Misty Copeland is a dancer with the American Ballet Theatre (ABT). She was born September 10th, 1982 in Missouri. She is best known for becoming the first African American principal dancer. She is a great inspiration for people today.…
In Fall 2012 there was a production called Jubilation taken place in El Camino College in the Campus Theatre. The Dance consist of many different styles of dancing from African dance by Nichole “Nittche” Thompson Spirit Within, to Tango as demonstrated in La Revancha Del Tango, choreographed by Imara Quinonez. One of the most common and best performed dances that was presented in the production were The Gift and Broadway Bound, choreographed by Bernice Boseman. Broadway Bound consisted of twelve dancers, and performed as a single group of girls, a single group of guys, and girls and guys dancing together. However, in the performance of The gift there was just one guy that performed his solo.…
How could you leave your country? The place you grew up in, how could you leave your loved ones in a place so bad you had to flee it yourself? The production of ‘Look the other way’ choreographed by Cadi McCarthy is clearly emotionally attached to the performers. Look the other way describes how people had to leave their home and become refugees, their fear and hatred needing the encouragement to move forward. The mixture of contemporary and hip hop really drives you into the performance and makes dancers, public and even you feel like a part of the attraction. The choreographer clearly displays the variety of talent and emotive skills that all of the dancers consist of. The different interrogations of each dancer themselves are astonishing, having a wide range from the strength and intensity movements by Peter Fares to the smooth, soft and meaningful movements danced by Yillin Kong. The artistic use of props and lighting gives the texture of the movements on the performers and their facial expressions gave an overwhelming feeling inside; it’s a wakeup call to seeing how lucky we are as a country. This was a very effective way to get the audience’s attention.…
Soonerthon is a year-long fundraising event ending with a twelve-hour dance marathon in the spring. All the proceeds raised benefits The Children’s Hospital in Oklahoma City through funding medical research and family support programs. The programming committee is in charge of planning every minute of the twelve-hour event dance marathon. Within the committee, my personal responsibility was to design and organize a children’s carnival at the main event for the “miracle kids” from the hospital. The joy that radiated from the children that passed through the carnival was contagious, not only to myself but also to the other 2,000 OU students that attended the Soonerthon event as well.…
Happy Feet Soul Line Dance Group vision is to become the leading studio providing line dance that helps each participates improve a health issue. In order to achieve this, we must embrace our mission to provide a place where people can learn to dance for enjoyment, exercise, or meet new people. Happy Feet Soul Line Dance Group has currently outgrown their current location. Expansion into a private studio, will allow public and private instructions, private groups parties, and opportunity to offer other different type of dances.…
As a group, sit down to brainstorm, discuss and decide upon a social or political issue that you want to explore through movement. Examples of social/political issues are: homelessness, oppression, environmental issues, corporate avarice, racism, domestic violence, racial profiling, but there are many, many issues that can be explored in addition to those mentioned above. You may wish to bring in source material (a photograph, a poem/song, a painting, news clip, a personal story, etc., related to the social/political issue. Using the source material as a starting point, independently create a phrase of movement for yourself that is 32 counts in length utilizing at least 8 of the movement elements listed below. In groups, using your individual phrases as a starting point, combine, manipulate and abstract your phrases, adding formal elements, to create a dance composition. The composition should be between 3-4 minutes long. You may set your dances to recorded music, a sound collage of your own creation or they may utilize text (pre-recorded or spoken in performance). Silence is also an option. Try to avoid music with lyrics that describe your issue. You should aim to explore and portray your topic through movement, sound and/or text. You may also incorporate props, or costumes if these seem crucial to the performance of your dance composition.…
B-boying or breaking, also called breakdancing, is a style of street dance that originated among African American and Puerto Rican youths in New York City during the early 1980s. People who dance break dancing are usually called “B-boy” or “B-girl” distinct from their gender. Although the term "breakdancing" is frequently used to refer to the dance in popular culture and in the more mainstream entertainment industry, "b-boying" and "breaking" are the original terms. These terms are preferred by the majority of the pioneers and most notable practitioners.…
