Sunday, May 4, 2008

High School for the Arts

Right next to to New York's Lincoln Center for Performing Arts, the building that is now home to LaGuardia Arts was opened in 1984 to bring together two "sister" arts high schools of the day, The High School of Music & Art (started by Mayor LaGuardia in 1936) and the High School of Performing Arts, established in 1947. Prior to the building's completion in 1984, Music & Art was located on Saint Nicholas Terrace and 135th Street in what has since become part of City College South Campus; Performing Arts was located in midtown on 46th Street, both in Manhattan.

The movie Fame and the TV Series Fame both dramatized student life at the School of Performing Arts prior to its merger into LaGuardia High School, and an Off-Broadway show of Fame was produced in 2003-2004.

Alumni from LaGuardia and its two legacy schools, Music & Art and Performing Arts, are active in supporting the students and the school through scholarships and support for special programs, school events, and reunions held at the school and throughout the world. The school's alumni organization has a full-time executive director and offices at the school. It functions as an independent charitable organization organized under the laws of New York.

Knicks City Dancers

The New York Knick City Dancers are a dance team that performs at all Knicks games at Madison Square Garden. The try-out takes place each summer during the month of July and it is a week process. The last day they narrow the try-out down to about 20 girls. Once they are on the team these dancers are obligated to perform at all games and other other different events as well. The follwing is a video of the knicks city dancers and their performance at a Knicks game this past season. This will help you as viewers to get and idea of the styles of dance and the entertaining performances.

Radio City Music Hall


More than 300 million people have come to the Music Hall to enjoy stage shows, movies, concerts and special events. There's no place like it to see a show or stage a show. Everything about it is larger than life.

Radio City Music Hall is the largest indoor theatre in the world. Its marquee is a full city-block long. Its auditorium measures 160 feet from back to stage and the ceiling reaches a height of 84 feet. The walls and ceiling are formed by a series of sweeping arches that define a splendid and immense curving space. Choral staircases rise up the sides toward the back wall. Actors can enter there to bring live action right into the house. There are no columns to obstruct views. Three shallow mezzanines provide comfortable seating without looming over the rear Orchestra section below. The result is that every seat in Radio City Music Hall is a good seat.

The Great Stage is framed by a huge proscenium arch that measures 60 feet high and 100 feet wide.The stage is considered by technical experts to be the most perfectly equipped in the world. It is comprised of three sections mounted on hydraulic-powered elevators. They make it possible to create dynamic sets and achieve spectacular effects in staging. A fourth elevator raises and lowers the entire orchestra. Within the perimeter of the elevators is a turntable that can be used for quick scene changes and special stage effects.

The shimmering gold stage curtain is the largest in the world. For more than sixty-five years audiences have thrilled to the sound of the "Mighty Wurlitzer" organ, which was built especially for the theatre. Its pipes, which range in size from a few inches to 32 feet, are housed in eleven separate rooms. The Hall contains more than 25,000 lights and features four-color stage lighting. And what's a show without special effects? Original mechanisms still in use today make it possible to send up fountains of water and bring down torrents of rain. Fog and clouds are created by a mechanical system that draws steam directly from a Con Edison generating plant nearby.

Radio City is a spectacular place to come and see shows and get ready for a fun filling night!

Dancing with the Stars

Twelve celebrities - six men and six women - attempt to outshine one another on a sixth season of the hit series. The season six cast includes some of our most lauded stars yet: an Academy Award winner, a Tony Award winner, an Olympic Gold medalist, a nine-time Grand Slam tennis champion, and the NFL's current Man of the Year. Six teams will strut their stuff on Monday night, while the other six teams will show off their moves on Dancing with the Stars the Results Show, where for the first time in the show's history, two couples' fates will be determined in a dramatic double elimination.

