When thinking about this week, I wanted a celebratory dance for the end of spring break/edTPA prep.
So, I decided to do the salsa!
First I looked at this diagram and usually these work for me (see my past posts for more of these diagrams), but I couldn’t really understand what was going on since the feet are all clumped together, so I found this one:
This was a bit better since it showed the weight shift that I was having trouble seeing from the first one.
I used the first diagram to keep in mind the “1-2-3” pattern—the quick-quick-slow pattern. This is a pattern that, I’m finding, appears a lot in dance! It’s in both the waltz and the cha cha—which I’ve already done! The first diagram was good in terms of rhythm—6 counts in 8 counts of music. I decided to try my hand—er FOOT—at it. Here I am doing the salsa!
I think I got the quick-quick-slow pattern down best here out of all the dances I’ve done so far!
Let me know what you think!
So, it's been awhile since my last post! I'm sad that this had to take a backseat to site duties, job applications, and the Easter holiday weekend. BUT I am back and very eager to get back to dancing!
I did do some dancing in my absence. When I was doing the dishes each night I boogied to my Pandora playlist AND I briefly watched a few minutes of the premiere of "Dancing with Stars" with my mom as I was doing laundry. HOWEVER, I did get a chance in between teaching and other duties to do some research and think about a few things. Back when I went to the Synergy dance studio with my friends, I was taught how to dance the cha cha but I was not terribly good at it. So, I found the steps for the ladies' portion of the dance.
Seeing how it was still a BIT more complicated than the waltz, I sought out an explanatory video to help me out.
Then I wondered, could knowing the Charleston help me with this in any way? I was determined to find out.
According to this surprisingly well-researched explanation I found online, "These days, [the Charleson] more often lends steps to jive & quickstep, rather than being danced as its own, exclusive dance...[Dancers often] incorporate Charleston steps into other dances." Considering that there are more "quicksteps" in the cha cha, the Charleston could prove quite helpful here! After studying and reviewing the diagram several times, seeing patterns (almost like two triangles of motion it seems (step right, step up, rock step back where you were and then out left and together and out left and then back and rock step forward and right and right; it's repetitive!) and watching and dancing along with the video, I think I finally mastered it. I didn't want to complicate matters with adding music at this point (and so I could hear myself counting in my head), so it's just my feet! Check out my results and let me know what you think! After my delightful week of dancing with my friends, I had an epiphany. Instead of looking at specific dances, I should focus more on specific dance moves instead so that I can easily catch on when asked to dance. So, I am scrapping my entire original plan. Cue gasp. I decided to start with learning the basic waltz steps--a MUCH easier dance as I discovered in my last video. Then, I will learn the basic cha cha steps and then the basic salsa steps. These are at least my goals for now--they could change! But, as I'm finding out with this project, that's okay! This week, I focused on mastering the basic waltz steps and rhythm. One of the things I struggled with last week was these basic steps and, although I had a fantastic lead, there will be times that I won't have that and will need to learn quickly on my feet (pun intended). So, I found a diagram of the basic waltz steps that clearly laid out for me what I was supposed to do. As a girl, I was wondering why I had to step backwards on the first step since my first inclination was to step forward. By looking at the diagram, I immediately saw why: I am not the one leading. Then, things started to make sense. I stepped back, he stepped forward, he stepped to the right, I stepped to my left. I saw a pattern--it was almost like a box step that I had done in the "I Know You Want Me" video from a few weeks ago! Where one foot went, the other followed. This was a LOT easier than I had made it out to be. So, the pattern goes, back step right foot, left step left foot, left step right foot, left foot forward, right foot right, left foot right, right foot back and we're back to where we've started! And we're going in a box step! A waltz is a basic 3/4 time, which is where my piano knowledge came in handy. The rhythm is slow, quick quick, slow, quick quick. It reminded me of the play The King and I where Anna is trying to teach the king to dance. When I put these ideas together, voila! I now have a better understanding of the basic waltz steps!
Next week I will work on putting these ideas into practice. Wish me luck!
So the other day one of my best friends invited me to go to Synergy Dance Studio in downtown San Diego for a 30 minute dance class and 2 hours worth of dancing for the low price of $3. And, because of my newfound courage in dancing (what have I got to lose?)--and the idea of being able to do this project and kill two birds with one stone were extremely appealing to me, so I said, "Yes!"
