Hello everyone! I am so excited that we are getting started with this California Arts Initiative Project. We will have our first rehearsal Wednesday which means we have our first set of questions for our blog. Please answer each of the questions below. You will answer some of the questions only once and others after each rehearsal. Have fun at rehearsal! See you there!!
Cultural Dance Teachers-
Opening questions –
*What is your personal style of dance?
*Why do you perform this cultural dance style? What draws you to it?
*What connects you to your culture?
After you teach-
*What does this dance mean? What is it about?
*Where can one find this cultural dance if they wanted to research it?
*Is the dance you taught today authentic? Why or why not?
*What are the elements of this dance? What makes it identifiable as West African, Hmong, or Mexican dance?
Dance Repertory Members-
Opening questions-
*What is your personal style of dance? What are the elements of your personal style?
*Why do you perform this dance style? What draws you to it?
*What are your preconceptions of the cultural dance styles you will learn (Mexican, West African, Hmong)? What do you think you will learn?
After each cultural dance rehearsal-
*What do you think this dance means? Did your teachers tell you?
*Is this dance authentic? Why or why not?
*How do you know if a dance is authentic? (because it’s codified? because we know it? because it’s recorded? because it’s different?)
*Did any of your preconceived opinions change after rehearsal?
*How do the elements of your personal style differ from the elements of the cultural dance you learned today?
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I love dancing:)
ReplyDeleteopening questions:
ReplyDeletei don't really have a personal style of dance; i pretty much just do whatever feels natural. i'm open to all types of choreography and dance. i pretty much dance to anything i'm comfortable with. if i just feel awkward doing a dance, it's probably not my forte, so i'll try something else. i think that learning the Mexican dance style will be fairly easy since i come from a Hispanic background. i expect to learn how to have better stances and posture while dancing since i've always noticed Mexican dancers to have long, tall, straight backs and torsos while dancing. also, to incorporate the old story that is being told through the movements.
after rehearsal (Mexican):
ReplyDeleteour teachers told us that this dance was about a bull, i think! and that, like almost all Mexican dances, is was about a guy and a girl flirting. but they said something about like a matador and a bull and maybe i got kind of lost there :) but i know for sure they said it was about flirting!
i think this dance is authentic because our teachers said it was from Sinaloa, and that specific movements or dances were only done in this region adn other regions had their own dances. so i figure that if it's exclusively in one region, then it must be authentic.
a dance is authentic, in my opinion, if it comes straight from its origin. if the original movement or dance derived from a certain region or location, then it is authentic.
my preconceived opinions were pretty much the same, accurate. but i realized so much more about the dance. from tellign the story with not only the movements but your facial expressions as well.
the elements of my personal dance style (or lack thereof) i can see being similar to those of the Mexican style. the Mexican style was upbeat, bouncy, poppy, with a lot of shaking. that, for the most part, is the type of dance that i enjoy the most so it came very easily to me.
i totally enjoyed the first day of rehearsal so much more than i thought i would! :D
My personal style of dance is contemporary with a mix of jazz, but I am open to any type of dancing. I enjoy using many abrupt clean-cut movements while mixing smooth moves with it. I perform this style of dance because I like the quickness and energy, which is also what, draws me to it. I find it very entertaining and fun to watch and participate in. Honestly, I am excited to learn all these dances because I think they will be challenging! I hope I will learn some new moves to add to my own type of style. In addition, I also want to learn what the different dances mean to that culture.
ReplyDeleteI did not exactly hear what the Hmong dance meant (if the teachers even told us is coming in hazy for me also) Oopps! :) However, if I had to guess I would say that it was a romantic dance because there was a man and woman singing in the song. I believe the dance is authentic because HDR taught it to us and they come up with their dances using the knowledge of their culture. My preconceived opinions did not really change after rehearsal because I already thought the dance was going to be a challenge and it was! Good thing I got it though….finally.:) The style differed from my own personal style because the whole dance was very fluid, with the main focus being the hands.
ReplyDeleteI don't really have a personal style of dance because i combine a number of styles for my one style. I just love dancing but the one style that fits me the most is hip hop. I love the way everything in hip hop is. It can easily turn a piece of ballet or jazz to hip hop. it's a morpher and i love the up beat music with it.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm going to learn a lot from these dances. Not just movements and foot work but the story behind the dancing, and the culture that inspired that dancing.
