast and then become slow, moves can also be heavy or light, sharp, sudden or fluid, this dance let's a dancer to do what they think is the best and mostly suitable.

As I can see, I really need to work on my face expressions, also my moves should be more sudden and stronger, I should remain really concentrated but make it less noticable. It would be better if I used more different movements in my improvisations, for that I need to check Tekken game to have a bigger range of movements in my head and be able to use them. Dance Tek Warriors requires perfect physicality, so I need to improve my strenghts, muscles.

On 2nd complicite lesson we all got folders with some papers inside and they were about different protests. We read one about Emily Pankhurst and women's right. After we read it we decided to do some freeze frames showing women's rights.

This freeze frame shows a woman on the floor and 3 men around are pulling her because she tried to stand out for her rights. She doesn't have a right to talk.

This freeze frame says that men are using strength to stop women. A man smiles with derision because he knows that he has much more power that the woman.

Here we can see 4 women who are protesting and are not scared of being hurt

Remembering all freeze frames there were some really strong ones and everyone really got into it.

Bob Fosse biography

Bob Fosse was an American dance, musical theatre choreographer and director, actor, screenwriter and film director. He was born in June 23, 1927 and died in September 23, 1987 at age of 60. Bob Fosse got heart attack and everyone was really saddened because of his death.

He had three wives:

             Mary Ann Niles,                      Joan McCracken                           Gwen Verdon

       who was his dance partner                    dancer                                    dancer/actress

                                               

Fosse's career begun at age of thirteen when he started "The Riff Brothers" collaboration with his friend dancer Charles Grass. They were touring many theaters and then Bob Fosse moved to New York. There he met his first wife and he appeared in "Call Me Mister" with her what brought him to the attention of  Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. He came to Hollywood when signed the MGM contract in 1953.
George Abbott hired him to choreograph "The Pajama Game" musical. This musical was a huge success and that's when he won his first Tony award.

Bob Fosse rehearsing with dancers

As an artist Bob Fosse was known for his modern dance style. He always used jazz hands, both hips and shoulder rolls appear frequently, turned-in knees, sideways shuffling and white gloved, single handed gestures. His dances were seaxual and physically demanding or even the most highly trained dancers.

Bob Fosse's choreography in "The Rich Man's Frug"

Ken Alan's tap dance performance inspired by Bob Fosse's show in "Redhead" (1959)

Links:

main - http://www.fosse.com/features/fosse_an_introduction2.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Fosse#Personal_life

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/stars/bob-fosse/

Complicite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvM4hTmZvrc&index=1&list=PL739228189F349AD2

Take a look of how complicite looks, more information to be continued...

Today our dance lesson was really excited. This time it wasn't even a dance lesson, because we got a big black box from Complicite. We found many interesting and different things: a hat, an umbrella, money, a small suitcase, a video camera, a protesting paper. a speaker. All these props tell us that this is gonna be something about protests and I'm really looking forward to find out what exactly they are for, but for the first lesson we did a warm up to understand how complicite works.

WARM UP

For warm up we played games, ball games. They all where about being together and feeling each other and we needed to be very focused. For example:

In this game we were supposed to stop at the same time, then watch and after some time start to reach something in the same direction and then step back. It was really exciting when we actually did everything at the same time and at the same direction. Also we played 9 squares game and the grid. First one was more fun because we play with the ball but we still needed to stay focused otherwise you will lose, and while playing the grid you need to be really concentrated and feel if people at the same line start to move at the same time and if it is a right amount of people. These warm-up games really help to get the concentration and right focus for the lesson.

Alston - Overdrive

This dance was about angles, energy and use of different directions. Whole piece looked really good and our, as a group, dynamics were really good. Most of them time my angles were really sharp. I found use of different directions to be a bit difficult in the beginning, I used to lose my balance, but I did improve :)

During whole dance I was really focussed and confident, my face probably showed it and I really wanted audience to notice it.

