Dance Reflection

As a youth, I engaged in many forms of dance expression. I studied tap, jazz, and ballet for fifteen years. During these formative years, I choose to forgo many youth experiences so that I could participate in advance dance programs. The hard work paid off when I received a college scholarship to a performing arts

This semester in dance class I have had a wonderful time and learned a lot of things. We’ve had some great times in dance this semester, like when we were doing our show, “How the Grinch Stole the Nutcracker”, I had a lot of fun. I did many things well but, there was a lot I could work on,too. I remember that in our ‘Ice Skaters’ dance, we would do a Jazz split and I was really good at that! Also,we would do a “tabletop stand-up” thing and I was also really good at that, that part was really fun. In our “Samba” dance we had to make up some poses to do at the beginning, and make sure we remembered to use levels, I was pretty good at doing that! Even though there were many good things I did, there were also many things I wish to work on. I really

I am Shanna Woods, a dancer, mother, life and college student, dance instructor and aspiring choreographer. I have dance before I could walk. I decided I wanted to dance after watching a video of Dance Theatre of Harlem’s Giselle in the 5th grade. At that time, I didn’t know becoming a dancer was a possible career. It was just something we all did in the community; shaking our non-hips, doing the tootsie roll, and whatever we saw on the music videos. I remember making up dances for my friends and forcing my cousins to learn routines for family reunions and other gatherings. You can say, I was always a choreographer at heart. I began serious training at Middle School of the Arts in West Palm Beach, FL. I also studied chorus. I became a dance major at Dreyfoos School of the Arts also in West Palm Beach, FL. Through Dreyfoos I was exposed to Graham with Jan Goetz, contemporary modern with Gina Buntz, ballet with Jeff Satinoff, as well as guest artists like Ben Vereen and Reginald Yates. I also trained at Southern Dance Theatre in Boynton Beach where I studied ballet, jazz, and gained my love for Bob Fosse through Dancer’s Edge Dance Company.

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.

Well it was 2014, the beginning of June, I had just joined the competitive dance team at my studio that I had been at for 10 years. It was choreography camp, and I was super nervous. I was one of the youngest ones on the senior team and one of the oldest on the junior. I knew that if I wanted to be featured in the dance I was going to have to work especially hard at camp. So, that’s what I did, I worked my butt off and it payed off. I realized this, then it clicked in my mind that’s what I need to do with everything. If you work hard good stuff will come out of that. I was very proud of myself for working hard and seeing result. So, after camp I just continued to work this hard and so did the rest of my teammates.

At the time, I never really knew the impact my dance would have on me. I remember the first rehearsal I had with my dancers. Even then, among the dancers, the younger ones were still consumed in showing their beauty, while the older ones wanted to show depth.

As I began my journey as a dance major, my life slowly started to change before my eyes. I didn’t enjoy dancing anymore, and I felt less and less like myself. I could feel a void growing larger with every class I took.

Freshman year, I continued my dance journey by taking Social Dance and Dance 3. For the first time in my dance career, I was given the opportunity to create original movement. Throughout the course of the year, I explored different ways that I could express myself with my body and began to see dance as more than mimicking movement. I decided to give Dance Company another shot with this new skill that I had learned. This time, I tried to put myself into the piece in hopes that would earn me a spot. I was almost certain that I

She encouraged us to ask questions if we needed to, something that eased my mind slightly, but as she outlined the course of the class for the next month and the rigor of the technique and choreography we’d learn, that glimmer of hope soon went down the toilet. We went around the seated circle, playing the generally awkward, yet apparently obligatory game of introductions as the eight girls surrounding me talked about their twelve years of prestigious studios and teachers. The most socially mortifying moment of my life had to be when it was my turn, as I stumbled out the fact that I had taken one year of Jazz, a generous description for the six-month class I had taken on Basic Dance Fundamentals. The second the last word left my mouth, a quick shared look among the other dancers confirmed how they all felt about me: I was the weak link, that one person in every dance class who struggles and gets put in the back at the

Of all the dance performances this semester, my favorite was the Department Concert. Even though all of the artists were extraordinary to watch, I was able to connect with the dancers most during the Department Concert. Watching Connecticut College students perform gave me a different feeling than the other shows. I could relate to the performers better because I have had conversations with them outside of dance and they have been there as mentors to me and the other freshmen. This feeling of inclusion was only possible because of the atmosphere of the department; everyone, regardless of class year, is genuinely welcomed. I also believe that seeing students perform the work was

Over the course of ten years, my dance career has earned me one twisted ankle, two cracking hipbones, and a myriad of nights in which my emotions run from exasperation to sorrow to jubilance without any clear causation. Despite all of these aggravations that have come with my strenuous dance career, the passion that it has kindled is incomparable to any other I have experienced. Starting with minimal talent and a timid demeanor, to strive for improvement was a daily battle that often felt fruitless, but looking back on my progression since those early days, I recognize that the strife has been worthwhile. Because of my dance career, I have grown exponentially and realized my dance aspirations by being willing to take risks, learning to trust my instincts and talent and opening myself up to people.

Now after taking this evaluation, it has allowed me to think deeper into how I can improve myself. Dance can be seen as a creative outlet but I can help an individuals wellbeing.

The Robert Moses Kin company reinforced the idea that it is alright 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.

After spending a semester in improvisation class, I can honestly say that this course has been one of the hardest, annoying, but probably the most relevant and important dance classes I have taken thus far in my dancing life. This course also turned out to be the complete opposite of what I originally thought it was going to be like. At the beginning of the semester, I was a firm believer that improvisation, was any movement that a dancer does that is on the spot, random, wild, and without thought. I also had this big belief that when a dancer performed an improvisation, that it was supposed to make sense and show the talents of the dancer. With that being said, I came into the class thinking that I was going to spend the semester listening to different types of music and figuring out how to improvise to those music selections as well as learn how to improvise different dance genres. Essentially, I thought I was going to learn how to improvise for the point of being showy and performing. Of course, through this course, I realized that yes one can improvise for the point of performance, but in this class, we did so much more than just do showy improvisations. Instead, I got the chance to really explore my natural self as a dancer and learn the science behind improvisation.

A dance studio is hectic this time of year. The excitement of young girls putting on their tutus for the first time to the honor and pride of graduating seniors who are about to perform in their last dance recital. The energy is high and complex. As the seniors rehearsed their senior piece, I watched with other instructors and younger dancers. The younger students looked at them in amazement, dreaming to be in their shoes one day. But something was missing. Someone.