(Folklorico)
ReplyDeleteOur teachers explained that this was a Spainish influenced dance. It had sometiing to do with a bull and boys and girls flirting because dancing was the way to do it:). I believe this dance is authentic because the moves were from the Spainish region and the teachers said to do a certain way.I know it's authentic because they taught it to us sooooooo welll and explained it in full depth.OH YEAH IT DID!! The foot was a lot harder than i thought it would be but it was worth it and fun:)) It's different because of it has so much foot work with it and you have to move your body and hips a certain way. Where with hip hop you can move freely or sharply, how ever you feel like.
:D thank you teachers:)
(HMONG DANCE)
ReplyDeleteOur teachers didn't tell us what the dance meant but they told us that Hmong dance was a style of dancing that camw from the wrist, moving your arms like the wind and water and doing it with grace. I believe this dance is authentic because I am Hmong and i know for certain that it's authentic.It's authentic because of the percise movements and the way we moved our arms. yes my opinion did change but not as much. I am Hmong so i do know who to Hmong dance because of my mom she was in Hmong dance too. I even have the picture of me in the traditional clothing and Hmong Dancing when i was like four:). I was just a bit rusty from not hmong dancing all these years. The style that i learned today is different but not too different because hip hop can also be slow flowy movements just like Hmong dancing.
Thank you so much teachers:)
Opening Questions:
ReplyDeleteMy personal style of dance isn't really anything. I just listen to the music and I move my body from there, but dances that I have learned and have been doing for a while is jazz, hip hop, Irish, and Hmong (I think I answered it all correctly). I do Hmong dance because the texture and movements of the style is beautiful and reminds me of water and wind. This style of dance just draws me to it, because I find it very beautiful, but in a unique beautiful way. I connect to my own culture, because I am proud for who and what I am and the fact that I want the culture to live on, which includes the language especially, because it's like a forbidden language in history.
After you teach:
The dance doesn't really relate to the song as how I can see it, although the song is about a boy and a girl and that's all I can say about the song, because the song is fast and I didn't really catch much of the lyrics. I suggest the best place to look up information on Hmong dance is google or youtube. I believe that the dance that my group and I taught is authentic, because it was choreographed by one of our group members and most Hmong dance has a lot of finger flicking, bending, and snapping (OMG! Bend and Snap!). Hmong dance doesn't really have any elements, because it's just something that we make up and it's very similar to Thai dance too. The fingers flexing and snapping are the most commonly used movements used within this dance, but just different arm and body movements that mixes in with the fingers. We can tell that it's Hmong dance because of the body, arm, and finger movements. Okay, my job is done for today and I'll see y'all later. Peace and I <3 Y'all! XOXOXOXOOXooo
Since I had seen the African dance once before, I pretty much already knew what I was going to learn. But there are a few things I expect to learn that I couldn't just take from spectating the dance. I expect to learn how to incorporate a lot of movements with nature. Because I always think of African dancing to be in sync with nature and their land because Africans tend to feel very strong about their land and their culture as do all ethnicities. So that is the biggest thing I expect to learn.
ReplyDeleteOur teachers did not tell us what this dance meant, but I think it has a to do with appreciating the earth around them and their homeland. The movements have a lot of lifting their arms and looking up to the sky, and pushing down towards the ground, showing a lot of acknowledgement to the surroundings. Also, since almsot all the dance is in unison, I think the dance may also have something to do with like a tribe or certain group of people just uniting as one. The people connect and stay together through dance.
ReplyDeleteThey did tell us, however, that this dance is not completely authentic, but the movements do all come from Africa. They are all just from different regions of Africa. Our teachers told us that most parts of the dance were orginated in South Africa, though.
After rehearsal, I realized that this dance is A LOT harder than it looks! But I guess that might have to do with people of the culture; it may just come natural to them because of their roots. But I still got the feeling that it was about praising the African land. One of our teachers told us that some the movements were simliar to those that happen when people praise God, so maybe African dance is also used to show worship.
The elements of the African dance were similar to those of my own personal style. There was a lot of hurdling the arms into the air and jumping in the air. Also, there was some body thrusting involved which I like to do when I'm freestyling or dancing for fun :) The African dance incorporated the entire body the most out of all three dances. Instead of forcusing on just one aspect of the body, the African dance had movements where you needed to put your entire body into it, and I liked that a lot.