There are various challenges each week on the show to keep the audience interested in what was going on. Week One, Night One: The men take to the floor first, kicking off the season.
Week One: The women answer the men's challenge.
Week Two: All twelve celebrities - 6 men and 6 women - go head to head on one night!
Week Three: Penn Jillette and Monica Seles have been sent from the floor. Now the remaining ten stars must give it their all in the jive and tango!
Week Four: Steve Guttenberg is gone! The remaining nine stars must now tackle the paso doble or the Viennese waltz in an effort to stay on the floor.
Week Five: Adam Carolla has been banished from the ballroom! The remaining eight stars must shake it on the dance floor in either the samba or the rumba.
Week Six: Priscilla Presley has left the building! The remaining seven stars must attempt their first group performance as well as learn a new dance.
Week Seven: The ballroom says bye-bye to Marlee Matlin, and hello to double the trouble, as each of the remaining six stars must learn two new dances!
Week Eight: Shannon Elizabeth has been sent from the floor! The five remaining stars must learn another set of Latin and ballroom dances to stay in the game.

If you have missed the scheduled show times you can visit the website on google by simply typing in the words Dancing with the Stars. It is exciting once you get into watching it, trust me you won't regret it!

Quote of the Day

"I have spent all my life with dance and being a dancer. It's permitting life to use you in a very intense way. Sometimes it is not pleasant. Sometimes it is fearful. But nevertheless it is inevitable."

The following words listed above is a quote that was once said by a famous dancer name Martha Graham. When I sit here and read this quote I think that all things and all problems go away when u dance. The music can sometimes be fearful and the expressions may not look so happy, but deep down inside the dancer is telling you how they feel. The feeling of a dancer is inevitable.

Catch the Step

Dancing consists of many types of movements. It is the job of a dancer to learn these steps in order to fulfill the requirements in the field of dance. the following explanations are all different steps in which dance consists of. The point of these descriptions is to help you catch on to any of the steps and pick them up by reading the description step by step. I am not going to list all of them, otherwise I would be here forever.
Ball change is a dance move that consists of two steps: a partial weight transfer on the ball of a foot behind or by the other foot, followed by a step on the other foot. This action has a syncopated feeling and counted &1, or &2, or a1, or a2, etc., i.e., the "ball" step splits off the end of a beat. It is used, e.g., in the kick ball change. Basic figure One of several step patterns that characterize a dance and constitute its basis. Sometimes there is no strict agreement as to their number. Usually they are the ones taught at the beginner level. Box Step is a dance figure named so because the steps rest in the four corners of a square. It is used, e.g., in American Style ballroom dances: Rumba, Waltz bronze-level Foxtrot. The leader begins with the left foot and proceeds as follows. Chasse is any of three-step patterns, steps going basically side-together-side. The word came from ballet terminology. Finally the last basic step that I am going to describe to you is the Cross body lead. The Cross-body lead is a common and useful move in Latin dances such as Salsa, Mambo, Rumba and Cha-cha-cha. Basically, the man on counts 2 and 3 of his basic ste does a quarter-left turn, that is 90° counterclockwise, while still holding on to the woman. On counts 4 and 5, he leads the woman forward across him, and he firmly leads her with his right hand on her back, so that she travels across and turns around and faces the opposite direction she was facing. At the same time, the man does another quarter-left turn as necessary in order to follow the woman and face her. At the end of the move, the couple has reversed their original positions.
The Cross-body lead can be done with single-hand or double hand hold, with or without a woman's underarm turn, or leading the woman to do a free spin. These are just some steps of dance mostly the common ones that a lot of people tend to hear about; however, if you would like to learn more about htese particular dance moves they are available on several online dance websites. Just type the name in and it's a click away!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

And the Talent Continues to Show!


