' The Sleeping Beauty: The Challenges Of Technically Demanding Roles?

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.

Naharin created this dance pedagogy as a way to explore the possibilities of movement, increase awareness and amplify sensation by deeply listening and feeling the physical sensations of the body. Naharin’s way of approaching movement has been said to break boundaries of modern dance, producing movement that is often described as rough, lacking balletic elegance, virtuosic, explosive, fast (Aldor). In contrast, ballet is often stereotyped as pristine, pretty, controlled reserved, and proper — very rarely does is it described as loose, wild, free and ugly. By those descriptions Gaga could be seen as the “anti-ballet”. In fact, an article from T Magazine describes Gaga as “ sublime” and “a delightful horror” compared to the “quest for perfection” that is ballet (Subin). With such a stark contrast between the stylistic result of the two ways of moving, it would seem that Gaga and ballet can never relate. Consequently, what is unique about Gaga is rather than a technique or a vocabulary, it is a philosophy of how to use one’s body; or as The Guardian describes it “a toolbox” that dancers can apply to any dance technique (Perkovic). Although at a brief glance Gaga and ballet may seem to be polar opposites, I have found that I can use the concepts from Gaga as tools to adjust and strengthen my performance in ballet

I have been dancing since the age of two. When asked about my career aspirations, there is no hesitation before saying “I want to be a dancer.” Being a dancer means putting all other distractions aside, and focusing on my craft. Currently, I dedicate over forty hours a week to dance, which is a schedule that requires sacrifice. When I am dancing, the rest of the world fades away, slipping out of my mind with relaxed importance. For that moment in time, I am completely free, wholly focused on my goals, letting me know dance is what I’m meant to do. With this realization comes a responsibility to myself and the work I have put into improving my craft thus far, and I know I must seek out the best opportunities for growth and continued learning.

Whether rooted deeply through generations of a family or formed through an experience, passions and fascinations are what drives us, humans, to be who we truly are. At this point in my life, I do not want to reach comfort or perfection, but rather feel composed and confident in what I chose to merge my ballet skills with. When I dance, I escape reality and feel a pure exhilaration.This sensation shapes my curiosity and interest in the human anatomy. From the elements that make it up to ways in which people individually move their bodies, the human body is absolutely fascinating. Specifically, I am passionate about teaching ballet to younger students. By introducing ballet to kids early on, they will experience the same joy almost all dancers feel for a longer period of time. When I’m dancing I’m challenging your mind, releasing endorphins, and working hard. I am also eager to own my own business linked with teaching that will provide people with affordable dance equipment, and even more crucial, advice on what suits each person's personal needs. I know as I grow old my body will not be as capable as it once was, but I’m dedicated to spreading my appreciation of ballet to others. Overall, my passion for ballet and how I can utilize it to positively impact society as an entrepreneur has developed through the inspiration of my grandparents, the creativity of my former dance teachers, and my interest in the human bodies relation to ballet.

From kindergarten until high school, I was a member of the Jean Wolfmeyer School of Dance. Up to 5 days per week, I would be at the dance studio taking classes, rehearsing for shows, and helping out in the less advanced classes. Regardless of skill level, Jean never hesitated to speak the brutally honest truth about students’ performances and she never settled for anything less than perfection. Jean would often preach that she is only the instruction manual and she cannot make us good dancers, we had to do that for ourselves. However, it was not her critique or teaching alone that motivated dancers to perform well, it was her relentless work ethic and commitment to her studio. As a 70 year-old women, Jean held classes as much as 7 days per

“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.

The male dancer only wore pants and bared his upper body. This simple costume design not only made the people who watch the dance to have a clear vision of the dancer, but also better presented a predicament that the character was experiencing at that time. At the first half of the dance, the dancer would leave at least one part of his body on the bench, and tried hard to reach other parts of his body away. This muscular interplay between the dancer and the bench resonated with the audience to experiencing the same struggle feelings as the character. As the performance developed, the dancer started to leave the bench to fully use the space. The dancer had many different movements comparing with sitting on the bench previously. He started to lie down, roll over, stand on the bench and make a turn use only one foot. The level of the dance was no longer limited in the middle but changing from low to high as well. Having such a change, the dancer is converting a more delight and energetic feeling to the audience, in order to demonstrated that the character was recovered through the

