Cultural Dance Rehearsal Videos

The dancers involved in this project had three rehearsals to learn three different cultural dances. Each day they were given an hour and a half to learn what you see here. I am so proud of the them for learning so quickly. Good job!! Our teachers also impressed me. They not only shared what they had learned through these cultural dances, but they also used the dancers' pre-existing knowledge to teach them. I heard several comments from our teachers during the rehearsal process such as, "this turn is like a chaîné (a ballet term for a turn performed with two feet)," or, "this section is like a dance battle." The dancers began to make connections between the cultural dances and their personal experiences as well. One of the dancers stated that the side lean in the West African dance was similar to the side lean performed in the Folklorico dance they learned two days earlier. Another dancer stated the hand and finger movements in the Hmong Dance choreography were similar to what she saw last year at Clovis East's World's Fair when one of our foreign exchange students performed her native dance from Thailand. I can't wait to see what the dancers create when they are given the chance to choreograph a cultural dance fusion piece on Tues. I'll post more media as the project continues next week. Thanks for visiting our blog! Please check back with us again next week.