Showing posts with label dance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dance. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Sparks
How I would normally tell it:
1. Sparks
2. Friends/Family
3. Here's the story.
I had always wondered what it would be like to share a stage with a pop star. I was about 14 years old when I got called in for an audition to be apart of a singing group called, "4 real". It was absolutely everything that a teeny-bopper music loving girl could ever ask for! Not only were we going to be a singing group, but we were also going to have our own television show that would be broadcast throughout the U.S. #ohyeah. Over time, there were a few flops and big road bumps, but eventually we started to gain some credibility in the music world.
We beefed up our on stage set and spiced up our dance routines, which brought in a lot of calls for different shows throughout Utah. As the excitement was building, we were practicing harder and training longer so that we could keep the show momentum going. One day our manager called us in for a surprise meeting. With a huge smile on his face, he told us how proud he was for all that we've done, and knew that our hard work would pay off. He proceeded to tell us that someone apart of the Jordin Sparks touring team had requested for us to be the opening act for her stop in Utah! No words could describe how excited I was.
The day of the show arrived and all the excitement had boiled down and had turned almost completely into nerves. I was still that 14 year old tween-dreamer that had no clue what she was doing. Fortunately, the show went smoothly... no one forgot their lyrics or dance moves, and Jordin even sat backstage to watch us perform! We felt so honored to be apart of her production.
Revised version:
1. Performing is Life!
2. Hiring staff at an audition/interview for another show going on tour.
3. Story time.
It has been said throughout history that [Nothing worth having comes easy.] I have been a witness to this as I learned the value of hard work preparing for this performance with Jordin. You would have thought I was a [kid going to Disneyland for the first time], when I found out I would be the opening act for Jordin! and it led to some of the best performing I had ever done.
[A performer has to consider every now and then what it truly means to perform? the definition of which can vary from entertainer to entertainer. For me personally, it means to balance your own fulfillment of joy with the desire to please an audience with your talent.] I wanted more than anything to fulfill this definition. I understood that the stakes were set high for this performance, and there was no time to waste.
[Endless, tiring and rugged rehearsals commenced for days at a time], and often we found ourselves absolutely danced out; But that didn't stop us from being the best opening act we hoped Jordin would ever have. [We had to remind ourselves often that we never thought we would be where we are, but our hard work and desires in the past proved to be the perfect catapult towards a bright future in performing.] Nothing would slow us down.
The day came, hair was done, sound check complete and the stage lights blinding. The Jordin Sparks we were about to share the stage with turned our desire to perform from a little spark into a undying flame. [From the first step on the stage to the crowd bursting into cheers and claps, we felt as if we were on fire.] It was a performance I will never forget.
You may have heard the popular social statement, ["ball is life" or, "food is life"... but for me, "Performing is life."] I see any opportunity to be on stage as another chance to fan that flame, and I know you wouldn't be disappointed if I was given another chance to grow closer to achieving my dance dreams through this show!
Monday, October 26, 2015
Storytelling in Dance
Foreword:
In the dance community, sometimes after a performance, the choreographer and performers will have a question-and-answer session with members of the audience who want to stick around to gain more insight into how the performance came together and the artistic process that went on. The directors, choreographers, and dancers who were a part of the show, try to relay the rehearsal and creative process that took place. Answering the audience's questions can often come forth in the place of story telling. I have been to several of these Q&A sessions myself and have seen how these stories unfold.
Example story:
A handful of audience members sit in a half empty theatre after the performance of "Yellow Towel" - a contemporary dance piece choreographed by Dana Michel. In the Q&A session following the performance, an audience member asks what was the significance of the yellow towel that was used as a prop throughout the piece. Dana Michel answers:
"When I was young, growing up, I began to notice that the girls who had blonde hair, seemed to be the most popular and 'rule the school', so to speak. They were the cheerleaders, had boyfriends on the football team, got to go to all the formal dances. I so badly wanted to be like the girls who had blonde hair. So, when I would go home in the afternoons, I would take a yellow towel and drape it over my head, pretending to be like the popular girls. As I grew up though, I realized how much stereotypes and conformity pervades our schools and especially the young minds of kids. It changes their concepts of identity. That idea kind of rooted in me, and that memory of when I wanted to be like the cool girls, with my yellow towel over my head, started to become the inspiration for this piece of choreography that I ended up entitling, 'Yellow Towel'."
Analysis:
This is a personal story from the choreographer's own life that is used to show her own experience with the subject matter of the dance. It presents how the idea of conformity and stereotypes affected her and how she wants to contradict this idea through her choreographic work, persuading others to see how the towel was symbolic of stereotypes and identity.
