Critiquing

Critiquing, according to Dictionary.com, states that it is a criticism or critical comment on some problem, subject, etc. And that's exactly what it is. Fixing your routine so it looks good and presentable to an audience. When critiquing On a team you want everyone to look the same and you want each move done correctly. Critique helps with both these problems. Critiquing helps your figure out those little details that make the routine look sloppy or not together. Although it can get stressful and emotional sometimes it helps make sure everyone is doing the routine right.

Critiquing can be very stressful sometimes. On my team, after we learn a routine and have worked on it then we start critiquing. The whole team sits down and analyze each person. This really brings out what mistakes are being make and shows if someone knows the routine or not. we critique each person individually or sometimes with a partner. Critiquing is very helpful because it makes sure everyone is on the same page and knows what they're doing. In your routine, when you're all dance together it's hard to tell who's making the mistake and it's hard to tell if they're making that mistake because they don't know the routine or because they learned it wrong. Critiquing makes sure all the little details are fixed and makes sure all the dancers look good together. Critiquing makes the routine look sharp and clean because it individually points out and shows what each person is doing.

Critiquing can get very emotional sometimes too, especially if you're not doing a part right or are having a hard time getting it. It may feel like the whole team is against you when they're all yelling at you to do it right or to do it over again. You feel horrible and tears may be shed, but just remember that you're not alone in this and everyone's just trying to help. It's okay to take a break or a breather to get your head straight if you're feeling like you're getting to stressed or about to cry. All it takes is practice so don't take everything as a personal attack and don't get too down on yourself because eventually you'll get it.

Critiquing is not very fun for anyone but it helps a lot as a team and individually. It also gets you prepared to perform in front of an audience. With your whole teams eyes on you, you may blank out or forget a part. If that happens it's just a reminder that you need to either go over that part some more or have more confidence when performing in front of people.

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Hair, Makeup, and Costumes

Dance hair and makeup has to be big, bold and out there. The audience has to be able to see it from the stands or from where ever they’re sitting. From far away, so the lips are normally red, the eyes are dark and the hair is normally done according to the style of dance being performed. This is normally how it’s done for any type of performance, whether it’s cheerleading, dance, show choir, etc. The makeup and hair must be big in order to be seen by the judges and to add to the overall performance and showmanship. It also adds to the theme or feel of the performance as well.

 
Up close each person may look like a clown with all this bright crazy makeup on, but from far away it looks more natural and normal but still adds to the feel of the performance. The makeup also adds another element of unification to the team, another thing that ties the individual dancers together to make the routine look more in sync and together besides just the costumes.


The costumes also add another element to the performance. Besides everyone wearing the same outfit, unifying them, they also add to the theme or feel of the performance as well. Dance costumes are normally made of stretchy material that’s usually sparkly. It’s stretchy so it’s easier to move around in and more comfortable to dance in. it’s sparkly because you want it to catch the judges’ eyes and make them remember you.

 
The dancer’s or performer’s hair is also another unifying element. In other performance’s it can be used as a piece to help project the theme of a piece, but in dance the hair is done more towards the practical sense than any. In individual dances or solos the hair is more important, but in team dances the hair doesn’t have to be big or voluminous, it has to be practical and mostly depends on the dancer or dancers. You have to be able to turn and do certain moves and tricks so you mostly want your hair out of your face and pulled back tight so you don’t have to worry about it. A lot of times in team dances it’s just too much work to get everyone’s hair done the same and in a timely fashion so simpler styles are done most often. On my team, during competitions, we perform two routines, our pom and jazz routines. Because we’re doing both and doing them pretty close one after the other than it’s easier to just leave our hair in the same style for both so we don’t have to mess with them.

Quality over Quantity

When will dancers realize that it’s not the quantity of projects you’ve done but the quality of those projects that yields better returns? It is better to do two high quality gigs in a year than it is to do fifty low quality ones. Your last project usually determines the quality of the next one.

-          Safi A. Thomas

This quote by Safi A. Thomas, describes the importance of quality over importance. Lots of dancers want to be in so many projects and be known right away, but little do they know that the more time and energy spent on a project it will ultimately benefit them in the long run. Making a project well and of quality will be more beneficial. This can be said about anything really, dance routines, plays, any kind of performance, even homework. That the more quality you put into something now the more rewards and satisfaction you will receive in return later.

