Children, Creative Dance, and a Response.

This was wrote as a response to Selma Wasserman's article called "The Gifted can't weigh that giraffe". I wrote this response as a blog post for one of my college courses that I am currently taking. The class is Creative Movement for children and we are learning about the subject and practice teaching with a group of kids. I don't have any experience yet with teaching creative movement, but I do have two years worth of experience with children. I responded by using the experiences and observations I have made through the kids I teach and personal experiences as a student. 

"After reading this handout it does appear that "Gifted" children may lack problem solving skills. But I do not think that is truly the case. I believe that they are just trying to approach the problem from a more logical stand point. When asked a simple and open question such as, "How do you suppose birds fly?". They are wanting to receive more directions or instructions on how to correctly, and logically answer the question. These "Gifted" students may actually be logical thinkers. Because of their ability to logically think about things this helps them find specific answers and conclusions to problems, and this makes them want to do things such as homework near perfect. Comparing them to "Street wise" students, who came up with out of the box answers for everything. But when looking at the answers these kids gave to questions their conclusions to things were not logically sounds, and most of them impossible. On the question about how to weigh a giraffe some of the responses were to weigh one on a kitchen scale or even an elaborate plan to weigh a truck then call the giraffe into the truck and weigh it again. These answers are seen as "critical thinking" because the kids are brainstorming ideas, but the answers are outrageous. When put into a real world situation, such as weighing a giraffe, the "Gifted" student will probably take time to research and find a direct and sound conclusion to the situation. But then the "Street Wise" student will probably immediately start running off and brainstorming idea after idea on how to weigh a single giraffe. Ideally it would be best to find one single direct answer in an allotted time compared to creating multiple answers in the same time. 

While reading this I actually remembered a time in elementary when I took a type of test to determine whether I was gifted or not. From what I remember some elements of the test was problem solving in an allotted time period and finding solutions to things. I being a dancer, I was extremely creative and tried to answer all the problems creatively, which apparently was wrong. They were looking for logical answers and logical thinking which I did not have. From this experience being told that I was not "gifted" was actually very rude and hurt my feelings. How could someone who barely knew me tell me whether I was "gifted" or "special" or not. I believe these terms need to be thrown out of schools and education altogether. Instead the terms logical and critical thinking can replace "gifted" and "street wise".

I do think that creative dance can be beneficial for both logical and critical thinkers. And there can be a lot of benefits to both types of thinkers working together. It can continue to expand the thinking of critical thinkers and help them continue to think beyond the norm and in more creative ways. And it can benefit the logical thinkers by giving them a new method or resource on how to solve problems. Because problems are sometimes better solved creatively or logically. Students need to know how to solve problems in both ways. Creative dance will help the logical thinkers with their critical thinking, but they can help the critical thinkers think more logically. During a partner or group exercise these are the best opportunities to have students learn from other students. The critical thinkers may begin to brainstorm out of the box ideas and then to counteract that the logical thinkers will then ask or share that something will probably not work because of certain reasons."

This next response was also done as a blog post for the same class. It was in response to "The Inverse Power of Praise" by Merryman. Again, this was responded from my own experiences and observations. 

"Before reading this article I have researched and read a lot about how to talk to children. One of the biggest things was telling little girls that "You're beautiful!" all the time. And not talking about their minds, brains, or smarts, only praising them on their looks. This could then follow them into adolescent where that's all they think about is how they look and could potentially be harmful to their self-esteem and bodies. It can even lead to eating disorders and not caring about academics. A lot of parents want their little girls to grow up the independent women, and by continuously praising them only on their looks could set them back. So one of the things that I read was to instead praise them on their smarts or minds. But now in this article there's evidence that even telling kids they're smart is also harmful. So if you can't tell them they're pretty and you can't tell them they're smart then what do you tell them? 

