Dance Reflection Paper

Three months from now I entered into this dance course with a mindset that dance is just dance, simple as how it sounds. While I enrolled into this dance course this fall I thought that this class consisted of simply learning the history of dance, but I was definitely mistaken. This course without a doubt changed my perspective over dance and my appreciation towards dance.

On Wednesday, November 18th, I had the pleasure to attend and watch the Dance Plus’s Fall show. The Dance Plus was performed at the Douglass Theatre, Victoria Mastrobuno Theater. When I entered the show the theatre seemed a little small for such big crowed. I immediately thought there would not be enough seats for all the audience, but somehow it fitted everyone. As everyone got settled down, the dance performance had started. I chose to write about the first performance that was choreographed by the amazing director, Jessica Lange her work was simply wonderful! I loved every little piece of the play. It put a smile on my face watching this amazing work of art. So with that said, I would now like to talk about the dance performance. There were

Last September, my injury never fully got better from ballet. So, in March I heard my knee “pop” and, I could not walk on it. I was on crutches for 5 days due to the pain. I had to wear an ugly knee brace everyday and used a lot of ice. The physical therapist thought I might have torn something in my knee. I was happy to find out that nothing was torn in my knee after all.

The first dance performance I will be analyzing is “Don’t Fall Asleep”. There were dark red lights coming from the top before the dance began. Overall, there were fifteen dancers. There were many different props such as a bed with blankets on top that were rolling around on stage. Also, there was an acorn head that one of the dancers wore on top of his head. The music in the background was “Sweet dreams (Are Made of This)”. When watching this performance and the movement from the dancers, the story line in my opinion was there was a girl who was trying to sleep but she kept being awaken by these dreams. Her body language, jumping in and out of bed, running around basically made you aware that she was looking or running from something. The surrounding

This time, unfortunately with time the pains in my leg got worse and I could not go on and keep pushing myself anymore because it hurt so bad with every step I took, on and off the court. I went to the trainer's room one day after practice to get it checked out, and he told me some stretches to do for shin splints. I did them for a week or two but noticed that the pain continued to get worse. So finally my mom made a doctors appointment to see a orthopedic doctor. When I went to the doctor, I had to get an XRay to see if they could tell if anything was broken in my leg. Meanwhile after I left the X Ray room the doctor talked to me and was asking questions and said I can’t play until we find out what is wrong. A few days later the X ray came back and nothing showed any type of break on it. So they made me an appointment to get a MRI a week later. When they got the MRI results back, turns out I had a stress fracture in my tibia. That meant I was out for a

This video documents an international cultural festival that took place in Los Angeles. Again, while many of the groups presented here are not American, you will hear peoples from around the Pacific beautifully expressing how dance is an integral part of their culture. While the American public might not be as conscious of the powerful connection between movement and identity, it is the claim of this course that the former can be an important lens on the latter, even in America. Listen closely to how the participants at this festival talk about dance and culture. Compare this with how you relate dance and culture.

I was torn. On one hand, I had hope that maybe if I saw a doctor, they could fix it and ease the pain. On the other, I was scared. The risk that they would pull me out of dance and not let me compete at nationals seemed to outweigh the benefits. It was my dance teacher that finally convinced me to see a doctor.

The pain was unbearable some days, but the only thing I could do was take Advil and wrap it up. Every day after a four hour practice, I would change my wrap with a fresh one. Physically my body didn’t get any better, my feet were torn, blistered, cut, swollen, and I even had a couple broken toes, my wrist wasn’t improving either. Refusing to let anyone see I was hurting, I continued on. Luckily I didn’t give up; I survived the whole month without being booted out. I couldn’t say the same for most of my friends. Only three of my friends remained, and we all knew that it wasn’t just dancing to survive, but dancing to win the

The next few weeks were hard. Trying to carry myself around on crutches while having the arm strength of a toothpick was a hard, and I struggled a lot. The doctors still didn’t know what was going on with my leg. I went to my family doctor, she didn’t know. They signed me up for physio; my physio therapist couldn’t figure it out. No one could figure out what was wrong with it. I had been on the waiting list for MRI testing and I got a call one night saying they had a spot for me. I went and got the MRI and a few weeks later they called with the results; I had torn both my ACL and my

I was an active child growing up with sports. I started gymnastics at the age of three, and then came soccer, karate, softball, cheerleading, Irish step dancing, basketball, and finally competitive trampoline. I was dedicated to everything that I did, which showed when I received my first-degree black belt at the age of eleven. I loved being involved in so many activities but my heart was truly into soccer, gymnastics and competitive trampoline. I had been lucky enough to not have any medical problems until 2009. I had landed wrong in gymnastics one day and heard a pop in my right foot/ankle, sending shooting pain through my foot. I stopped for a minute but continued through the class thinking the pain would go away but it did not. I finally went to the emergency room a few days later, where I had X rays taken that

I found my true love at the age of five. My mom had signed me up for dance lessons this year. I had grown up watching Aishwarya Rai, and Madhuri Dixit, the dancing idols of Bollywood. I could only dream of becoming like them day and night. The night before my first lessons, I can still remember receiving that baby pink, ornate lehenga from my dad, feeling enlivened that soon I also will be dancing to those upbeat, familiar melodies in my new dress, like my role models.

With sweaty palms, a racing heart, and shaky knees I wait with the infinite patience only a 7 year old can achieve for the girl in front of me to begin the long trek to the center of the stage. The burlap is scratchy under my feet and the beautiful sparkly gold costume I was so excited to finally put on is giving me hives it’s so itchy. Although the so called stage is really just a 9 by 12 foot stretch of burlap fabric, our “audience” is as big as you can imagine the size of a crowd thrilled to watch seven year-olds dance would be- huge. After wishing to be one of the girls on the rough fabric stage located in the center of our local Thai temple for years, seeing it from the other side made me think maybe I didn’t want to step out there after all. Sure, I used to run out on stage when I was four to dance with all the pretty older girls and of course it was cute then, but I’m older now and if I

Dance is a way to express yourself in an unique way that nothing else can. I started dancing at the age of three at a small studio. I took one class a week for one hour. I never thought the classes were important since I was just doing them for fun. Once I was in fifth grade I realized that I do really enjoy dance. Before realizing that I tried different sports like gymnastics, cheer, and soccer. Dance fit me better because it was more flexible with my schedule and I enjoyed it more than anything. Slowly I started taking more classes and different styles so I can try new things. I took tap, hip hop, ballet, jazz, lyrical , and contemporary, which started taking up more of my time after school.

I decided to watch the fall dance concert, Reflections, at IVC for this critique. The performances were held in the theater which to my surprise, is larger than I expected. I was also delighted to see the use of multiple kinds of lights to imbue a specific meaning. All the performances were great but the ones I felt the most connection to after watching are the ones I have decided to write on. The first piece that had a lasting impact on me is titled Unwavering struggle and is choreographed by Jennifer La Curan. This piece is set to six different songs some of which are Oh, Dear What Can the Matter Be by Elizabeth Knight, You Don’t Own Me by Lesley Gore, and I Can’t Keep Quiet by The Faithful Choir. It includes seven dancers, all of which are girls. The second piece that stayed with me is the piece titled Polar Variant also choreographed by Jennifer La Curan and other faculty dancers. There were a mix of four guys and seven girls all of which were split in two different groups.

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.