Dance : A Life Of A Dancer

First off, dancers usually dance to tell a story, for the sake of entertainment. In sports you’re playing a game and competing, in dance you’re preforming. The object of a sports game is to beat your opponent, in dance the object is to entertain, and preform. This

I walked on stage, my head pounding and my knees shaking. I looked to the audience, but bright, glaring lights blocked their faces. As the music started playing, I forced a smile onto my face. I can usually smile naturally, but tonight was different.

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.

From the first day I walked into the dance studio at 3 years old, I knew I wanted to be a dancer. From age 6-13 I got straight a’s, had many friends, and danced at least 10 hours a week. I thought high school would be the same, but the reality was I had to make new friends and the school load was harder. I decided freshmen year to join the robotics team but soon enough I learned it fell on the same day as dance. In the past I wouldn’t have given dance up for anything, but I decided to join. That same year, I auditioned for Inlet Dance Theatre’s Summer Intensive and received a scholarship and an opportunity to perform with Inlet’s professional dance company on Cain Park’s stage but I had broken my foot two days before the show. Dancing with

- “If I was the question, would you be my answer, if I was the music, would you be the dancer.”-I was singing, gosh this song is annoying I thought -” Oh My God this song is stuck in my head! hmmm what about… I know my ring was gonna get laid about a week ago…...no, I’m not feeling Pitbull, what about hmmmm……. they say we are what we are, but we don’t have to be!”-yeah, some Fall out Boy sounds great right now I told myself quietly.

My whole life has been of dirty mirrors, old ballet shoes, and ripped tights. I was 5 years old and a beginner at a dance academy. I didn’t quite know what dance was when I got in, I thought it was just a place to spend time in and just enjoy the music they played. Over the years I learned that dance is way more than just a hobby or a place to go when you are bored. It is art, you are the one making art. Your feelings are the story to your dance, and your moves are the music. People will see your pain or happiness through these ways. Dance is not just a hobby, it’s an art, it’s something that you don’t actually have to throw music at when the steps and feelings you add are the music to your dance.

Every time you step onto the stage the movement you show reveals you as the dancer but also the dance that was created. A ballet isn’t as simple as an arabesque or balancé de côté that are put together to provide a show. Each ballerina on the stage brings their own personal approach to how they dance, it’s a little more psychological than one may think. As said by Likolani Brown “you have to work hard but also not lose track of who you are and you have to remember why you do it. You do it because you love it and you have something individual to give to the art.” For a dancer it’s not just the determination but the personality in dancing that fully brings one to the art. In ballet or any form of dance there are two elements which are inward and outward. Inward being the choreography or creativity of an artist tied together with the outward putting pressure on that artist to create a product. This product of art has to keep the ballet world spinning even though so little is understood about the ballet. So, how can we as ballerinas can we really communicate the inward with each other or with the audience when the pressure of the outward lies so heavily? A ballerina will speak no words but will be heard because the movements that we make is our own form of communication. Movements, choreography, terminology are all things a ballerina would use to really say something, to explore and discover more about each other. For dancers this form is so unique and special to us because we

I stood staring at my mom with a blank expression as she applied foundation on my face followed by powder and blush and a number of other various cosmetics that I had lost count of. Makeup, hair, costume, all of those were on the back of my mind as the thought of performing in front of three hundred people clouded my thoughts. All around me were muffled sounds of other dancers frantically running around trying to get ready in time, mothers yelling at their daughter's, music blaring from various speakers, doors opening and closing, metal hitting the tile floors as tappers practiced down the hall, but all I could hear was the thundering sound of my heart beat in my chest. My body started quivering slightly. The nerves were setting in. I don’t

Modern dance was created as a rebellion against the prevalent dance forms of the time, ballet and Vaudeville. It is a form of theatrical dance, known for its continual fusion of non-western style and ideas, which allows for a fresh source of movement inspiration. Choreographers rejected what they classified as the inflexible and imperialistic nature of ballet, and in order to be taken seriously as artists rather than simple entertainers they created a new art form. Artists Loie Fuller, Isadora Duncan, and Ruth St. Denis are considered to be the pioneers of modern dance in America. Dance is a social institution, recognized as being an important function in civilized life. The following essay will focus on the theory and work of artist Isadora Duncan, while incorporating lecture notes and articles of both authors Sally Bane and Ann Daly to explain the historical situations that culminated in the development of early modern dance. Arising from the 20th century modern dance was a form of cultural collaboration and exploration, as well as a resistance to colonial repression. Modern dance allowed for the experimentation of the new as well as a freer form of dance movement. Choreographers drew on exotic sources, and example of this illustrated in the work of Isadora Duncan with her use of Greek culture as a movement inspiration. Artists act as both the choreographer and performer creating their own conventions, or dance language.

Throughout my life I have never really been interested in the dance until last year where I started to accept it. why? Why do we put ourselves through the physical stress to call ourselves dancers? Why do we love it so? I simply found those answers when I started dancing as I saw the potential it gave, showed the importance of teamwork, and the courage it taught.

To dance is to find your true spirit in the art of losing yourself. Dance is not only an art. It’s a sport, a hobby, and most importantly a lifestyle. Ballet, the core of all dance, has been a part of art culture for quite a long time. “Ballet, as we know it today, began during the Renaissance around the year 1500 in Italy”

Dance is an art form that takes strength, emotional execution, endurance, discipline, and commitment. “Lengthen your extension for a longer line!”, “Point your toes, it engages all your leg muscles”, “Get higher in that grand jetè!” All sentences that a dancer hears on a regular basis. One sentence that a dancer never wants to hear is: “It’s looking like you will need to have surgery”, which is what I was told at the age of thirteen, causing foreseen conflict in my dance training.

I walk up to the back door of a small log cabin that’s located in the middle of a large corn field. The first step inside brings an aroma of sweaty feet and hairspray and, for some reason, the smell plays back childhood memories in my head every time I walk along the tiny hallway that leads to the waiting room. As a little girl, I was thrilled to see all of my friends stretching in the waiting room and getting ready to dance. Mothers were chatty and siblings ran around like the room was a circus, making the space seem so small, but as you went through the thick door into the dance studio, the craziness of people disappeared and we were ready to focus and learn. Tall ceilings, two large metal pillars, and mirrors along the walls gave the illusion

When the dancing begins, you can't help being taken aback by the intense expressions found on each young face and the amount of emotion being pushed out of every chest pop, thrown behind each arm swing, or moved with every hip jerk, and embrace the dance form as a release

Dance is a universal language that allows the people to connect through communication by using their body and music. It’s also a form of expressing strong emotions and expressions through one’s storytelling. In the article, “Dancing Dream Meaning and Interpretations” author Stephen Klein interpret dance in various ways, one being, “If you are the one dancing, it represents how you feel about life. Dancing can be expression of your feelings of freedom. Or, it can mean you are shaking off feelings of oppression. You may not be someone who responds well to others attempts to control you. Dreams of dancing are a true expression of joy running through your veins “(Stephan Klein 2016). On May 5th, 2017, I attended the Spring Dance Theatre and I was