6.0 Thoughts From Friday Through Wednesday

These Past 5-6 days have been rather difficult.  I have had very little energy, and have not really felt like doing much of anything.

It started on Friday, when I was feeling incredibly tired and lethargic.  I had to force myself to come to class.  And even in class I couldn't really focus and I was out of it.  I don't even really remember what happened.

 I think we worked on balance and running.  I have noticed that my balance has improved greatly.  Especially when on my toes.  I had so much trouble with that during the first few weeks of class but now I find it quite simple.  It all came down to engaging my thighs.


With a helpful tip it has become effortless.  

I also noticed that my back has been becoming more flexible.  (Or maybe its my hamstrings)  either way I have come a long way, from barely touching my toes, to going several inches past them.

I'll be there some day...!

The Journal Prompt for Friday, was...(sorry, incoming paraphrasing) How has Dancing affected your life?

Well starting from a couple years ago it has been that part of my life that the everything else revolves around.  Most of my relationships revolve around my friends from dance.  The center of my week is Thursday night swing.  Beyond that, more focusing on this class specifically, I find myself dancing everywhere unconsciously.  Moving with more precision.  I try to be healthier and stretch when I can, I try not to injure myself for worry that I won't be able to dance.

I just want to be able to dance.  Forever.


The weekend continued my melancholy mood even up until my big dance on Sunday!

 

The dance went well and did improve my mood quite a bit.

Monday was a lot better and I felt good about going to class, It really is the best part of my day.
This week is working a lot on precision with the legs and jumping.  The precision exercises are ok, but the jumping exercise is/was incredibly fun.  It is something that I feel I do really well, and I enjoy doing tremendously.

The Journal Prompt was curious about how our learning style affected our learning.  I honestly don't really know.  I learn from every way.  Sometimes different things need different explanations.  I'm having a hard time separating my learning process especially in dance.  I will muse on this more later.

It is late.  Must sleep.
Corbett

5.0 First thoughts on Final Project

In class on Monday and today, we worked on several new exercises.

First was a study in balance.  It was a quick routine that focused on balancing on a single leg with the other limbs in various different positions.  I can't recall the persons name who created this method...

On Monday it was a very new experience, and my balance and smoothness of the transitions were rather unimpressive.  Having your body try to figure out how it needs to hold itself to balance is such an interesting sensation.  It's hard to actively try to think your way through it, and its like watching from outside as your body constantly adjusts to make what you want happen.

Today it was a lot smoother.  Especially once I could focus on keeping my standing leg straight, a lot of things fell into place.   My body got used to it and by the final run through I did it fairly well.  I was proud.  Most if not all of the class was doing very well, and most were in my position on Monday.  Its really nice that we all seem to move forwards together.

Next we worked on a different way to run, this was sooo difficult for me.  We were changing the focus of our running from straight forward and directing it in two different directions at once.  I don't know if I am over thinking it (most likely)  or what but I struggled with this.  I was having trouble keeping my running from turning to leaping.  I put a lot of energy into my running and leaping, and when I need to keep it toned down, like when running in a group where I have by far the longest stride is difficult.  I also seem to struggle with keeping the direction constant.  I have an annoying tenancy to fly away from the group.   I still haven't quite got the hang of it.   Hopefully by Friday it works itself out.

Finally we had a very interesting new type of leap I think called a Stag Leap.  It was kind of strange for my legs to get the hang of it, but once  I did, It was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much fun.  It was like leaping through the air like a stag or an ibex or some gazelle like deer creature.  I love pretending to be an animal when dancing.  It adds so much sometimes.

I'm always so amazed when little bits of advice change everything and make everything click.  Its like you can physically feel yourself improving and you can track it.  It's tangible.

The journal prompt for today was for us to reflect on what we are planning to do for our final choreography.

I have thought quite a lot about this since the beginning of class and I already have a few songs chosen.  They are all completely different but it is so wonderful to dream of the different possibilities.

The first song I wanted to work with is Godsmack's Voodoo.

