stephanieballlma12

[stephanieballlma12]

References.

Berg, M (N.D) Dance isolation exercise

[Online] Available from:

https://woman.thenest.com/dance-isolation-exercises-12087.html

[Accessed : 13/03/18]

Capitol City Dance Academy (2015) Why a Ballet foundation is so important

[Online] Available from:

http://capitolcitydance.com/why-a-ballet-foundation-as-so-important/

[Accessed : 29/12/17]

Dance work London (N.D) Matt Mattox

[Online] Available from:

http://danceworks.net/matt-mattox/

[Accessed : 11/03/18]

Eddleston, P (2017) Remembering Matt Mattox

[Online] Available from:

https://www.istd.org/news/remembering-matt-mattox/

[Accessed : 27/04/18]

Flashcard Machine (2012) Jazz terminology

[Online] Available from:

https://www.flashcardmachine.com/jazz-terminology.html

[Accessed : 13/01/18]

Garofoli, W (2008) Jazz Dance

[Online] Minnesota - Capstone Press Available from:

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6pbGxvy18E0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=jazz+dance+wendy+garofoli&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjCxJz7leLaAhWQZ1AKHbTmBSsQuwUILDAA#v=onepage&q=jazz%20dance%20wendy%20garofoli&f=false

[Accessed : 29/02/18]

Guarino, L., Oliver, W. (2014) Jazz dance : A history of the roots and branches

United States of America - United Press of Florida

Haas, J. (2017) Dance anatomy

[online] 2nd Ed. Human Kinetics Publisher Available from:

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=LZI9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT281&dq=why+do+we+tilt+the+pelvis+in+a+plie&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj_o92u_eHaAhVDKFAKHVt-BhAQuwUILDAA#v=onepage&q=why%20do%20we%20tilt%20the%20pelvis%20in%20a%20plie&f=false

[Accessed : 25/04/18]

Kassing, G (2014) Discovering dance

[Online] United States of America - Human Kinetics Available from:

https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Discovering_Dance.html?id=Z0hoAwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

[Accessed : 13/02/18]

Kogan, S (2003) Step by step : A complete movement education curriculum 2nd Ed.

United states of America - Human Kinetic Publishing

Long, R (2001) Broadway, the Golden Years: Jerome Robbins and the greatest choreographers-directors, 1940 to the present

New York - continnuum-3PL

Medova, M (2004) Ballet for beginners

[Online] New York - Sterling Publishing Available from:

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=J_-TYAg4FWsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=ballet+dance+for+beginners&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjIju6StOTaAhXNZVAKHQmNCvMQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=ballet%20dance%20for%20beginners&f=false

[Accessed : 20/03/18]

Mindon, E. (2006) The Ballet companion: ​A​ ​Dancers​ ​Guide​ ​To​ ​The​ ​Technique,​ ​Traditions, And​ ​Joys​ ​Of​ ​Ballet

[Online]  New York - Simon&schuster Available from: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=S-RuSzcrBnAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+ballet+companion+online+rea&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjSgMWD5OHaAhWDb1AKHV0dCToQuwUILDAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

[Accessed : 19/12/17]

Nichols, S.,Scheff, H. and Sprague, M.(N.D)  Experience dance: From student to dance artist

[Online] 2nd Ed.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=i5SaAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA68&dq=matt+mattox+style&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjiw_yNmeXaAhVGLFAKHeQtCGAQuwUINjAB#v=onepage&q=matt%20mattox%20style&f=false

[Accessed : 18/03/18]

Physical Therapy Solutions (2017) Core stability exercises for dancers

[Online] Available from:

https://ptsolutions.com/core-stability-exercises-for-dancers/

[Accessed : 11/01/18]

Parnell, A. (2011) Great posture: Dynamic dance

[Online] California - PZQ Press Divion Available from:

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=BFUa_zJ6zO4C&pg=PP5&dq=why+should+dancers+have+good+posture&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwii6YKi8-HaAhXRYlAKHaGXCwQQuwUIMjAB#v=onepage&q=why%20should%20dancers%20have%20good%20posture&f=false

[Accessed : 19/02/18]

Robey, J (2016) Beginning jazz dance

[Online] United States - Human Kinetics Publisher Available from:

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=CY1wCwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=jazz+dance+style&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjUg_KLreTaAhWMbVAKHTbkAOQQuwUIMjAB#v=onepage&q=jazz%20dance%20style&f=false

[Accessed : 22/04/18]

Variety (2013) Dancer, choreographer Matt Mattox dies at  91

[Online] Available from

http://variety.com/2013/film/news/dancer-choreographer-matt-mattox-dies-at-91-1118066555/

[Accessed : 11/01/18]

[stephanieballlma12]

Jazz tendu.