I think that in 1st section’s first phrases of this piece my timing wasn't really good, unfortunately. Also I remember that at one moment I lost my balance, so I didn't extend a move as I could, but it wasn't really noticeable for the audience. My feet could be more pointed and I think I should have put more energy in the beginning when we were running through our first phrases. I remember that I tried my best with putting energy but maybe because I was quite nervous in the beginning and it happened because when we just went on a stage I saw that the audience was really big. Although it didn't look like I did during a few moments. I found it easy to do back kicks when I put my arms up and then flipped them to the back and at the same time kicked my leg back and spinned 180 degrees, but it was harder to do a butterfly because I didn't feel that I spin my arms enough and a jump could be higher. A rond de gambe move was quite difficult as well, it was hard to keep my back straight and turn 180 degrees when my one leg should have been straight and on 90 degrees in the air.

Mine and Cagla's part looked really good and it was really strong, even face expressions have improved, angles were really clear. Crossings with Ruth, Sonia, Daneille and Nancie were quite good, but at one moment I needed some more space, because of it I accidently hit Daneille, but I did not lose my focus and carried on.

I think we did really well in creating our motifs because it looked really nice with the whole piece. 

I really like how I performed in Section 2 in first and second phrases. My moves were sudden and strong, but they could be more extended. But I found it hard to do the jump in last phrase. My jump in last phrase should have been more high and extended, leg wasn't straight. Also I had a lack of space in 3rd phrase when we all run to the one corner.

Also I really liked our going on and off stage. Especially before repeating the first section. We did a circle thing and it looked really nice, I did a great dancers walk ! And going off stage after the first section looked interesting, when we directed our arms to the left and half of us run in that direction and other half run to the other side, it looked as a good opening for Nancie's and Daneilles section as well.

Here are couple pictures from our rehearsals:

We practised a lot especially on the day before performance and it did show its results.  To be honest, in the beginning of rehearsals I didn't really feel this music, and in order to dance at the same time for the whole group we used to not listen to the music beats, but to watch at certain people and start at the same time as they do. My weakness was lack of energy, moves were not extended enough and angles were not sharp enough. But in the end I got it and I was happy that I learnt all the moves, and didn't forget them. There were quite a lot of them :)

In my opinion during the last term my flexibility has improved and my pointed toes improved a bit. Also my balance got better, but I still need to work on these things. After this performance I really saw that my class can do really well and it encourages me to learn more and more dances, it kind of motivates me to work harder.

I'm setting myself a couple targets to improve my dancing in future dances:

• Add more energy (I will do it by going  to sleep earlier so I can get enough sleep and energy, also eat more fruits :D)
• Work on flexibility (I will do stretching exercises every day, even if I don’t have a dance lesson)
• Work on balance (there are some good exercises to improve it: http://www.wikihow.com/Improve-Balance-Through-Exercise)
• Be focused during every lesson
• Look more carefully at my spacing next time

Role analysis 

My role I have assigned in ‘The best of British’ Showcase is Laura from Matilda’s musical. This musical is done by Roald Dahl and it was written by Dennis Kelly.

Autobiographical facts

I am Laura. I have a great family. I have one brother I like to fight with. I go to Trunchbull’s school and I am in Matilda’s class. I am really healthy and energetic kid.

Interests

I like drawing and singing, also playing with my friends. 

Physical description

I am 6 years old cute girl. I wear a grey uniform and burgundy tie for school, outside school I like to wear colourful clothes. My favourite hairdo is two topknots from different sides.

Successes and failures 

I played a few trick on Miss Trunchbull. The best one was when I hided all her pens. But once, when I tried to hide her important documents’ folder, she noticed me and I was sent to a corner for 2 hours. But I still continue doing tricks on a Miss Trunchbull.

In the scenes

In the scene I am in the school. My class and some older kids from Miss Honey’s class are being revolting against Miss Trunhcbull. We sing, make noise, are being angry and intend to get revenge for how we’ve been mistreated. Everyone is copying Miss Truncbull, or fighting. I am throwing paper balls. I am really friendly person, and I get on well with all kids. I support my friends and I am being supported by my friends.

To act this role, I need to feel the hate for Miss Truchbull, and really want to succeed in our ‘mission’. Give all my energy, use many emotions, facial expressions.

To prepare for this, I should put a lot of effort during our lessons/rehearsals. Also I am seeing my brothers and cousins soon, who are 5-6-years-old, so I will remember how children at this age behave, how they react to things, how they talk, how they make a mess and noise. Our singing part is quite fast so I will practise it and do some exercises to be able to sing faster and clearer.

