Dancing at my school

Being a Dancer at My School

I go to a private school in the U.S. and it amazing. At my school, we have a giant campus,
delicious food in the lunchroom, and many, many sports teams. Another thing about my school
is that athletes are often seen as “the best of us” as a student body. This seems great, right?
The only issue is that an athlete is someone who competes in a sport and out of that category,
the sports that are recognized are mostly ball sports. The only non-ball sport acknowledged is
track and field. Do you see the issue? I do. I am a dancer and consider myself an athlete.
As stated in the Merriam Webster Dictionary , an athlete is “a person who is trained or skilled in
exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina.” Nowhere in
this definition does it say, “you must play a ball sport or be in a sport played by the school, to be an an athlete.”

Image credit

In physical education, we play ball sports, run, work out, and do one week of salsa
out of the whole year of physical education. The teachers explained that this is
because they needed something to put on the calendar to fill up one week and
one of our teachers can salsa dance. The salsa dance is almost everybody's least
favorite part of PE but its my favorite. This is because it feels like there are
actually skills being taught at or below my skill level.

Martha Graham and the Rise of Modern Dance

For centuries, classical ballet was the only dance style that people taught and choreographed. Martha Graham (1894-1991) was one of the pioneers of modern dance, who broke away from the specific, disciplined technique of ballet. She was one of the first dancers to discover and perform with different techniques such as contractions, floorwork, and energy with opposition. Her choreography and approaches at dance are what made modern dance what it is today.

Graham demonstrated passionate emotions in her choreography, something ballet was unable to do because of its constricted, particular movement. She explored with loose movement in the limbs and spine; spiraling energy and opposition; and expressing emotions through movement. "Ballet…did not say enough, especially when it came to intense drama, to passion," she said. Graham’s innovations are now known as the "Graham Technique," which is used frequently in modern and contemporary dance to convey strong feelings. She greatly impacted dance, and is known still as the "mother of modern dance".

Martha Graham's creativity has greatly affected me and my dancing. She started something that has been used, altered, and elaborated on, to create entirely new approaches at expressing things through movement. Ballet training is extremely important for all dancers, because it teaches proper technique that is used in all styles, but I’m glad that I can use different movement in contemporary. Contemporary dance lets us portray feelings in a way that we can’t through ballet alone. Martha Graham inspired and influenced many dancers and choreographers, and completely changed dance. Her work has made dance more enjoyable for me, and many other dancers all over the world.

Sources

1. https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/photographs-the-classics/martha-graham-letter-to-the-world-kick-1940-42/12395

2. http://www.victoriaeugenia.com/100urte/laredsocial_temas_danza.html

3. http://moblog.whmsoft.net/related_search.php?keyword=martha+graham+technique&language=english&depth=3

Baroque Dancing to Dance in the 21st Century

Everyone could think of something they love to do, but would they really know the history of it?  I’ve been dancing since I was about five years old, and I never really took the time to think about where dance could have come from.  Until now I hadn’t thought that maybe the revolutionary time period helped jumpstart this art.  Every time before I go onstage I go over the choreography (dance steps) in my head.  I get prepared to perform what I was taught, although where did these steps actually come from?  For instance dance was invented a long time ago, and has been developed over time.  In the revolutionary time period, Baroque dance and music was a big thing and lots of people knew of it.  Today in the 21st century dance is very different, although there actually are quite a few similarities.  The dance steps in the Baroque dances are pretty much the same as the ones today, they were just executed differently, mostly by the style of the steps.  Back in that time period the dances tended to be more grounded and connected to the floor, whereas the dance done today (specifically ballet) is more light on the feet with the emphasis going up.  For me it’s really weird to now think that every dance I’ve done wasn’t actually original, it had to come from somewhere and that would be the Baroque dance steps.  Although these dance steps seem a little weird to me at first, I can definitely recognize that the base of the step is still used today, but tweaked a little.  Also the dance is usually done with a partner and in really elaborate outfits (in my opinion), which has changed a lot today.  Thankfully :)

Here is a link to an example of the Baroque dance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZWDrjLO7r4

Sources:

• http://www.ukbaroquedance.com/baroquedance/

Photos:

• http://nybaroquedance.org/2013/01/22/santa-barbara-historical-dance-workshops-in-june-2013/camargo/

Transitions|skating and life

Transitions in ice dance are almost the most important part of the entire dance. The way you skate, or skating skills, are key because if the judges just think that you have nice elements, or ‘moves’, as many people who don’t know skating call them, they obviously won’t respect your skating as much. The artistry of the movement, is all so important. The way a skater interprets the choreography is a skill that is vital in being able to tell a good skater from mediocre. Transitions are also very interesting in life. This could be from one home to the next, or even to a different ‘best friend’. For me, the hardest transition of all is from when I have been at a lively, difficult, and exciting competitions that are always so different, and then going back to school. It’s not that I don’t love school, because I do, but its just that it is not quite as emotionally amazing, maybe because I am now a little older, and have been doing it almost everyday for years.

At a skating competition, it is sort of scary, but so cool that I can’t even begin to explain. Everyone is walking around trying to look proud, while the judges all walk around as friends and you have to pretend to be happy to please the judges, because they want strong competitors to send out internationally. Also, you for the most part are happy, other than the fact that you can barely handle the crazy amount of nerves. All of the people you compete against are kind of like enemies until the end of competition.