My best friend and her older sister are both in a ballroom dance class at MiraCosta, so they came in with three lessons (8 and a half hours worth) of experience compared to my 45 minutes from last week, a handful of summer Zumba classes several years ago, and my one year of dance P.E. eight years ago that all the girls took to get out of running the mile and wearing ugly gym clothes.
We arrived at Synergy and all the men lined up on one side and the women on the other. Most of those in attendance were much older than we were but it didn't matter. There were also many couples but they were all very friendly. We then learned the basic steps to the Hustle. Due to a lack of men, everyone rotated partners and I got to dance initially with the instructor, Mark. I did very well with the first part but struggled a bit with the second part, but it was not bad for my first attempt! As I moved through partners, I mostly improved although the leading of the men was crucial to that success (some were great and made it easy to follow while others were not skilled at that). Still, no matter how badly I messed up, they all did not mind trying again. The lesson came to a close (how we wish we had more time to learn!) and the dancing began. What was amusing to me was how easily everyone just picked partners and danced with pretty much anyone. I was asked several times to dance and each man (with the exception of one who took me saying I "know very little Salsa" to mean that I was being overly modest) was overall quite patient since I was such a beginner. Although I don't remember every dance, I do remember I danced the Rumba with an older gentleman who had several great tips for me and learned basic Cha Cha moves from my best friend's older sister.
The best part of the night though was when one of our good friends showed up with his dance partner. He is a professionally trained dancer who is actually an assistant dance instructor at MiraCosta College.
He and I danced the Waltz. Perhaps because he is actually an instructor, it was much easier than the salsa and these other dances I had done! (To my amusement, my friends commented on this in the video!) It was lovely!
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He also helped get a huge group together and we danced the Merengue! I was able to do all of those dance moves and it was very fun!
I also danced with two sisters (as I said, there were not enough men) and we just did basic moves and had fun spinning around and making our dresses twirl.
All in all it was a lovely time to be had. I wish I had had more training in dance but I think that overall, I did really well considering I did not have much experience!
So this was my first attempt at dancing. I am glad I decided to pick this because, likely due to stress, I’ve had four days of severe tension headaches in the afternoon. This actually helped me not focus on schoolwork, helped relieve the headaches, and got me off of the couch. My plan of attack for this project, as you may recall, was to 1. Explore a few dances on Youtube to see which ones I wanted to learn before declaring which ones I would learn, 2. Find a few warm ups to stretch to, a few videos to learn, and a cooldown, and declare them, and then 3. Put everything together and actually learn each of the three dances individually. For my first attempt with Uptown Funk, I was able to catch on and, even though I was not perfect, it brought my heart rate up without being too difficult. It was a nice warmup! I think I made the right choice in choosing this video to start out. Then I realized that some of my muscles in my feet/legs were a little tense so I went right into the I Wanna Be Like You dance. This was a great choice! Not only did I have fun moving around and imitating animals almost, but it had a bit of Charleston in it, which motivated me to keep going since I knew how to do it! Shakira’s Wherever Whenever was a bit challenging for me because of the arm movements. I decided to focus on the footwork this time and not worry so much about the arms. I think this helped me at least get the beat of the song down. Progress! Then I tried another one of Shakira’s--the Waka Waka--which was fun and, although I was not 100% perfect with the arms, I still had fun. The rhythm in this one alternates so it’s a bit more difficult to do, but I think I did a decent job for my first try. I looked up on Google what I was having trouble doing (kicking forward onto another foot and then back again) and it informed me that I was having difficulty with the “kick ball change” part of the dance. I’ll have to work on my kick ball changes! Then I went straight into Pitbull’s Timber which was, much like the song’s beat, very lively and was a nice contrast to the Waka Waka. Then I decided I was still not ready to learn another song, so I tried I Know You Want Me which had a little bit of everything in it. Even though I did not get all the moves right, I just wanted it to keep me moving so that I could then totally focus for the last song--This Girl Is On Fire. Finally, I ended with a cooldown to This Girl Is On Fire which also had challenging arm movements due to the off-beat rhythm in the chorus (my music knowledge is coming in handy after all!). Although I am not perfect at all, I tried the technique of just focusing on the footwork and that helped me tremendously. So, overall I think I did very well for my first day--I have two goals for next week 1. To not get my feet to hurt, and 2. To work on my kick ball changes! I also, surprisingly felt a LOT better (no headaches!). So, I think that, yes, dancing did indeed improve my mood in a very positive way and paved the way for me to actually do other things in my day sans headache.