This week on American Idol there were some guest stars that appeared on the show. It was a surprise to many because these guests weren't singers, they were dancers. American Idol producers and directors thought it would be an interesting idea to invite the contestants from last years So You Think You can Dance and this years Americas Best Dance Crew. These guest performances came out and did an amzing job. The routines that these dancers come up with are so unique and the yall have their own style. It is so easy to just stayed glued to television with the thought of what trick these dancers are going to pull out next. This episode of American Idol Was very interesting in the way that it incorporated all of the talent shows. It definately influences more viewers to watch the show because for once American Idol has something more added to their show. Imagine if the dancers performed to the songs of the idols, that would be funny, but at the same time it would be interesting to see these talentes young adolescents work together. If American Idol had these "Backup Dancers" I feel this would give American Idol more of a publicity because people are getting tired of seeing the same thing over and over year after year. If they had the assistance of backup dancers more people would watch the show because it would almost be as if they were watching a concert. These dancers don't have to be judged, but it would be more exciting to see both singing and dancing put together in one show. It's aspects combined would make the show exciting to watch.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Hip Hop Routine from So You Think You Can Dance?

This following video gives us a background of two dancers from the TV show So You Think You Can Dance? They tell us how they ended up dancing and basically how they got this far. Then after all of the information is given the two dancers will perform a hip hop routine. This routine will show viewers what steps hip hop consists of and get the basic idea of with this particular genre of dance looks like.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

It's the Creativity that Counts

Over time, many have tried to gather several thoughts, ideas, and opinions to develop a definition that explains what is meant by Creative Nonfiction. Although there have been thoughts of what it meant, there was never any literal meaning that could define Creative Nonfiction. During the past, Creative Nonfiction was referred to as “literary journalism” because the main task of the author was to correspond the information to the readers just as a speaker would with an audience. According to Lee Gutkind, who was known as the Godfather of Creative Nonfiction, the genre was only officially identified or “born” in the year of 1983. Gutkind was the person that helped one understand that while writing Creative Nonfiction the author comes upon many challenges before finishing the story. These obstacles are taken in order for the author to achieve their goal of success.
Creative Nonfiction is one of the few types of genres in which a book can be classified. Each form of writing, such as fiction, mystery, romance, action, nonfiction, and horror, are all unique in their own way; however, Creative Nonfiction is extremely interesting compared to these genres. The story consists of true facts and legitimate information, but by using the literary tools the author converts these given details into a narrative. It is an enjoyable way for an author to write because it is a given opportunity to combine nonfiction elements and literary elements. It can be known as way to incorporate not only personal experiences, but also other people’s experiences.
In this case, Creative Nonfiction connects the educational facts from research with literary techniques, which include the setting, characters, language, theme, and narration. The information written in a Creative Nonfiction story is not made up. It is all valid material that just takes a more interesting approach on the way in which it is presented to the readers. The information seems to come alive as you are reading it and it is revealed in a way so that the reader doesn’t get preoccupied and lose track of the story.
Two works of literature that appear in the form of Creative Nonfiction are All Around Town by Herbert Asbury and The Curve of Binding Energy by John McPhee. Both of these works tell the story of actual events that have taken place in the past and provide the reader with factual information. Even though these events are presented with realistic information, the story comes alive through the setting, plot, scene selections, and narration to those who read the book. All Around Town can be used as an example of this particular style of writing because it is a book with multiple stories about the history of New York and how it has developed over the years; however, Asbury tend to exaggerate when he writes these short stories and expresses these facts about New York City in a humorous way. Asbury does this to attract the reader’s attention and to also help out the reader by giving them a better understanding of the important details that are mentioned in each of the stories. John McPhee did the same thing and followed the same methods as Asbury when he wrote The Curve of Binding Energy, which told about the life story of Theodore B. Taylor. In this book, McPhee presents the facts as well as expressing the story in a creative and interesting way. He does this to grasp the reader’s attention and keep them involved while reading the book.
I feel that Creative Nonfiction is a different piece of writing in its own, unique way. These stories consist of factual information that is written in a creative manner. As one reads the story, they not only learn from the actual information, but they are also able to enjoy the story at the same time as they learn. Overall, Creative Nonfiction is a good way to keep reader informed and entertained in an appropriate, creative fashion.