Rock Steady Dance Center is a full-service professional dance school that is located in Cheektowaga, New York. The dance styles they teach include tap, ballet, hip hop, jazz, acro, pointe, and contemporary. Rock Steady Dance Center provides strength, conditioning, flexibility, and professional choreography to the songs the clients love. This dance school has been featured on WKBW AM Buffalo. Rock Steady Dance Center provides affordable, quality dance classes.…
Your story is every detailed, and you give us multiple examples and experiences. I like that at the beginning you talked about you dancing when you were little and about the tutus and jazz costumes. To me, that means that you have been apart of the dance discourse community for a long time and it is ever near and dear to your heart. However, I think you need to make what your discourse community is more known because from your story I can not tell what it is.…
Although most scholars simply define it as the art of designing and arranging dance, American ballet icon George Balanchine distinguished dance choreography as “an expression of time and space, using the control of movement and gesture to communicate,” (Anderson 5). This definition puts emphasis on the rigid structure and body control required to successfully produce a piece of choreography, an idea not uncommon in the ballet community (Conoley-Paladino). Like Balanchine, modern dance icon Merce Cunningham defined dance choreography as “an art in space and time.” However, in contrast, he stated that “the object of the dancer is to obliterate” that art, drawing on the importance of…
In most dance forms and styles, references are made from historical dances that people may not even be aware of. Dancing is influenced from all sorts of cultures, based on historical events or the region these countries belong to. Through slavery American dance was influenced by African dance, and in turn the African slaves were influenced by the dances already performed in this country. This can be seen in many dance forms created and altered in the United States. One company in particular that draws many references to the African esthetics of dance, as well as historical events is The Dance Theatre of Harlem.…
Dance, Girl, Dance is a film from the Classical Hollywood period that presents a complicated reading when viewed through a feminist lens. The 1940 film was directed by Dorothy Arzner, one of the most notable female directors and the only prominent woman in Hollywood at that time. Arzner presents her audience with an array of female characters, the main characters being Judy O’brien and Bubbles/Tiger Lily White. Judy is a dedicated dancer, honing her talents as a ballerina. Bubbles, on the other hand, uses her looks and sexuality to land jobs as a burlesque dancer. Dance, Girl, Dance reveals these characters’ experience in a dance troupe with several other girls. When the troupe disbands, Bubbles comes to offer Judy a humiliating job as her stooge. As tensions rise, the two eventually come to blows, quite literally, when both fall for the same man, Jimmy Harris. Through their relationship with each other and with men, a dynamic is defined that gives insight into the power of the male gaze and sexual politics, not only in the film but also in society at large in the context of 1930s America. This can be seen in the analysis of a particular scene near the beginning of the film. Judy and one of her roommates, Sally, are preparing for bed after their performance at the nightclub in the opening scene. Bubbles, their third roommate, arrives at home after a disappointing outing with Jimmy. This scene specifically highlights the contrast between the personalities of Judy and Bubbles, and speaks to the many ways female characters are coded based on their sexuality and appearance.…
The varieties of jazz dance reflect the diversity of American culture. Jazz dance mirrors the social history of the American people, reflecting ethnic influences, historic events, and cultural changes. Jazz dance has been greatly influenced by social dance and popular music. But, like so much that is “from America”, the history of jazz dance begins somewhere else.…
The movie Dance Black America showcases many different styles of dance in an effort to document a festival that celebrates the evolution of black dance. There are a wide range of dances from contemporary to more rhythmic traditional African dances. With all of the dances performed, two stood out to me. These were “Ostrich” performed by Charles Moore and “Junkie” performed by Eleo Pomare.…
Discuss the meanings of authoritarianism and anti-authoritarianism in practices of dance teaching. Make specific reference to examples from practice and from the literature. Discuss ways of working that might be appropriate to working with a group of GCSE students and prepare a lesson plan for a specific session with GCSE students.…