Unit 13 and 14 Analysis of progress development and opportunities

Achievements and progress:

During the past year i have had many opportunities where i learnt and developed more experience in all kinds of dance. 

One area i feel i have developed is extension, compared to my initial introduction to dance in Six the musical i started developing my use of extension mainly in the arms during the contemporary dance workshop with Danieille Gardener from the garage. i learnt a lot about why extension is used and how this links to emotion and general musicality in dance. I thought i progressed in this after listening to feedback from Danieille Gardener who explained how to use this technique to improve my performance not in just contemporary but all genres.

Here is two photos which show clearly why i feel i have developed in this area, one being from Six then the other from the contemporary workshop

Six:

Contemporary workshop:

Another area i feel i have developed is my use of coordination, a physical skill. In Six there was  opportunities however it was basic and did not allow me to develop this to a much higher quality however when coordination was used i struggled to move both hands and feet at the same time as this was very subtle to match the rhythm, I feel like i have achieved a much better coordination when tackling the mudras and bols in Kathak dance, which was proven from comments from my teachers and audience feedback, 'everyone was in amazing unison, it surely takes a lot of time to keep such a a high level of coordination throughout the piece' - Audience member.

These are two videos one from Kathak and one from one of the earlier dance lessons which show my progression of coordination.

Later video :

Earliest video:

My next area i felt i have developed and shown good progress is my directional focus , a performance skill. I feel this as in Six i was so court up trying to get the movements right which made me lose a sense of where to have my focus i developed this when we started studying Jazz dance with Rob, i felt like i had improved my focus in this performance as Rob constantly reminded me that your movements has to have a motive and your focus is a good way of expressing this.

In both these photos you can see my sense of focus is much different and arguably has more of a meaning.

A flash mob from Six (you cant see me too well)

Robs jazz sequence

For my 4th area i feel i have developed i would pick my posture and alignment as i struggled with this for quite awhile and have finally found that i have properly improved in my posture and alignment when i was doing Kathak dance as this was very important in Kathak. After reviewing my performance of Kathak dance i realise how well my posture has improved during the time i have been in this course, i feel this way because posture and alignment is not something you can change over night, through weekly dance lessons i have learnt to be more and more aware of my posture and alignment inside and out of dance .

Here is two photos which show how my posture and alignment was and how its going now.

My last area i have made great progress would be my flexibility, particularly in the legs. We focused on our flexibility before each lesson when studying Jazz and in all honesty i was not too great at this, where my legs had to be involved , compared to recently when we performed in the Fosse style in All That Jazz i had to use flexibility to emphasise the slow sensual movements in the lower body. Flexibility is the range of movement at a joint and when performing Al that Jazz i could definitely tell that i had improved as i did not feel to much strain with my legs when reaching a greater range of movement in the legs. I also noticed my improvement with this with certain shapes performed in Kathak dance .

Here is another two photos which are clear examples of progression of how my flexibility had developed.

Improvements:

Although i had many areas i had improved there is still areas i would like to improve to enhance my skillset as a dancer.

Firstly i would say i could definitely improve my balance. I think this because of my inconsistency when it comes to balancing sometimes i have great balance but other times i start to wobble, i struggle with this because you do not have many opportunities to improve balance in everyday life so when using a high level of balance its quite hard to adjust to.  How i plan to improve my balance is through balance exercises that clearly goes from two legs to one where i will need to evenly distribute my weight to achieve balance.

In this video you will see my using balance in Kathak dance.

see 1:30 for balance

Secondly i would like to improve strength, one of the physical skills . This is because having more strength generally will allow me to physically achieve different elements of dance which will give me more versatility as a dancer. I will be able to improve on this by daily doing a specific number of press-ups which slowly increase each day (Progressive overload)

Something else i would like to improve is my performance skill, extension. Although i have clearly improved a lot since the start of this course in terms of this, I can still develop this further, due to my height i feel i should make this into a strength by using that height to extend to create a more exaggerated piece. How i can improve this is by reviewing feedback then acting on this in the future.

Here is a photo where extension is used but can be improved.

I would also like to improve on dancing in the Jazz style as a whole. I have not fully danced in the  Jazz style in a long time and when i did my skillset in dance was still just developing whereas now i think i would have a much better performance. I could improve this style as a whole by using all the skills i developed from other dance styles and mixing them in order to improve future jazz performances.

Here is an old video of me doing Robs jazz sequence(jazz)

Opportunities:

Looking back through the Academic year i have learnt and developed many things from Unit 13 and 14. For example i have learnt a lot about the six physical skills and how this can help me become a better dancer. Having the knowledge of the physical skills allowed me to be more aware of my strengths and areas i need to develop this makes it easier for me to focus on the physical skills i struggle with, particularly my flexibility in the legs. After working on my physical skills that i struggle with, i get to see how i have improved in them when i perform a variety of dance styles.

Secondly learning then developing my technique through a different variety of dance styles even though i had never studied dance before this academic year. For instance Jazz dance where i have had to get used to slow sensual movements to perfect the Bob Fosse style of jazz dance, also a contemporary dance workshop with Danieille Gardener where i learnt about contemporary and even pushed me out my comfort zone with improvisation. Although we learnt about well known styles we even ventured out and explored Kathak dance first performed in Northern India. After learning about all these different dance styles and then performing them, i have gained lots of knowledge and skills that will help me for my future professional role as a dancer, giving me versatility as a dancer.

Another opportunity i have happily taken is the wide variety of different performances. I have been lucky enough to take part in a number of different performances for a public audience, usually for about 200 people, this consists of dances through our Musical at the start of the year, Six, not only that but other shows like 'One night only' and 'Spotlight' , this allowed me to get some experience of dancing for a real audience whilst also having technicians sorting out the lights which make dancing feel a lot more exciting as i am only used to performing in a plain classroom space.

Lastly being able to receive regular feedback from teachers and peers. This is an amazing opportunity as i am being given ways of how me as a dancer can improve from people who are a lot more experienced than me and who have even been in the dance industry. With all the positive feedback i have been given a sense of accomplishment and with the critical feedback i have taken it with a positive manner and then taken the time to improve on what i was doing either wrong or just not as well therefore making me a better dance. I have also taken the time to watch other dancers as this allows me to implement their style into my very own. The unit have also given me opportunity to develop skills in self assessment. I did this through filming my work then watching it back to asses what i did well and what still needs improving.