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I remember being in my first dance class 11 years ago. Every little girl wanted to be a ballerina, and I am not going to lie, me too! Who wouldn’t, they get to wear pretty tutus and are beautiful. But, ballet isn’t all its cracked up to be. You have to be graceful and perfect. I had looked out the window from the dance room and saw teenage girls tapping away and thought to myself, “that looks way better than this.” It was only ten minutes before I had a new passion: Tap dancing. Now, 11 years later I am doing my tenth year of tap dancing, and my fifth year of doing solos. And I still get the same rush every time I walk on stage, hearing my Tele-Tone taps click against the wood flooring beneath me and feeling everyone’s eyes watching my every movement. I am always nervous, and this dance has to be perfect. Once I arrive at my spot center stage I freeze. What was next? How does the music go? This happens every single time. I take one last breath and the music starts. I can feel the sound waves of the song pounding in my heart. Once I hear the comforting sound of my music play, all the fear of messing up is gone. It’s go time. The music ends and I walk off, just as rehearsed, just as I have done for five years now. Everyone’s attention is still on me, I love it. Knowing that I had given one of the best performances of my life, I ran to the changing room to get ready for my next number, only two dances away. Dance is my passion. “I believe that we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. In each, it is the performance of a dedicated precise set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which comes shape of achievement, a sense of one’s being, a satisfaction of spirit. One becomes, in some area, an athlete of God. Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.” -Martha Graham As a little girl, I remember watching ballets performed on TV. Seeing how the ballerinas flowed across the stage was amazing, how they moved intrigued me. It wasn’t until recently that I had gone to see the Nutcracker Ballet. Since then, I had wondered, is there really a big difference between contemporary ballet and classical ballet? I mean they both have gorgeous girls that perform on a stage in front of hundreds of people. After some research, I had found that while both styles have some similarities, there is some major differences, such as movement and meaning. One primary difference is the type of music each dancer listens to. Classical ballet dancers tend to dance to orchestra music, while contemporary dancers can fit their style to any song they desire. Because classical dancers use orchestra music, the dance usually portrays a story with characters pantomiming their parts. Contemporary dancers focus more on movements and how their body works, more then telling a story. Generally, if a story is involved in a contemporary dance, it gravitates toward being a sad real life story rather than the fairly cheery stories of classical dances. Since classical dancers focus on playing parts, their stage set-up and movement is quite balanced. These type of dances usually have an equal number of dancers on each side of the stage, as well as the props and backdrops they use. The classical dancers always have their spines erect and never slouching. In a contemporary dance, the dancers are likely to be unbalanced as well as curving and bending their bodies. For the most part, contemporary dancers don’t use props because it takes away from the focus of their movements. Although classical and contemporary ballet may have significant differences, there is also some similarities such as shoes and costuming. Either styles can where pointe shoes, ballet shoes, or lyrical sandals. The costumes can range from tutus like you would see in the Nutcracker, to flowing dresses such as the casual dresses worn to school. Contemporary ballet and classical ballet have many diverse characteristics such as the idea each dancer portrays and how each dancer moves. However, they do have some parallel tendencies like costuming. While the differences are greater than the similarities, both styles have one big element in common, both styles can fulfill the love someones has toward dance. Everyone has heard the quote, “Knowledge is power.” Information is not. There is a big difference between knowing something and having someone tell you the information. My dance teacher must believe in this 100 percent because he insists on us dancers knowing the terminology, not just copying his movements. Knowing I had to memorize these dance terms, I sat down on my bed with my computer on my lap. I typed in the website my dance teacher told me to use. As the website appeared on my screen a voice inside my head asked myself, “What did you get yourself into?” There were so many words I had never even heard of before, and most of them were in French. Feeling myself becoming overwhelmed, I looked at the sheet of paper with the list of the ten words I had to learn before Thursday. It can’t be that hard right? Wrong. As I wrote the definition to each word, I realized I was going to need a lot of help to figure out how to do every single word correctly. On Thursday, I asked my teacher for help, because I didn’t know how to execute any of the moves on the piece of paper. My dance teacher showed me how to do each move precisely so that way I could be perfect. While repeating every move over and over again was quite tedious, it really did help. My previous dance teachers gave me