Rooster dance self assessment

Improvements:

·         Confidence

·         Timing

·         Vision, focus was much better

Strengths:

·         Concentration

·         Focus

·         Confidence

Weaknesses:

·         Spinnings in painted black

·         Sharpness

·         Extensions

·         Facial expression

·         Characterization

·         Dynamics

Target to improve:

Improve positions in painted black and work on all weaknesses.

What went well:

Timing has really improved; I was not moving or looking around when I’m supposed to stand still.

What went  less well:

Spinnings

Monologue

I chose my monologue book from Agnes By God play by John Pielmeier where a nurse doesn't admit that she killed her newborn baby. I see her as a mental character and because of that I want to do this monologue even more, because it is more interesting. Also I like this monologue because an easy language is used here, no difficult word, what is important to me. Doing this monologue I will go mad, super mad, and at some time calm down and then go to my own world.

Take a read:

I don't know what you're talking about! You want to talk about the baby, everybody wants to talk about the baby, but I never saw the baby, so I can't talk about the baby because I don't believe in a baby!... No! I'm tired of talking! I've been talking for weeks! And nobody believes me when I tell them anything! Nobody listens to me!

Where do you think babies come from?...Well, I think they come from when an angel lights on their mother's chest and whispers into her year. That makes good babies start to grow. Bad babies come from when a fallen angel squeezes in down there and they grow and grow until they come out down there. I don't know where good babies come out.

And you can't tell the difference except that bad babies cry a lot and make their fathers go away and their mothers get very ill and die sometimes.

Mummy wasn't very happy when she died and I think she went to hell because every time I see her she looks like she just stepped out of a hot shower. And I'm never sure if it's her or the lady who tells things. They fight over me all the time

The Lady I saw when I was ten. I was laying on the grass, looking at the sun and then the sun became a cloud, and the cloud became the Lady and she told me she would talk to me and then her feet began to bleed and I saw there were holes in her hands and in her side and I tried to catch it as it fell from the sky but I couldn't see anymore because my eyes hurt because there were big black spots in front of them.

And she tells me things like -right now she's crying "Marie! Marie!" but I don't know what that means. And she uses me to sing. It's as if she's throwing  a big hook through the air and it catches me under my ribs and tries to pull me up but I can't move because Mummy is holding me feet and all I can do is sing in her voice, it's the Lady's voice, God loves you! (Silence) God loves you..

I don't want to talk anymore, all right? I just want to go home.

I separated the text because it makes it easier to learn it. Also I watched some videos of this monologue on internet, but I am sure that I can do better!

Today we were working on "Masquerade" dance. We were learning vogue dancing. I find it really interesting to add vogueing elements to "Masquerade" piece. I have seen voguing before and I find this dance really different. I like how you can play with your hands. I think we need to work on our arms more now cuz majority of moves are arms moves.

We learnt three moves in today's lesson. And we did succeed trying to create a dance from only those three moves. Looking forward to learn more.

More about voguing

Voguing is a modern house dance style. It was found in 1960's.
Now there are 3 different vogue styles:
1. Old way - characterized by the formation of lines, symmetry and precision in the execution of graceful, fluid-like action. Take a look on this interesting hand performance and floor exercises.

2. New way - characterized by rigid moves coupled with clicks and arms control that sometimes includes tutting, locking or illusion of bone breaking.

3. Vogue fem - this style is mostly exaggerated with feminine moves influenced by contemporary, ballet and jazz dance styles. Vogue fem includes hands performance, catwalk, duckwalk, floor performance and dips&drops.

Evaluation of my performance

My task was to perform a Suzanne, lesbian journalist. It required some skills which could help me to get in to my character, don’t laugh, in the beginning do journalist voice and in the end get a bit shy because an awkward situation has happened. I found this play weird, but as I understand weird plays are likely to be in theatres because they are less normal.

It was really hard to reveal my character when I was meant to look at the camera all the beginning, but after awkward situation I really started to feel awkward, at that moment I definitely got into my character.

Change: In very beginning of rehearsing I was sitting next to my partner and my faces side was facing the audience. But Sean said that audience is losing my character. They couldn’t see my character. So I stood up next to my camera, because audience could see my face from there and they could see my character more clearly. 