Procrastination is a big problem for me, whether its homework or practice, I don’t want to do it. I always wait to the last minute to do my homework or practice my pirouettes, etc.  I need to remember that the more time I put into something the more quality it will be and the more quality I put in to something the better it will be for me in the long run. It’s better to spend more time on a certain move and get it right than to rush through it to get more done or to finish early. Quality is key.

 

Have you ever heard the phrase “less is more”? well as you know, that’s not always true, but sometimes it’s better to focus on what you have going on, whether it’s a project or something of that’s sort, than to cram up your life and your busy schedule with a billion little things that you have to do and that you have to get done. It’s better to spend quality time on a one or two items in your life and focus on those than to rush and cut corners too many projects or item that you already have going on. Because that is what happens when you have too much to do in too little time. You rush, cut corners, get lazy and your project that you once thought was going to be great, starts to crumble and fall apart because you have not spend enough quality time or energy on it that you thought you were.

Judges

Judges look for a variety of things in a routine. From formations to wow factor, they judge everything. Each judge is different and depending on where you go or wherever you compete there’s going to be different judges. Each judge can score you in a different way than from the judge sitting right next to them, and sometimes there’s even unqualified judges.

Judge’s look at everything, all the way from your starting formation to your ending pose. They judge the music, costumes, use of floor, faces, projection, energy, formations, technique, angles and sharpness. They judge each category out of ten for a total out of one hundred, depending on the competition of course, sometimes it’s out of a total of seventy or something else. At my school we always aim to be within ten of the total points you can earn. Our coach tells us that we should always get ten out of ten in the category of faces and projection because our faces should always be on and our showmanship to the crowd should always be there in its fullest. After each competitions we take the judges’ comments toward our routine and either change or practice more the parts that still need work or that we messed up in our routine during the actual competition.

There are so many different judges and each judge judges differently as well. One judge can say something entirely the opposite of the other judge sitting right next to them. Each judge notices something different, which can either help or hurt you depending on what and if they notice. As I mentioned in my  blog post before, that faces can be used to hide your mistakes. Sometimes one judge can notice a mistake and another judge won’t, thus helping you in your score better than if both judges noticed your mistake. This can also go the other direction though, if both judges noticed your mistake than that will hurt your score, but if both judges notice your mistake than this gives you certainty that you need to fix this mistake, thus ultimately helping you in the future.

 

Sometimes though there are unprofessional or unfair competitions. Every now and then, hopefully less, you are judged by an unqualified judge. At a competition that my team went to a couple of weeks ago, for solos, one of the judges was a dance mom. Obviously unqualified to judge. Not that she judged her own daughter or anything as extreme or unfair as that, but she had no previous experience to dance and therefore unqualified to judge fairly and correctly to the dance world today.

Faces

Faces are a big and important aspect of performing. No matter where you’re performing or who you’re performing in front of. Faces make your performance more enjoyable for you and your audience to watch. They also help in making mistakes less noticeable and add to the theme and mood of your dance.

Faces make your performance more enjoyable to watch. They make you look like you're having a blast even though you're actually exhausted and about to pass out. They make your performance more entertaining for people to watch and more enjoyable for you as well. Facials during your performance make you feel more energetic during your routine. The more faces you make and the more smiles you have the more fun you will have too. Faces help express the mood of your dance as well. Whether your dance is sassy, sad, or emotional, your face can express a lot to the audience.

 When you mess up, because it has happened to all of us, faces make it less noticeable to the judges or to your audience that an incorrect move was done. If you lose your face when you perform because you messed up or because you just don't do faces then the audience’s attention is drawn to you and either makes you look sloppy or unprofessional. Making the performance less enjoyable for you and your audience. Especially during a judged performance or competition it's important to play off incorrect moves, not that there should be incorrect moves, but if there is, not losing your face is super important so that you don't bring attention to yourself and get points taken off because the judges noticed you make a mistake.

 It’s important to practice faces in practice. Have you ever heard of the quote, maybe from your coach or the Internet, "perfect practice makes perfect"? Well this quote may not be entirely true because no one can be perfect, but this quote reaches a really good point. If you practice right in practice then you're going to perform it right. You'll get it right if you practice right. Practicing correctly and full out in practice will make it easier for you when competitions come. You’ll already have facials down and won’t have to be reminded or have to think about doing them in your routine or worry about them last minute. To help with faces, try practicing making faces in your mirror at home to get you use to making lots of faces. To help you make different kinds of faces try doing your vowels (a,e,i,o,u) faces. I’ve been told all the way back from when I was little and I was doing cheerleading that we need to practice our faces. Our coach would tell us to go home and practice our vowels in the mirror. Changing your faces a lot during your routine will make your performance more entertaining as well, so practice changing them often during your routine.