Reactions and Expectations

Before I began to read The Curve of Binding Energy, by John McPhee, I could tell right away that it was mostly going to be about nuclear physics and other scientific resources. This book is an educational source that paints a portrait of a fascinating man as he describes the poor security surrounding nuclear materials. The storyline consists of several procedures that Theodore Taylor had completed during his lifetime. Such events were the Orion Project, ways in which Taylor started his career as becoming an atomic bomb designer, bomb construction, and safeguards; however, it was the safeguards that tended to stick out to me the most. The information McPhee gives in the book about safeguards have influenced me to become more aware of what is going on in our world today.
When I read the book, I realized that McPhee came to the same agreement with Taylor for the need of nuclear safeguards. Taylor believed that anyone is capable of making a bomb; therefore, his desire for the need of safeguards was very strong. I feel that knowing that this material is accessible brings fear into people’s lives. This particular topic seemed to stick out the most since McPhee tends to keep mentioning this point to the readers. Safeguards were very laidback during Taylor’s time of contribution; access to personal material was a lot easier than it is today because the technological sources were not as high. In other words, security policies weren’t as crazy as they are during today’s day and age. No one would be checking every little object in your bag before you got onto planes, there weren’t metal detectors in as many places as there are today, police cars wouldn’t pull over big trucks just to see what they transporting, but the occurrence of the World Trade Center in 2001 was a wakeup to all security systems.
While I was reading the story, I began to think of the reason of why McPhee chose to write about Taylor’s life story? Was it because of the work on his projects, or was it his concern for the use of the bombs that positioned him apart from other theoretical physicists? These are some of the questions that came up while I was reading the book. I was curious to know what made McPhee so interested with this topic.
McPhee continues to talk about many aspects of Taylor’s life throughout the story. The way he explains Taylor’s use of bomb construction helped me comprehend reasons for why Taylor was doing this. Taylor imagined using nuclear bombs to drive massive objects into space, and when Taylor made nuclear bombs he was not just making them to just have something else on his list of accomplishments, but he was doing it to invent new, different, and positive ways for them to be used, because he was not the gullible type to think of ways to move backwards and try to abolish them. Taylor always wanted to make things bigger and better and that is something that I admired about him.
After reading this book, it has come to my attention that it seemed easy for people to make bombs back then with such limited resources, imagine what it is like now with all of this new technology. I have learned that new sources of technology play a large role in this world today. Even things such as TV and internet keep people involved and in contact with everything, where back when Taylor worked not everyone knew about everything that went on. No one knew about these little bombings or attacks because the media wasn’t as engaged and curious about what was happening because they didn’t think it was as big of a deal at the time. That is why Taylor did things without violating any of the secrets. He didn’t want it to get out because then everyone would know. Even I agree with Taylor that safeguards should be play big part in our life because without them all secrets would be let loose.
As a reader, I think McPhee gives us a full understanding of The Curve of Binding Energy. He explains in detail the threats of nuclear activity, which causes me to consider not only the harmful dangers of nuclear weapons and the way they are used, but it also made me become curious of the people who create them. This reading opened my eyes and has readied me to become more aware of what is going on in our world today. I agree with Taylor in that we need to take more safety measures when dealing with safeguarding our nuclear resources. The warning that he presents to us should enable us to grasp the idea that nuclear bombings will have less of a chance of occurring in the future and it is extremely essential that nuclear materials are safeguarded to every extent possible. If people haven’t realized by now that nuclear attacks are possible anywhere at anytime, then reading the information in McPhee’s book about Theodore B. Taylor will give them an incentive to become conscious of the potential fears and expectations of nuclear activity.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Competition Continues!