After reading that it is better to praise kids on their effort I started to agree more with what she was saying. But I think that continually telling them they had good effort could also be potentially back firing. What if that then leads to these kids only believing they put in good effort but never have good results, or that they aren't really good at anything, they're just good at the effort. Doing things does take effort but it also includes using smarts and your brain. So I believe that with kids there needs to be a balance in the praise they are receiving. Don't say too much of one praise, but praise them in all aspects in moderation. I also think that when a child becomes old enough the parents can then point out to the kid that they are not as good in one subject as they are in another. This does not have to be a negative thing though!!! This is more informational and could help the child succeed better. I know personally when I was elementary and I struggled with sciences and math that my mom straight out told me, "You have trouble in mathematics, but you are very good in language arts." I carried this with me to this day. She would help point out the things I had trouble in or the things I did not do very well in so I would know that I wasn't stupid, but I just needed to try a little bit harder. And by helping me notice the things I was naturally good at I was then excited for those subjects and because I was excited I put a lot of effort into those things. 

I think this could be related to creative dance. We, as teachers, can tell the dancers that they are beautiful dancers and doing a beautiful job and how smart they are etc etc. and it could potentially be harmful or it could not be harmful at all. But sometimes we will be faced with a child that maybe struggling and then we can implement the praising for effort. We can guide that child to not give up and in the end praise for their effort"

April 14th

I have decided to take a different direction...

All through college I have been studying dance and dance and more dance. Every aspect of dance that you could think of. I have changed my mind about 5 times since I have started college. But these changes of mind that I am going through are not me being indecisive. It is me growing and discovering that there is more out there and learning about the things that click with me. 

The things that I know I love and connect with are: Isadora Duncan, Dance Kinesiology, Dance History, and World Cultural Dances. While being in college I have discovered these 4 areas that I excel at and enjoy doing. I love dancing the Duncan technique and I love trying and dancing different cultures dances. I also love reading and learning about the history of dance, as I am currently reading Isadora Duncan's autobiography. And kinesiology, has been a number one love for me. Discovering these things has really given me the opportunity to hone my career and life goals.

I am going to continue my research and discovering within these aspects and create more within the dance community. 

Contact Improvisation

Let's discuss Contact Improvisation. I have been meaning to write this post ever since I took this specific master class but haven't found the time. I took a 6 hour long master class on contact improvisation. Now first let me say that I recently fell in love with improvisation overall in the past few months. I had finally found something that I really loved and felt comfortable in. This changed everything that I wanted to do in my career. I then discovered contact improvisation which again changed my world. I wanted to begin to study that even more. I finally found a master class to attend and it was on a Saturday from 11 - 4. I was extremely excited because I felt I had so much to offer and learn. (Back story: I have never really liked being touched by people, it has always bothered me. And this was a leap for me). I had an 'ok' experience in this class. It was the kind of experience that made me question my love for improvisation and contact. Still a month later I am shaken by that experience.

At the beginning of the class it was a lot of fun and I was experiencing a lot of things. But as it went on and I had to partner with other people that I did not know. Sometimes for me I am okay with this, but other times I am very uncomfortable. The first lady that I partnered with I felt she was treating me as a child and was trying to teach me instead of dance with me. These kind of things makes me feel inferior and I get agitated and upset. From that point I kind of couldn't wait for it to be over. When partnering with someone that I do not know I feel that I must have a connection with them. If I feel no connection I will shut down. I have started to realize these things around and analyze why I am feeling such ways and what is happening. I observed in myself that I had few connections in the room. This thought in itself is unsettling. I had another moment dancing with someone else where I felt they too were also trying to guide me and teach me themselves instead of dancing. This experience of people treating me this way was frustrating. I have noticed in my personality that I have strong opinions and strong feelings. I have gotten in touch with these things so I can know myself better. In a more defensive way, I don't like to take shit from anybody. This is exactly how I felt when these older ladies were trying to teach me.

The last thing that happened was I had decided to pull myself out of the class and just observe for the last hour or so. After so much touching and frustration I was exhausted. There does come a point sometimes in contact improv that you are just overly sensitive from the contact. I was at that point. The teacher was facilitating a cool down with partners where you lightly massage them. The teacher came over to me and asked if I wanted to participate. Not knowing exactly how I felt at that moment I told him, very unsure of myself, that I did not know. He immediately said back to me, "well it is a yes or a no. So do you or don't you." This sent me over the edge. I felt that from a teacher stand point he should not have back fired at more or talked to me in that way. As a teacher he should have been able to tell that I was uncomfortable and unsure. From there he should have made the decision for me that it was best I sit out or try to talk to me in a more friendly way to help me participate. In the end I tried to do the cool down but as I laid on the ground my head began to spin and I almost passed out. Thus I jumped up and ran out of the studio. I am still thoroughly embarrassed about this but I didn't have time to connect with my feelings at that moment.

