My Strengths Of Dance

When I was four years old I was introduced to a tall, petite, beautiful ballerina who spun around the room with elegance, and effortlessly captured the crowd with her stunning abilities. As a little girl, I sparkled with admiration and was inspired to be all she was, it was from that point on, that I ventured into an unknown world of art, strength and expression. Now being eighteen years old with about fourteen years of experience in the dance world, I have learned and developed the norms, values and practices of the culture, and the conflicting theory within it.

Being able to play soccer, cheer, and dance, since I was little, has taught me different ways of leadership. Being a leader doesn't mean you're the best at everything it really just means you show good support for the people you're with. It also means to be a good example for the people around you. I cheered for 2 years, played soccer for 1 year, and have danced since I was 6. They all taught me how to show good leadership for my other peers when someone messed up or did something wrong you don't laugh at them or anything you just show them support and tell them they did good. For example, when I joined the dance team had no idea how to do what they were doing. I was nervous when I first got there they all came up to me and started talking

Ballet is a beautiful and romantic type of performance art. It originated in the Italian court systems in the 15th century (Jonas). Since its origination, ballet has undergone many changes and gained worldwide recognition. Filled with elaborate costumes, cheering audiences, lights, weightless movements and beauty; ballet is admired by many. On the magical stage ballerinas can become whoever they wan to be, and perform in a world of fantasy. For these reasons, children, especially little girls, all over the world dream of becoming ballerinas when they grow up. However, becoming a professional ballerina is an extremely difficult accomplishment, in which few will achieve (Kelso 1). The world of ballet may seem to be filled with glitz and

“What are you even doing here? I have never seen such flawed technique in all my years as a choreographer.” The words echoed throughout the medical college auditorium. Impelled by the admonishment in front of my peers, I persevered in my endeavor to improve upon my dancing prowess and by the final year of medical school was leading the college dance team. The above mentioned undertaking further spawned an interest for the discipline of Latin Ballroom which lead to participation at the national level. The unwavering focus and persistence even in the face of unfavorable odds is more broadly reflective of my approach towards learning, both academic and extracurricular. This has been instrumental in achieving stellar academic outcomes including being ranked nationally in the top 0.0004 percent in the premedical test and the top 0.6 percent in the common aptitude test for management training.

Growing up was never easy for me, but I did not let that stop me from pursuing my ballet career. I didn’t grow up doing ballet, and taking my first ballet class at the Boys and Girls Club at age 13 gave me a setback compared to others who may have been dancing since they were 3. My teacher put me into many positions,

I have danced every year of my life since. I am humbled to say, that through long days and nights in the studio, sacrificing time with my friends and family, all of the blood, sweat, and tears, I have accomplished what I have been working for since I was a little girl waddling around swallowed in a big pink tutu. I was chosen for the lead role of Cinderella in the Danscompany of Gainesville’s “Cinderella Ballet.” This accomplishment is a reflection of my consistent and sustained work ethic. This tenacity is reflected in other areas of my life and will be a defining characteristic that I carry to

Dance has always been a part of my life, and it was always fun to look back at old pictures and reminisce about all of the dance issues I had when I was younger. But as I got older and better, the growing stopped. I wasn’t learning as much new stuff, just perfecting old choreography. Ballet has never been my favorite dance style, my studio is more invested in lyrical and performance styles, like tap, jazz, and musical theatre. I originally only wanted to take ballet here because I wanted to be in the Nutcracker because it was something my studio doesn’t do. But this class brought me back to ballet basics, and I have seen major growth in my ballet technique, enough for my mom to notice. I’ve gotten a lot stronger at certain ballet barre warm

Ballet is an art form that can be your best friend but also your worst enemy. A dancer strives for perfection every day and has to put complete passion into every step to see even the slightest improvement. This is a difficult task, but also an addictive routine. A professional ballet dancer sacrifices a normal childhood into adulthood to become one with the art. Professional dancers pour their heart

‘It takes much strength to be a ballet dancer,’ said the teacher. ‘Now we must practice for our

Artists today seem more attached to form than perhaps ever before—wedded to concept, abstraction, gymnastic moves and external appearance” (Robb, Paragraph 4). Dance, for many, is starting to become more and more about technique. With that, dance is going to start (and according to Jennifer, has started) to become more about the hard work, and less about the feeling, leading to a higher amount of workout in every practice. During one practice, not including the actual dancing, a ballerina must warm up with a six minute plank, three hundred sit ups, fifty burpees, running laps, and that’s not even all of it.

Instead, she criticizes aspects of his technique because a ballet dancer’s training is never done (Daldry, Billy Elliot). Dancing takes as much rigor as any athletic activity. Therefore, various athletes have seen the advantages of learning ballet and have used it to strengthen their performance in their respective

I first emerged into my dance career and training at age of 13. What started as an hobby immediately turned into a passion of mines unexpectedly and from that point I desperately wanted to continue my passion of dance. I first trained in hip-hop, contemporary, ballet, West-African and improvisation. All together my dance director and former Urban Bush Women Valerie Winborne- Anderson combined all these styles together forming the dance fusion company V2W. In the 8 years of training with V2W I developed a deep connection in dance my dancing. This experience shifted my original perceptions of dance and I must say that this experience helped with foundation and the development in my pedagogy and teaching philosophy.

This ballet class felt like one of the best classes I have ever had and done. I did notices that a few of my old habits were slowly returning such as over using my muscles especially when combinations got tough. The combinations that I noticed that I tensed up on or used more muscles then I need to I practiced that combination outside of class at a slower tempo. Once I was able to accomplish the combination without over using my muscles and tensing up I slowly started to speed it up to the tempo that it was taught at. I have also noticed that working on the combination outside of class allows me to work on my own timing and areas of my

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.

Ballet has never been my strongest style but I feel that I have been able to have become a well rounded dancer from taking technique classes. From the start I have wanted to gain so much with my goals as well as to find ways to work on ways to make my movement quality softer.Dancing in ballet this semester gave me an opportunity to focus on all of the goals that I wished to work on. Over the semester I have noticed that I picked up a lot of material more than I thought when I do not overthink the material and not get stressed out. In ballet this semester I noticed that I freaked out in class so much which reflected on my technique and being able to be confident with my movement.