In our classes we spent a few weeks learning and perfecting a tendu exercise. Tendu in French actually translates to ‘tense’. Despite the exercise itself being easy, the technicality behind it is not so. I found after completing the exercise just once I was already tired. This is because, as the name suggests I had to tense muscles in my leg I didn’t know I had.

Pull up. One thing I can still hear in my head now, is my tutor yelling to pull up. I initially thought I was pulling up, however we completed an exercise in pairs where we pulled up our partners from behind, with all our weight on the leg not doing the tendus, the aim here

How to do the exercise. According to Flashcard Machine (2012)  “with a straight leg the dancer slides the working foot out until only the tips of the toes are touching the floor, then slides it back.” In addition to this, when the toe is at full stretch we lift the leg, using our core, flex the foot, point the foot, then place it back down and slide the leg back in. The slide of the leg is very important and you should be able to hear it.

When doing this exercise i struggled with keeping my leg up, this is because I do not have a strong core. In order to strengthen my core and improve on my tendu exercise I have found these exercises from Physical Therapy solutions (2017):

Planks

Side Planks

Supine Opposite Arm and Leg

Side Crunch

Physical Therapy solutions then goes on to say (2017) “The key to dancing is stamina and maintaining proper posture throughout a performance. These exercises are designed to provide endurance training of the core muscles and will translate to solid performances.”

[stephanieballlma12]

Matt Mattox.

Matt Mattox was born in Tulsa, in the year 1921. He was a famous dancer specialising in ballet, jazz and tap. Mattox was not just a famous dancer he also created his own life changing technique. Eddleston, P (2017) explained how “Matt Mattox preferred to call his technique 'freestyle'. His classes were rhythmically challenging and a demanding combination of ballet, modern, flamenco, tap dance and jazz.”  She continues to say that “Originally his work was created to help dancers acquire jobs in musical theatre but it became much more.” Despite his technique coming from a jazz influence, “Over three decades, Mattox choreographed almost 30 ballets.” Variety staff (2013)

“Mattox exercises help dancers isolate movement”Robyn, J (2016) which is extremely beneficial because Mattox’s routine includes a lot of isolated movements. Robyn, J (2016) suggests that Matt Mattox’s “Style is based on his belief that all forms of dance are valid as inspiration and expression”. This is a similar approach as Bob Fosse. According to Dancework London “Mattox used his background in ballet technique to create his own technique for jazz dance. His jazz class was assembled in the progression of a ballet class, and he called his exercises “the barre” ”.

Within my dance classes, we learnt two warm ups, one plie and one tendu, both of these were inspired by Matt Mattox. They included isolations as well as breath and release. In the plie exercises the use of Mattox’s isolations were massively implemented into the exercise. I initially struggled to get the isolations all together, within the sequence we have to isolate our ribcage and slowly extend our arm. When looking in the mirror, my ribcage was not isolated, I had taken my whole torso with me. At home after the class I went home to look for exercises to help with isolations, I could not really find actual exercises but according to Berg, M (N.D)  “Practicing a dance isolation is best done in front of a full-length mirror”. She continues on by explaining that  “If you use your core to shift your rib cage from right to left, then you are doing an isolation that moves only your upper body. The skill of an isolation lies in the ability to keep the rest of the body stationary.” The key to isolations is keeping the rest of my body still which is something I will work on.

Looking back at Matt Mattox and Bob Fosse, some of the skills within the techniques are similar. For example the use of syncopation. In both warm ups and my jazz routine I was always counting the counts within the beat, which is a really useful skill to have within the industry as it will help me with timing, not just in dance but also in singing. I feel like Bob Fosse’s technique is a lot easier to spot, i think he has more ‘signature moves’ compared to Matt Mattox.

