Lyrical

Updated
 Hi everyone , well my competition and convention weekends are over until May!! So we can get back on track! March always seems to be a crazy and busy month for dancers. It is always so much fun but it is good to relax after it all!!

Lyrical
In this blog post I am going to focus on lyrical which is another type of dance. Lyrical is a mix of jazz and ballet . This creates dancers to use emotion and interpret the music. Facial expression in lyrical is very important,  to get the story of the music across. Today, lyrical can sometimes be called contemporary ( also another type of dance but similar to lyrical). To perform a lyrical dance requires a lot of technique and experience that the dancer must have.

My Opinion
I am a big fan of contemporary and lyrical numbers. As a dancer it lets you explore different ways to express the musics story. Lyrical usually comes easy to me and I am able to pick up lyrical choreography at a decent pace. I also enjoy watching this dance style the most, finding it entertaining . Down below Is a link to YouTube , that will show a video of Amy Yakima and Robert Ronald. Amy Yakima is last seasons winner of So You Think You Can Dance( SYTYCD).This video is a contemporary routine but it Is one of my favorite dances from last season of SYTYCD. Amy is also one of my favorite dancers. Who is your favorite dancer?

This is a picture of Amy Yakima, taken for and from the magazine Dance Spirit

To see this video click Here



My next post
In my next post I hope to talk about ballet!! It is a big topic to cover so be ready to read!!! Have a great week!!

Competitive Side

           Well last weekend I was at a Dance Competition. The competition my studio attended was Leap. Competition for dancers is where you compete your group,solo,duo or trio number. When you compete you compete against other dance studios and dancers that are in your age group. I really enjoy competitions and seeing the other dance numbers. In this post I'm going to talk about the experience I had last weekend.
              At competition I performed in group numbers. I was in a tap,jazz,lyrical, hip hop and a production number. With group numbers you have to be all together and if you are telling a story, to get that point across which isn't always easy. In a competition there are always judges but don't get nervous because they are watching,just enjoy the time you have on stage. If you get nervous before going on stage it is normal and always happens! It goes away by the time you get on stage and you have all this excited energy!

The Dances
             
          My favorite group number is a Jazz/contemporary number that we perform. It is a very powerful piece, that shows the struggle of slavery and what they went through. For the competition we did the best in this number. This costume was white and worked well with the piece. We also performed lyrical, which had a story line as well. It is about love and how that love between the couple isn't there anymore. The lyrical piece is my second favorite number to perform. In lyrical we wear the color sea foam green, which is really pretty and is a dress. Then there is our hip hop number. Our hip hop number is fun and has a variety of songs in it from Beyonce to Justin Timberlake. In hip hop everyone has their own style and that is what I love about this dance. We are able to have a good time and enjoy this number. Tap was our last group number that we did to the song Super Stition. For tap the judges look and listen for all of the sounds you make with the tap shoes. I find tap to be difficult so I have to really work on it. Lastly, production, this is when many dancers from your studio dance together (can be from all ages).This year it was army themed. Working with a big group can be difficult and getting everyone on the same timing can be hard as well. Production is one piece that takes a lot of time to put together.
            Overall competition weekend went great, but it isn't all about winning! It is important to learn from the experience, and becoming a better individual dancer and to just enjoy dancing.

Here is a link to the leap page
Have a great weekend!
                                       

Convention

An Experience
Today I am going to talk about dance conventions. This is a little off topic since I was starting with the basics, but last weekend I went to a convention and it is a perfect time to blog about it. Dancers that are at a certain level go to conventions. You usually go to a dance convention with your dance studio. Now you are probably wondering what a dance convention is. This is where dance studios and dancers come from all over the state and country to a convention. At the convention there are different age groups. At conventions the dancers are taught choreography from amazing, well known choreographers. A convention takes place during the weekends from Friday to Sunday. This is just a brief description of a convention.

What is it? What do you do?
Getting into depth: There are different types of dance conventions to go to. Just to name a few there is New York City Dance Alliance (NYCDA), West Coast Dance Explosion (WCDE), Jump and Nuovo. These are very popular dance conventions but there are many more to chose from. At dance conventions you are split up into age groups. There are the Mini's, Juniors, Teens and Seniors (listed from youngest to oldest). I almost forgot to mention that dance conventions take place at convention centers! Each group has there own ballroom to dance in. There are close to 200 kids in a room, so the big space is needed. At conventions they are like school 'hours, starting from 8:00 am - 2:00pm. Each hour you are taught by a choreographer and they teach you a combination in short amount of time. In conventions you learn to pick up choreography fast. In these hours you also get a lunch break and water breaks. This happens on Saturday and Sunday. Through the convention there is also a dance competition. The dance competition happens on Saturday night and some conventions have competition on Friday as well. Fridays for conventions are either competitions at night or the convention may offer an optional class for any dancer to take.

Scholarships
There is another part of the convention, which is getting a scholarship from the dance convention. A dance convention really tests you as an individual dancer. Each individual dancer has a number that they put on their shirt. This is how the teachers will identify you and give you any corrections that they have for you. The teachers can't memorize over 200 names either, so having the numbers on the shirt help a lot. Getting back to the scholarship part. Through the convention there is a time where you learn an audition piece for the scholarship. You learn a quick combination and then in groups going by the numbers you audition. The people judging you are some of the teachers that have taught you through the convention. Through the process they call who stood out to them back to dance and they are likely to get  scholarships. The audition process can be nerve racking but you just have to go out and do your best.

My View
I love going to conventions, I learn a lot through the short weekend. It is also a lot of fun and you can meet other dancers from all over the state and country. It is also a great experience and gives you the feel of going to the real world at auditions. These conventions can get tiring too, so make sure to have a lot of energy! Hope you have a great weekend! I will put a link below to the dance convention websites, that give you all their information about them.

NYCDA      
JUMP
WCDE
NUVO

This is a picture of NYCDA Regionals. I highly recommend all of these amazing conventions! 

The Essentials

     It is the friday before vacation and I am so excited. It has been a long week but we got through it!!! Anyways, On this post it will tell you a lot about what to keep in your dance bag. It is very important to keep a dance bag, so you stay organized and you bring everything you need to dance class.  In my dance bag I keep all my shoes extra dance clothes, plenty of water and extra hair items (hair elastics, hair pins, etc). It is also smart to keep deodorant, in your bag as well because even though it is dance it causes you to work hard. The bag I use is a Nike bag and it is a good size bag. Depending if you dance a lot you should have a bigger dance bag and if you don't dance as much and take fewer classes than you should have a smaller dance bag.

     On this blog I plan to talk about many different types of dance. The first type I'm going to talk about is Jazz. Well first the history of jazz. Jazz was first refured to a style of dancing during WW1. Though jazz really started from the African Americans before the 1950's when they were brought to America on slave ships. Jazz then transformed into a theatre performance. This required highly trained dancers.  Today most jazz songs are used from popular music today. If you want to learn about jazz history even more you can go to this website that I have referenced to:

 http://www.google.com/search?q=jazz%20dance&emsg=NCSR&safe=active&surl=1

     

   Jazz today has evolved into many different types today. For a Jazz dance class you either wear jazz shoes or just bare feet. For clothing it depends what your dance studio allows. Jazz is a more upbeat dance compared to lyrical and contemporary. I like this type of dance and you need a lot of energy for it. Well that is all for now !! Have a great weekend !!