Dance Reflection

Improv was always an intimidating faction of theater. Though there is no planning or scripting, no matter when or where the show was it always seemed a labor of love. Something that was worked on for an extreme length of time but really it was formed from the performer's mind only a second before the audience saw it. Even though I have done theater and dance in the past, improv always seemed something that I was never good at. From watching performances, tv programs, or improv workshops, it always looked like an art form that I could never learn or use besides the stage. With last week's class, that all seemed to change. I saw that improv could be used in many different factions of life. Providing new life skills and practices that cam

Reflection is a major factor in "developing self-awareness" to improve services provided to everyone around me, this is to develop my own understanding in realising the good and bad made previously. Moving forward with a better understanding, as well as rectifying the mistake whilst recognizing the good points, (Horton-Deutsch and Sherwood, 2008).

I do not recall learning about reflective practice in my undergraduate studies. Reflective practice according to Barbour (2013), “is the cyclic process of internally examining and exploring an issue of concern, triggered by an experience, which creates and clarifies meaning in terms of self, existing knowledge, and experience; resulting in a changed conceptual perceptive and practice” (p. 7). According to Barbour (2013), reflective process has many positive outcomes to help guide the nurse to become an expert nurse that can make on the spot decisions that do not interrupt patient care. I feel that reflective practice would have been beneficial to help guide me from a student nurse to a practicing nurse with critical thinking skills.

This semester I learned a lot about writing in English 151. It has been a roller coaster ride with these essays for me this semester. I learned step by step how to write a good essay and how to have your readers be engaged in what you’re trying to tell them. Each essay I did has taught me something valuable I can take to the next level of English. I feel as if as the semester went by I did not take my writing that seriously and that reflected in my grades I received in each essay. It made me a better student and writer and it will reflect next semester. In this essay, I will reflect on what I learned throughout this semester that you should apply in your writing when you begin English 151.

Van Dyck, Vansteenkiste, Lenoire, Lesaffre, and Leman’s (2014) experiment identifies whether induced emotions of happiness and sadness can be recognized from dance movements. Their study revealed subjects were able to recognize the emotions expressed by the dancers accurately. Zentner and Eerola (2010) examined whether infants between the ages of 5-24 months were able to take part in rhythmic engagement and identification. The study found infants were in fact able to engage more with rhythmic sounds than they were to speech and that they were also able to distinguish between fast and slow tempo. Jensenius (2007) provides the different definitions for gestures and an outline various music related movements and the taxonomies used to describes these actions.

The show started off with two male dancers. I was impressed by the way they moved. Especially because they didn't have any music. Everything was nice and practiced. They managed to perform each move exactly the same. It looked like a mimicry, but at the same time each move they did have their own style. Sometimes it was their hands posture, other times was the way they move their pelvis. They did a lot of jumps. Something that changed the dance was that one pointed his toes and sometimes the other one wouldn’t. I think it depend on the dancer however they felt more conformable. That proves my point; there is no such thing and perfect mimicry in dancing. I don’t think it’s possible for people to do a certain move exactly the same. There is always something that changes. With practice, the techniques get better and it looks more

When I think about my experience with improvisation, I would say that I have had experience but not a lot of experience. I definitely haven’t had enough experience to where I get excited about doing improvisation. Most of my experience with improvisation comes from my high school dance program. In some dance pieces that I performed in during high school, the choreographer would ask us to do improvisation for a section of the dance. Likewise, my senior year dance teacher occasionally had us do structured improvisation. Also here at UNCC, when I took Rachel Tuckers’ contemporary jazz dance class last year, she would make us do improvisation dance circles to different types of music as well as improvisation where we would adapt our movement to doing what our partner was doing but just in a different way. Those few improvisation moments are where my experience begins and stops.

After choosing dance as my first topic, I had to then narrow down to a more specific topic. I came to three different topics: the health benefits of dancing, the evolution of dance throughout history, and life skills obtained through dance education. I decided to select the last topic because I thought that it would be the easiest one that I could have a personal connection with. With my research, I soon came to realize that I would have to look at information that did not directly relate to dance, and that I would have to make the connections myself. My goal was to find enough verified information that could back up claims that my argument was based on.