When I went on stage I was feeling quite confident but I still felt a bit nervous. Sometimes I was forgetting that I am on stage and then this feeling was coming back. I still need more experience of being on stage. I haven’t forgotten any words or action, and I spoke quite loudly I think so the audience could hear me. Also in the awkward situation we did a really good eye contact, that’s why that situation became awkward.  I am happy that the audience understood that I was a lesbian, which means I revealed my character and that was my main goal.

Future predictions:

3 Positives:

• Loud voice
• Not too nervous      

2/3 Weaknesses:

• I need to not read my lines in my head, but really listen to what the other actors are saying and reacting to it
• I need to get more into my character

Cabaret (Certificate in Dance)

Everything happens in 1931 in Berlin.

Lady in the beginning is dominant. She is very interesting character. She always has an illusion of being a superstar, she tries to escape from reality.

Main parts of movie are filmed in Kit Kat club.

Dance moves are sexual, also they bend their back - that's Bob Fosses one of the main features.

A lot of make-up is used, even guys use lots of make-up. In dance they really hide who is a man and who is a woman. That is good because it is what they are trying to do.

Dancers wear fluffy dresses or club clothes like tight shorts, crop tops. 

Acting is likely to be used in dances.

Dance performed by Lisa Minnelli:

Personal evaluation about how I have improved in my dance

(Lesson with Dominique)

Action

Now I remember the choreography of our dance but I need to improve my extensions. I wasn't really concentrated on my feet precision and I think my angles and shapes could be clearer.

Dynamics

In our dance we have some sharp and some soft moves. One of soft ones is when we slowly move our hands down trying to curve them, making waves. One of sharp ones is when we pick our left leg and our hands direct different sides, we need to keep strong balance here.

Space

My group found a way how to cross each other’s planes/spaces/patterns even if in the beginning it looked impossible. I think I need more practise with it. Well we all need.

Relationship

During our lesson on Thursday we added some eye contacts. I really felt connection between us and it helps to keep better timing if you feel you group’s dance and connection.

Popping (Certificate in Dance)

Popping is type of hip hop – street dance. It came from California during 1960’s-1970’s. It is based on the technique of quickly contracting and relaxing muscles to cause a jerk in the dancer's body, referred to as a pop or a hit. This is done continuously to the rhythm of a song in combination with various movements and poses. It can be concentrated only to certain parts of body – legs, arms, neck, chest. Pops are performed on the beat of the music. Popping is usually performed standing up but sometimes popper go on his knees or floor to show special moves. This dance style is usually integrated with robot, waving and tutting dance styles. 

Notable poppers: 

•Salah Benlemqawanssa

•Michael "Boogaloo Shrimp" Chambers

•Steffan "Mr. Wiggles" Clemente

•Suga Pop

•Nam "Poppin'" Hyun Joon

•Stephen "Skeeter Rabbit" Nichols

•JayFunk

Popping performance by Salah Benlemqawanssa

Rooster - sexual dance (Dance Certificate) 

Today we started to learn Rooster's dance by Christopher Bruce. This dance is about sexual revolution and it is combination of contemporary and jazz. I find it quite funny dance. 5 males and 1 female are involved in this dance. Males are dominants. Female is always trying to get their attention. Movements really remind a rooster, also they are strong and sexual. Body is quite up and straight.

Famous modern dance choreographers

Isadora Duncan - her choreography was free and natural. Her choreography doesn't really have sharp endings. She always thought that ballet is really unnatural. Most of her dance was influenced by Greek sculptures.

Martha Graham - in her choreography we can see a clear contraction and release. Movements and eemotionalexpressions are linked to each other. Her famous work is "Appalachian spring"

Merce Cunningham - He wasn't interested in telling stories in his dance. His movement didn't really differ from ballet.

Alvin Ailey - he used African-American traditional spirituals and he liked lines, like long unbroken leg line. His techniques was more like a new dance style. He uses different levels, low stance and tall contrast. His most popular and critically acclaimed work "Revelations":

Ruth St Denis - her dance idea came from Egypt and India. Her dances are usually slow and really dramatic.  

Christopher Bruce -  his choreography is usually dramatic and tells a story.