"Bun-Head" Be Gone

How do you want to be known? A ballerina, a bun-head, a jazz dancer, or maybe just a dancer? Personally, I want to call my self simply a dancer. To me, the term dancer encompases being able to do all styles of dance. If dance is what you love, I think its important to have the drive and hunger to dive into all styles of dance whether it be Ballet, Modern, Jazz, Ballroom, African, Salsa, or Indian dance. In our generation, companies are diversifying their repertoire and their dancers each year. Ballet companies are no longer doing strictly classical ballets; they are taking in more modern/jazz style pieces. For example, top ballet companies such as New York City Ballet, Miami City Ballet, and American Ballet Theater have been doing contemporary works from Jerome Robbins and Twyla Tharp. On the flipside, modern companies such as Alvin Aiely, also do works that are very balletic in vocabulary and movement while also marinating a modern quality; for example the piece I am in right now, The Lark Ascending. As aspiring dancers, it is our job to become each and any role a choreographer asks us to be. Without the proper amount of exposure and technique and different styles of dance, you limit yourself to the endless opportunities available in the dance world.
Being able to adapt to all styles of dance is extremely important in being successful in the dance world. As students, it is in our best interest to absorb all types of dance that are available. Being strong in ballet, modern, and jazz can open so many doors to a dancer. Coming into SMU I was viewed as your typical “bun-head” a girl who was strong in ballet, but could not move like a jazz or modern dancer. As the year progressed I like to think that the stereotype on me changed. Second semester of freshman year when I got cast to be in Twyla Tharp’s, Octet, I felt well prepared stylistically because of my background in jazz. Although the piece was in pointe shoes and had a lot of ballet vocabulary, without the jazzy flavor the piece would not live up to the style of Twyla Tharp. We had to move both with a sense of being grounded and smooth, and at times had to move quickly with attitude and flare. Jazz influenced this movement so much in the sense that in a lot of the choreography your body was off center, you were off your leg, or low, or contracted. While in ballet you usually stay on top of the music and ride along the phrases, in jazz dance you learn to dance off the strong beats, you are given more freedom to syncopate and suspend movement, and you often ride the downbeat of the music. Typically, jazz dance has stronger and sharper movements with rolling hips and ungulated torsos. In classical ballet we are mostly upright and very clear. In jazz I feel that I have more freedom to make the dance my own instead of being bound in the confines of being upright and “correct” all the time as in ballet. Octet had a very down-to-earth pedestrian like feel to it. Without ever taking jazz, I do not think I could have ever adapted to the style of Tharp’s piece. I cannot imagine how awkward I would have felt when someone told me to do a hip roll and pop your pelvis forward without ever taking a jazz class! Absorbing the feel and essence of jazz dance is key in being a versatile dancer. To get a feel for Tharp’s jazzy style of dance check this out! Here is a piece of work from the Broadway musical Movin’ Out with choreography by Twyla Tharp. 

So, to all those ballet boys and girls out there, don’t give anyone a reason to call you merely a “bun-head”…get out there and try anything and everything that you can get your hands on! Being versatile is the only way to make it out in the dance world! :)

The Irony of the Industry

The dance industry is a tough one to break into, and it’s made even tougher because of the talented people in it. It’s hard to find success as a professional dancer, but we are making it even harder for ourselves. As if remembering steps isn’t hard enough, we keep pushing the limits of physical and mental capacity with ungodly flexibility, technical trickery, and obscure choreographic nuances. The talent in the dance world is developing much too quickly, making it rather difficult to keep up. So…how about we take all this technique down a notch? Let’s just band together to make things a little easier on ourselves, purely in an effort to make dance more of a realistic career goal for the greater majority of dancers. There are plenty of opportunities for us to cut back, we just haven’t exactly embraced them yet. For instance, maybe the entire concept of turnout is overrated. Maybe, turn-in is in fact the new turnout; that would spice things up a bit since we have been dancing turned-out for over a century now. Not only would that minor adjustment make dance easier and put everyone on more of an even playing field, but it would also save us from years of injury and pain once we have retired from the world of dance to start our normal lives. Parallel is obviously more comfortable, so let’s just decide to look the other way while we eliminate turn out from our entire dance vocabulary. While we’re at it, let’s all just agree that extension isn’t that cool, especially if you are not born with it. This is our chance to welcome low extension as a new alternative high extension; then we can all feel good about how our lines look. If everyone’s legs are low, it’s like nobody’s legs are low! Just think, forty-five degrees could be the new 180. Do I really need to explain what should happen to pointed feet? Those of us who were not born with daggers attached to our ankles should not be discriminated against; therefore, the pointing has to go too. While we could jump to the opposite end of the spectrum and try flexing our feet instead of pointing, that really would not be fair to those with a short Achilles. So starting today, dancing is done with turned-in, very low legs and limp, dangling feet. As the bounds of technical difficulty in dance continue to be expanded, many of us are left struggling to keep up with the backwards switch tilt axle leaps and other tricks. Everyone knows of, has a friend, or at least watched a thirty second Youtube clip of someone who can pirouette an inordinately large number of times in a row, or those little-bitty “performing artists” who contort themselves into somewhat of a vertical split involving one leg being wrenched up to the height of, or extending beyond, their head while simultaneously turning, or tap dancing, or basket weaving. All I have to say to that is stop. Honestly, how many people on this earth can do that? Not many (I don’t think), so stop making the rest of us feel bad. We already have to wear a leotard and tights; don’t make me develop even worse self-esteem. (That brings up another good point: who likes the leo? The combination of the unforgiving spandex and with the not-so-slimming pink tights is sickening. With all the advances we have made in society, you would think someone could have come up with something better.) Anyways, I would like to hope that there is a place in the dance world for those of us who are not capable of such daring acrobatics. We all say that dance isn’t about the steps or the tricks, it’s about the passion and communicating and emotion and what not. This is why I love when competition and convention teachers go off on a tangent about how they want the dance to come from the heart and how the movement should be so much more than the steps; then they proceed to teach a combination that starts out a little something like: step, turn, turn, kick, run, run, leap, roll to the floor, step, turn and jump at the same time, and shimmy. Really? The only thing more confusing than those inspiring speeches is why teachers always expect all 150 of us to be able to do everything full out in those carpeted ballrooms. How about instead, we keep the intent behind the dancing but knock out some more of those technicalities. Of course it’s cool to make up intricate choreography or concepts for dances, but let’s all come to a consensus that the next time we start making up a dance, we begin weeding out anything that involves turning multiple times or balancing on one leg for a long period of time. That seems like a reasonable start. After all, we train our entire lives to become brilliant artists, not just a flexible facility; so let’s quit doing so many tendus and grande battements everyday. Every other industry makes it a point to take future applicants under the wing of those who have found success; why can’t we implement a similar system? Let’s set up some dance internships where we get coffee for members of the company and miraculously end up with a job there. It’s time we take control of the industry and do what we have to do to keep the dance alive! If that means that we dance turned-in, don’t balance, and never point our feet, so be it. I know I’ll do my part to keep the technique to a minimum, and in the meantime, let’s not get any more talented.