(Hmong):
ReplyDeleteI've seen Hmong dancing before so I expect to do a lot of turning and formation changes. Also, they do a lot of arm movements so I think we're going to be doing a lot of that. They always seem to be doing every move in sync with each other so there won't be a lot of splitting of the group, or at least that's what I expect.
(Hmong):
ReplyDeleteI don't remember if our teachers told us what this dance was about or what it meant. I do remember someone saying something about it having to do with water. I don't really know.
I think this dance is authentic because first, the song is in Hmong. Also, the movements are similar to those that I've seen in other Hmong dances in authentic, legitimate Hmong culture events, like the Hmong New Year.
My preconceptions about this dance before we learned it were pretty much accurate. But there was a lot more to it. Not only did we have precise foot and arm movements, but the finger work was very intricate. For one move we had to have pinched fingers, but for another we had to have an open palm. For other moves, we needed to turn our hand at an exact time, and it was all just very specific and difficult at times, but I caught on :) But there weren't really any formation changes, just facing different directions. But all in all, this dance was much easier to learn than I thought it would be.
This dance style differs from my personal style more than the others. I don't really tend to get into as much detail when I dance , for example, I don't get as detailed as having specific movements for my fingers. But it was interesting to see how one little detail could change the gravity of the movement, the intensity. So, I think that besides the attention to detail, this style is one of the styles that I'm open to learning or doing if it's something that I don't already know or do.
My personal style was mostly formed by my experience in Color Guard. Our instructors always made technique a priority, as they repeatedly said, "It's all about the details." I like to take up a lot of space when I dance. Contemporary style appeals to me because it takes so much strength, control, and balance, and the end result is enchanting and beautiful. I expect that the styles I learn this week will be quite different from what I am used to, but I anticipate positive responses:)
ReplyDeleteSince I have taken tap classes, I expect to catch on to the Folklorico style without too much trouble. I have seen these dancers perform and it looks like there is going to be a lot of complicated footwork!I hope I don't trip on myself.
I have also seen the Hmong dancers perform at the World's Fair assembly we held at our high school. I expect to learn a lot of graceful movements, mainly focused on hands.
I am excited to try this style, and I perceive that I may be most comfortable with it. I expect lots of big movements that require lots of energy and stamina. I expect the choreography to be slightly tribal.
(Folklorico)
ReplyDeleteThis sytle of dancing uses both men and women. From my understanding, the men play very masculine roles, often representing a bull or a matador. They are usually chasing after the women in many dances. In some instances, the women may represent the red cape matadors use. Naturally, the dance becomes very flirtatious and enthusiastic.
This dance is authentic because we are fortunate to have experienced Folklorico dance teachers at our school. The girls wear traditional skirts and heels that emphasize the footwork.
I orginally expected to catch on fairly easy...but I soon realized that it's a lot harder than it looks!!!
A lot of emphasis is placed on rhythm and beat, which is different than what I am used to. There are a lot of quick, bouncy steps. In the dance we learned, there were echo parts where one group would do a few counts and the next group of dancers would copy them. I liked the sense of unity and I really enjoyed the sound of the dancing. The music was lively and catchy. There were no pointed toes or ballet skills, but it was fun, technical, and culturally significant:)I really enjoyed learning this style!
(Hmong)
ReplyDeleteThe teachers didn't really tell us what the meaning of this dance was, but I think the movements reflect water or wind. I'm sure the song had a significant meaning, but it was in Hmong, so I couldn't understand it. Nevertheless, the dance we learned was very beautiful and soothing.
Some of our teachers have been doing this style of dance for many years, but it is technically not authentic because it is not codified. However, the style looks similar to the styles practiced in asian countries. I saw an exchange student from Thailand doing a dance that looked very similar to the dance we learned.
The dance was very graceful, as I expected it to be. However, it required much more coordination than I thought! You have to be able to think about footwork and hand shape on top of the choreography. It takes a lot of flexibility and skill to flick your wrists and bend your hands the way our teachers wanted us to.