These past two in New York, cheerleading teams have competed in competitions throughout New York City just to make to the state competition held at Fordham Univeristy. Now your probably thinking why am I writing about cheerleading? Well the thing is these girls don't only hit sharp moves and stunts, but they also have two dance sections in their cheer where they have to show off their personality and creativity just as dancers do when they dance on stage. The intensity is so high when watching these girls perform. They have to make sure everything is pefect in order to win the first place spot. But to watch the creativity of these routines is so amazing. These girls truly work as a team to make sure all the stunts hit, tumbling is perfect, and the dance is unque. The judges at these competitions are similiar to those at the dance competitions in the way that they both look for uniqueness and creativity because after a while you do get tired of seeing the repeated movements over and over again year after year. But these girls work hard for what they accomplish and im sure no matter what the outcome is the coaches and the girls are proud of themselves for what they have done and accomplished over the year. As long as you perform to the best of your ability, the trophy shouldn't matter because you know you did what you could to get this far in the first place.

Dance Factory

Dance Factory is a dance studio on Staten Island, NY that is open to girls and boys to take dance classes that they prefer. There is hip-hop, jazz, pointe, ballet, technique, tap, lyrical, acro, and even yoga. These classes are great ways to become active and get in shape no matter what age category you belong to! The regular classes, which consist of non-company memebers, practice once to twice a week and perform their dances at the recital in June. However, the company classes take part in more than one performance. These classes have more than one or two dances because as a compnay member it is mandatory for these girls or boys to take the following classes. Jazz, tap, hip-hop, technique, ballet, and lyrical. All other classes being optional. But these dancers will peform a dance from each genre at two competitions, sometimes three. Two of them usually being regionals, and the one being a national. The regional competition consists of less schools and it isnt as long of a competition, where the national competition has more schools competing and it is usually about a week long. Not only are these classes fun to take, but it is a good way for any perspective dancer to learn the different aspects that dance has to offer.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Breaking it Down

Breakdancing started in the very late 60's and became even more popular in year's to come. This particular kind of dance originated in New York mostly amongst members of the African American community. They would form groups and dance with or against each opther in their communities. Over the years, the style of breakdancing has been borrowed from all types of dances and martial arts. If you watch a breakdancer move you will see that most of these moves are similiar to kung fu!
James brown was truly the godfather of breakdancing. One of his most famos dances came about from "Good Foot" which was soon renamed the "B-boy". Not long after this point the DJ Afrika Bambaataa popularized breakdancing with various musical changes with impacted the breakdancing community forever. By 1977 various breakdancing crews were formed around New York City. This new form of breakdancing which emerged can be recognized from the old style of breakdancing from the variation of using new aerobic moves. These moves consisted of head spins, hand spins and flips. Very entertaining to watch, but at the same time very nerve- racking. These were now the "in" moves to breakdancing.
Today you can see breakdancing making its way into the mainstream. Popular artists are introducing forms of breakdancing into their music videos and more dance schools are offering it as a dance option since this genre of dance has become so popular in the past years. You might see it on the streets, at the studio, in movies, and now it is even on TV! Sooner or later breakdancing might work its way to live performances on broadway with the way things are going now.

Cultural Experience of Dance with Alvin Ailey

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater was oringinally known as the 92nd Street Young Men's Hebrew Association in New York. Led by Alvin Ailey and a group of young African-American modern dancers, that performance changed forever the perception of American dance. Durin the 2000s decade, Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation announced plans for the construction of a new dance complex, complete with a number of different studios, a black box theater and office space for administrative and educational use. This state-of-the-art building will be the largest complex dedicated all to dance in the United States. Members of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and young students from The Ailey School perform on "Sesame Street" dancing alongside Big Bird and Elmo. This is kind of odd in a way because you would never think these modern dancers would be performing on a kids show, but with the talent these dancers have it is believable that they can get a job performing to anywhere.
Today, Alvin Ailey is still led by Artistic Director Judith Jamison, she was also awarded the highest award while they were in France. Ailvin Ailey Dance Theater has gone on to perform for an estimated millions of people, several states, and even a large number of countries. The company has earned a reputation as an internaitonal dance place of American culture, promoting the unique style of the African-American cultural experience and Ailey also focuses on the art of American modern dancing.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Dancing for the Gold