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Keeping Your Cool

As competitions come up and tensions get high on competitive teams, it’s very easy to get overwhelmed and stressed out. That’s why it’s important keep your cool when those times arise. When Competitions come practices get more stressful and intense. Practices are longer and more tiring than normal. It’s important to keep your cool especially when you are being critiqued or judged. It’s easy to just think about all the negative in those situations but focusing on what you need to get better on and trying to fix what you need to fix is all that your team is trying to help you with.

When being critiqued don’t take all the negative comments as a personal attack on you. Your team is only trying to help you get better so as a team you can all look together, clean and sharp. It can get stressful, but just breathe and try to stay with it. Teammates during these, competition, times can easily get on your nerves as well too. Don’t take everything your teammates say as serious as you normally would. Routine critiques are important, but little obnoxious comments that people sometimes say shouldn’t be taken too seriously during competition times because everyone is stressed and anxiety in general is already coming from your coach not to mention your already boiling nerves.

It’s important to have friends on your team. It’s important to have friends on your team so you don’t feel lonely or left out. Especially when everyone else are friends, you don’t want to feel like the outcast. When competition times come it’s important to have friends on your team that can build you up and help you get through the long practices and critiquing of others. Sometimes it’s just good to have someone who knows what you’re talking about and can relate to what you’re struggling with. It’s also good to have someone you can have fun with on your team. As time goes on I’m sure you will be able to grow your relationship with the other people on your team and sooner than later you’ll all be friends.

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Important Aspects Of A Dancer

Dance is a very competitive sport, even if some people don't consider it a sport, it is. It is a high performance task and requires strength and skill in order to complete each move correctly and precisely. Sometimes you may mess up or do something wrong, but that’s why consistency as a dancer in technical ability and skill are so important. Other aspects of a dancer’s character are equally as important for success as well.

Important aspects of a good dancer are consistency, reliability, and trustworthiness. As a team and as an individual dancer you want to be able to respect and trust your teammates and yourself in order to accomplish the goals you have. Having these characteristics and working together with your team will ultimately bring forth productive actions and allow for more accomplishments. Communication and good relations with your team will also help and allow for better team work.

Consistency is an important aspect of a dancer’s character because as a dancer your job is to perform. Having consistency in your dance ability, as in skills and technique, will help you in your dance career and allow you to be looked upon as a reliable, consistent dancer. Giving you more opportunities and possibilities in your career as well as confidence in your dance ability. Consistency also in your punctuality and ability to keep your word will also benefit you in your relationship with your team and trustworthiness.

Reliability in a dancer is important because it allows people to trust you more. If you’re on time and take practices and competitions seriously then you’ll gain respect from your coaches and teammates. Keeping your word and promises will gain you respect and you will be trusted more with more responsibilities because people will know that you are reliable.

Trustworthiness is another good aspect to have because as a team if you can trust each other than communication will be easier and decisions and conflicts will be resolved easier if you can work together and trust each other.

All three of these characteristics work together to accomplish good communication and teamwork for effective decision making and goal accomplishment on your team.

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The importance of water

As an athlete and a dancer I am very busy and sometimes very distracted. With that being said it should not be a surprise to you that I sometimes forget things. And one of those things is drinking water. When doing sports it is easy to forget or get distracted from your regular routine especially if you're being rushed or stressed out for some reason. I tend to forget to drink water when we are practicing for a performance or a competition.

Not drinking water can cause you to be dehydrated and you may get dizzy or feel sick in some way. Dehydration can cause muscle cramps and cause you to not perform your best. Drinking enough fluids is important before, during and after your workouts. Drinking enough fluids before you exercise is important so you don't get dehydrated during your workouts. If you're thirsty then you should drink more because you're already dehydrated and your body is trying to tell you that.

Drinking enough water during your workout depends on how intense your workout is, how long it is, and how much you sweat. It's recommended that you drink 2-4 cups of water per hour if your practices are longer than one hour, if less than one hour then you can drink according to your thirst. If you sweat a lot then you should drink more water so you can replace the fluids that you are loosing.

After workouts it's recommended that you drink 2 cups of water. Do this in order to replace the fluids you lost during your work out. Sports drinks such as Gatorade can be used to replace water and glucose in your system. Its not recommended that you drink Sports drinks unless it is during or after a work out because of the electrolytes in the drink that replace stuff in your system that you lost in your work out. It's not healthy for you if you drink it when not working out. Remember to always stay hydrated, drink lots of water.

