Dance Research Paper

I danced at Tina’s Dance Studio in Eldridge, Iowa for 12 consecutive years before I graduated high school. There I studied in ballet, pointe, contemporary, modern, lyrical, tap, jazz, hip-hop, musical theater, gymnastics and clogging. I was also a part of the competition team for eight years. We not only did local competitions and conventions, but we traveled and went to nationals in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City. I also danced in shows in Disney World and on a Carnival Cruise Ship. In high school, I was on the varsity Dance Team winning three state titles in pom and lyrical eventually traveling to Nationals. A few summers ago, I trained with Hubbard Street Dance in Chicago with their summer intensive focusing on modern, contemporary and ballet. During my senior year of high school and this past summer I taught classes in jazz, tap and contemporary for students 8-16 years old. I also self-choreographed three competition solos. Here, at Ohio University, I am a member of the dance team doing dances at football and basketball games.

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.

Dance provides a way of learning—one that develops communication abilities, problem solving techniques, and creative and critical thinking skills along with kinesthetic abilities It employs the whole body in free and open movement. It is usually rhythmic with an element of repetition and forms of pattern in both space and time. Every movement is not run only with arms and legs, but also with mind and heart. It is believed that all in our lives we have danced because this is a natural action and must be built in time, with patience, perseverance and determination.

I had just moved to Washington state and I auditioned for the local dance studio’s competition team for fun. I had no idea how talented they were. And I was just an untrained recreational dancer…Not surprisingly, I didn’t earn a coveted spot on the team it the first time I auditioned. That didn’t stop me from training seriously and auditioning for the team each year until I made it. And here I stand, now starting on my sixth year on the team and as one of the last people from my original team who decided not to quit when they started high school. Dance isn’t just twirling around in pretty pink tutus. What the general population doesn’t picture when they think of dance is the tremendous amount of strenuous work and the blood and sweat and tears that goes into every performance and competition. Certain dancers can’t handle it and quit when they realize they don’t have the passion. My passion keeps me living and breathing and most importantly, dancing, when times get

One of my first literacies I learned started as a simple extracurricular activity my mother put me in to keep me out of the house and out of her hair. I started learning a literacy of dance through taking classes. At three years old I start ballet and tap combo class, from there I continued taking more classes in different styles and taking more advanced classes. By dancing for 15 years I learned and acquired extensive knowledge of the art. I started to learn and take class at Marta Jackson School of dance, I continued my training for fifteen years, until my senior year of high school. I danced on my high school dance team, at other studios, in different local productions and even in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

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.

I always knew that I was Irish. How could you not with the last name Murphy? Throughout the years I have been better able to understand my Irish culture through various life experiences including membership at the Gaelic American Club. These experiences have played important roles in the Irish Woman I am today.

Before I began formal training in classical dance I was performing vocalist and actor. As a performing artist, I had already gained a deep appreciation for dance, leading me to take a ballet class. When I first began, ballet was just an extension of my performing resume, something I did only to so I would be a more castable actor. Nevertheless, I soon after I began dancing it became my focus and I began the normal daily training schedule of Pre-Professional student. Throughout my career, it was the art of dance that inspired me. Although important, my technique was just a tool and my body was just the canvas.

Dance has always been a part of my life, whether it was from the first day my mom taught me salsa in the family room to now performing in front of huge crowds around my community. Whether its ballroom, west coast, or country, I have been able to express myself in ways that I never thought possible. Through my commitment and perseverance I strive to become a better and more knowledgeable dancer every day. I continue to learn new things and search for opportunities to widen my horizons and interact with the dance community. My passion grows with me as I grow as a dancer and I hope to be able to share that passion with others for the rest of my life.

I was only a toddler when I first saw Irish Dance, but even then I knew I wanted to be an Irish Dancer. This was an odd choice for mainstream American culture pressures young girls to practice ballet, for all other dance forms are seen as either irrelevant, or as the support for a different art form. Irish Dance is only reverent year round in Irish Catholic communities of which I am not a part. Therefore, it took time to convince my family to drive to a southern suburb for my dance lessons. At first, I tried to make myself a dancer, but it became rather clear, to those who saw my dancing, that I needed lessons. Thus, before my second year of preschool, I began training.

“I am a dancer. I don’t dance because I want to. I dance because I need to. I tell a story by the movements of my body. I dance because I get this amazing feeling through the movement of my arms and the rhythm of the music. I dance because it makes me happy. I am an artist an athlete and a dreamer. I am a dancer” – Unknown. Ballet is my way of destressing and getting out of the world, it’s a way for me to be myself without having to use words. Ballet to me is so much more than a hobby, it’s a lifestyle, a creative outlet. I can’t describe how important it is too me, all I can say is that I love it. In my opinion, Ballet would have to be my favorite hobby. I get to perform on stage, meet lots of people/make new friends, and it keeps me healthy and in shape.

At the age of thirteen, I started to dance in front of an audience. I had loved the concept of dance many years before that but I was always scared to perform in front of others. My first performance was the most thrilling yet nerve-wrecking moment of my life. I received compliments one after another the entire night and thought to myself, “Maybe this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.” But it wasn’t. My passion for dance had grown so much over the next few years but something was missing. I felt that there was more to me that I was not showcasing and I wanted to find the missing piece.

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.

I continued to dance through the pain the best I could as I had eight hours of dance each day and I didn’t want to disappoint anyone. At night, I would come home and cry, my back hurt so bad. On October 5th, I went to the doctor. I took an x-ray and found out I had a possible stress fracture in my lower back. The doctor said that I could not dance until I got my MRI to be sure. On Friday, October 13th, I should have known it meant bad luck, but I was being optimistic, the MRI showed that I broke my lowest vertebrae. My doctor told me I would not be able to dance for five months. I felt like I was

The experiences I have had during my 15 years at AnneMarie’s Dance Centre have been a journey which I have done nothing but made the best of and tried to enjoy every second of it. In the early years of my dance career, I danced for fun and to have an enjoyable time with the friends I had made. Also when I was younger, I thought I wanted to dance because I wanted to follow in my mom and aunt’s footsteps as being a dancer at AnneMarie’s. I wanted to have the same experiences dancing they both had all of those years ago when Anne first opened the dance studio. Once I grew older it became clearer to me that those were not the only reasons I wanted to continue dancing. I began to realize that AnneMarie’s could end up being like a second home for me. A place where I could escape some harsh realities and the world around me when I was there. I could use dance as a way to express the emotions I was feeling about something that happened in my day into something else. I would put my emotions into my dancing and still try and give my teachers what they wanted to see the movements as.