I first started competing when I was about seven years old. I was only in four dance numbers, but at the time I didn't care I was just happy that I was finallky in the company class and I got to go away with all of my friends. Well it was an experience. There was definitely more pressure than the recital because everyone wants to be the best and everyone wanted the gold ribbon, that was the highest ribbon at this particular competition. So when it my my turn to dance I stage I had major butterflies in my stomach. I felt like I was going to get so nervous and just blank out and forget the dance, but then my teacher came up to me and said, "Dance like your having fun and like your're at the recital don't worry about what other people tell you just do your best." So I did what she said, I did my best and by the time it was ready to do my other dances I wasn't nervous at all. Well I guess the dances were performed well because in the end we did recieve gold ribbons for all of our dances. I will never forget it. I was so excited that my class did so well in our first dance competition. Everyone was so proud of us because at that time we were considered to be "the babies" and that just made the gold ribbon mean so much more to me and everyone else in the dance class.

Starpower!


Starpower is the name of a national dance competition. This company travels all over the country to different states in order for different dance studios to have the opportunity to compete against each other. First, they start off with regionals. Regionals isn't that big of a competition, since there usually are about twenty dance studios there, but that doesn't mean things don't get heated up because believe they do. These girls are out there to compete for their chance to win the Platinum, First Place, or even High Score Award! No one wants to get anything less that is why these dancers perform to the best of their ability. Regionals is like a ticket to nationals. You have to take part in a regional competition in order to be in the Starpower's national competition, which is usually held in about four locations, two being Florida and Maryland and if I am not mistaken i think there is also one in Las Vegas. When the studios finally arrive at the location they chose for nationals, they see that there are schools here from all over! California, Maryland, Georgia, Missouri, I could keep on going but that would make this list just too long to read. Everyone comes here to compete against the schools they haven't went up against yet and then on the last day of the competition is the "BATTLE." This part of the competition is not only the most exciting, but also the most imporant to most dance studios. This is where the best high scoring dances from each studio get the chance to perform against the other high scoring dances and then whoever gets the highest score wins The Battle of the Stars. It is so exciting to see the girls get so exicted when they win because it really does make them feel like all of the practice they put into the dances really paid off. Starpower is good competition to get involved with because not only is the there good competition, but the staff makes it fun for the dancers as well.

Monday, February 18, 2008

All About Jazz


Jazz dance can express the beat of the song while expressing the emotions of an individual. It has undergon changes throughout its short existence, evolving a variety of techniques to express many moods in a wide range of styles. Jazz is a feeling, Jazz is a skillful combination of both rhythm and design. Jazz dance involves different ranges of different styles. The songs could be slow, they could be fast, but a jazz song will al;ways have that distinct beat behind it that the dancer can perform to. Jazz dance and music originated at the beginning of the century, in a lower-class neighborhood around the 1920s. This time period was the highlight for the jazz age, but now it is different. In dance class we considered jazz to be fast pace song that we could dance to and actually move to. Not like ballet or the old jazz music where it was very slow and peaceful but now most studios dance to exciting songs to get the crowd excited and involved and to get the dancers excited to perform. The rhythmic punch of jazz music and dance provided the perfect pace for the performers, but no matter what style of dance it is the dancers must continue to focus on their technique because good technique always helps the dance look a lot neater and a lot better as a whole.

First Live Performance

When I was little, my mother registered me for dance classes at a dance studio in Staten Island. I was around four years old when I started to learn my first dance steps. The teacher placed me in a class with a bunch of five and six year olds that had more experience than me. At first I was a little nervous because I new that i was going to be the only one that didn't know much, but after each week i realized that I had been getting a lot better from the first day I started. I mean I wasn't amazing, but I think that by the second month of dancing with the class I felt more comfortable because I actually learned some of the steps. It was around the point of time that the teacher had mentioned a dance recital. Now I was only four years old so I didn't really know what everything was going to be like, but the teacher told us that if we practiced we would be fine. So week after week, month after month, my class practiced our routine over and over. It wasn't perfect because we were only babies, but I think it was good enough for me being a beginner and all. Well the day finally came and it was time to get ready for the show. I got my costume on, mom did my makeup, and I gathered all my dance stuff and then I was on my way to the place. I rememebr this like it was yesterday. I arrived into a big theater where hundreds of people were going to sit to watch the show. Then as the show was about to begin they borught us backstage and we has to wait there until it was our turn to perform. Finally, they called out our song and we ran on stage. Some of us froze for a second or two, but overall everyone thought that we were the cutest performance and they gave us a lot of credit for everything we did at a young age and till day I always remember my first live performance and how much I enjoy the art of dance.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Are You Ready to See What These Dance Crews Can Do?

