Almost there

Ok so all the programs are accounted for and entered into Catalyst, I also highlighted in green over the marks for their last program so you can quickly see who has been entered, maybe take another color highlighter with you to mark down late submissions with have to actually collect them.

Test are all accounted for and in grade book, I took them to hand out today but Shannon Gaffney was injured at the end of class and I did not have time in A so I decided to hold on to B as well.

E can give everything back I guess.

Ballet:
Plies like normal
Tendus : en croix 2x slow, 1x faster coupe soutenu, change sides, again change sides repeat all as degage
Ronde de Jambe: 4 out grande port de corp 8cts each direction, reverse legs and portde corp, releve 4cts other side.

We talked about enlarging kinesphere in port de corp and tried just port de corp again

Swings: 8 swings starting front, battement front fouette hold through 4, step through battement front fouette hold through eight, step through battement front fouette hold through four, step through little half turn pas de chat (prep for tour jete), bring the back foot in with a half turn, other side, other side, other side.

Jump Prep

Full tendu at center left and right, same as last week

Jumps across the floor, chasse, fouette, chasse, fouette, chasse pas de chat tour (tour jete prep) soutenu. (that is when shannon hurt her foot)

That is it.

Later

Monday, May 18, 2009

Today was fun!

We went across the floor as our animal selves, our statue selves, our action selves. We changed levels. We changed speeds. We turned. We jumped.

In groups, we made dances that included all these things and unison, non-unison, circles, lines and traveling.

They performed two groups at a time. At the last minute, I gave them obstacles like interrupt each other. Talk while dancing. Enter the space and exit.

They made great pieces and had fun.

Louis

Last thursday

Sorry I'm late in posting.
We worked on partnering and I encouraged them to incorporate partner work in their compositions.
We did the log roll where they surfed on top of each other.
Then we experienced releasing our weight into a partner while they were sturdy on all fours.
We then learned how to counter balance with a partner, lower one to the ground, have them spin on their backs and then counterbalance back up.
We also did suspended jumps with a partner lifting at the waist. Called it playing "bouncy ball" with their partner.
Finally we learned the side by side under-curve, suspend lift. (I'll show you if you don't know what I'm talking about).
I then gave them five minutes to make a phrase out of all the things we worked on and any other partnering they wanted to do. They had a lot of fun making a phrase and then we split into two groups and performed. They had some great observations both as participants and observers. So we should expect to see some partnering in their comp studies.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Today, we did a little Renaissance Dance. We did a minuet in three.

2 balancees in/out
in a circle
turn a partner right and left with hands on hips

repeat to left

in a square
balancee in/out 2x
tendu side, sou sou, soutonnu
to neighbor, to partner, to neighbor clap hands
tendu in direction and go

we did this the whole class
they were sweating
it was hard and confusing
but fun!

Ballet Lecture
Showed power point which basically just has the answers to the test written on it, I then showed my youtube play list http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=363358AE2A28DAEF
Basically highlighting the evolution from folk dance, to court dance to professional dance, looking at how the body, and specifically the highly skilled body, comes more and more to the forefront, often distancing the art from the audience. I finish with LaLaLa Human Steps to try to indicate that ballet doesn't just belong to the past, but is still used to make important statements today.

Ballet on Tuesday
Normal plies
Tendus and Degages were the same set up three in each direction plie on 4, en croix 2x's except the last seconde was use to go to the other side.
Introduced ronde de jambe just 4 in and 4 out very slow
Leg swings with couple and pas de bouree
Jump prep at the barre
Then my every kind of jump exercise:
2 feet to 2 feet
2 feet to 1 foot
1 foot to 1 foot
1 foot to the same foot
1 foot to 2 feet.

That is it, have fun. 4 weeks left bitches.

Comp Lecture

Hey just wanted to give a quick update on the lecture.

Basically we watched each piece

I asked them to write and describe what they saw without judgment

then write about what they didn't/like and what they thought didn't/work

We had a little discussion and people made suggestions.

I tried to focus it as a useful time to prep for the comp project.

Do you like clarity or chaos?

Do you want the dance to be exciting or meditative?

I was also trying them to write down tools they saw or heard other people talk about, that way when they were stuck with comp, they could return to this page of notes and get some ideas, so the person doing the comp critiques might want to remind them of this page of notes.

Also I don't think that they were able to take notes in Jamie's practicum so we might want to get them clear definitions and spellings.

