How Did Jack Cole Inspired My Dance

I believe that the way I choreographed my dance, and what story I chose was empowering. I feel that I bring life to the audience and get them intrigued. The audience hopefully understands the message that I’m trying to send. Not only was this theme empowering to the audience, but it was also emporering to me. I learned about determination and fighting. I know it sounds cliche, but this lesson is a lesson that I feel needs to be learned by everyone. It can help the world succeed. I’m so glad that I got to choose my own choreographer, choreography, song, and theme in this final project.
The choreographer that inspired my dance was Jack Cole, who was remembered as the father of the theatrical jazz dance genre. He was born on April 27, 1911 in
Jack Cole spent his early days in New Jersey, but then he got sent off to boarding school by his divorced parents who didn’t really communicate or connect with him. Although being sent away was difficult to work through, he never gave up on his passion for dance. This was relevant to me because in life, there are many moments that can tear a person apart, bringing them to a bad place. We all just have to learn to focus on what we want and be determined to get there. In my solo, I plan on using very olden day and sustained moves, such as drags and arm/leg extensions that he would have used along with some sudden movements. The song I chose was “Liza” by Roger Williams. I chose this song because it has parts that are very subtle and fit well with sustained movements, which is perfect for my dance, since I’m inspired by Jack Cole who uses sustained movements before a grand sudden movement. I chose this song because I collaborated with Ms. Capon as she gave me some suggestions as we brainstormed using the process of elimination until I found a piece of music that fits with my
I don’t really look anywhere else and if I do, it’s only for a second. All my pathways are straight when I move side to side or forward. My choreography supports my theme. When the character in my dance is happy or jumpy, my weight is either light and strong or light and soft. There are sad parts in my dance when the character is stressed out about her problems when I use very heavy weight, with my feet placed strongly on the floor, in a depressing way. My timing has a lot of suspension and surprise. For example, I would do a sustained dance move with slow timing, and then directly pop out of it into a sudden movement with quick timing. The image I’m trying to set is a person in pain, then getting back to her happy place. I try to set this image by using sad or bored facial expressions and droopy body movement to explain how the character is sad. When the character becomes happy, a big smile comes onto her face. This transition is pretty smooth because when she’s sad, she then faces her bad side and basically tells it that she is done with it and shuts it out. When she does this, her face is mad, but in a way that says, “I’m winning this.” in a way. After she experiences overcoming this dark thing, she becomes extremely happy, and the audience can see this transition. In my dance, I wanted to make sure that I included a chaine turn with one hand up in the air as if I were reaching for the stars, because that’s exactly the