Sore Muscles

If you're a really busy dancer. Or just an athlete in general and your life is full of practices, classes, competitions, etc. then you of all people should know that your muscles get tired. They may hurt or feel sore, especially after a hard practice or full day of dance.The most common causes of muscle pain are tension, stress, overuse and minor injuries.  We have all been through this muscle pain and want it gone immediately for it is not a pleasant thing. You want to be able to perform at your best and having, for example, your legs "not work" is just unacceptable and quite frankly a pain.

The best way to get rid of sore muscles or help repair them in the best way is the RICE method. The RICE method is used best for soft tissue injuries such as a sprain, strain, muscle pull, or tear. The R stands for rest. Rest is best to prevent future injury to the muscle and help repair the muscle in the least and most effective time. The I stands for ice. Ice is necessary for the injured muscle because it prevents the muscle from swelling and provides short term pain relief to the injured muscle area. C stands for compression, which also helps keep the muscle from swelling and may provide pain relief to some people. And last but not least, E stands for elevation, also needed to keep swelling down.

Keeping the swelling down is most important in sore or injured muscles and there healing process. The quicker you rest and start the RICE process then the quicker and sooner you'll be healed and on your way again. Keeping the swelling down is important because if you don't then the more time it's going to take you to heal because then you're going to have to wait for the swelling to go down. Just remember the RICE method. R=rest, I=ice, C=compression, E=elevation. Remember that and you'll be on your way to a faster and easier recovery.

Tutus

As the school year session starts, you're working on the basics, learning some new steps, and working on your technique. Dancing at a studio, your instructor is probably already working on your recital dance, picking out your music, and picking out your class's costume as well. At my studio, my instructor just started teaching us the first part of our recital dance last week. I know it seems soon, but you know what they say, sooner is always better. At my studio this is the time when some of the instructors start asking us what costumes and theme we want for our dance recital. As we were asked this in ballet it was prominent that everybody wanted a tutu, but as we had this discussion no one knew what kind. Our instructor informed us what style she had in mind for us, but this made me realize that I as well as other people don't really know that much about tutus and its origins or styles as well as among other things.

Now if you don't know what a tutu is it is a skirt used in ballet, it's made out of tulle and it's use is to enhance grace, beauty and femininity in a pleasing way.  there are five types of tutus. There is the Romantic, Classical(pancake), Classical(bell), Balanchine, and Platter tutu. These different types of tutu's were developed over time and were developed by shortening them in order to see the ballerina's footwork better. The shortening of the skirt allows greater range of movement for the dancer and is instrumental in the development of ballet today. The tutu is now used all over the world, universally known and used from little kid ballet recitals to world famous ballet dancers and companies.

The Romantic tutu, credited to Marie Taglioni first in 1832, is  a three-quarter length skirt shaped like a bell. The end of the skirt falls between the knees and ankles. The romantic tutu is used to emphasize lightness and is free flowing. There are two types of the romantic tutu, but those just depend on where the skirt is placed on your waist.

The Classical(pancake) tutu is a much shorter skirt that, opposed from the bell shape, is stiff and sticks straight out. Wire hooping is usually used to keep the tutu stiff and straight as well as more layers are used to accomplish this.

The Classical(bell) tutu is a short and stiff tutu, similar to that of the pancake, but is shaped like a bell. It is usually a little longer than the pancake style and does not use a wire hoop to keep it stiff and straight but uses layers.

The Balanchine tutu, also known as the "powder puff" is a soft, short tutu that has little layers and no wire. This skirt is used to give a softer fuller appearance.

The Platter tutu sticks out straight from the dancers waistline. Similar to the Pancake tutu, but the Platter tutu is more stiff and straight whereas the pancake is a little fuller on the top.

I for one love tutus. When you dance they just flow and you feel so pretty when wearing one. You get all ready for your recital or performance and when you put on your tutu you just feel like a professional dancer. It's a great feeling to wear a tutu no matter what style or kind you wear they're always fun and enjoyable and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Improv

Dance is meant to be fun and creative. Improv is  a good way to let go and to just let the music speak to you. You improve everyday when you're in you're room dancing to your music. You listen to the beat and let your body move with out even thinking. Improv is a good way to just let go and be free. It lets you make up your own dance moves and dance with your own style.