Isadora Duncan

My latest adventure has been studying the Isadora Duncan dance technique. I am currently studying under one of my teachers who is a 4th generation certified Duncan Dancer. Needless to say, I am putting "Dance with the Duncan Foundation" at the top of my list of things to do in my career. I had already planned to eventually (hopefully in a year) move to New York. As of right now I will try to get in with the foundation by either work-study or an internship and hopefully be offered a spot in the company. Now I am prepared for this not to be a lifetime thing, as I would love to go on and teach at a university. But finding a few specific style of dances to focus all my attention on and study is what I want to do. I do not just want to flounder around in the dance world doing small, basic things. I need to find bigger things to study. The Duncan technique is going to be one of those big things.

I am currently reading Isadora's autobiography because when I study something I want to fully study it, not just half way. I want to know where she came from and how she got there. It is safe to say that Isadora was very colorful in her life. She was free and did exactly what she wanted. The things that I myself am taking hold of. She wrote her whole book in 6 months and was drunk the whole time. She drank when she wanted, dance when she wanted, and made love when she wanted. She had many lovers throughout her life and even had two children who had different dads. The most important thing I have learned so far is her association with herself to Aphrodite. She says she was born under the stars of Aphrodite and that's where she dances from.

This picture is not of Isadora herself but of someone dancing her technique. I chose this picture because this pose is my ultimate favorite in her work. It is a high release with an attitude. I personally have troubles with this pose sometimes because it looks more difficult than you would think. From the picture it is observed that her pelvis is in line and not tilted to the back. Naturally any dancer doing this move will try and lift their attitude as high as possible and tilt their pelvis back. I personally do this myself. It is hard to try the body to be moving and leaping into the position but not tilt the pelvis. All the while this high release in the upper body. All of her work is about releasing the sternum and lifting the sternum. This too is a struggle. To obtain this kind of technique it is best to be using imagery within your own body.

Textures

In my composition class we have started working with textures in choreography. Mostly taking a lot of things from the Laban and Bartienoff Method. We were told to find some textured images and create a phrase from them. We had to have a movement that was light, lighter, lightest and then strong, stronger, strongest. I chose water from a pool, a sponge type creature, and cracked concrete. Using the pool image was a lot easier for me because I am better with flowy movements. I used this for my light action and did a wave action with my arms. I would send my arms up to the sky to show lightness and then immediately dropped. I didn't focus so much on the sponge texture but the shaping. I just made an abstract circle shape with my hands. This shaped went up above my head in an over-curve and then pushed to the side. I was told by my teacher that I needed to focus on passive weight and using heavy movements. I took a wide second position and tried to drop all my weight down and let go of my head and arms. Doing this passive weight was different for me but I really liked how it felt on my body. I don't normally do this type of movement naturally but I am going to begin to focus more on it. I had some trouble choreographing this because I didn't have a certain image in my mind and I had to go back to the body images that I chose to continue choreographing. I made this second solo a continuing piece of the first solo. I implemented the same motifs and feeling. I have been thinking lately what kind of music I might put with this dance and I would like something instrumental and dark. I can see this piece as a solo but maybe with more work can turn into a duet or trio or even larger. Following this solo that I performed for my class they all analyzed me and said what my aesthetics were and my habits. A post about this will follow soon.

"Be steady and we'll-ordered in your life so that you can be fierce and original in your work." 