Breaking It Down

When I think of krumping, I think of guys in baggy jeans thrashing around and going crazy to violent, angry rap music. I had no idea, until doing a little research, that krumping has a history, and a rich one at that. It started in South Central Los Angeles, and has become a major part of hip-hop culture. The style references African-American roots, and tribal dance. “Dance battles” are a big part of krumping, much like they used to be with break-dancing. The music people krump to is predominantly hip-hop based. It’s called “Buck” music and the originators call themselves The J-squad. They have some really good beats and instrumentals. Here is a link to see Lil C and The Neph Squad krumping to one of their tracks.
Someone who is definitely more well known, and someone I never knew was a krumper is Chris Brown! I was surprised to find out that he is really into it, and he doesn't just do a showy, watered down, choreographed version in his performances. Here is a link so you can see what I mean. Of course he has backup dancers on stage with him, but in my opinion he kills it with or without them.

Another style I wanted to look at was Popping and Locking. Popping is characterized by quickly contracting and relaxing your muscles to produce a jerking effect. Different parts of the body can be isolated, so you can do a chest pop, an arm pop, or a neck pop, etc. This style is also influenced by music, and popping is done to the beat of the music. When popping began, it was danced to funk, disco, and other music popular in the 1970's. Now it is predominantly danced to hip-hop, and some forms of electronica. I knew about popping and locking but I guess I never gave them enough credit, I mean come on, they're street styles right? It doesn't matter where they come from though. These techniques are legit and I was proved wrong when I discovered some pretty in-depth articles that were frankly, very impressive. Here, a guy who goes by the name "Boogie Walker" explains the differences between popping and locking-“locking has more of an ethnocentric and specialized foundation. I would consider the foundation of all styles of popping something related to mime. Mime has been around for thousands of years and in almost all cultures around the world. Locking, on the other hand, has its foundation directly and specifically in the African American dance tradition, going all the way back through the soul/Motown era to tapping and hoofing in the Vaudeville era. The principles of mime (isolations, illusional movements) are things that many people across many cultures have both discovered independently of each other and are found universally impressive due to their illusional nature.” I never would have thought that there could be such profound thought and writing about the nature of a street style! It just goes to show you never to judge something you don't know enough about.

The last thing I want to leave you with is this relatively new notion of Lyrical Hip-hop. So You Think You Can Dance really paved the way with this new style, and you rarely see any other form of hip-hop on the show now. One of the judges, Adam has confirmed that the show has explored a new style of hip-hop and that it has, without a doubt, "become a really legitimate, beautiful genre on its own." So, one last video clip of a medley of phenomenal lyrical hip-hop, enjoy ;)

The concept of what dance really is can be an unending debate, but I have always had a single opinion about what it is for me. When you dance, you are portraying a message through the movement. It is about giving the right amount of emotion and energy to capture the audience’s attention and keep it throughout the entire piece. However, sometimes dance can be completely the opposite. I experienced this kind of dance growing up in the competition dance world. There are a lot of great things that I learned dancing in this kind of atmosphere that I will never regret learning, like discipline and how to be hard worker. I will never forget the lessons that my dance teacher drilled in me almost every day about never giving up and pushing through no matter what. I grew as a dancer in this kind of life, but I really found a passion for dance when I got to my junior year in high school.I went to a performing arts high school and one of the styles of dance that we studied was modern. It was the first time I had ever experienced modern, but I really started to love it my junior year. I quickly found out that modern was not about how high my leg could go or how many turns I could do, but more about concepts like how much space can I cover in my movement or how much further to the ground could I get. It was an eye-opener for me. I had been trained since I was little that you couldn’t win unless you could do this many turns or you couldn’t get platinum unless your leg was a certain height. These pictures are just examples of an amazing ability but nothing coming from it.