Retelling of the story:
Michel could elicit a more emotional response from her audience by retelling the same story but giving a more specific snapshot of how she felt like her own personal identity was connected to physical appearances and how this affected her in her growing up years.
"I was sitting in my room one day after school. My mother came into my room to find me crying on my bed. She asked me what was wrong. 'Jana Roberts told me today that I wasn't pretty, and wouldn't ever have friends at school because blondes have more fun.' I sniffled. My mom looked into my teary eyes and told me that I was a smart and talented person, and the color of my hair didn't make one bit of difference as to who was better than anyone else at school. 'But you're my mom, you have to say that!' I was angered by her attempts to soothe me and told her to leave. Once the door was shut again, I ran to the bathroom and put a yellow towel over my head, imagining how much better my life would be if I were blonde. I later realized how consumed I had become and how much worth I placed on physical appearance and body image."
This story could have more effect in getting the audience member who asked the question to understand what the yellow towel meant and what its purpose was in the performance. This story is more persuasive and engaging as the story included specific characters, dialogue, and more emotion. This makes the yellow towel have more significance that could allow audience members to better connect to the piece, because they too can relate to the emotions Michel described.
In the dance community, sometimes after a performance, the choreographer and performers will have a question-and-answer session with members of the audience who want to stick around to gain more insight into how the performance came together and the artistic process that went on. The directors, choreographers, and dancers who were a part of the show, try to relay the rehearsal and creative process that took place. Answering the audience's questions can often come forth in the place of story telling. I have been to several of these Q&A sessions myself and have seen how these stories unfold.
Example story:
A handful of audience members sit in a half empty theatre after the performance of "Yellow Towel" - a contemporary dance piece choreographed by Dana Michel. In the Q&A session following the performance, an audience member asks what was the significance of the yellow towel that was used as a prop throughout the piece. Dana Michel answers:
"When I was young, growing up, I began to notice that the girls who had blonde hair, seemed to be the most popular and 'rule the school', so to speak. They were the cheerleaders, had boyfriends on the football team, got to go to all the formal dances. I so badly wanted to be like the girls who had blonde hair. So, when I would go home in the afternoons, I would take a yellow towel and drape it over my head, pretending to be like the popular girls. As I grew up though, I realized how much stereotypes and conformity pervades our schools and especially the young minds of kids. It changes their concepts of identity. That idea kind of rooted in me, and that memory of when I wanted to be like the cool girls, with my yellow towel over my head, started to become the inspiration for this piece of choreography that I ended up entitling, 'Yellow Towel'."
Analysis:
This is a personal story from the choreographer's own life that is used to show her own experience with the subject matter of the dance. It presents how the idea of conformity and stereotypes affected her and how she wants to contradict this idea through her choreographic work, persuading others to see how the towel was symbolic of stereotypes and identity.
Retelling of the story:
Michel could elicit a more emotional response from her audience by retelling the same story but giving a more specific snapshot of how she felt like her own personal identity was connected to physical appearances and how this affected her in her growing up years.
"I was sitting in my room one day after school. My mother came into my room to find me crying on my bed. She asked me what was wrong. 'Jana Roberts told me today that I wasn't pretty, and wouldn't ever have friends at school because blondes have more fun.' I sniffled. My mom looked into my teary eyes and told me that I was a smart and talented person, and the color of my hair didn't make one bit of difference as to who was better than anyone else at school. 'But you're my mom, you have to say that!' I was angered by her attempts to soothe me and told her to leave. Once the door was shut again, I ran to the bathroom and put a yellow towel over my head, imagining how much better my life would be if I were blonde. I later realized how consumed I had become and how much worth I placed on physical appearance and body image."
This story could have more effect in getting the audience member who asked the question to understand what the yellow towel meant and what its purpose was in the performance. This story is more persuasive and engaging as the story included specific characters, dialogue, and more emotion. This makes the yellow towel have more significance that could allow audience members to better connect to the piece, because they too can relate to the emotions Michel described.
Friday, October 3, 2014
Profile for Persuasion: Dancers
- Main characteristics and values:
- Dancers are conformed individualists; they demand precision in the ensemble but they also value creative self-expression. They value hard work and sacrifice, for they must rehearse multiple hours each day in order to achieve desired skill levels. Many aspire to perfection in and personal appearance and athletic ability. Suffering mental and physical pain for the sake of the art is a praiseworthy pursuit. Passion is their driving life-force.
- Likely / unlikely to persuade
- As people who value beauty over logic, dancers are unlikely to be persuaded by scientific and mathematical arguments. Reasoning steeped in emotional appeals (pathos) would be more convincing to dancers, since their entire world revolves arounds sentiment and sensation.
- Test case: attending a play
- Dancers would attend a play before they even receive an invitation! Even more so if it were a musical. They love the performing arts in all of its forms.
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