               -Gustave Flaubert

Performance Critique

This past Thursday, the 13th, I attended the first dance performance of the semester. This performance was put on by the Orchesis Dance Company, which is a student led modern company here at Texas State. I also attended their show last spring and was very impressed with it. I remember last year that the style of dancing that they were doing was exactly what I wanted to do. Well, a lot has changed over the year. Going into this performance I decided I wanted to watch it from a critique point of view, instead of just watching to enjoy it. I did this being I have friends in the company who wanted my honest opinion and because I am currently in a choreography class so I wanted to use some of the aspects that I've learned to try and properly critique. Watching a performance from this perspective was an eye opener. Not only did I really love critiquing it but I also learned that my dance style preferences has changed completely.
So this performance was pretty short, only an hour and a half. And overall I was artistically unsatisfied with it. Some of the dances were aesthetically pleasing though. I wrote notes in my program on every piece and I pretty much wrote the same key words on every piece. From the very first dance I felt like I was watching a high school drill teams Spring Show. Spring shows are not a bad form of dancing but it is usually only nice to watch this style when it is actually on a high school drill team. Spring shows are aesthetically pleasing and have really cool tricks and what not, but to watch this on a college based modern company, is a bit disappointing.
Another huge thing that I noticed was the same motifs were being used for every dance. I also felt like every dance was the same except the movements were just rearranged. I'm not sure how many times I saw a hand rise up with fingers spread open. I very classic So You Think You Can Dance, contemporary, move. Which is a move a saw in 75% of the pieces, if not every one. Which brings me to another point is that every dance looked like it belonged on SYTYCD. Not that this show is bad, but the dances on there are very contemporary and pretty much the same. This company is suppose to be modern and I'm not sure I saw any of that in this show.
I have recently started hating dance performances that use songs with lyrics in them. Sometimes using this kind of music can be very beneficial to the piece in the right setting. But for this show I really hated it. When using popular music, with lyrics, people tend to choreograph the dance to those lyrics. This is also kind of a drill team thing to do and less of an artistic statement. I personally use to love doing that typing of choreography and I am even still guilty of hearing a real popular song and imaging a dance with it. But when I actually watched it on a stage, I now understand why my choreography teacher said it isn't very artistic and should not be done. And I did see this in almost every dance they performed. Movements that matched the lyrics perfectly, they might as well have been acting the song out.
Which brings me to the point of organic movement. In class our teachers are always encouraging us to stay away from the unoriginal movements and find something organic. And me, who is focusing on studying improvisation, is always trying to find the organic movements on myself and others. And to be straight to the point I saw no organic movements in this whole performance.

This whole critique was based from my point of view and from what I am currently learning in school. Yes, I do realize that I may be critiquing from a bias point of view but to be completely unbias about something is near to impossible to do. I was trying to be as unbias as I could. This critique is a study for myself and was not meant to offend any of the artists or performers in the show.

Phrase Study

This past week in my composition II class we were studying phrasing, and how to choreograph a phrase. Our assignment was to visit the gallery on campus and find inspiration for the phrase and choreograph from that. I had recently learned that it was a lot easier to choreograph when you had a shape or mood to start with. The Gestault of choreographing has almost helped me immensely. The Gestault method has actually changed how it think about choreographing in general, and is truly amazing. 

When I went to the gallery I chose an installation, and panoramic narrative, by Deb Sokolow. 

This appears to be two dead bodies that are covered by black table cloths. When I first entered the gallery these bodies were the first things I saw. My initial reaction was fear, lots of fear. After about fifteen minutes in the gallery I was less afraid, but still pretty afraid, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to use the bodies as my inspiration and shaping. I also based my mood of my phrase off fear.

I started off my phrase laying on the floor, exactly like that bodies, used breathing to pull myself up. For the beginning of my phrase I was remaining very grounded and creating tension. In my climax I used more lighter movements and sudden changes, to make it seem like I was coming out of the fear. But right after the climax I fall right back down. I retro graded my beginning to get back on the floor. 

My teacher and class loved the phrase. She said it looked like real choreography and my peers told me that this was something I could create a full solo with. So I do hope to be able to continue with this and maybe expand on it more.

This art piece is by Deb Sokolow : All Your Vulnerablities Will Be Assessed

At the Texas State University Gallery 2. 

Inspiration and Keeping the Doubts Away.

"Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy."
             -Norman Vincent Peale

"Enjoy your body, use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it's the greatest instrument you'll ever own."
             -Kurt Vonnegut