Learning Experience

Hi everyone, sorry for not blogging in such a long time , school and dance has kept me occupied. Today I'm not going to be blogging about dance for once. I'm going to talk about a google chat hangout that my teacher had the class participate in. We were talking to Paige Woodward who is a senior from Franklin Community High School . Paige focuses on social media in the education system and letting people know the proper way to use it. This was the first time that are whole class has done a google hang out before and it was a great experience. Paige, taught me a lot through the google hangout and I hope to improve my digital citizenship and using social media in the correct way. I learned how to use social media sites like Twitter and Instagram in a more professional way. It is a good idea (for Twitter,Instagram,etc)to create two different accounts , one with friends and other for work, Buisness or jobs. Your social media is your digital footprint and it will be there forever, so it is important to watch what to put on social media. It is always good to stay positive and kind. With internet being a big part of the world today many people have been successful from it, by YouTube, Instagram,Twitter Facebook , vine and many other things. The internet can come with many oppurtunites  and to get those opportunists you have to present youself online in the best way. Many colleges check your social background today and sometimes your social media can affect your future. I also learned from Paige how to manage time better. She is a busy person just like me but planning out and not procrastinating will help manage time. Digital Citizenship is something that not everyone knows about and it's important that we let everyone know. Anyways, I hope you have a great week and I promise my next post will be about dance!! 

Ballet

History 

This is a Performance dance and it started in the Italian Renaissance. It later developed into a concert dance. The terminology used with dance is french vocabulary. Ballet is the base of technique for any dance. It takes a lot time and skill to perfect this type of dance. If you are unclear what ballet is, something to reference to is the nutcracker.

Class

In most ballet classes people wear Ballet slippers, tights, a leotard and there hair is usually in a bun. To begin class you start at a ballet bar. At the ballet bar you do various combinations to warm up and stretch out your legs. After you do more combinations working on technique of ballet. Ballet class is the most imports foundation of dance. Without ballet dance wouldn't be dance. To some people ballet can be boring or not that intersting but I love ballet and over the years I have learned to appreciate it more. 

In ballet class you learn all these things listed below and have to remember to do them in ballet all the time which can be a challenge.

 

That's all for now !! Next time I look forward to blog about hip hop.

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 !! 

Dance Class

       I hope everyone had a good weekend / winter break , but now back to blogging. First I decided to recap on my previous blog posts. So far I have talked about what dance is and what it means to me, Items you need for dance ( clothing,shoes, dance bag, etc), where to start with it all, and the style of dance called jazz. Today I'm going to talk about what happens in a dance class. If you have never taken a dance class this may be interesting or if you have taken a dance class, you can relate. 

        

        Well in any dance class the first thing to do is warm up. Before doing anything in dance you have to warm up your body, that way you don't pull a muscle or injure yourself while dancing. Warming up goes with all sports as well. With dance you work on your flexibility, strength and technique. Depending on the class you take or level of difficulty you are at, warm ups are different. Certain classes are different as well. For classes like jazz,lyrical  and contemporary you have to focus on stretching really well. As a dancer you use almost every muscle in your body and it is important to build muscles and strengthen them. These warm ups consist of many different types of stretching, ab work out ,push ups , working on technique , building up more strength and many other things. 

        After warm up in a dance class we go across the floor. Now reading that if you are not a dancer ,you may be a little confused. The teacher of your dance class will give you a progression to do  and go across the room, one ,two or three people at a time or more( depending how big the class is). After that some classes learn a combination. A combination is a series of dance steps put together. You would learn them and then dance to the music for the combination. Music is the key to dancing but I will get into that in another post. So that is what happens during a general dance class. I got this from my experience of dance classes, but other studios may do it much differently. How does your dance class go? 

   

         There are also warm ups for tap. Tap is when a person wears shoes that make noise by rhythmic tapping of the heels and toes of the shoe. For tap you mainly warm up your feet since that is what you mostly use in this type of dance. For ballet you also stretch a lot and focus on technique and the placement of your body ( legs, feet , shoulder, stomach, arms etc). For ballet you warm up at a ballet bar and then go across the floor and do specific ballet combinations. 

         For a vague description / summary of how dance classes go : warm up, go across the floor, learn a combination or a dance piece that your class will perform. There are many ways for a dance class to go so this is probably one of many ways. Don't forget to stay hydrated through all the dancing!! Have fun in class!