Robert Moses’ Kin is an amazing company to watch perform as well as to be able to take classes with his dancers Vincent Chavez, Norma Fong, and Crystal Dawn Bazemore. This company offered aspects that are used in class, but I felt like their combinations worked in intricate details. The dancers in the performance did two different pieces from their earlier works called “Speaking Ill of the Dead” and “Never an End for Peace.” These pieces displayed technique visuals that were being discussed in class and brought to the performance with the company. Overall, the way that they described their movements can give me further understanding with how to further on my dance technique.

For most of my life, I have never considered myself a dancer. When musical time comes around in drama club, a mix of feelings flow through me. I enjoy singing and acting, but I cannot-under any circumstances-dance smoothly. In the musicals I have been involved with that have required dancing, I have skirted along, but in the end, I never feel free or like what I am doing looks professional. My awkward, shy personality embodies itself in the little dancing I have done in public. Due to this, dancing is associated with stress in my mind. Last semester, I decided to give a double minor a chance on top of my nutrition studies. I have always been interested in psychology, so that minor is not an issue for me. Deciding to give a COF performing arts minor a chance, however, was a different story. I was excited that I had the chance to try to obtain an arts minor, but the fact that a dance class was required honestly worried me. I love performing arts, however, so I decided to give it a chance anyway. Although I am somewhat terrified, I have decided to persevere through this class and learn how to get in tune with my body, understand ballet terms and techniques, and increase my strength, flexibility, and breath support in general.

Dance class this year was an incredible experience. I learned a lot of technique, amazing choreography (courtesy to Ms.P), and how to become a better performer. However, I believe that the most important aspect I received from this class was how to choreograph a piece you envision only in your mind at first. Throughout the Elements of Dance project and the ISP, I had the opportunity to work with different people to choreograph a dance piece with a story behind it. As a choreographer, I learned that when working as a group it is very important to use every individual’s strength in the piece to make it stronger overall. These projects taught me how to tell a story through movement, facial expression, and spacing that would be successfully passed on to the audience. I was also very happy with myself this semester because I felt that the lyrical unit especially, really helped me improve my facial expressions, and my acting skills when it came to portraying a certain character and their life story through dance.

The Robert Moses’ Kin company reinforced the idea that it is to learn from your mistakes and to make movement have its own originality. The dancers in the performance did two different pieces from their earlier works called Speaking Ill of the Dead and Never an End for Peace. These pieces displayed technique visuals that were being discussed in class and brought to the performance with the company. Overall, the way that they described their movements can give me a further understanding with how I can further my dance technique.

For my lesson, I decided to teach Hip Hop history through a particular sub-culture known as “battle rap”. My student was Bradley Girigorie, a 21 year old male. I went on to explain to Brad that if it was not for battle rap, the culture of Hip-Hop would be a lot different than it is today. First, I started the lesson by saying Hip Hop was more DJ oriented during the early stages of the genre. That rap battles during the 70’s and 80’s were more about crowd presence rather than better lyrics.

Dance works as its own form of communication, which enhances comprehension and content retention. “We participate in a special kind of human communication in which we speak the same language even though no words are exchanged” (Zakkai, 1997, p.15). Different modalities create more opportunities for broadened understanding. Dance forces students and teachers to find the core meaning within a subject area. For instance, a teacher working to explore the difference between potential and kinetic energy might have students prepare to jump and then stand still, versus following through with the jump. The teacher has to parse the concept down to basics, distilling it into simplicity so that the body can demonstrate. Donovan and Pascale (2012)

Obviously, the goal for the team every year is to win, but we also like to have fun. Natalie Meloche elaborates on how she feels about spending countless hours at the studio perfecting her routines, “Going to dance class is my favorite part of my day because I can always escape whatever is going on in my life and just let loose and dance. I also love to see my friends and teachers as well.”  In fact, three of the four girls I got answers from said they enjoyed going to class while the fourth had mixed feeling about it. Although for the majority of the girls, being in class was their favorite part. My favorite part was all of the team bonding that we did. Outside of the practice rooms, the team went to the movies together, painted pottery, played laser tag, and took trips to the cider mill.