 The beat is just catchy and visceral and a little creepy.  The dance would be with 3 people, and the movements would be on the repetitive and robotic side of things.  I would really want to play with the relationships of the three dancers in space to each other as well as play with the transitioning between up and down.   I would probably cut the music off around the 2:40 mark.  I think that this would be really fun to come up with a choreography for.


Second I wanted to experiment with a Bjork song.
There are a few that have me interested.  I need to do more research.
The three are...
Possibly Maybe


So Broken


or a remixed version of Hyperballad


I would have a far easier time with the first two, but I really like the song Hyperballad.  These would all be solo's or maybe duets.  Duets would be pretty cool.

For the first song possibly maybe, the song changes quality midway through.  I love the contrast of sound and the texture of the dance would be completely different.  Almost like 2 or 3 dances in one.  I envision this dance to have a lot of arm movement with the arms leading a lot of the movement.  I think i would like to do a duet to this song if I was able to.

The second song, So Broken, has a very nice Spanish guitar sound.  With this song I would focus a lot on the legs with short expressive jumps paired with slinking yet precise circular steps.    (hard to explain what I am envisioning in my head)  This would be nice as a solo or a duet as well.  Leaning more towards a duet.

The last song Hyperballad I would want as a solo.  I'm having the hardest time envisioning movement for the parts of the song around the verses.    On the parts I can see, it would be a faster dance with sudden stops.  Lots of traveling across the space.  This song I would have to spend a lot of time on.

My final songs are from Bon Iver and Sigur Ros.

First Bon Iver's Perth



Lastly Sigur Ros' Glósóli


These last two are the least conceived ones in my head, being that they are the most recent ones on my mind.   I am not quite certain about the feel of either.  I think I would want a Trio for Glosoli and I don't even know for Perth.

I haven't even thought of the costumes yet.  Probably pretty minimalist for most of them.  I'll contemplate this more and write back again later.  

That's it for today.

Corbett

4.0 Journal Entry: Spinnings

This week in class we did a lot of spins and turns.  Spinning and turning is probably my second favourite part of dancing after jumping.

     We separated them into 2 categories, where we bring our mass in towards a center point to spin faster, and a second, where we throw our mass outwards to essentially shoot our bodies into a circular turn.

     The spinning inwards towards a center point is fun but incredibly disorienting.  I have always had a hard time spotting myself to keep myself from getting dizzy.  It just doesn't seem to work and i have a hard time keeping focus on a single point.

     Throwing my mass outwards (I love referring to myself as a mass.  Not really sure why) to fling myself into a circle is quite entertaining.  I feel like I'm floating or flying like wind, and it is by far the easiest one to control.  

I really need to practice my spotting more.  This skill will be sooo helpful in my dancing.  Especially in swing dancing where getting off my axis or being disoriented is rather bad for the flow of the dance.

     Looking through the past weeks, I am proud that my ability to balance has been improving.  I still have a looong way to go.  Especially standing on a single leg in first position while we go all horizontal with the other leg and extended arm.  I can't for the life of me seem to balance.  Holding on to something does not help at all.  I really need to work on that more and figure out the reason for its difficulty.

     My precision is also improving.  I am able to move with a greater sense of completeness with the intended motion.  I suppose its just because I am getting used to the various positions and exercises but it makes a noticeable impact that I am proud of.

I really want to focus on my balance this coming week.  Really buckle down and try to have more control.

Looking forward to the coming week,
Corbett

Practice 1

So I need to start practicing my leading again.   It's been awhile since I've practiced with the intent to learn new things to lead.

So.  I will pick one balboa move and one Lindy move to work on this week.

Lindy first!!!!


First thing about this video.. is that it is one of my favourite performances.  Those swivels at 1:57 on are just the funnest thing.   Frida is one of my favourite follows.  I love her style.

Anyway, the move comes at 1:00 where he does an almost but not quite sugar push to prep for a quick turn into an awesome dip.  It's just so smooth.  I love it.

As for balboa.