I also told them to keep watching videos on youtube and think about description and evaluations then variation and appropriation....

kisses

Monday, May 4, 2009

Today, I did contact improv with the class. Actually, we did the finger tip exercise with eyes closed and then we did the rolling point of contact exercise on the forearm. They were into it the whole time. At the end, we stole partners away from one another. At the end, I demonstrated CI with a partner to give a larger idea. I then invited them to come to jam on Wednesday evening.

It was a great class.

focused on arms and coordinating them with other movements.  

Barre-  did plies same, added arm (stretch, en bas, 1st, open) on the demis.  tendus- 3 and plie en criox, with arm. Degages- 8421 in third, talked about crossing all the way.  Develope- passe, extend, tendu, close 2x (plie at end of second).  With arm in 8:30, hand on hip 9:30.  Talked about turn out, leaving hip down, etc.  Really good!!  F, S, B, then dev side 12, fouette to face barre 34, promenade 5-8, second side.  

Across floor- "st-brush" to intro for waltz turns.  then... 2x with arms down 2x with arms en haut, pique arabesque (on flat, R), step thru on l and develope front, step on it and coupe pas de bourree turn.  repeat.  Hard!!  But they were getting it by the end, especially the 9:30.  

Did not get to repeating glissades and pas de chats.  need to do it next week.  

E

Tuesday 4/28 Ballet

I had them get in groups of 6 and pick a fairy tale.
They then had to create a tableau of the fairy tale.
They then had to animate the tableau.
They then had to exaggerate the characters, gestures, rhythms, and be clear about what the about audience is supposed to watch.

They were awesome.

Talked about ballet basically doing the same thing, telling fairy tales interspersed with folk dances, like contra dance that they did yesterday.

Talked briefly about final comp project, that it is ok to just do hip-hop movements but don't forget that dance is meant to tell a story, or convey a message or emotion.

That's it for me.
kisses

Monday 4/27/09

Today we did some contra dancing.

Four counts forward and back.
Right hand star in a circle for eight.
Swing yer neighbor.
Women do si do.
men: four counts forward and back with clap on four
Swing yer partner
Bow and change.

Across the floor: chasse, chasse, hop 1/2 turn, chasse, hop 1/2 turn, break right foot, run back right, left, right

repeat on Left side.

I collected the programs and entered them in the book and recycled them. Some students may want them back to write their papers. Maybe bring a few back to class. They are in the recycle bins at present.

Louis

Thursday, Modern 4/23

We explored the difference between working from an internal perspective vs and external aesthetic motivation. We experienced passive movement of legs and arms, where they moved their partner's limbs, exploring the way the bones and muscles work together and challenging the mover to be totally relaxed and passive. We then explored improvisationaly the idea of a gliding spine moving our external limbs. Moving from the inside out.
Finally we worked with partners and one dancer closed his/her eyes while they responded to their partner's touch. We did this two times through and they eventually became comfortable with it and really liked it.
They mostly all said that they were sore from all the jumping in ballet. So we took it easy.
Also just reinforced some of the anatomy stuff.

Wednesday balletday

Intro'ed pas de chat, glissade, and saute (although didn't call them sautes)

Did degages from 3rd (8844221111); rest of barre was same

jumped in 1st with partner (get higher but be on counts)

slow pas de chats (stepping, not  jumping) then faster; slow glissades (brush, jump, close)

-both classes: 2 slow gliss, 4 fast pas de chat.  

-9:30: faster... 2 gliss hands on hips, 2 fast pdchat arms en haut

saute arabesque alternating legs all the way across the floor

love you all!

E

Brain Dance and Mirror Images

Monday

I began both classes with the Brain Dance.

Mirroring

We began the mirroring work with partners and simply following and changing leaders. With new partners, we continued to mirror and included changing levels, near and far, asymmetry. Next we, traveled across the floor while mirroring and it was great fun. The B class jumped and twirled.

Continuing on with the phrase that Jamie and I have been developing, we worked to do the phrase with mirroring. A didn't quite get there but the B class did for various reasons.

2 students in 9:30 class

David talked to me after class, saying he works until 9 in West Seattle, jumps in his car, parks at Montlake and comes sliding into class.  He's concerned about tardies affecting his grade.  I believe him that this story is true, and I think he's only been moments late for my classes.  Let's watch and see if/how late he is, and then see how much/if it should affect his grade.

Victor... has been seriously late every class for me.  See if that's true in  your classes, too, and if so we need to talk to him.  He also is showing no effort at all.  

That's it!  Today was a lovely, spineypelvisy day...

Wed., 4/15

Talked about paper.