Overall I prefered Bob Fosse’s technique, however this is only because I found Mattox’s technique a lot harder due to my lack of core strength.

[stephanieballlma12]

Bob Fosse.

Bob Fosse, born in the year 1927, was a renowned choreographer and direct during the late sixties and all through the seventies. Before making his big debut Fosse trained as a tap dancer and also had a background in ballet. Fosse did not just change the world with his style of dance, he was also one of the choreographers that “combined dance and theatrical storylines”(Guarino and oliver pg.97)

The Fosse style is unmistakable, (Guarino and Oliver pg.97) suggest some to be “forward thrust of the hips, the hunched shoulders, the gloved hands and the turned in feet” and go on to offer “bent knee, sprayed fingers, percussive isolations”. When I think if Fosse I almost immediately think of Chicago, in my opinion Chicago is one of the most seductive shows on stage to date. Fosse would tell his dancers to “Be seductive by keeping their chins down and teasing with their eyes”. Within the first 15 seconds of the jazz routine, I had already used syncopation, with bent knees and spread fingers. As well as this, the element of seduction was mandatory within this routine, however with Fosse’s style it is not about pushing your chest forward or kicking your leg high, sometimes it would be as simple as a click of your finger, continuously in time with the music. I believe a lot of Fosse’s work was a done through suggestion.

Bob Fosse has had a Burlesque influence throughout his whole life, Fosse’s father and older brother(Dick) performed at the vaudeville playing the spoons. When Dick died his father hoped he “would go into show business and rekindle Dick’s spirit”(Long, r pg.145). As well as this, “at the age of nine, he began dance lessons at Frederic Weavers Chicago Academy of Theatre Arts”(Long, R pg.145)

From my research I am astounded at how much influence Fosse has had on this routine, as well as other routines I have performed before. I did not know the use of the hat was influenced by Fosse, “his clever use of props - particularly hats and canes  camouflaged his technical limitations”(Guarino and Oliver pg.97), I thought is was simply for effect.

[stephanieballlma12]

The differences between ballet and jazz.

When defining jazz dance, Robey (2016) explains that “it is often performed with a rhythmic focus” pointing out that in jazz a lot of syncopation (off the beat) is used. I really agree with this because in the jazz routine I performed nearly everything was syncopated, I had to turn on the third beat of one singular count. He goes on to say how jazz in renown for “embracing individual style”. This would would be contrary to ballet as Medova (2004) interprets ballet as “a well defined discipline taught the same way all over the world”. The differences continue to show as Garofoli (2008) says that “unlike ballroom or ballet, the new jazz style was done with the knees bent. This body movement allowed people to dance fast, loose and natural”. (pg. 6)

One key difference I noticed between my jazz and ballet class was that everything in ballet was turned out. Minden (2006) declared that “ballet dancers have had a turned out leg since the time of ballet de cour”,which is what ballet was called in the 16th and 17th century. Although there were still some dance steps that required a turned out leg in jazz. Kogan(2003) wrote that a “turnout is an integral part of ballet, modern, and jazz dance, though modern and jazz dance frequently use other rotations of the leg”, this shows me that what i am doing in my classes is correct.

Robey (2016) contradicts the differences by explaining how “jazz dance taught in many academic dance settings today has strong ballet and modern influences”. I found personally when dancing, I preferred jazz because ballet is such a controlled practice. I did however enjoy the ballet plie exercises at the barre. This is something that i can now do at home to strengthen my core muscles, and improve on my overall technique.

[stephanieballlma12]

Moving on from ballet we are learning a new dance style: Jazz! For our performance we are doing ‘All that jazz’ from Chicago. I attended jazz classes when I was younger however not much of the steps and information was retained. The routine itself was inspired by Bob Fosse, but he will be talked about in another post.