I had trouble with the hands because I'm not used to doing anything with my hands. I usually think of my hands as an extension of my arms, and my focus usually goes to my limbs and spine rather than my hands. it was interesting to use different parts of the body to create dance. This dance was especially peaceful and extremely graceful. It takes a lot of hand strength!!!
(West African)
ReplyDeleteI watched some members of our high school's Black Student Union perform this dance at the World's Fair, so I knew I would really enjoy this style.
One of my teachers explained that the reaching movements and the upturned eyes symbolized the worship and praising of God. The dance was very spiritual and earthy. The dancers really seemed in-tune with each other; you could tell they place a lot of value on religious beliefs. I couldn't help but smile during the entire dance!!!
This dance is not really authentic, but it is based off of West African movement. The dance started with slow movements and progressed to rapid, high-energy steps that really got my heart pumping!
This dance uses the entire body. Shortly after I stopped dancing, I could barely hold my head up from all the work my neck had been doing. Also my back was sore from the matrix moves, but it was worth it! I especially like the leaps and the sharp movements that required strength and agility. The dance was energetic, exuberant, and lively. The movement felt very freeing and natural:)
Opening Questions:
ReplyDeleteMy personal styles of dance are modern/lyrical and tap. The elements of modern/lyrical involve strange and abstract movements as well as flow and softness. The elements of tap are stomping and rhythm as well as focus on the feet.
I perform modern/lyrical because it is very expressive and interpretive. The movements do not have to be exact or precise but rather your interpretation and unique style. I perform tap because it is what makes me feel most comfortable. I began teaching tap at a young age. By the time I was 13 I had my own classes. The sounds and the art of perfecting them is what drives me to tap.
For Folklorico, I am expecting the dancing style to be most difficult but also hope it will be familiar and similar to tap. With Hmong dance, I think the main focus will be within the hands and arms. I am not used to perfecting arms, let alone hands so I believe this style will be quite a challenge for me. For West African dance, I believe the style is a type of praise and will involve movements thanking the sky and earth. I also think it will involve a lot of body movements that are strange and I will not be used to.
Mexican Dance Rehearsal:
ReplyDeleteOur teachers explained that this specific dance that we learned was about the bulls. This dance was playful and flirty as well. This dance was pretty authentic and came from a specific place of Mexico. It is also authentic because it is a traditional dance that was learned and passed down. When observing this dance, the movements did not seem too difficult but after I began learning I found it was much more technical than I perceived. My personal elements and the elements of this dance closely resemble each other but are different in many ways. I am used to using my feet more than my arms so the technicality of this dance was similar to my own.
Hmong Dance Rehearsal:
ReplyDeleteThe teachers talked about and discussed briefly about what the dance style means and explained that they attempt to resemble a mix of wind and water. The actual meaning of the song was not explained though. This particular dance was not technically authentic because it was created by students and not passed down through ancestors. After witnessing this dance, I was very anxious to learn it because of the beauty and grace that it held but was also nervous because of the extreme focus on the hands. My views never changed but I grew a deeper appreciation for this particular culture. This type of dancing was close in the aspect that is was smooth and flowing. But it was also opposite in the fact that the main focus was the fingers and arms.
West African Dance Rehearsal:
ReplyDeleteThe teachers did not tell us exactly what the dance meant in the beginning but by the end of rehearsal I gathered that it was from West Africa and the main focus was to worship and thank the sky and earth as well as God. This dance was the least authentic of the three our class experienced because it was taught based on a class and choreographed by our teacher, Miss K. Although it was not purely authentic, this dance proved to be my favorite to learn and dance. At first, I was nervous because I linked African dance with being similar to hip-hop/freestyle and I have much difficulty with both styles. My perspective changed in that I had the least difficulty learning and moving to this particular style of dance. This dance was greatly similar to my personal style because it involved a lot of improvisation and personal interpretation of the individual movements.
My personal style of dance I think it’s Modern/Contemporary. I love to use turns, hops/leaps, repetitive movements, leg movement, and quirky movement. I perform this style, because you can do anything hard or soft, use any movement with the body and it will be beautiful. This style draws to be because you can plug any story, any element, and movement into it and it will move me. It will move emotionally and it just makes me want to get up and do whatever they are doing.