Every time you step onto the stage the movement you show reveals you as the dancer but also the dance that was created. A ballet isn’t as simple as an arabesque or balancé de côté that are put together to provide a show. Each ballerina on the stage brings their own personal approach to how they dance, it’s a little more psychological than one may think. As said by Likolani Brown “you have to work hard but also not lose track of who you are and you have to remember why you do it. You do it because you love it and you have something individual to give to the art.” For a dancer it’s not just the determination but the personality in dancing that fully brings one to the art. In ballet or any form of dance there are two elements which are inward and outward. Inward being the choreography or creativity of an artist tied together with the outward putting pressure on that artist to create a product. This product of art has to keep the ballet world spinning even though so little is understood about the ballet. So, how can we as ballerinas can we really communicate the inward with each other or with the audience when the pressure of the outward lies so heavily? A ballerina will speak no words but will be heard because the movements that we make is our own form of communication. Movements, choreography, terminology are all things a ballerina would use to really say something, to explore and discover more about each other. For dancers this form is so unique and special to us because we

The space, time and usage of dynamics were powerful yet elegant-elements that added to the overall quality and tone of the work. The solo dancer used her body to perform various movements with specific ranges of motion, showing her ability to control, express and properly connect to the audience through her performance. In this performance, there seems to be a spiritual side when the dancer, Marilyn Banks, sits on the bench and starts to swing her arms in wide semi-circles to show looks of anguish and despair. Ms. Banks also varied movement by quivering her hands-movements such as a shaking or slight trembling with her hands when reaching outwards. She also used a lot of ornamentation or embellishment through her movements. Her body and her path of movement embellished her gestures since she was performing spins across the stage.

A lone performer begins a phrase facing left in a standing position with legs apart, head toward the ceiling, and the left arm extended to the sky. She swings the lone arm with her torso in a circle (clockwise to the observer, counter-clockwise to her); touching the ground and coming back up and around, like the swing of a heavy elephant trunk. The momentum of the swing causes her body to spin clockwise in place with her right leg extended to the rear, but quickly pulled in to a pirouette position as she finishes the turn (an eighth of turn short of facing the audience). The ballet posture quickly disappears as she crouches down, facing the floor with both arms hanging down between her legs. Her head pops up like she’s alerted to danger, followed by a sudden turn of the torso to her left (our right) in a dipping motion. Her right leg is lifted (bent) forward as her arms windmills backwards (like a swimmer’s backstroke) with elbows bent; it looks like a port de bras pinwheel. Her arms pause as her lifted foot lands. She repeats the short torso dip and arm pinwheel motion, but this time her right foot kicks forward to spin her 180 degrees (now facing our left). With her right arm hanging down emulating an elephant trunk again, she turns on the ball of her right foot 3/4 of a turn clockwise (now facing the audience) to swing her “trunk” above her head. This performer was clearly channeling a baby elephant.

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

I’ve grown up in a ballet studio. Not literally, of course, but it is where I’ve spent the majority of my childhood. Throughout the years, the arts have followed me despite the different places life has taken me. Whether it be dance, acting, or music, performing has always played a role in my life. My experiences both on and off the stage have been rocky and unpredictable, but I wouldn’t trade this thrilling adventure for the world.

As everyone continues to ask “How can dance be a sport? You can’t judge on time and the scoring is personal.” Just like figure skaters (an Olympic sport), competitive dancers are judged on technique, posture, timing, formation, hold, pose, togetherness, musicality, and expression, presentation, power, foot and legwork, shape, and travel space. Dancers have a lot on their minds while performing on stage. Some of the thoughts are “Is my foot pointed? Am I extending my arms correctly? Is my technique clear? Is my head turned the right way?” That’s a lot to think about while under enough pressure by being on stage.

However as breakdancing increased in popularity, more complex moves were developed consisting of the “floor lock”, “handglide”, “backspin”, “windmill”, “headspin”, and “suicide” moves. The “floor lock” move involved dancers spinning around their bodies and kicking out their legs. The “handglide” move had dancers balancing on their elbow while spinning their bodies. The “backspin” and “windmill” moves used the shoulder as a pivot point, while the “headspin” move used the head as a pivot point. Finally, the “suicide” move was one of the more dangerous moves, which involved a dancer falling forward with their hands to the side and doing a flip landing flat on their

I realized that as an artist I want to be articulate with what I do in my art, as a dancer, but especially with anything that I choreograph with the intention of showing to a larger audience. As a dancer Telford’s piece actually made me write notes in my artistic statement document, about exhaustion and its window into authenticity. Sales challenged me with the thought process within a work specifically towards your own research within context and awareness within aesthetic choices. This matinee not only exposed beautiful visceral movement, but ended up being an insightful and educational moment in time for my personal love and journey in