Did barre.  Talked about balancing by directing attention to the opposite way you're falling (if you're falling to right, think longer on the left side).  In 8:30, talked about keeping hips facing front in leg swings.  Timing was much better on degages.

Did tombe pas de bourree with triplets and pique turn combo in circles, R and L.

Did tombe pas de bourree saute coupe in circles, accelerating.  Went pretty well.  Let's use this now in a jump combo/grand allegro-ish sometime.  

Monday 4/13/09

Hi.

Yoga started the day.

Combined my phrase, 4 walks forward, 4 back, 2 lunges on each side, a kick (that's the technical word for it.

with Jamie's phrase: two steps, two chasses, step assemble with a clap and half turn.

added:

two count big shape
two count small shape
two count big shape
two count small shape

Roll downs with plies
Feet articulation: two ball points, three flicks, one plie
repeated en croix undercurve exercise

in A: Finished with across the floor phrase with eight count cannon

in B:

Finished with suspend and balance for six counts in pairs
fall and travel for six counts

Suspend and balance with eye contact and physical contact.

Modern, 4/9

Fun Day today.

We started off my reviewing the sun salutation and I added warrior one to the flow on both sides. I also really stressed that they should be doing something other than shortening their spines while waiting for class to begin. ie. sun salutations, lying down, hanging upside down, or some other kind of stretching or warming up.
We then did an add on phrase traveling randomly through out the space, looking for empty places. We walked, then two step one slide, then two step and slide to the R slide to the L, then we added a step assemple at the end. I encouraged them to travel through the space and to "get funky" and add their own style with arms and torso.

We then talked and explored a partners negative space. One makes a shape, the other makes a shape in their negative space. They take turns. After they got the hang of it and got all their giggles out, we talked about what changes they might make if they were to put this activity in a performance. They mentioned: being more graceful, making transitions, not being "pedestrian", different qualities, levels, emotion, facial expression. We also talked about abstraction of movement. They would locamote across the floor and then I would tell them to do the opposite. They would choose and aspect of what they were doing and then do the opposite of that. This was to show endless possibilities.

I then added a score and described the purpose of a score and the ability to improvise with a score. The score: 4 for nothing, partner one takes four counts to make a shape, partner 2 takes four counts to make a shape, partner one moves again for four counts to make another shape, then partner two dances to a new partner to then begin the whole phrase again only they start by taking four counts to make a shape. this allows the the person who travels to always change.
there were a few melt downs and I had them identify what was difficult and they came up with the solution. For example, both groups wanted everyone to travel counter clockwise.

Once they had the hang of it, I divided them in two groups. Each group performed and then we all talked about the experience as a performer and an audience member. they were all really excited because they felt like they were really able to dance to the music and felt liberated from complicated steps.
I congratulated them on being dancers and performers. They did a really great job!

Introduced:

-neutral pelvis (didn't really define, just talked about not arching or collapsing and lengthening through spine).  reminded of throughout class.

-pas de bourree (1st class broke down back side front; second class just said 3 steps)

-balance/triplet

Reviewed:

-pique turns

Matt, you and I need to be really clear about counts with each other.  I think I got basically the same steps as you, but with different counts and that threw them off.  

At barre:

plies- Matt's upper spine, 4 demis, cambre (1st-fr, 2nd-away, 3rd- back with arm)

flex foot- fr, in, side, in, back, in side, in.  balance coupe 8cts (flat).  repeat, only balance 4, rise to 5th releve on 5, swivel towards barre to other side, start right away.

pointed foot-same, but with passe.  hand on hip.

degage- 8844221111 grande in 2nd, L.  talked about timing of being in 1st on downbeat ("number")

repeated faster, no grande plie.  Soon let's put plies in there on the last one of the series, so we can work toward glissade.

leg swings- start in 3rd. swing in attitude ("leg bent") f and bk 8x, +2 more, swing fr straight on 3, step on it coupe back foot 4, step back5, side6 front7 and close8 (pas de bourree turn towards the barre).  L foot is front and do on other side.  did rlrl, all basically at low level. Could repeat at slower tempo and do higher swings with same connection next week.  Talked about diff btw swiveling to the other side on two feet (like in tendus) vs 3 steps of pas de bourree. 

Next week let's put pas de bourree into something in the center (jete pas debourree?).

triplets front across floor (arms up or down, no moving arm pattern)

 4 trips fr (arms in 5th overhead), 4 balances side facing mirror, repeat

4 trip fr (rlrl), 2 balances side facing mirror (rl), 1 pique turn r, hold 823.  start again.  did slowly and quickly.  Pretty darn good! try in a circle? 