At dance studios, often times the instructor will let the class improv for a song or two. Just to let you dance to your own style and be creative in your dancing. It's said that dancers are the first to loose themselves because they're told to copy and mimic dancers and learn routines as in synch as possible to other people almost to the point of perfection. They aren't allowed to have a personal feeling and style in a dance because it has to be together, or clean, as a whole with everyone else on stage and together. Improv every now and then is a good way to stay in tune to your style and enjoyment of dancing.

When improvisation is done at my studio, in my classes, I always get really nervous because I think I'm going to mess up or do something wrong and people are going to look at me because I messed up or danced awkwardly. When in reality no one really cares and the point of improv is to try new things and be creative with your dancing. It's hard to dance like yourself when you're surrounded by a whole bunch of people you don't know, but just listen to the music and dance to your own beat. You're there to have fun and dancing without stress, with you're own style can be very uplifting and enjoyable.

Improv is done a lot in lyrical classes. It's done in about every class, jazz, hip hop, etc. Lyrical though is a big place for improv though because its more of an emotional type of dance. The movements flow together more and improv is done a lot in this class just because since it is easier to express emotions there for easier to express your style and mood of dance in a lyrical class. Just remember to not think about you or how people think of you when you improv because it's a learning experience. It's a time to figure out what works and what doesn't, just have fun and dance to your own beat and style.

Choreographers

Dance clears the mind. The movement of your body allows you to forget about the stress of the day and lets you just focus on you. You're allowed to feel the music and listen to you're own beat. There is a whole creative and imaginative aspect of dance that you can have fun with. Even if you're not a choreographer, the different movements and angles you can accomplish with you're body is amazing.

Making up and choreographing different dance's can be really stressful, but if you're given the time and you have the motivation, it can be really fun and enjoyable. The creativity you have to go through to make up a dance can be really fun, but often times is looked down upon because most time people don't have enough time or energy to make up a dance to its fullest potential.

Choreographers think of dance's and routines in different parts. They look at it as a whole and decide what they want to do and then break it up into a whole bunch of little tiny pieces of one whole dance. piece by piece. I honestly don't know how they come up with all the different ideas they come up with, but dance and especially choreographing is definitely an art on it's own. Choreographers have to be very open and willing to change and go with the flow as the ideas in their brains do not always come out in reality as planned.

The ability of the dance has a lot to do with  the ability of the dancers. That's why there's different levels and try outs for dance's and dance teams, because the more and closer the ability of the dancers are the more in synch and flexibility you have with the dance and certain moves you do.  You wouldn't put a bad dancer and a good dancer in the same dance routine, the bad dancer would just end up bringing the whole routine down and even at competitions and stuff, you get judged on team skills, how many people can do a certain skill, as well.

Choreographers have to think of everything. Between formations, angles, skills, arm placements, often times music, and tempo. They have a lot to think about. They somehow manage it all and address everything eventually in someway. In the end though the routines come out to be wonderful pieces of work that look very astounding and creative.

Challenge Yourself

Challenging yourself is key in whether you want to improve in your dance ability or not. We're not all perfect dancers, but  we all want to be. In order to reach our goals and our desired dance capability we have to work hard and push ourselves to improve. Whether you have to improve in strength, flexibility, or technique, we all have to work on something.

Challenge yourself by taking harder dance classes. Don't be afraid to join a studio or move up to a new level of dance class. I know we all want to be comfortable, but sometimes trying new things in order to get better is worth the discomfort. Even if you don't have any friends in your new dance class or you don't know anyone at your studio. Don't let stupid, minor things get in the way of your ability to improve in dance. I've only been at my studio for about a year now. I remember when I first started, being super nervous and scared because I was new and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. It ended up working out just fine and I was worrying about nothing. Everyone's in the same boat and going through the exact same thing you are. You'll get to know people and make friends fast.

Challenge yourself by trying harder skills. the only way you'll be able to dance like your favorite dancer and get to the next level is by trying new skills. Practicing these skills and getting better at them will ultimately help you in the long run. High technical skills really show off your dancing ability and will help you reach the next level. The only way to get better is to keep trying and try, try, again. Dancing takes practice and the only way to get  better is practicing.

Also, being around more advanced and higher skilled dancers will help you and push you to reach their level. We all want to be better than the person next to us, so if you are around better dancers than you will want to be a better dancer. Especially if you're on a dance team at your school or something, you might not be best friends with the person dancing next to you, and so the competitive level is probably higher. If you want to be better than the girl next to you and she wants to be better than you than you will push each other to be the best you can be and will feed off each others energy to make the dance routine the best it can be. So challenge yourself to be the best, hard work always pays off.