Contemporary Dance Technique
Evaluation
I prepared
for my solo by using the contemporary dance techniques that I demonstrated in
class. I.e. travelling, jumps, floor work (brushes), spinal rotations (to help
with alignment). In contrast to this we done Pliés to help us with our jumps; I
used this opportunity to better my jump towards the end of my solo piece.
Likewise, I used the swing and suspension technique to really help me get that sense
of breaking free as that is what the contemporary piece needed.
Emeli
Sande’s song ‘Read all about it’ was the song I had performed my contemporary
solo to. I thought I had various strengths and weaknesses in the piece. Just to
name a few strengths; I thought I done well went it came to my projection, my
application of dynamics, rhythmic awareness. To conclude I thought what did not
go so well was my accuracy throughout the piece and the shapes and positions of
my body. My alignment was not as strong as how I hoped it would be.
A physical
skill I thought was portrayed quite well was my projection. The reason to why I
thought my projection was good was for the reason that the theme of breaking
free was shown and understood clearly which then made my performance affective. Another physical skill I done quite well with
was my rhythmic awareness, as I quite familiar with the song I understood the
music and the beat. Additional physical
skill was my extension. I thought my extension was much more better compared to
in the beginning when I started to learn the dance- I did not extend as much
when I was supposed to which then affected the way my solo looked to others. I
thought the three performance/Interpretive skills I done really well was
fluidity; where I felt I needed to more graceful I believe I was, timing; my
timing was fairly good. In conclusion my exaggeration in the piece especially
the jump part when I thrust my hands down was very symbolic of my theme which
added more to my piece.
At the start
of the project, physically I felt I could have focused on my technical skills
much more which would then have enabled me to enhance my solo. Also, the
accuracy of the movements throughout the piece was what got in the way, when I
watched the solo back I realised I would put my all in a set of movements I
enjoyed doing then forget about the other ones. But to me when I was doing the
piece I felt different. I felt I put everything I had in the piece on a whole.
Overall, In
order to improve I’m going to use the technique catch up sessions to help me
improve on my technical skills in order for me to become a stronger dancer.
Also, in conclusion, my targets for my next performance would be to improve on
all my weakness areas and ask for peer feedback whenever I feel I could do more.
I feel this would be important as my weaknesses are my barriers in dance and if
I do not do something to better them now in the long run I won’t be able to
dance to my full potential. Yvonne A. Bonsu
CONTEMPORARY
LILY ALLEN CHRISTMAS PERFORMANCE
The
song we performed to was called “somewhere only we know” Lily Allen’s version.
The original dance piece was based around the “John Lewis Christmas advert
2013”. The main attraction in the advert is the relationship between the bear
and the hare. We interpreted that same idea in our piece. I played the role of
the hare and Bicton Watson played the role of the bear. The advert starts off
with an establishing shot of birds and an opening line…”There once was an
animal who had never seen Christmas” and then it slowly begins to tell the
story by a falling snowflake that gently lands on the bears nose. The hare is
felt feeling upset as he realises his friend will soon hibernate and that he
will miss Christmas but this has a twist the bear actually wants to join in and
so he does but realises further later on that he is unable to cope the winter
and disappears into hibernation mode.
Knowing the bear cannot join in the hare starts to miss his friend and finds it
hardtop join in until the moment he figures out the best gift for the bear
which is an alarm clock to make sure he is on time to decorate the tree and
spend Christmas with all his friends.
Rehearsal Process
The
whole rehearsal process was really exciting for me and the other dancers, as
this is the first time that we had an opportunity of showcasing our talent to
an audience. Joe Melville choreographed the start of our Lily Allen dance
piece; the whole class responded positively towards her choreography and used
it as a motif. There was a section of
eight that we got to choreograph as Bicton and I were the main attraction the
piece we had to choreograph had to stand and we had to connect within the piece
for us to successfully pull it off. In rehearsals we would often make up a
routine and Joe (our teacher) would often instruct us to change it to make it
more fluid and so we would. I personally think my maturity and discipline in
rehearsal was really good. I was focused and I got the work done. Especially the
day I felt ill. I knew that there was work to be done and I was not going to
let that affect my rehearsal and I feel like that is a strength for me as it
shows I am highly dedicated and committed to what I do.
To
mention a few things I think went well also during the rehearsal process was
good on a whole. The support from the group members and the motivation, advice
were spot on. There were days where
people within the group did not really fell the piece so the piece slowly
started to crumble but when it came to cleaning the dance piece within that
show week everyone was focused, especially if someone was not on time,
rhythmically others would politely tell them. I rehearsed the dance piece
outside of the rehearsal room in a park to get a feel of a different
environment as I did not want to get stuck into a pattern of facing the mirror;
this was to help me remember the routine thoroughly. When we came back to
rehearsals I would often ask Deneal of our opinion of my performance so she can
advise me on what to change.
I
remember we had done a trust workshop as Joe felt that we needed to trust each
other more since we were doing a routine that contains lifts and jumps. This
exercise not only helped build our confidence in each other but it helped us
trust each other when it came to the lifts and the performance on a whole.
Foremost to do a lift what is required is TRUST and then STRENGTH. One exercise
was the superman. I call it the superman as it required holding your partner up
in the air with your feet as supporting them with the help of your waist,
here’s an image to show it looks like.
Another
Strength I had in rehearsal process was my memory. Despite the fact that I had
to learn Joe’s choreography I had to also remember my own choreography and my
partners and the ensembles choreography and I believe I handled that quite
well. Particularly, towards the end when we all had done a replica of the
beginning ensemble piece which included the friends and not the Bear and the Hare.
My
weakness I have for the rehearsal process is my response to stimuli. I tend to
change stuff around instead of developing the material that has already been
used. An example of that was in the
beginning of the Christmas rehearsal process is we got given the same task and
instead of responding to the task I kind of went off and done my own thing
which wasn’t the right thing to do.
An
additional weakness is my alignment which I need to watch out for. I remember
during one of our rehearsals I final noticed my alignment was not always
correctly accurate.
Another
weakness I had was not always giving the dance 100%, I realised in the
technically run I was worn out and didn’t even know how to continue. So I what
I had done was I rested before our final performance which gave me a lot of
energy which I then used in the piece.
Three
Targets I need to work on for the rehearsal stage:
Energy/Stamina
- Giving every run of the dance 100%.
Punctuality-
As I missed a rehearsal I need to be more self-organised and inform Joe (my
teacher) directly when I cannot attend a rehearsal with a valid reason.
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