information on the moves, not the knowledge on how to perform them, which hurt my skill level quite a bit. But now, I am coming back stronger then ever due to my new-found knowledge on dance. While watching dances, my eyes are always drawn to one person. Sometimes its how they move or their facials, I never really know. Just recently I had watched a Rockford School of Dance recital video from 2013. A duet came on that was choreographed and performed by Kalin Walters and Shannon Kelly . I have seen Kalin and Shannon perform many times in a group, and both of them always steal my attention, but this was the first time I had ever watched both of them together for a duet and of course my eyes were glued to their every moment. As my eyes followed Kalin and Shannon across the stage, I wondered how their dance teacher had choreographed a dance that good After the video I had asked my dance teacher how they came up with a routine that amazing. His response, “It’s quite simple.” Some months later, I finally found the answer. It’s all about inspiration. Before you can even begin to choreograph a dance, you have to pick a song that corresponds with your vision for the dance. Choosing a slower song that has a deep meaning would not be appropriate for a jazz dance, as fast music shouldn’t be chosen for ballet. For a contemporary dance, my dance teacher chose “Fix You” by Coldplay. Once you have your song chosen, you should talk to your dancers about what your vision is. Everyone has to be on the same page for the dance to work out. David, my dance teacher, sat us down during our competitive hour and told us his vision. Since our dance was dedicated to Breylon Senn, a 4 year old who died of Mitochondrial Disease, our piece had to be meaningful and full of emotion. We all had to say who we were dancing for, and how much that person means to us. Needless to say, everyone in the class was crying. David said that the purpose of doing this was in fact to make us cry and to tap into that raw emotion. Prior to choreographing a dance, you have to assess everyone’s skill level so that dance is beneficial to everyone. While you want the dance to be challenging, you don’t want the dance to be too hard that know one wants to even try. Same goes for how easy the dance is. After that, David just started to choreograph. He had said that the music gave him ideas on how to have us dance as if we were one. Choreographing a dance isn’t really all that hard if you follow certain steps. Make sure you pick a song that corresponds with your dance style along with explaining your idea for the dance to your students. Once you have determined everyone’s skill level, you just let the music move you. If it’s done correctly, your audience will be enthralled in the dance, and they will be left wanting more. Studying dance proves to be very beneficial to all ages, including the elderly. Students gain strength, stamina, discipline and self control from dancing. While dancing builds muscles early in life, it also helps hurt them later on. Studies have shown that both retired and younger dancers are more susceptible to developing arthritis and other injuries than the average athlete. There are two types of arthritis: osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. While rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disorder, osteoarthritis is caused from the wear and tear you put on your joints. Most dancers develop osteoarthritis from all the tendues and plies, done over the years. Due to the many dance combinations dancers learn throughout their dance career, hips and ankles are the most susceptible places to find arthritis symptoms. Although osteoarthritis has no cure at the moment, there are still simple ways to prevent the symptoms. Taking care of your health and giving your injury time to heal before dancing again seems to be on top of the list. Stretching your hips and ankles every night also proves to be helping. Lastly, eating the right food plays a huge role in your health. Strong tendons and ligaments depend on strong bones, so drinking lots of milk will give you a leg up in preventing osteoarthritis. Growing up as a dancer, you are taught how to keep your body healthy. We put in countless hours to make sure that every move we do is helping, not damaging, our bodies. The way you lift your leg, point your toe, or land from a pirouette can all affect your joints. Despite the fact that you could still get arthritis from doing anything, dancers have a considerably higher chance of being diagnosed with it. Choosing the right shoe for a type of dance is ideal in having an enjoyable dance experience. Selecting a tap shoe can be considerably hard if you are a first time tapper. The Capezio “Riff” Slip-On Tap Shoe is excellent for beginners. With this shoe weighing in at two pounds, it’s fairly lightweight, making getting the right sounds off your 3/4 inch heel and toe taps quite easy. As any other beginner tap shoe, the price is quite high at $73.00. The FeaturesEvery tap dancer no matter the skill level seeks a shoe that is comfortable. Spending money on a shoe that isn’t something you will wear is wasteful. The “Riff” Slip-On Tap Shoe has a lightly padded collar and heel for comfort along with fold edges with a non-slip sock lining. Not only does a tap shoe have to be comfortable, but it also has to be durable. Built with a strong toe box and high quality leather, the “Riff” Slip-On Tap Shoe is made to last. Speaking from experience, mine have lasted 3 years, and are still going strong today. The build