I was four when I started my first ever dance class. I used to love prancing around the room and so my mum took me to the 'Curzon' dance class. I loved it. I went every Saturday morning nine to twelve. Ballet, tap and modern. I enjoy all three styles of dance. We had exams after every term and I passed all of them. I had all the costumes. The tutu's, the leotards, the cat suits, tap shoes, ballet shoes, block shoes and the glittery hats for when we performed to a large audience. When I was eight I started at the 'Barking Broadway theatre'. We performed to large audiences on stage there too. We done shows that were musicals so dance was still included just more of a cheesy theme. I really enjoyed fooling around and exaggerating, it was really entertaining. When I was eleven I gave up 'Curzon' and after about a year I went on to joining a street performing arts class at the age of twelve. 'Big Deal' (the company in Barking) catered for drama and dance. I stayed there until I was fourteen. In secondary school I auditioned for all the school shows. Some of the shows I did were Bugsy Malone, Grease, Chicago and Hairspray. Finally I done GCSE dance and so I've done contemporary dance too. I passed dance with a C. My strengths include emotional dance where I can interpret a story line; such as contemporary. I am a visual learner and so I like to watch someone perform and then I can take on board what I've seen and make it my own. Areas for development include being more confident to contributing ideas and trying new skills and develop dance techniques, so I have a wider understanding and I know about other professional dancers and what inspired them to becoming where they are today.
In the future I would love to be a drama teacher or a performing arts teacher. I have little cousins I babysit all the time and I also done work experience in a primary school and I love working with children so it would be my dream to teach drama and dance something I truly love and work with children.
Sunday 2 October 2011
Cunningham technique- 28/09/11- number 1
Hitting shapes. Need to make sure heads down and shoulders forward. My alignment and posture is very good when standing tall. Need to align my arms more, make them more engaged and tightened. I need to loosen my spine more. My flat back has improved here from the previous exercises in the Graham technique. I have a straight back and my head is a diagonal. So during the week I worked on my flat back and you can see it has become stronger. I need to show my curve more when turning to the left or right. I have pointed toes but I need to extend my feet more and work through the stages of kicking my feet out. So the flat foot, to balls of my feet to my toes and reversed. Need to ensure my arms are in line with my shoulders and extend my finger tips. 3 minutes 45 seconds we tilted to an arch back to a tilt into a curve. Make sure I keep my hips still. I need to get deeper and bend more when I'm in second position. My hips shouldn't shift at all (almost as if I have headlights on my hips and they need to flash forward. Keep arms firm and extended. 4 minutes in to the exercise I shouldn't be tired so need to keep all my muscles tight and in position. Keep my bum tucked in.
I think were studying Graham and Cunningham techniques so as learning dancers we can understand the uses of different parts of our body. The curve, arch and tilt idea shows us how to move just one part of the body and show how restricted the rest of the body has to be to show just one part contracting or moving. The difference between the two is the interpretation that Cunningham took from Graham to make it more masculine and use the body more where as Graham liked the idea to show the stages of woman hood through the soul and emotions.
Graham dance technique 24/09/11 number 3
This technique was about triplets and centre phrases. After the first two exercises I couldn't complete this technique as I was in a lot of pain. So I stretched out my muscles and cooled down. However here are a few notes on what should be happening during this technique. Each step when doing the triplets should be equal. Not one big step and then two little ones, they should all be the same size. You should keep your head up high. Feet in second position. When learning the phrase you should pick up the material and you should interpret your own personal story and use as much expression as you can to make the dance unique to you.
Graham dance technique 24/09/11 number 2
This technique was standing contractions, twiddles, core training and jumps. At 23 seconds we were doing straight backs and I can see the video I need to bring my head up to a diagonal almost. Two flat feel in parallel and knees have to be over my feel. So I need to make my second position wider so I can bend down more. I need to show the breath leaving my body. At 2 minutes I need to keep my head up, I look like I'm nose diving. At 2 minutes 17 seconds I need to widen my legs and make sure I arch and contract just the bottom of my back. 2 minutes 40 seconds we started twiddles. I found the timing of the twiddles fairly capable. I could keep up and I enjoyed the rhythm. 4 minutes 10 seconds I need to engage the muscles in my arms more and even though I had an injured foot it doesn't effect my upper body. On a good note at 4 minutes 25 seconds I have pointed toes. At 3 minutes 34 seconds I need to work on my leg strength and core balancing. Some tips that my peers in my class told me were to find a spot and stare at it to hold my balance, align my hips and bury my feet into the floor. When I have succeed to do this I will then work on balancing after a turn or a leap or a jump. Because of my injury I couldn't perform this exercise on my left foot. At 5 minutes we started sit-ups. Everything should be sucked and I should be able to feel the strain from the core in my stomach. During the exercise I did feel the straining. I had good alignment at 7 minutes 20 seconds. When tiredness increases my bum sticks in the air and I've arched my back to much. I learnt that training stamina and the quick fast twitch muscles still work even when your tired so I never have an excuse to give up. For example during a performance or a show the end of the show it needs to be more fiery and most aggressive. This will make the performance and the dancer stronger.
Thursday 29 September 2011
Graham dance technique 24/09/11 number 1
After watching the video I can see my weaknesses. At 1 minute 7 seconds I fiddled with my top and obviously this isn't professional. I need to make sure I professionally remain as a dancer. I need to make sure I stay focused and keep in time with the rest of the class. I also need to ensure my arms stay in the position given and not to make them floppy. They look weak and need to be more engaged. I need to keep them strong. My skills of alignment are quite strong through this exercise, I had good core control. 5 minutes and 38 seconds we started the seated contractions.7 minutes 19 seconds we were working on muscle tightening; and make sure we knew why we were doing the task. So we had to make sure we knew about the muscle awareness and the fluent and flexibility of our spine. One of Graham's ideas was that your spine could tell a story, you could be so expressive with your spine. My contractions compared to the rest of the class are not as obvious. I need to show the sudden force of the muscle contract as if I'm getting punched in the gut and being forced into a new position inhaling all the oxygen. I then need to show the release and as if I am blowing out all the air. These contractions need to be more noticeable. I also need to make sure that i point my toes when flicking my legs out in one of the exercises. For example 7 minutes 50 seconds in i noticed that i had weak ankles. This is an improvement I need to make. I need to be aware of the stages I need to remember when pinging my feet. so flat foot to the balls of your feet then to your toes and reversed when bringing them back into feet being in parallel then to first position. I had an injury this lesson and so I had a weak left leg. Meaning during the exercise I was weaker on one side of my body and I couldn't perform to the best of my ability. For example 8 minutes 46 seconds it started to hurt me to place my heel flat on the floor and so the exercise looked slacked and non energetic. However I can also see my strengths. When standing up my alignment and posture is very straight and I look quite like a dancer. Overall I just need to make my movements sharper and stronger. I need to have more locked moves in the exercises such as my arms, ankles and my back when contracting or I'm in a flat back position.
Contractions
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