I think that's it.  They were all doing their sun salutes, in both classes as I came in.  yay!  

Love y'all...

E

Ballet 4/7/9

Precious.

Ok we started at the barre, I have a set port de bras that uses a twist, sagittal curve of the upper spine and a lateral curve of the upper spine finishing with one hand on the hip and one on the bar. we did 4 plies in first, stretch forward change to second, 4 plies stretch away change to 3rd, 4 plies sternal arch to releve and balance.

Did both sides, I talked briefly about not leaning forward or pushing butt back, and controlling the return to long legs, not snapping the legs back together. We then repeated.

Pre-tendu, I had them flex the foot of the working leg, lock the knee and gesture en croix twice followed by a balance in coupe, they did right, left, right, left

I then talk about leaving the leg long but pushing through the foot from ball to toe and we did the same exercise as the pre-tendu except now using the full tendu and the balance was in passe, they did right, left, right, left

We then faced the barre for degages a la seconde, side, front diagonal (or whatever we are calling it) Alternating between right and left we did, 8,8,4,4,2,2,1,1,1,1 the a grande in second repeat and reverse. I did it at a slow tempo they could accomplish, and then at a faster tempo they couldn't. After, I talked about slow twitch vs. fast twitch and that they should always keep trying for the form even if the speed isn't there.

We cleared the barres and went across the floor facing the mirror with a tendu, step to coupe, place in first, we built it up so that the step to coupe became a half turn, and then the step to coupe became a full turn, each time focusing on the back foot pushing to create rotation.

That was it.

4/06/09

There are many different versions. This is the one I taught them.

Salute to the Sun

Both classes learned the salute to the sun. They are instructed to do the salute twice immediately upon entering the space. Reminders would be great. Help would be wonderful. Getting them to take on this practice will prepare them for class and help establish their own sense of responsibility for themselves. ;-)


En Croix

I taught them the meaning of en croix and building off of what Jamie taught them on Friday, we did undercurves encroix with arms swinging from second to center. They did this while mirroring with different partners.

Phrase

Moving around the room while traveling forward, they did four steps forward and four backward. They then lunged with two pulses, switched to the back leg on four and lunged again with two pulses and then lifted the back leg on eight to do the second side. We added an arm circle on the switch and a developed with a "yeah!" on the eight. I can show you. :-)

PS I taught the 8:30 how to go across the floor four at a time. Stressing the importance of the second ones in line need to go after one cycle.

They're great!

Thursday 4/2, Modern

In class today, we worked with the power of gravity today and the idea of breaking the rules. We did a relaxation exercise on the ground, surrendering to gravity, then filling the body with breath in expand and exhaling all the air out to contract. We stayed with this idea for a while until they were all expanding different body parts into the air and then melting into the ground.

We then talked about the differences between their experiences with ballet so far and how the pioneers of modern dance came along and broke those rules and aesthetics. We felt our pelvis, its weight and ways to move it. We then did a simple Limon plie exercise in second with arms and torso carving out the space. Once they learned it on their own, I had them mirror a partner and gave them permission to use the exercise as inspiration, but to break the rules if desired. They all did their own plie exercise by mirroring their partner.

We then worked toe, ball, heal, prancing in place in parallel. We talked about absorbing shock as we rum across the floor. The class then move to the corner and ran on the beat, two by two on the diagonal. The second step was to run, holding hands on the diagonal for 8, then split and run around a big half circle for 8 to rejoin hands by 1. We went every 8 counts and then every 4, having them pay attention to spacial awareness.

Finally, we ran across the room randomly, starting in a small shape and exploding into a large shape while screaming! I wanted them to break out of their shells and know that it's safe to try new things.

Both classes were totally on board and seemed to have a great time. I encouraged them to not sit in a way that shrinks their spine while they are waiting for class to begin. Louis will teach them a sun salutation and I would like to encourage them to either lie on the ground, hang up-side-down, or do sun salutations before class begins and while we are taking role. If we all enforce it it might sink in. We could also add other options if they arise.

: )
Jamie

Monday

Hey!

Here's our blog. We are all listed as authors to this blog. Let' summarize what we are working on and make helpful suggestions for keeping the continuity going in one anothers classes.

On Monday, we went over the syllabus after a delightful warmup of traveling forward and back ward, big and small shapes, vocalizing with gestures in a call and response kind of way.

Both classes seem to be just great in their different ways. I'll be coming in tomorrow to do the music class with Paul. Anyone else coming too?

Louis

Ola!

Here's a blog for our brilliant 101 curriculum!