I had always struggled with flexibility and extension, which was one of the most important things you had to have to succeed. Because I never had this, I always put myself down and thought my dancing never stood a chance against my competitors. When I discovered modern, it was a style that felt good on my body for once. I felt more alive and more comfortable doing movements that were more in the ground and more emotionally based. I finally realized that no dancer needed perfect turnout or the highest leaps to create works of art through dance. In our classes here at SMU, performing in our technique classes is essential. My ballet teacher, Leslie Peck, always says that we constantly look like robots at barre when we should have expressions in our faces and life in our movement. Dancing is beautiful and should evoke some kind of emotion from those who watch it no matter the style. In jazz, our teacher, Lauren, wants us to be a character for some of the combinations we work on which can be a very challenging thing for a dancer sometimes. To be completely out of your comfort zone is scary but can be liberating at the same time. Most of the time, it is not just about the steps but about the sensation that comes from doing those steps. For some, the tricks are more important than what kind of message is portrayed. For others, no tricks are necessary for an exquisite piece. This video shows that even though the dancers have flexibility and extension that can be used for tricks, they are using it in a beautiful way through movement that has texture and life in it. One of my favorite modern companies right now is called the David Dorfman Dance Company. What captures my attention when these dancers dance are the looks on their faces. Half of the time, I don’t even watch the lower half of their body. They have the ability to make one step something more than just one step. They keep your attention the whole time no matter what kind of style they do. Another famous dancer that had the incredible ability to make a simple move so much more was Martha Graham. She would “use emotions as her tools to create a dance” (Jeanne Ruddy, New York Times). The movement would come from the emotion she felt inside. One of her most famous works was called Lamentation, and the reason it is so powerful is because it evokes pain and anguish from simple gestures. When the dancer is moving, she makes you feel what she feels. This kind of power should be what all movement should be like. Just moving across stage with one trick leading into another trick is not really what dance is about. It is about the passion that comes from within that leads the audience into a place that they will never forget.

Consumerist Dancing?

These new dance TV shows, such as “So You Think You Can Dance,” “America’s Favorite Dance Crew,” and “Dancing with the Stars,” have grabbed my intention as they seem to be shaping the dance world. The question is whether they fairly represent "dancing." There are certainly positive and negative aspects with these shows, and in my opinion, they generally benefit dance. They have caused dance to be in the forefront of people’s minds because of the publicity given to them. Their ratings are through the roof as millions of people faithfully submit votes in support of their favorite dancer. Dance has been given better exposure, and outsiders can see the intense dedication and hard work behind a dancer’s lifestyle. The world has to have more respect for the arts now. It has revealed that not just anyone can become a dancer overnight. “Dancing with the Stars” is proof that years of practice are required to achieve the grace and poise that are exemplified in the “professionals” verses the jocks or actors. One eighteen year old female dancer I talked to was in partial favor of the shows from the standpoint that it gave dance more exposure. Her only concern was that dance was unfairly represented. Instead of basing dance off of technique, dance was becoming something that was based on the whims and desires of what we want to see on our TV. In a sense, dance has become “Americanized” in that it has become an outlet to satisfy our consumerist nature. We are unfairly representing dance because not all the styles of dance are given equal time on TV. Ethnic dance and contemporary work from Europe are rarely seen, and instead we advertise the styles of dance that we are comfortable with. The following video portrays this eclectic style from Europe performed by the Nederlands Danz Theater.



Another younger dancer I talked with could not decide her stance. One point she made was that the shows were accomplishing some good because they help put things in perspective like the complex performance process. The hours of rehearsal with rigorous movement taking its toll on a human body, the makeup and costuming, the backstage nerves all combine to set the tone for a piece. “So You Think You Can Dance” is one show in particular that helps people visualize these steps by showing video clips of the dancers preparing themselves for stage time. The only downfall is that dance could easily become commercialized. Hair and makeup has to be altered for cameras whereas on a proscenium stage, it would have been completely different. Commercialization has a way of taking away aspects of real art.



Dance on TV has begun to move away from classical forms like modern and ballet and has gravitated towards music videos and acting. Nothing is wrong with this, but there must be a balance between the two so that people know that dance encompasses a range of movement and is not restricted to a specific style. We, as dancers must broaden our scope of movement to adapt to anything given to us, and these TV shows make it hard to ensure this because of time constraints and lack of varying choreographers. But regardless, people are better appreciating dance because this art form is shown in a positive light.

JAZZ 2 BLOGS: ROUND TWO

A new year has begun at SMU.  New blogs are on the way.