ReplyDelete(Mexican) I think that it similar to tap in a way. I have seen many Mexican dances, they do a lot kicks and stomps. The women are graceful and from most of the dances I’ve seen, they do a lot so skirt and arm work. The men are macho and they keep their arms behind them at lot. I think I will learn how to “tap” my feet gracefully and in a pattern, instead of making just random noises.
(Hmong) I also have seen a lot of this style of dance before, it has a lot of repetitive movements and wrist movements. I think it I will learn how to control my wrists and my arms.
(West African) I don’t know the true form of West African dance but, I basically saw this dance in the making. It has a lot of big movements, stomping and pushing. The big thing I want to learn is a solo that was preformed in this dance.
(West Afican)
ReplyDeleteI have seen this dance before and I loved it the moment I saw it! Our teachers did not tell us what this dance meant but they did say that a lot of our movements were a way that showed prasing to the lord. This dance was said to have been taught by our dance teacher to the students who were our teachers. The dance teacher said that she had choregraphed it based on a Western African danc class she took. So she said it might not be as authentic. Yes my opinon did change on West African dancing. It was that dance that gave me the most workout out of all three:). It took tons of high energy to do this dance and it was worth it. Well right before we started learning we watched a movie called "Rize" and what they did was take African style dancing and turned it into what is now called "crumpping". It was truly a cool and amazing video to watch. So my style of dancing doesn't really have a difference with African dancing. :) It was a really cool experience learning all the dances:)
Thanks very much teachers:)
After I learned the dance:
ReplyDelete(Mexican) This dance is between the bull(males) and the matador's cape(females), it’s a fun and flirty dance. Yes this dance is very authentic, the teachers told us that where the dance came from, at the moment I forgot, but how it was passed downed and the teachers that taught them how do it was the same from when they first did it. My opinions did not change, though when trying it, it was a lot harder then I thought it was going to be. The beginning steps were hard for me to get down, one of the teachers was trying to tell me that I needed to use the heel of the foot instead of the ball of the foot, so it is very technical. It is different from my own style in the way that you have to be heard with your feet, and arm have to be in a certain place.
After I learned the dance:
ReplyDelete(Hmong) The teachers didn’t explain what this dance was about, but they did explain how the movements resemble water and wind. This dance is somewhat authentic because the movements that they have in it are passed down, but with each generation that gets it they modify it. My opinion didn’t change, but my appreciation for the dancers and the dance grew. It was harder for me to learn this dance, because sometimes I get confused with my right from my left and in this style they had us walk on our right foot and do something with our left hand and vice versa, and I got really confused. I started to get the hang of it after a while. It also had a lot of movements where with one hand you have it open and one hand you have it closed and you switch off, I really didn’t use to doing that. My style and this style differ a lot, because in Modern/Contemporary dance yeah you sometimes do repetitive movements but in Hmong dance there is a lot of repetitiveness, plus they have great control of their hands and wrists.
After I learned the dance:
ReplyDelete(West African) They didn’t tell us the back story of it but the told us that the movements that we are doing are praising God. This dance was not authentic because Miss K. taught it to our teachers and she only took one class on an African style dance. My opinions were the same, since I basically saw them practice this dance I knew what I was doing, but I learned how to do things better then when I was just watching. This dance was the dance that made me sweat the most. I did get to learn the solo that I wanted to do, but it turns out that I am not very good at it:[ It was a lot slower then I thought it was going to be, but I still got the chance to learn it and do it. The different ways this style of dance is different is that they stomp, and again use a lot of repetitiveness, and they would do some faster movements them they would do in a Modern/Contemporary dance.
I absolutely loved learn learning these different dances, and I can’t wait to make my fusion dance. I would like to thank the teachers and Miss K. for giving us this fantastic opportunity.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOpening Questions:
ReplyDelete* My personal style of dance is Folklorico. I have been dancing for six years now and I love it. My dream is to continue dancing Folklorico for the rest of my life.
* I perform Folklorico because I love it. Dancing folklorico is so different from everything else I’ve tried. In folklorico there isn’t just one style, but over seventeen. One for each of the seventeen states, some states even having two. There can be original/authentic styles, or the new modern style to a dance.
* In one way I feel like I am closer to my culture, partially because I don’t speak Spanish and I’ve only been to Mexico once =( But the whole feel of the life, the people, the stories that ones share together makes everything so much stronger, and I am able to express that.
