Illuminate gave us the chance to perform for our families. This opportunity was provided to celebrate the end of transition and the move out of middle school. Students provided a variety of project X performances Including dance, drama, media, visual arts, and musical numbers. I enjoyed being able to perform with friends from all different classes. This opportunity allowed me to grow my skills by expanding my dancing ability.

The Process

This dance took time to create. We had to workshop quite a lot, to see what would give off the puppeteer effect that we were aiming for. We worked on the dance even before we started to create the real dance this happened because we often did some activities where we would have to manipulate our body in a way that was unfamiliar to us, just like we had to do in the dance. We started off creating the piece by working on a base we started to create a Pattern that followed ABAC this was a creative task where each individual person had to make their own part. We were told to choose a toy and act like it. I chose to act like a creepy doll for example a cabbage patch I chose this toy as it had a cool effect when mixed with the creepy music. We had to create one part moving for 4 counts and going in an exact reverse for 4 that is part A. Part B is a Moving part, and we had to travel somewhere for 4 counts and again an exact reverse for 4 counts, You would repeat A and then proceed with C. C is a pattern of 123 moving one way 1 back in 1 out again and then 1 back in and 2 big movements out again. This was one of the very first steps of this dance. Another step that we took to create this dance is to get into small groups and create a piece where one person is controlling the other. We then staged it and made changes to the dance such as changing around the counts. Ms. Codalonga created a section where my class is still controlled by puppets we learned this piece and once it was done we started to put the whole dance together adding small parts and transitions. At the end of the dance we broke free we created a small piece about 24 counts at the end of the dance we got to have fun with friends and mix with the other year 8 dance class. This process was long but enjoyable and the outcome definitely was worth all of the effort.

Structure

This dance had a Binary structure, Meaning it was split up into two parts. The first part of the piece was thought out to appear like a puppet, robot, or any other controlled object the dance was intended to look like this to demonstrate the help, guidance, and control that is provided to you in the duration of the transition Program. The second part of the dance was a freedom dance to represent the freedom and responsibility that breaking out of and the end of transition brings us.

Collaboration

With the majority of this dance being created in small groups, this involved lots of collaboration. This meant teamwork With all of my groups I found it pretty easy we all collaborated and had our input. All members of my groups communicated our ideas and if one member did not like a move or they were uncomfortable we made an alternative. My groups all thought in Ideas and we just worked with them and manipulated them as a group to decide what we wanted to create the feeling of freedom. Next time we do a piece that involves student collaboration I wish to have more time and direction as we often found it difficult to start as we didn’t know what vibe we wanted as freedom is a very broad idea. As a group, we sat down and decided on a base vibe that we wanted to achieve, and that was just generally happy. I help by saying some ideas but they were not always taken on board and that is ok.

Movement

In the duration of the first half of the dance, our bodies were quite rigid, we were meant to be stiff like rusty robots. Every count was a hit and you did not flow through half beats. All of the movements were quick and sharp usually involving small short movements. The shape of the body was usually only manipulated by the limb joints such as the elbow and knees. There was a medium amount of energy in the transition/ movement but there was a lot of energy in the hits of the beats. The second half of the dance was also more following movement flowing through each muscle in the body. The energy was a lot higher in this half as the song was a lot more upbeat. We moved around a lot more in this half and we got to spread out a little bit more and we also got to move faster as we got to flow more and move in a more natural way.

-Link to Performance video-

https://allsaintswaedu.sharepoint.com/sites/Section_2022-08PJX3.T3_4/_layouts/15/stream.aspx?id=%2Fsites%2FSection%5F2022%2D08PJX3%2ET3%5F4%2FShared%20Documents%2FGeneral%2FIlluminate%20Festival%20Dance%20Performance%2Emov&referrer=Teams%2ETEAMS%2DELECTRON&referrerScenario=teamsSdk%2DopenFilePreview

Performance reflection

This dance was good I am proud of how I did but made some mistakes. I noticed that I was not as strong at the start of the dance as I could have been, I noticed that I did not have any facial expressions and I noticed that I was out of time in one part of the V I also noticed that I almost rolled off the grassy knoll. I know that I could have done better and I know what I did wrong. I feel that this gave me a chance to improve and be better for the next time that I have to dance in front of a crowd. I did do some things well I often asked questions in class to make sure that I knew exactly what hand positions were supposed to be in. I feel that due to the challenges I did a good job staying still in the awkward positions that we had to sustain. I am also proud of how I managed to remember the Choreography and the timing.

As a group, I believe that we performed really well. After re-watching the video I noticed things like arms at different heights and slightly different postures but I guess that that would have been able to be fixed with just a little bit more time. I feel that the group could have been more in sync to fix this we could have watched each other and learned from others during the process. Our overall performance was awesome the piece came together I am happy and proud of all of my friends and the performance that we pulled off on Wednesday.

Performing on the common was much different from in the dance studio. We were faced with challenges such as the sun and the glare, we were also faced with challenges like the flies all over our faces. Performing outside cause lots of distractions and for sure made it hard. But when You dance in the dance studio you have little distractions and you are able to dance with mirrors so that you can watch everyone around you.

This Dance has given me the opportunity to learn a lot, I have been able to learn a lot about myself both physically and mentally. This dance has taught me to push myself and to not be shy because If you are and you make a mistake it is noticeable, while if you make a mistake when you are confident it just makes it seem like you were being bold. I have learned a lot in this dance and how to manipulate my body to do things that I am not comfortable with. Ms. Codalonga has taught me a lot she has thought me to push myself physically and to always try my best.

Singing

I also had the opportunity to perform a vocal solo In front of 2 different audiences, I performed the song Breath From In The Heights.