Over the course of a few rehearsals we were put into groups of four and learnt the routine. The first thing that i struggled with right away was getting to grip with performing with a hat, I have performer within amature dramatics for years but never once with a hat. It wasn’t so much wearing a hat I struggled with, it was how to incorporate the hat and maintain a seductive style, I felt I was a lot stiffer because I have to move the hat, I lose my facial expression. In order to overcome this fault, I had to record myself practising at home repetitively, watching myself back was never easy, but it got a lot easier. In taking this step I was able to regain focus on my facial expression and the hat was no longer an issue.

There is a part of the routine where we are lead on our sides and we kick our leg to the side, after weeks of rehearsing I still dreaded this part of the dance. When stood up I can kick my legs moderately high without much force, however when lying down my leg wasn’t going higher than a ninety degree angle. After stretching I asked my friend to record me kicking my leg lying down, and then again stood up, and I realised my problem. When kicking my leg stood up my inner thigh was facing the front(turned out), but when i was lying down it was the front of my thigh facing the front(turned in)!

The next time we did the routine I turned my leg out, and no surprise my kick was a lot higher. Using the ballet skill of turning out really improved this element of my jazz routine.

[stephanieballlma12]

Since last week I have been giving mental reminders to myself to tuck under my pelvis when standing naturally, this is already proving to be a vital step in my growth as a performer. The first picture is ten days ago, compared to ten days later, as you can see my posture has improved. It is imperative for performers to have good posture, “when you have good posture, your body is strong and flexible enough to align itself naturally and effortlessly” (Parnell, A). He goes on to say that “with great posture, you get freedom from pain and vitality you can actually see”. As a performer you cannot afford to have a bad back or you cannot work, especially for something that could have easily been avoided with the correct knowledge.

In our class todays focus was demi plies and grand plies. According to Ballet Hub “a grand plié is a full bend of the knees until the thighs are parallel with the floor, while a demi plié looks more like a half bend, where the heels do not come off the floor”.  We stood in first position at the barre and I made an attempt at my first demi plie. Like my posture last week, I was sticking out my pelvis when going into my bend. So while holding my demi plie i straightened my back and slightly tucked in my pelvis.

One of our pelvic ligaments that connects the femur to the hip socket, this is the iliofemoral ligament, however it is known as the Y ligament because of its Y shape. “Tightness in this ligament can limit turnout in your hip. To loosen the Y ligament and enable more turnout, some dancers tilt the pelvis forward” (Haas, J (2017) para 2)

I then continued my demi plie to my grand plie. Ballet Hub states that “your heals should not life of the floor in a demi plie” as well as explaining that your knees and toes should go in the same direction, if they aren’t you are probably forcing a turnout, which is not good.

Once getting to grips with the basics, we were given a plie exercise. The exercise consists of two demi plies into a grand plie, then to a releve (a snatch motion onto demi point), from here we turn and repeat on the other side.

Throughout the exercise my stuck out pelvis kept making an unwanted appearance. An exercise i will be implementing to my daily routine in order to improve my pelvic tilt is :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE018HYqqEM

[stephanieballlma12]

Ballet.

The core to any dance style is ballet.

According to Capitol City Dance Academy (2015) “Movement from jazz, lyrical, contemporary and modern derive from the five positions of the feet created in ballet”. The five positions were something that we worked on in class. (See pictures above).  We started in first position and were told to tense our thigh muscles (the quadriceps), we held this for a matter of seconds and I could already feel an ache in my thigh. We were told to pull up from the top of our head as though we were being pulled with string. I noticed when I pulled up I was arching my back slightly, this was not correct and something that i would have to work on. To correct this I uncurled my arched back and pulled my core muscles right in and I saw my reflection grow. The Ballet positions are a vital skill for a performer, it id a technique of stance that we are required to know, a choreographer might shout ‘your end position must be in second position but your arms are free’, but not demontraight,  if I did not know the positions i’m not going to get the job.

Ballet is imperative to any performer, this is not just because of the technique that is needed, but because it helps you find your center of balance, with core strength, flexibility and more importantly discipline. When starting our dance classes it was instilled upon me that we do not talk in this lesson, nor do we fidget once a routine is completed. Ballet is renown for it discipline simply because it is crucial within the industry  “you are creating an environment conducive to learning” (Mindon, E (2006,  p.11)