Dance Reflection Paper

Dancing is a recreational activity that has been enjoyed by millions of people for centuries. There have been countless styles of dance and thousands of memorized steps that have been performed in front of people or even just simply enjoyed alone without and audience. When a handful those thousands of steps come together, it creates a routine. Even though there are countless dancers that are breathtaking when they perform the routine in front of and audience, most dancers cannot be proficient without someone to assemble those countless steps together to create something awe inspiring, beautiful, and entertaining to watch. Dance is a world of constant change due to the want of awe, the need to produce something unique, and the necessity to catch the audience’s attention. Although many people believe some dance styles have not changed for centuries, innovative choreographers flip dance styles upside down with their unique approaches.

For these past two years in high school, I have been taking Cleo Mack’s dance program that is provided for us at MCVTS. Starting the program freshman year I did not know what to expect at all but I am glad my mom pushed me to come to this school. I have been dancing since I was three at a competition studio who is very strict about almost everything especially performance quality, but as I have learned from Ms. Mack it’s good to tone down the face and make your dancing more authentic and real.

What did you learn? As a result of Workshop #2, I have very high respect for the ballet profession and the dancers who perform the complicated routine night after night. In order to become a successful ballet dancer you must have an extremely strong core and a great deal of flexibility to transition from one movement to the next gracefully.

Of all the values that dancing instilled within me, I believe I learned the greatest lesson when I forfeited my first love. In my mind, I rationalized that school’s importance outweighed my devotion to dance. In my eighth grade year, my studio encouraged me to join their dance company, while my school implemented an academic plan for me that met my educational needs, which included placing me in ninth grade honors courses. Faced with the truth of the difficulty of balancing schoolwork with a demanding practice schedule, I reluctantly withdrew from my dance

Our lives are remembered by the tempo and rhythms in combinations to give a certain mood. Or as stated by Moore (1984), in life there are tempos and rhythms, within and without we are made up of life’s tempo and rhythm. As explained in class Laban/Bartenieff theories on movement and later refinements of language of movements give teachers, directors and actors a common language to not only describe certain movements but also give concrete ways to explore the way our bodies move to help express an actor’s actions and character. Working with teens that might not have total control of their ever-changing bodies this will be an outstanding way for them to experiment and not feel self-conscious about “dance”. Using the body to express oneself or a character has always been on my short list of first things to teach. It seems so

Our team sat in the hallway of our school, waiting for our name to be called to enter the gym. The pregame jitters were everywhere. Girls were bouncing up and down, fanning themselves and skittering around. I had a flood of emotions inside me. I was mostly excited but also quite nervous. What if my parents didn’t like the dance? What if my peers don’t like the dance? What if it looks bad? I couldn’t help but doubt the routine in a time of such nervousness. Our coach gave us each her routine good-luck shoulder shakes, and I knew the time had come. I heard the crowded gym fall quiet.

Dance has always been a part of my life, and it was always fun to look back at old pictures and reminisce about all of the dance issues I had when I was younger. But as I got older and better, the growing stopped. I wasn’t learning as much new stuff, just perfecting old choreography. Ballet has never been my favorite dance style, my studio is more invested in lyrical and performance styles, like tap, jazz, and musical theatre. I originally only wanted to take ballet here because I wanted to be in the Nutcracker because it was something my studio doesn’t do. But this class brought me back to ballet basics, and I have seen major growth in my ballet technique, enough for my mom to notice. I’ve gotten a lot stronger at certain ballet barre warm

As a child, academics always came easily to me. While it was wonderful to be able to excel while putting in very little effort, I wasn’t so blessed when it came to physical challenges. My attempts at playing soccer, riding a bicycle, and playing an instrument all resulted in countless amounts of frustration as I didn’t immediately succeed. Nevertheless, I always had my eye on one particular goal: becoming a dancer. I always envied the grace and fluidity in which dancers moved while I was a short, heavy, and clumsy child.

I have been dancing since the age of two. When asked about my career aspirations, there is no hesitation before saying “I want to be a dancer.” Being a dancer means putting all other distractions aside, and focusing on my craft. Currently, I dedicate over forty hours a week to dance, which is a schedule that requires sacrifice. When I am dancing, the rest of the world fades away, slipping out of my mind with relaxed importance. For that moment in time, I am completely free, wholly focused on my goals, letting me know dance is what I’m meant to do. With this realization comes a responsibility to myself and the work I have put into improving my craft thus far, and I know I must seek out the best opportunities for growth and continued learning.

Having started dancing much later than the average dancer, I came to DeSales with one very broad, very vague goal for myself: to grow. I wanted to learn anything and everything as quick as possible. I did not just want to know what things meant, but how to embody them as well. In the past two years here my ultimate goal has not altered much; however, it has indeed become for specified. I now am aware of my weaknesses and strengths, as opposed to when I first began and considered everything to be a weakness. This semester I wanted to set obtainable, yet challenging goals that I look forward to watching myself work towards. I was able to narrow it down to three main areas that I would really like to focus on; pirouettes, petite allegro, and improving on and obtaining the proper alignment of my ribs and lower abdominals.

On my first day of college, my first ever college dance class to be exact, I definitely wasn’t expecting to be thrown into an audition right off the bat. Despite the audition experience I have had, I was extremely nervous because I had absolutely no idea what to expect. I didn’t know what a guest artist coming into a college dance department would be looking for and what they expected from everyone. I looked at it as just taking class even though I was a little worried what was going to happen because as a “little freshman” I didn’t know the process of guest artists was. At first, I saw Jessie Powers to be extremely intimidating, but as the class went on I started to get more comfortable. I felt as if I picked up on the choreography quite

I agree with the judges’ decision with the best couple of the week being Laurie Hernandez and her partner. In her performance, there was an actual connection between her partner and herself. She was in sync with her dance instructor and she had a flow with the routine, I personally believe her experience as a gymnast performer gives her the moves and flexibility to be the dancer to beat this season. Hernandez’s moves were sharply executed and I feel she has developed a relationship with her instructor that has reflected in their tempo and rhythm as one. I noticed that unlike most of the contestant’s in Monday’s performance, her body was not stiff, and she would flow from one move to the next, rather than look like a robot. The dancing felt genuine, and nothing felt forced about the body movements.

Being a dance educator, I strive to expand the knowledge of my students in everything I have learned about dance. I am currently attending technique courses such as ballet and modern, exploring the science of the body, history, rhythmic analysis, teaching methods, composition, and production to contribute to my knowledge of becoming a dance educator. I hope to encourage the students to not only learn from myself, but themselves and their fellow classmates as I remind myself that they are the future educators, performers, and artists of dance. Furthermore, I encourage commitment. I will help my students seek the potential to overcome any obstacle by providing positive and critical feedback.

On December 1, 2017, in the University Theatre at California State University, Dominguez Hills, I observed the fall dance concert Rise. It was choreographed by Amy Michelle Allen, Marco A, Carreon, Sarah Cashmore, Jeff Hendrix, Erin Landry, Doris Ressl Acosta, and Kenneth Walker, with the long cast of dancers. The production was pleasing, and would not have been believable without the work from production designers, Frederick Depontee and Cheryl Sheldon. Rise is played out in eight different dance routines, which were Xtra Xtra, Scar Tissue, Hart Broken, Things Are A Stirrin’, and the rest are intermissions such as Female Energy, Women, Exotica, Strength In Numbers, and Makina.

A series of set of movements to music, either alone or with a partner. That is the definition of dancing. Dancing is a way to express one's feeling and to get active.