of the shoe is quite flexible, with a split sole design and elastic on each side of the shoe, making toe stands and other essential tap moves easier. Lastly, the toe and heels of the shoe are encompassed by the well known Tele-tone taps. The Tele-tone toe tap is mounted on fiberglass to get the amazing sound and the heel tap is seated upon a 3/4 inch heel. WishlistAlthough the Capezio “Riff” Slip-On Tap Shoe has many wonderful qualities, there is a few setbacks. First, the shoe itself runs very small. While the website says to order your street shoe size, you almost need to order two or three sizes up like the men. The Tele-tone taps also are quite small. Not only are the shoes small, when you do get the right size, they are tight. ComparisonThe Liberts Economy Slip On Tap Shoe is closely related to the Capezio “Riff” Slip-On Tap Shoe, but the “Riff” is the better choice. The Liberts shoe is less expensive, but from past experience, they are not as comfortable and do not last as long. All in AllFrom all my years of tapping, I can honestly say that the Capezio “Riff” Slip-On Tap Shoe is the best I have ever had. It’s not painful to dance in them, even for the hours of practice and the numerous toe stands that I do. People have also commented on how the taps sound compared to past one. Altogether, the Capezio “Riff” Slip-On Tap Shoe is a must have if you are into tapping. Pros:
Looking back on my life there has been many instances where I have been what you could call successful. These achievements could include saying my first word and learning to ride a bike, all the way to being able to graduate high school early. But what makes me successful? Is it my curiosity, or my need to be the best? Where do those qualities come from? The answer is simple, exercise. Many of us consider exercising to be a chore that makes us fit and happy, when in reality, exercise can actually help you be successful. A results of a recent study done by researchers of Strathclyde and Dundee universities proves that better academic performance was found in students who got at least 60 minutes of intense exercise a day. In the article, Exercise May Be Key to Boosting Teens’ Academic Performance, they also found that there is a link to how much exercise students got as a child to how well they meet academic standards. I deem myself to be a fairly knowledgeable and successful student, and considering how often I dance, it goes along with what the universities have found. Speaking from my teaching experience, I have also noticed a large improvement in the language and physical capabilities of children that I have taught 3 years ago all the way to now. While they are learning outside of the dance room, the exercise they get during dance does help with their development. Being successful isn’t the only benefit that comes from exercise. The intense work out also builds healthy bones and muscles and improves self-esteem. Is this all worth an hour a day? Completely. Knowing one day you will be successful is priceless. And besides, who wouldn’t want to spend an hour a day bettering themselves? Close Reading Notes The world of dance has strict guidelines on body image. You have to be five foot six inches and under one hundred and fifteen pounds. If you don’t meet the requirements, you won’t make it, bottom line. It’s tragic that this happens, but people don’t realize the consequences of these rules. Boys and girls alike, do many things to themselves to get the job, to be the best and to look perfect, resulting in an array of mental disorders, including Anorexia and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. One of the most known mental disorder that is linked to dance is Anorexia, scientifically known as Anorexia Nervosa. Dance is about being self-critical and learning discipline, but, as in any sport, there are people who take this to an extreme. Since it is a cutthroat sport, dancers will do what ever it takes to be the best, including starving themselves and lying to friends and family. People with Anorexia see themselves as being fat or an over sized roly-poly, when in reality they are underweight. Many will make excuses to not eat, become preoccupied with calories and dieting, and experience a dramatic weight loss. While losing weight may seem great to you, after time these victims can suffer from hair loss, an abnormally slow heart beat, osteoporosis, kidney failure, and more than likely death. Dancers have a higher rate of contracting anxiety disorders, such as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, also acknowledged as OCD. Someone with OCD could have a fear of making a mistake, being embarrassed, or have excessive doubts. When dancers have a failed audition, we tend to get down on ourselves and have doubts about the next one. As a consequence, they become preoccupied with the past instead of looking ahead at the future. Usually dancers with OCD also have Perfectionism, another type of anxiety disorder that falls under the OCD category. Due to the need to be perfect, dancers will go through routines, stretches, and workouts repetitively, until they feel each is impeccable. While practicing, dancers criticize themselves on how they execute each and every movement. As you can see, there bodies aren’t excluded from the scrutiny either. Even though dancers are under pressure all the time, whether it be from them self or a choreographer, learning the precise art of dance is worth all the risks one could come face to face with. |
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