Max is one of my all time favourite dancers.  He is so damn good; and he's good at so much.  Lindy, West Coast, Balboa, Jitterbug. Much more I'm sure.  Anyway, here he is doing balboa smooth as ever that cocky bastard.   I want to learn a couple since the first is more a styling.

The first moment comes at the beginning about 00:14 seconds in, he does a throw-out into a catch and than brings her around to do a couple paddle turns.  I just love this, it's so smooth, and easy enough to do.

Next I want to learn what comes at about 34 seconds in, he does a throw-out into a texas-tommy into whatever its called where you continue the spin around your back and over your head into a catch into swivels.  Just fantastic.

He goes on to do much more amazing things and I will probably come back to this to learn more.  (I mean look at moment 1:12!)  Following that must be amaaazing.

If I could dance with Max, I would be soooooo happy.

Anyway, that's it for my late night Lindy fix.

-Corbett

3.0 Journal Entry

     So last week we worked a lot on jumping.  We also worked on incredibly fun choreography involving very sharp movements done with intensity followed by a very controlled retreat through lasers.

     I feel that I am definitely improving in various ways.  There is an immense difference between my abilities at the start of class and now.  My flexibility is improving, as is my control, as well as many small, subtle, indescribable things.  Week to week it is hard to see any difference at all.  Only when I think back and try to compare do I see anything at all different.  I still have a long way to go though, but what I can notice gives me much hope for the future.  I am excited : )

     On Friday we worked on jumping in a very fun, although somewhat intimidating, way.  We were given about 15 minutes to work in groups of three or four on a choreography incorporating the 4 different types of jumps that we have learned in the past couple weeks.  Having to incorporate the whole groups idea into a single piece was a very interesting process.  Ideas you have in your head are taken in a completely different direction by others and vice versa.  I found I had to not be attached to my ideas and let things kind of come to rest how they fell once put through the minds of the group.  It turned out really nicely.  I had a lot of fun.

     I love watching the different qualities of the same movements throughout every group and even within the group between the different dancers doing the same choreography.  Where they were looking, where they had their arms and legs.  Even their position on the stage.  It made the dance uplifting, or heavy, or amusing, or like they were dancing on hot coal, or leaping through snow, or knee high water.  It was mesmerizing.   I wish I could have more eyes to notice more things.

     I can't wait to start working on our choreographed piece for the end of the semester.  So much potential.  Potential is one of the best things.  It's like going to an art store and looking at all the new supplies and that smell of a blank art notebook and all the potential behind it.  Only instead of art supplies, its your own mind and an increasing vocabulary of movement and concept of space.

     Another interesting thing happened to me last week in class.  Someone had apparently been watching the class and pulled me aside in the middle of it to ask if I wanted to perform.  I didn't know.  So she told me to come to the first meeting that Thursday and see if I was interested.  I went, and I am!  It was so fun to learn a choreography with five other people.  The feeling of accomplishment from learning the piece and just being able to keep up with other dancers was really inspiring and left me with a sense of fulfillment that almost only comes from dancing.

     After that night, I started to seriously contemplate changing my major to dance, or at least double majoring.  I need to do more research, but I feel that I would feel so much more fulfilled being a dancer than anything else.   I already devote such a large portion of my time to it, it seems like a wise choice if not the most practical.

Circumstance is so intriguing.

Anyway I am going to call it a night.

Till next time,
Corbett

"Deep Thoughts"

     I came to the realization today while driving home from a wonderful night of Balboa Practice, that I haven't had "deep thoughts"  on my mind for a very long time.  Years even.   You know, the kind of thoughts about life and your place in it, beyond the day to day minutia of living.  Tonight I completely zoned out while driving and was thinking about the importance of the decisions we all make are to the way life unfolds for us all, how utterly connected everything is.

     For example:  imagine the amount of times where you may have accidentally stepped in the street off the sidewalk without really looking; most of the time you will be ok.  These moments happen and nothing comes from them so you don't think anything important really took place.  You don't think about how that moment is a culmination of all of existence from the beginning of time till that instant.  How if anything in the past billions of years was at all different you might have taken that step 30 seconds before or 10 seconds later, and it would have ended with your death.  And then from there, how every action you take ripples infinitely into the cosmos affecting things with exponentially increasing scope, sometimes immediately and directly and others with incredible subtlety.
   