After I Teach:
* The dance that we taught is about the competition between the guys and girls. The song is titled “El Toro Mambo,” the guys are representing to bull, toro, while the girls are representing the red flag with their skirts. In a fun, flirtatious way the two battle it out for the end kiss.
* There are many classes in the area I am in, if you liked to research folklorico dancing. I know in the state of California there are thousands of folklorico programs to research, if you live out of the state, I’m not so sure…. But there is always Google and Youtube and everything else to go on and research. Every group does something different, so please don’t think it’s all the same.
* The dance we taught today is very authentic, it comes from the region of Sinaloa in Mexico. A very traditional song. But this region also has a lot of Spain influences in it as well.
* The elements of this dance are stomping, bending (from the waist), bouncy, side movements, competition (one group goes, then the other), hand movement and skirt movement.
-Opening Questions-
ReplyDeleteMy personal style of dance is contemporary and the elements of my dance are fluid movements of the arms and legs.It is very graceful and relaxing to dance. I perform this dance style because my body seems to like the movements and the concept better than it likes the other styles. I think that I will learn a lot from these dances. I expect to learn dance moves that I have not done before and that are foreign to my body.
- Folklorico -
ReplyDeleteThis dance is about a girl flirting with the guy and him trying to pursue her. In most cases a man was not allowed to talk to the woman and the only way they could was through dancing. That’s why at he end of most Mexican dances it ends with the man and woman kissing behind the hat. This dance is authentic because our teachers said that the moves were from a specific part of Mexico. The dances have been passed down but the moves have stayed the same. To me this dance is authentic because our teachers told us that the moves are different in different parts of Mexico. I had done Folklorico before this project so I knew some of the moves. It was a lot harder than I remembered though. The elements in my personal dance style differ in a few ways. In my dance style the moves are fluid throughout the body and there isn’t as much stomping.
- Hmong -
ReplyDeleteI wasn’t to clear on what this dance meant. I’m sorry teachers J I do believe that this dance is authentic because the moves seem to be passed down. Every time I see Hmong dancing I notice the hand movements are very similar. I have done Hmong dancing before. I learned different moves but I knew going into this project that Hmong dancing would not be easy to learn. The elements in my style and this style are similar because they are both fluid and the arms seem to flow more freely than other styles.
- West African -
ReplyDeleteThis dance is all about praising God. Our teachers said that our movements normally are aimed towards the sky because we are praising the lord through moves. This dance was not authentic because our dance teacher was the one who taught it to our teachers and she said that she only took one class of West African dancing. I thought that this dance would be a lot easier to learn and to perform. Once I got the hang of it I realized that it wasn’t so hard. The main thing I had to remember was the background behind the moves. The elements differ because there was a lot of stomping and repetitive moves in West African dancing. In my style there is not.
African Dance-
ReplyDeleteI do not really believe this dance has a specific meaning and that it can be taken in many ways. The teachers said that it could be taken as religious with many of the moves being aimed towards the heavens, but all in all, it was a happy dance. The dance was not authentic because Ms. K. came up with it (awesome dance but not authentic). Before rehearsal I was excited to learn this dance because I thought it was going to be loads of fun…turns out I was so right :) The teachers were great, the dance was energetic, and I had a blast doing it! My personal style differs from this dance because the movements had flow. Although there was music playing, I liked how your body also made music, the stomping for example. Overall I really enjoyed learning this dance!:)
The thing that intrigued me about the West African is the big movements they make using their legs and arms. The reason why we chose a lyrical hip hop to combine with West African dance is because the two seemed to flow together pretty well. I chose the West African fusion because I liked the movement and I thought it would be the most interesting fusion dance. The elements we took out were the big body movements. Such as the really big arm movements and the positions of the hands. We incorporated them into our dance by still keeping those elements in but making them more fluid at times.
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure if our dance has a meaning behind it. We didn’t discuss that in class. I did find it easier to extract elements from other dances. Even if the move is similar you can always change it to make it completely your style. I learned that even though a dance is passed down form generation to generation< it doesn’t mean that the dance is authentic. I also learned that behind almost every dance there is a story being told. I learned that when I do dance moves I need to be more free and not so stiff. I learned that not all dances are authentic. Most of them are changed over time