Unit 14 dance performance

 Final performance video:  1.1 style  During Bollywood dance we were able to fully immerse ourselves in its upbeat and vibrant style. After watching back the footage, I can say I successfully executed the style of this dance through my interpretation of the choreography. I believe that over the course of learning this choreography I started to understand the nature of this style clearer, understanding the energy and clarity each movement needs in order for it to look effective on stage. I made sure I was always fully finishing each gesture, elongating my arms and hands to create strong, powerful mudras to execute the important stylistic features of Bollywood dance. I made sure to perform with a held and upright posture, keeping my focus up and out to communicate the lively style of this performance style through my facial expressions and body language. Following from this, I can say I successfully used my facial expressions and characterisation to convey the spirit of eac...

Task one: Progress One skill I have definitely made progress in is the physical skill, flexibility. Because of dancing outside of college, I had a good amount of flexibility however this course has defiantly pushed me to further develop this physical skill within an array of dance genres. After lockdown, my flexibility definitely decreased which motivated me even more to improve this skill. I realized that I had lost my front and middle split and some movements within dance were more difficult to execute properly because of this. I decided to find stretches online and start using them every other day, also taking stretches we had learnt in workshops and with various teachers that worked for me. I focused on leg and hip flexibility to make me a more well-rounded performer. After a while, my kicks became a lot higher, and I gained my middle and front split back. I also started to find dancing and executing movements a lot easier and found that my performances started looking b...

Task one - Skills audit At Suffolk One, we have been able to study and explore an array of contrasting dance styles. So far we have been graded on contemporary, jazz and kathak dance styles. This allowed me to gain an understanding of what dance styles I excel in, contemporary dance being the one I enjoyed and felt I did the best in. This is one reason I have chosen contemporary dance as my chosen style.  Prior to Suffolk One, I attended lyrical/ballet, modern, acro and jazz classes with Louise Kate Dance where I completed ABD exams across all classes. These classes allowed me to improve my flexibility and technique greatly, widening my performance skills also. I was able to perform in shows such as the Nutcracker with this company which again allowed the development of my performance skills. Being introduced to lyrical/ballet styles was an eyeopener and something I picked up quicker than the other styles I was learning. Lyrical and Ballet both hold major characteristics in contemp...

 Stylistic features of Contemporary dance Introduction to contemporary dance Around the 1980s, the term "contemporary dance" was created by a wave of new dancers who did not want to adhere to rigid classical ballet and lyrical dance forms, but instead sought to explore the realm of revolutionary unusual movements drawn from all dance traditions around the world. Contemporary dances, as a result, do not use fixed moves, but rather attempt to develop completely new forms and dynamics, such as quick oppositional moves, shifting alignments, expressions of raw emotions, systematic breathing, dancing moves performed in non-standing positions (for example, lying on the floor), and, in general, attempting to discover the absolute limits of our human form and physique. This renowned dance style may be traced back to various notable dance masters, including Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, and Merce Cunningham. They were all determined to show the world that contemporary dancers should e...

 Rehearsal one - Wednesday 4th January 2023 In rehearsal today we had to get into small groups and create still images in the style of Bollywood dance. We had to consider our positioning, precision, control, balance, awareness of dynamics and awareness of space when creating these images. We then had to create transitions from one to another. This is something me and my group struggled with as our transitions weren't as high energy and in unison as they should have been. I need to make sure that throughout this dance, I am keeping my energy up and really communicating the fun Bollywood style. Here are some examples of these positions: Position one With some influence from pictures of Bollywood dance we had already seen; we came up with this as the first position. In order to construct proper mudras, we had to first ensure that our hand positioning was strong and precise. In order to ensure that our arms were in the right position and at the right height to provide the desired illus...

Introduction to Bollywood Bollywood dance is a dance style filled with vibrancy and precision, Bollywood is a style most often seen in Indian films, having developed throughout the Hindi film industry. This dance style fuses classical dance traditions such as traditional Indian dance, folk, salsa, belly dance and Arabic. Bollywood also blends more contemporary western dance styles with these traditional forms such as hip-hop, funk and jazz dance to create upbeat and exciting performances. Over time, these styles have become more modernized and commercialized to suit more modern audiences.  Bollywood originates from classic folk and Indian dance styles known as Bharata Natyam and Kathak. Over the years, Bollywood has created its own signature style through the Bollywood film industry, having the name created from the fusion of western and Indian culture. The B in Bollywood comes from the word 'Bombay' (a former name for Mumbai) and Hollywood which is more than fitting as it agai...