The vote was unanimous--I will be dancing for my 20-time project!
I chose this because of the vote and because of the advantages for it: stress reliever, a way to “zone out,” and to get myself off of the couch. Because I needed to have a specific, measurable goal, I set out trying to find three dances that I could specifically learn. I started with finding a simple hip hop warm up since I was interested in hip hop. To save time and incorporate a technology component, I decided to dance to Youtube videos instead of hitting the gym. However, I quickly discovered that any video that ends with “for kids” does not necessarily mean it is easy. Because I could not follow it after 30 seconds of watching it, I moved on. So, I decided to narrow my search--I wanted to do the wildly popular Single Ladies dance. However, after looking at a step-by-step video where moved far too slowly in places and too quickly in others and was overall hard to follow, I decided that, since I couldn’t even follow the step-by-step video, I would not try to find a music video to emulate since it would take too much time trying to figure out what they were doing. So I decided to foray into the Zumba dance world since it incorporates many different types of dances. I had attended a few Zumba classes way back when I was in high school and remembered enjoying them. I found a Zumba video to Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk that was for kids. Although I was skeptical from my last adventure with a “for kids” video, I decided to try it. I could follow along and decided to make it a warm up. Then, I browsed around for a dance to help me loosen up. So, I did the I Wanna Be Like You video which, in addition to being easy to follow and using a Disney song (which is by definition awesome), it incorporated some Charleston! I loved every second of this video! Then, I found Lindsay Jay. She’s an instructor from the U.K. The first video I watched was a dance to Shakira’s Wherever Whenever. The arm movement looked like fun--almost Bollywood-esque, so I decided I could give it a try. Additionally, the Waka Waka (also by Shakira) video looked entertaining and also had complex arm and leg movements. I decided to add this in so I could add to my Shakira repetoire. Lindsay Jay also had another video--This Girl Is On Fire, which is one of my favorite songs. I liked the slower pacing of the dance and the creative arm movements so I decided to pick this video as not only one to learn, but to learn at the end as a sort of cool down. So, my specific measurable goal is to master the dances in these three videos: Waka Waka (Shakira), Wherever Whenever), and This Girl Is On Fire, all of which incorporate some sort of hip hop element. I chose these three because the arm movements looked difficult and I am not the most coordinated person. The additional songs that I will be dancing to in addition to my chosen three but not necessarily learning are Uptown Funk, I Wanna Be Like You, Timber, and I Know You Want Me. As someone who teaches piano (and is a teacher in general!) I knew I would need some sort of warm up or anticipatory set. So, I chose Uptown Funk (a kids’ version) and I Wanna Be Like You, which are both sort of silly and have slightly easier moves, to warm up to and get loose. Adding in Pitbull's Timber and I Know You Want Me videos was so that I could have a break in between learning the three dances (I’ll do one I will learn and then one or two of these). These videos are all there to break up the solid focus of just learning (the play aspect of my 20% project. I also will not be bored and there is the added advantage that they incorporate many of the same moves in the dances I’ve chosen. I figure that learning these three dances will be a lot like learning to play the piano and, from my knowledge of that, the steps and general theory are just as important as learning a particular song and need to be practiced as well. There’s also a motivational piece in there because I get brownie points for being able to complete these. :) So, this is my plan of attack for this project! Let me know what you think! As I always tell my students, when looking at anything, READ THE DIRECTIONS.
So, from what I understand the 20% project requirements are thus:
With these requirements in mind, I started thinking about what I want to learn. 1. How to play the violin 3. How to dance well (I'm not seeing this as a "work out" option since my goal is not to exercise __ days per week, it's to actually learn specific dance moves and improve as a dancer overall) 4. How to vlog 5. How to eat healthily when constantly on the go Now, I do not have a violin. And they are expensive. So, this will have to be saved for when I retire. BUT, dancing, and eating healthily while on the go are all things I don't know how to do and I've never vlogged before in my life. So... 10 inquiry questions for these: For Dancing...
For Healthy Eating...
For Vlogging...
Now, I just have to choose one! I'm pretty interested in vlogging but the dancing one could also be fun and I'd be getting exercise at the same time. The healthy eating one is more practical, but might be a bit more difficult to be invested in for several weeks. After picking, one I'll be able to define my specific learning outcome. So, comment below--which one should I choose and why? Thanks! |
About Sarah ConnollySarah Connolly is an aspiring dancer. Archives
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