Review of progress for 'Dancing in the street' a kathak dance project for Unit 13 and 14

The Physical skills

 Posture and alignment

When i first started kathak dance i had poor posture and alignment. Although my posture isn't completely perfect at times over these past weeks i feel as if i am applying my posture to a higher level each and every session which after reviewing my feedback from peers and teachers overall this has helped me get more and more consistent with how straight my posture actually is. I aim to further develop my skill of posture and alignment and i will intend to improve this  by  paying more attention to my stance and how straight my back is especially whilst dancing in my lessons this will take time however due to past lessons its clear that i have improved drastically in terms of my posture and will hopefully keep on improving.

In this photo i am making sure i have complete alignment as well as good posture , this is no tthe most clearest of photos as its on a slant however i feel as if i have clearly displayed good posture in this image.

Co-ordination

First of all Co-ordination for me was quite a huge weakness i was quite bad at moving my arms and feet at the same time and in conclusion made me mess up my bols, over the past 2 weeks this was a huge target of mine to improve as this will result overall in me becoming a better dancer and creating a better performance after working on my Co-ordination i reviewed some old videos of me doing bols and it is clear that i have improved a huge amount. I still do not feel to confident with my co-ordination yet but with more and more practice my consistency will keep on improving as will my dance skills.

In this video  you will see the full kathak dance , going from the greeting sequence into everyone doing bols (rhythmic sequence). This needs a high level of concentration/focus as well as having good co-ordination, in older bits of film my bols needed a lot of development after listening to feedback from others and more and more practice i have been able to get more and more consistent as this video displays.

Balance

Balance is another physical skill i reviewed and did not think that i had improved that much on, however after reviewing the most recent video i realized just how much i improved, i could clearly see this in parts of kathak dance, i hope to improve this in the future to take my dancing to the next step so when it comes to pirouettes in ballet i will be able to perform these easier even if it is quite the change from kathak where we spin low to the floor whilst keeping grounded.

This image is a clearly displaying me applying balance the physical skill to dance. I am clearly evenly distributing my weight which enables me to stay upright on one foot in the ending of the greeting sequence for Kathak.

Strength

Strength i felt was not something that was heavily kathak related, this is because i feel as if there is not many areas where we show a great amount of strength after reviewing my progress i notice that i could hardly improve my performance by strength in this dance. Although i felt like strength was not so much needed i feel as if i should develop this still. This can be improved by simply working out so, press ups and weighted equipment improving this will certainly improve my dance especially in other genres.

Stamina 

Personally Stamina is something i have not struggled with at all in kathak after reviewing my progress it does not seem that i have changed very much in terms of stamina, however my stamina is still improving due to the amount of physical work, this will not be my main focus in the future but i will still keep in mind that my stamina still needs to be good to perform a high level of dance.

Flexibility

Flexibility is a physical skill that i have never been amazing at but not bad at, i usually struggle with flexibility in the lower half of my body and am usually better with my top half, after reviewing my progress its clear that i have been improving over the past few weeks from stretching and performing more dance, i can carry on improving this by stretching daily in an attempt to make me a better dancer overall.

The performance skills

Projection and facial expression (of movement and emotional content to an audience) 

i apply the use of projection with facial expressions, my body language and eye contact to communicate a meaning and get a sense of connection with the audience. When i perform this i exaggerate my movements and expressions to make them clearer to the audience and to make them easily visible. When speaking i make sure to use a lot of eye contact engaging the audience and making sure that i have good vocal quality, i also make sure to have good volume and to make my voice more exciting when telling the story. I feel as if im applying projection fairly well but there is definitely room for improvement, i also feel as if my execution of words has greatly improved which included the use of volume and diction.

How i intend to improve this is by doing a warm up of my voice every time i need to do anything vocal, this will ensure that i am ready to execute projection at a high quality. Also i intend to improve my facial expression from actively being more expressive at times to make my face have a higher range of expression

Communication

Communication  links to my technical accuracy of movements as well as the story itself. I apply this through the use of Mudras and even facial expression. When i perform these Mudras i tend to exaggerate the movements to make it clear how the character in the piece is feeling and to ensure that the audience is not confused. I feel as if i'm applying communication quite well i have shown great improvement in communicating the story due to the amount of times i have repeated the dance.

How i intend to improve my Communication is by more and more practice as i feel this is something that can only improve through experience, you can understand what to do but to execute it is quite different.

Focus

Focus is a skill that links very much to projection however i apply focus to draw the attention to and away from certain things happening in the dance. When i perform a very heavy focus movement i feel as if the audience should know where to look and conveying the focus is the firs this step in doing so. I feel as if my ability to use focus as a whole has greatly improved since the start of kathak dance, this links to co-ordination which i struggled a lot with  but after improving them both and reviewing old videos i could see what went wrong and planned to improve accordingly.

I intend to improve this by listening and responding to certain feedback as well as observing older videos to analyse how successful i am.

Extension of Limbs

I apply Extension of limbs with a wider body language and much more exaggerated movements, when i perform specific movements with splayed arms i exaggerate this with a straight and wide angle to make myself more visible and really push my dancing skills. i feel as if i have greatly improved since the start of kathak in terms of extension as before i didn't use the full width of my body but now after reviewing my work i have been thinking about it more and try to focus on really extending my body where appropriate 

I intend to improve this by paying more attention to this in lessons and practicing this then listening and responding to any feedback from teachers and peers.

Dynamics

I apply dynamics in kathak dance through the use of slow and fast movements (bols) as well as sharp and flowing movements. When i perform this i have to focus a lot on the counts of the music as this is important when trying to do slow movements and the same goes for fast movements. I feel as if my dynamics need to improve as they are not as consistent as they could be , i struggle from going from fast to slow as its quite a change in this style of dance

I hope to improve this by feedback from peers and teachers as well as practicing specific movements that shows a high level of dynamics during lessons.