After the 2013 US Nationals, I was so excited and everyone was telling me congrats, and supportive, kind things like this, and I swear, I could not wipe off the smile on my face. Though my event was sort of in the beginning of the week, it did not get boring. The next few days we had many seminars, events (breakfasts, team building etc.), and other skating to watch. It really was one of the best weeks of my life, because while hanging out with my skating friends whom I am very close to, I get to watch, and be a part of a world that I love. Finally, to top off the week, there was an exhibition with thousands of people watching. It was all of the US champions. It was a blast getting to work with all of the seniors (highest level), and freestylers that I don’t hang out with much. We said bye to all of our judges, and thanks, and bye to all of our friends that may have been enemies earlier that week.

As we leave to come home, I am glad because a new adventure was just finished, but sad to leave all of my friends, because I have so much in common with them, even if lots of them are much older. So I fall asleep with a little pain in my heart, but knowing that from here, it only gets better, as I remember from when a judge let me in on something amazing. I had been walking through the arena as I bumped into a technical specialist and a judge. The judge was eating ice cream, and told me that although it is not official who is in the ISP yet, that I was already being selected for an international competition, it just wasn’t clear which one yet. The ISP is the international selection pool, and that is what you get chosen from to compete at international competitions! I literally was speechless, other than saying thank you so much.

Hopefully she was being honest, because if she were, then in the end of this March, I will be told what international competition I will be sent to. Then in the summer, we will be given our Team USA jackets. This has been my short-term dream ever since I can remember, and it is finally here! Within any revolution that has ever been, there is always a dream. Behind everything great, there is always a dream. Dreams fuel the heart, which fuels the mind. Without dreams what would we be? The heartache still remains, but I know, there are always some skating shows to be skated, (we were in one about a week after nationals), and there are always competitions ahead, but mostly, there are always things to work on.

Tchaikovsky and The Nutcracker

Sterling Hyltin as The Sugarplum Fairy and Andrew Veyette as her cavalier
in "George Balanchine's The Nutcracker (TM)" as part of NYCB 

Every year in December, thousands of dancers put on costumes and take their places backstage for the top of the one of the most legendary ballets of all time. This is the show they have been preparing for since September, the Nutcracker.

Pytor Ilych Tchaikovsky

The Nutcracker is the story of a girl named Clara, who at her family’s annual Christmas party gets a Nutcracker. That night, at midnight, she is attacked by rats and their rat king, but her Nutcracker and her brother Fritz’s toy soldiers come and defeat the rats. She is then transported through a land of dancing snowflakes to the Land of Sweets where the Sugar Plum Fairy and her attendants dance for her and the Nutcracker. Pytor Ilych Tchaikovsky, a famous composer, wrote the score these dancers dance to.  Born May 7, 1840 in Votkinsk, Russia, he grew up with four brothers, a sister, and a half sister. He composed many symphonies, operas,  concertos, ballets, and chamber music pieces in his time. His famous ballets besides the Nutcracker include Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. He died in St. Petersburg in November 6, 1893. He was the first Russian composer to be internationally known.

Me as a party girl this year

Tchaikovsky’s music was so popular at the time because of it’s emotion. He composed pieces that were happy, and you wouldn’t forget. He made people feel what was going on onstage, helping to move the scene along. The emotion is what makes us want to see his ballets like The Nutcracker over and over again, giving us that holiday cheer every time.

There are many different versions of the Nutcracker, the original being Marius Petipa’s and the most common now being George Balanchine's. With these varying choreographies there are many different names of parts with different ages dancing the roles. George Balanchine’s version has the little angels, the party children, the soldiers, Marie, the Nutcracker, the polichinelles, the candy canes, and the girl chinese soloists, and the maids as students, with the company dancers dancing the parts of snow, flowers, party parents, rats, spanish, arabian, marzipan, dewdrop, leads, and sugar plum fairy and her cavalier.

In September, while the rest of the world is enjoying the remains of summer, many ballet dancers are already listening to the well-known music of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, learning choreography, getting selected for roles. The Nutcracker auditions usually occur in late August to early September, with choreography starting anytime from September for students to November for professionals. The life of a ballet dancer is a busy one, most dancers 6th grade and up dance at least 6 hours per week, if not more. As the Nutcracker draws nearer, the hours of rehearsal increase, accumulating at Dress Rehearsal which can be 8 to 12 hours. Costumes arrive from October to November, their beauty showing the seamstress’s love for the show.

Me and two friends backstage
ready for flowers

While many may guess that backstage is quiet, and everyone is waiting in the wings to come on, anyone who has been there knows that this is not the case. Crazy quick changes, stressed directors, and dancers going every direction to get where they need to be is a very normal backstage. That’s not counting the broken costume or missing pointe shoe that usually takes place. The dressing rooms is where most dancers spend the bulk of their time backstage. There is usually one large dressing room per part or two parts for the dancers in the school, and one small dressing room for one or two dancers per room for company. Here is where dancers stay when not onstage or close to going on. People play card games, watch movies, play on iphones and ipads, warm up, stretch, goof off and choreograph dances.

I have been in The Nutcracker seven times and they have all been amazing. I have so many memories that I won’t share now, I have laughed, cried, nearly puked, been nervous, fallen flat on my face, gotten in trouble, but above all, had some of the most fun I ever had.

The Nutcracker is an annual Christmas tradition for many, whether backstage, onstage, or in the audience. It has warmed many hearts in its time, Tchaikovsky's music aiding this. For me, it is truly the most wonderful time of the year, and my many performances of it I will always keep near me. It is beyond doubt, a wonderful show.

Credits

http://www.exploredance.com/article.htm?id=1655 for George Balanchine's Nutcracker picture

Anna Rigles and Classical Ballet Academy for the picture of Olivia Andersen in passé ( www.classicalballet.net )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyotr_Ilyich_Tchaikovsky

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marius_Petipa