Contra Dance : The Wonder Of Social Music

In the article “Looking at movement as culture: Contact improvisation to Disco by Cynthia Jean Cohen Bull, makes the main point of how through movement we can express a lot of things and also how two bodies can be connected as one and without any word can move to the same direction. This description can be called as contact improvisation. This exercise can be perform by any individual, it doesn’t matter if he or she have experience, because is just a way of communication throughout the body. As Cynthia Cohen expressed in this quote “Anyone could practice the form and, theoretically at least, perform it publicly” (Cohen, 406). For example in the class of contact improvisation I watched that only some of the students had practice this movement

Dance began as a form of communication and storytelling. Thousands of years ago dancing served as a way for people to tell a story and helped distract themselves of the hardships they faced. Furthermore, dance was a form of storytelling through communication, which then turned into using storytelling through dance as entertainment. According to the History World, many dancers during the BC time danced in front of only a few people to get a story across. That later turned into hundreds of thousands of people as dance was used by many. Today, dance is also a form of entertainment and storytelling, but in a modern sense. However, today perfection and technique are stressed more than they were in the past. Yet, the passion for dance has not changed. Many dancers who share this passion also have many of the same qualities. Among a discourse community of trained dancers, one expects to find individuals who are healthy and active athletes, expect perfection from themselves through competition, and religiously attend dance performances.

The stage travels, and outbursts, many swirling, dazzling colors, followed by a stampede of footwork accompanying the sound of the mariachi. Envision it. Mesmerizing isn't it?

As a child of newcomers to the United States, the importance of our Hispanic heritage was embedded into my mind. In order to portray my love for my culture, I have performed in a Folkloric Mexican dance troupe known as “Fiesta Mexicana” since the age of three. Envision the ambitious ambiance of people witnessing you perform the historically rich machete dance. The sound of the music constantly piercing your

Since I was a little girl I’ve always been part of something. But none of the activities I did really filled me. I became part of a dance academy when I was 13 years old, and it was because my sister wanted to learn to dance for her Quinceañera. It’s kind of ironic how something that would be very important to me started so simple. But I guess that’s just how the best things in life happens.

The music played a large role in determining the style of the pieces in the show by Koresh Dance Company. It set the theme and mood for the dances. Also, the choreography was dependent on the beats and variations in the music. This basis added to the themes of the dances as well.

I, along with my group members London, Keely, Austin, Cody, and Maddie, choreographed the dance “Homecoming” to the song “Traditional African Music Compilation” by Kevin Macleod. This dance is a symbol of all we have learned this semester and our intent was to demonstrate that. This semester we studied tribal dance, more specifically african dances, such as the Maasai Jumping Dance. We also learned about war dances and the different reasons villages dance during times of war. We attempted to include elements of all these different dance styles relating to our theme. This project is the only time I have ever been able to perform on a stage for an audience, whether it be dance, acting, or singing. It was a unique experience that I thoroughly

On September 9th, 2016 I had the pleasure of attending a concert, where I saw Adonis Puentas and the Voice of Cuba, at Grant park. The music being played introduced the sounds of an entirely different culture to my ears. Accompanying the harmony, melody and beat was a crowd of people dancing. I would later learn that many in the crowd were dancing the mambo, a Latin dance of Cuba also known as Salsa “on 2” because of the break occurring on the two count. The event was from 7 – 9:30 PM and when Adonis Puentas began singing the sun had set and the back drop was a sparkling Chicago skyline. The Afro-Cuban music produced by Adonis Puentas and the Voice of Cuba showcased many aspects of Cuban culture.

The Senior Dance concert, 9 o’ clock showing consisted of seven dance pieces. The first piece was called “Heavy Dew”, this piece was comprised of a six-person group dance. The backdrop was a blue shading. The sounds in this piece were waterfalls, and rainforest sounds. The movements made me feel as though the dancers were creatures in a wilderness or a rainforest, it was fast paced. For the first part of the performance the group of girls are dancing in front of the audience together, then as the music turns to be more serious and intense, there is just one dancer on the stage. Then, once all the dancers come back onto the stage, the music starts to soften and slow down again and the lights begin to dim for the remainder of the performance.

To begin with, dancing is an artistic and absolutely creative form of physical activity to express personal emotions to audience through the exciting and breathtaking performances based on standard vocabulary of movements. Ballet and street dance are still remained the most controversial dancing styles among the professional dancers. Though a proper performance of both dancing styles requires hard, strong and disciplined training, in fact they do have a major number of differences in other comparative

Many of the Beat writers wrote in a style known as spontaneous prose. Allen Ginsberg often writes in this style. He does so in the poem “Howl” in which he rants and raves about society via his friends – Jack Kerouac, Willaim S. Burroughs, Lawrence Ferlingetti, and Neil Cassidy to name a few, live. He discusses their poverty, civil disobedience, the ways that they fight society, and his personal fight against industrialization; he uses many images in order to allow the reader to understand his lifestyle, the lifestyle of his friends and points of view, specifically their rejection of society.

Firebeat Dancesport Studios, LLC is a dance school that is located in Winchester, Massachusetts. It was founded in March 2009. Their programs include ballroom group classes, ballroom private classes, ballroom competitions, and private and group wedding dance lessons. For private wedding lessons, Firebeat Dancesport Studios, LLC provides a dedicated VIP concierge to coordinate details before, during, and after the lessons, music editing services, and full dress rehearsal. Firebeat Dancesport Studios, LLC offers free trial

During the performance, the players showed their talents in playing a romantic piece which targets adults. Through this song, the performers communicate a message about the French culture and their love for jazz music. I would attend another concert to establish if there are any changes in the instruments used in playing the song. The presented factor stems from the fact that the performers are constantly transforming from classical to jazz music with the changes in time. Furthermore, I would attend another concert in the future to understand if there are any variations in the instrumentation. The Chamber Music Houston- Quatour Ebene performance suggests that musicians are increasingly embracing the use of modernized instruments which are easy to play during a concert. Also, the jazz performance changed my opinion about music. I now acknowledge that singers can be passionate and playful while on stage to create a sensible mood for the audience, therefore changing my perception on the style of music. At first, I thought that the music was the only instrument of communication while on

Moving on to the purpose of this paper, there are a few particular aesthetic senses of African music and dance that appeared more up-front to me in this work. Polyrhythm, which refers to the ability to maintain two different beats – two different rhythms – simultaneously, was apparent to me when paying attention to the different ways that the men and women were respectively dancing throughout the work. While the men showcased a lot of quick and rigid movements like the plantation dance hop-step, the women seemed to focus more on less distinct, fluid movements that continuously bridged into one another. To me, the significance of all this is that as dancers maintain two rhythms simultaneously, the focus is no longer whether their movements are

For this task I was working with the idea of giving movement an audible musicality. This concept came from my initial research that evolved out of the self-portrait solo task. I continued this investigation by exploring movements with audible qualities in order to create distinguishable rhythms using the floor and the body. I began researching material by looking back at my solo and developing the movement. From this I created 4 phrases, which I used to start building the piece.