We are now a little less than three weeks away from my dance recital. Our group is now going to be in four different numbers: 1) Billion Dollar Baby (jazz), 2) Happy Feet (tap--not penguins), 3) Hold Your Dream (singing! as a gospel choir) and 4) Sing Sing Sing (jazz for a small part of the finale). That's a lot of time on stage.
A group of us are getting together as often as possible outside of class to go over the routines. "How many times do we do the Suzy Qs?" "Should the arms be up or down on that move?" OF course, the more times we do it, the better. As Reggie says, "Repetition is my friend." I'm feeling pretty good about understanding the routines. I know what step follows what and how they fit in with the music. Once we get started, I'm pretty okay at getting through to the end. So far so good.
However, I'm not happy with my execution of the individual steps. My feet feel sloppy. Part of that is being on heels, especially with the tap numbers. Most of the dancing should be on the balls of the feet, but my heels are dragging. It muffles the sounds so that you don't have that nice crisp tap sound.
On my own, I'm getting back to basics. Flaps, shuffles, time steps, paradiddles. That's what I really need to work on.
It's funny, because I feel that it's just the opposite with writing. I feel okay about the basics. It's how it all fits together. What follows what and how does that build on what comes before? Part of the issue is that the writer is both the dancer and the choreographer. I don't just have to learn the routine, I have create it.
So, where do you feel most confident? Choreography (plotting, putting it all together) or Dancing (characterization, dialog, action, grammar)? Or are you Bob Fosse, Merce Cunningham, or Suzanne--our teacher? Are you confident with all of it?
3 comments:
Definately the choreographer. Oh, but to get it all on paper in a compelling fashion. That's the challenge! Good luck on your recital- sounds like loads of fun.
I need a framework...I would rather someone else do the choreography, which is the hard part (in my opinion). I don't know how anyone can just put something together out of the air like that! I need guidelines!
I think that's why writing prompts are so great. It's not the whole framework, but it gives you that jumping off point.
And we did play a card game once where we picked our hero/heroine type, the villain type, genre and main plot. Lots of fun.
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