     Even non human things have such incredible impact on our live.  Yes obvious things like earthquakes and the weather, but even an "insignificant"  ant or wayward roach or that bird on the telephone line outside or that rock that happened to be in the perfect place to affect the course of all history.  Imagine if your death could have been prevented (yes in a million of different ways but to make a point)   if that ant you saw cross the counter top was never there, that extra 2 seconds you spent looking at it  was enough to delay your trip out the door and as you cross the street, if only you took 2 seconds longer or two seconds shorter to leave your house, you would have avoided being hit by that speeding motorcycle that didn't see you trying to cross the street.

      Of course it applies to everything, the people you meet, what you eat, what you do, your luck your lack of it.  the course of history.  It is utterly mind blowing how an uncountable amount of events took place in an amazing chain of circumstance to gave rise to the rippling immensity of occurrences that makes up every moment throughout all of time.  Rube Goldberg like with infinitely more interacting parts.


I needed that.

-Corbett

Henna. Finally.

So I have been into henna for a bit.  The latest results.  I need to learn better.  yes. 

2.5 Journal Entry 1, Part 2

Class has been wonderful so far, I thoroughly enjoy class, and it really is the best part of my day. 

I really enjoy just getting to move in different ways while working on things that are important to me and my relationship with my body.

As class has been going on though, I have definitely noticed two to three things that I struggle with the most.

The first and most strangely frustrating is Balance. I have always thought of myself as having good balance.  This class has taught me otherwise.  Initially the Ronde de Jombes were the infuriatingly difficult to do.  I would go home and practice and practice, and still I would fall over in class the next day.  Going backwards is far harder than going forwards.  After awhile though they became a lot easier.  I found its not so much balance, as learning what to stabilize and what to relax. It also helps tremendously when I stop watching other people and just focus on myself.

Ronde de Jombes have become a lot easier, but in their place I have found that extending the leg in various directions around my body is causing me balance issues as well.  I have improved somewhat on these things, especially once I have memorized the pattern of the exercise and I don't have to watch others to remember what to do.

Second, my flexibility.  Since the beginning I have been stretching daily, and I have found quite an increase in my flexibility, mainly with the hamstrings.  (i'm pretty flexible everywhere else thank goodness)
However, watching my teacher and some of the other ladies in the class bring their leg up so high, or going so far into their stretches, really pushes me to try and get better and improve my own flexibility.  Yay, jealousy.

Finally my ability to memorize dance choreography, is somewhat lacking.  I wish I could remember choreography better, it's always been a struggle for me to remember longer pieces.  I always feel sad  trying to look around for clues of the next movement.  I suppose this comes from a better familiarity with the dancing vocabulary, and just practice.  I hope this is something that comes with time. 

In class we have watched others movements and I have to say I really love the diversity in the texture and feeling of everyone dance.  Especially when we work on leaping though, there are a couple girls that really just leap like they are floating, its fantastic to watch.  especially when they reach the height of their jump and their legs seem to keep rising until they are doing the splits in mid air.  I can't wait to be able to make those lines.

(I know no ones name, forgive me for the strange descriptions)  There is another girl who I love to watch dance as well, she reminds me of clockwork that needs to be wound up, and when she finally does er movement bursts forth and then she kinda returns to her winding up phase.  Also, one of the other boys, (yay three of us)  is hilarious to watch (in a good way)  as he always has the biggest smile on his face like he is having the best time ever, no matter what he is doing.   I feel like I make strange faces when I'm dancing, and I know I make them when I am Swing Dancing.  (My friends call it my Blue Steel face)

 

haha it really looks like that

I just want to work on letting go of trying so hard, and just be able to be joyful when dancing and let it show through. (or any range of emotion other than extreme, to the point of being painful, concentration.)

And Finally for the question from last class.

Jumping is my favourite part of class,  leaping and skipping in all it's forms is something I have loved since I could do it.