The judge on American Idol, Randy Jackson, begins to produse a new TV show on MTV called Americas Best Dance Crew. The competiton begins with eight dance crews and each week instead of someone teaching the dance to them, they have to make it up themselves. This is one way the show is different from other dance shows that are filemd on TV. The fact that the dancers have to choreograph their own routines becomes a challenge because each week it has to be different and get harder. If it looks the same every week the judges are just going to get bored and not want to see this group on the show anymore. This show is a good way for dancers to get the experience of what it is like to be a choreographer and a performer all at once. The job isn't easy and the practices sure do become more intense as the weeks go on. If you keep up with the show, you will see whos left on next weeks Americas Best Dance Crew.

So You Think You Can Dance?

If you think you have the talent, the attitude, and the personality then this show is the way to go. It all begins with an audition in a selected state near you. These auditions are usually judged by a two to three minute dance piece and then if you fit the criteria for the show you get a ticket to Las Vegas. There are usually hundreds of dancers that make it to Vegas but in the end only the top twenty end up making it to Hollywood. The competition is very intense on the show and everyone competes for one of these twenty spots. There are many arguments and many fights but no matter what the yall have to come together to work as a group if they all want to make it. Once the top twenty is picked for the show, they are all apired of with dance partners. These partnerships usually consists of one boy and one girl. Each week these dancers are assigned to peform a specific technique of dance. One week it could be the waltz, the next week jazz, hip hop, and so on. It is all so exciting to see what these dancers can learn in the matter of week especially because they have never worked with each other before. Not only is the show about a competition for the number one dancer, but what I have noticed is these dancers form a bond while they continue to work toegther week after week and since all of them become so close with each other it is very hard to see one leave the show. This show is a great way for dancers to get jobs and for many choreographers to notice them this way one day they will for contracts get scholarhsips and many other opportunities to become a successful dancer as well as pursue a career in the future. However, each week it has to happen in order to see who Americas top dancer turned out to be.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

A Chorus Line

A Chorus Line begins with nineteen main characters auditioning in a broadway theater to become memebers of a chorus line. The show expresses the personalities of the performers and the choreographer as they describe the events that have shaped their lives and their decisions to become dancers. During the play, these dancers take workshop lessons. These lessons are divided up into different sessions and as the sessions conitnues to go on, the characters chosen in the end would be the ones who got the job. The song that they danced to at this time was called "I Hope I Get It." This song symbolized how much these characters wanted to fit the part the producers were looking for. The whole play is mostly based on this audition and the setting takes place is this broadway theater where these characters come together and work to compete with each other for the part.

Dance to the Music

Dance is something that can be a hobbie, but it can also be shown as a meaning behind a story. All of these broadway shows and dance performances tell a story in a different form of expressing what is actually happening. This technique is what makes the art of dance unique. If you ever go to see a live performance you will realize the passion the people have for dance just by the way they dance to the music. Music is the key source to a dancer , just like a bat is needed to play the sport of baseball. Without the right music the dance could not be completed. The sound of the music and the beat helps these performers really get into what they do and just makes the show more fun and better for those who are watching it because if the music was boring and had nothing to do with the piece the audience wouldn't want to sit through something that is not relevant to the storyline; therefore, I am going to keep you updated on what goes on the world of broadway shows and dance performances. This will help you, as spectators, understand the meaning of dance and hopefully you will be able to appreciate these pieces as more than just a show you want to see.