We have broken down jumping in class into a few categories.
Jumping from one foot to same foot (skipping)
Jumping from one foot to the other foot (leaping)
Jumping from one foot to two feet (the three legged pony)
and finally Jumping from two feet to one foot (backwards three legged pony)

The only jump we have not done in class yet is the last one.

The other ones are so much fun :D

I have no problem getting height or power in my jumps, but I have trouble keeping my legs straight, and toning down the power of my jump.  Especially if we are leaping.  The word itself elicits a response in me to add power.

There we are.

Finally caught up, far too late.

But at least I just have to update once or twice a week from here on out.  Smooth Sailing. (Do I need more?  I can write more. )

-Corbett

2.0: Journal Entry 1, Part 1

A quarter or so of the semester has gone by already.  Here is the first of two entries to catch myself up to speed.

Preface:
     I was looking at what possible courses I could take for this semester, so many of which I didn't really want to take, when I tried to remember the classes I actually did enjoy during my time in college.  I could only come up with a few.  The several dance classes that I took when I was away for school in Colorado; Contact Improvisation 1 & 2 and Dance Technique into Improvisation.  Those classes (DTiI especially) were the most enjoyable classes I have ever taken.  It was always something special to go to class.

     At the time, I almost decided to stay in Colorado for the rest of my college career to major in the BFA program.  The joy movement brought into my life was almost too much for me to resist.  Almost.  Unfortunately  due to the ever present need for money.  I decided that it was not financially feasible to stay in Colorado for school, and so at the end of my third semester, I had to come home.

     After coming home I had somehow forgot about the idea of becoming a Fine Arts major, and focused again on more traditionally academic studies.  As luck would have it however, a friend showed me a video that changed my life.  (Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown 2006 should you be interested, also shown below.)

     After watching/obsessing/replaying a million times that video, I knew that I had to learn to do the things they were doing.  I did a quick Google search and found the only place on the island that danced Lindy Hop and decided to show up for their Thursday night dance.

     That was almost 2 years, a crazy dance weekend, at least 27 classes, and 100 social dances ago.   Now, I am a decent Lindy Hop/Balboa dancer with aspirations of teaching and being competitive.  I need so much more practice, but it has become such a large part of who I am, that I can't imagine my life without it. 

/end Detour

     Now with dance becoming a larger and larger part of my life, I want to explore ever more the realm of movement.  So I decided to take this class with intentions of broadening the breadth and depth of my understanding, vocabulary, and overall awareness of what is possible. 

Alas, it is late.
I shall continue later,
-Corbett

1.0 In the Beginning...

     Recently I was asked to keep a journal of reflections of my experiences in my first ever Modern Dance class at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, and to my surprise I immediately thought of blogging.

     I haven't had a blog since 7th grade when Xanga was all the rage with the (pre)pubescent crowd.  I haven't touched it or even thought of it for nearly that long.  Thus it seems strange to be doing it again and brings back a host of strange nostalgia.  Fortunately, for the life of this blog, it has far more purpose behind it than it's predecessor.

     My journaling assignment was given to me a couple weeks ago, and it has taken me that long to finally convince myself that this would be the best approach I could take.  I kept comig up with more and more useful and hopefully inspiring ways in which I could (and hopefully would) use this blog as a place to reflect on more than just my work in dance, but as my life as a work in progress.

    Works in Progress is a blog that will serve a few purposes.  The first (and most immediately relevant and pressing) is as a Journal to record my wanderings(wonderings?) through Dance 131.  Hopefully however I expand it into becoming a place to reflect on my life as whole.  Thus I will be posting on whatever happens to catch my fancy, as well as more specific endeavors as a way to remember the various things I learn.  Specifically however I will be posting on topics such as my recently acquired interest in Archery, my well established interest in learning how to dance Lindy and Balboa, and finally (at least for now) my quest to master American Sign Language.

     For now, It may help to note I will be labeling all posts relevant to journaling for my classes with the Class Number for easy access. For Example; all entries for my Beginning Modern Technique class will be labeled with Dance131.

     Ready, Set, Go!