Thank you!
Dance 212 is a great website that p
roduces video shorts focusing on the dance community around the world.
Their latest video shows a group of dancers who are learning choreography for a song called “Rent a Cop”, set by NYC choreographer Grady Bowman One of the dancers, Paloma, calls the style “Flirty Fosse Fusion”. It’s clean, it’s cute, and I can see some Fosse influence in the dance too!
You’ll have to visit their website to watch the video, just click this link: http://dance212.com/node/397
If you see some videos on Dance 212 that you’d like to share, put them in the comment section below!
This week at CSDS we told our Creative Dance & other young students they could dress up for class! In Miss Christina’s classes we played Halloween games, had party snacks, and some kids even decorated pumpkins & ghosts. Dance class is a great way to celebrate Halloween. Students love to dress up in costume, and for us teachers it is a great chance to spend time getting to know our students and let them explore their creativity both in costume & in dance! Here are some great pictures from a few of our Halloween Parties this year!
The CSDS Fall Raffle has come to an end. Congratulations to the winner of thirty (30) $5 scratch tickets, William Filaretos. Here are some photos from yesterday’s drawing!
30 dancers from Center Stage Dance Studio will perform in Melrose Youth Ballet’s 17th annual production of The Nutcracker on December 2 – 4, 2011 at Memorial Hall in Melrose. These young dancers, ranging in from age 9 – 18, auditioned and were cast in the annual production. MYB is a 5013c non-profit organization whose mission is to help young dancers realize their potential by being part of a full-scale ballet production that pairs children, young adults, and professional dancers on stage together. Front Row: Margaret Hoff, Sophia Cresta, Liam McCall, Ronnie DiBiasio, Lindsay Jepson, Chloe Orcutt. Second Row: Courtney Murphy, Amanda Cavicchi, Emily Nguyen, Kaleigh McCall, Elena Bibilos, Gianna Filaretos. Third Row: Justine DiBiasio, Emma Wiklund, Maya Talwar-Hebert, Michaela Short. Fourth Row: Charlotte Rodgers, Lucy Naslas, Sophie Carroll, Jonny Leonard, Carolyn Harney, Sarah Donovan, Ariana DiBiasio, Mackenzie Murphy. Missing from Photo: Emily Blatchford, Ruby D’Amico, Alyssa Milton, Brigid Scanlon, Nora Scanlon, Lydia Steger-Wilson. For more information on The Nutcracker visit www.melroseyouthballet.org or call 781-665-4MYB.
Over the past few days I’ve been following a debate on Beyonce Knowles’ choreography for her new music video. Today the news broke that she indeed was “influenced” by Belgian choreographer, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker.
Choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker has accused Beyonce of stealing routines for her “Countdown” video, calling it “pure plagiarism,” Belgian dance troupe Rosas said Monday.
On Tuesday, Beyonce acknowledged that her latest video was “inspired” by the work of a Belgian choreographer who has threatened to sue for plagiarism.
This brings up a lot of questions regarding influence versus plagiarism in dance. With the commercial dance industry booming, dancers and choreographers are constantly seeing and being influenced by each other’s work.
Personally, I have adopted certain “tricks” in my dance classes that I have seen done on TV shows or at dance competitions. This might include new methods of leaping, turning, or “falls” that are increasingly popular in the dance world.
I believe that a certain degree influence is generally accepted in the dance world, and the commercialization of dance has helped dance studios and teachers grow in creative ways. We are privileged to see the most creative, innovative dance styles & moves on a daily basis through tv shows like “So You Think You Can Dance”, “Dancing with the Stars”, “America’s Best Dance Crew”, and of course the dance encyclopedia that is YouTube.
However, “ripping off” a dance routine or a choreography sequence and claiming it as your own is wrong (and lazy!).
Studio Brussel, a Belgian radio station has produced a “side by side” of the two videos at odds. It intercuts clips of Beyonce’s October 7 Countdown video, with the 1997 film that musician and filmmaker Thierry de May made of Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s Rosas danst Rosas. The comparison video has gotten close to a million and a half hits.
See for yourself, what do you think? Influence or plagiarism?
The Summer of 2011 was exciting at CSDS! We had several week-long dance camps, including Theater Arts Camp for ages 6- 8, and two wonderful Advanced Intensives for ages 12 – 14. It’s sad to see summertime leave, but here’s one routine I know these dancers will remember. This was a jazz routine choreographed for our end of the week demonstration, to Lady Gaga’s “Born this Way”. It’s hard to see on the video, but dancers made custom spray-painted t-shirts with one or two words that describes something unique about themselves. Great job girls!
Dancers,
As I prepare to get back in the classroom with my students, I ask myself what my goals as a teacher are for the year ahead. The easy answers come in the form of new warm-ups, new music compilations for class, and collecting enough new & challenging movement concepts to keep my students ‘on their toes’ throughout the year.
Something I also like to think about are my goals as an individual, as a person, and as a mentor in the classroom. These goals always boil down to one important thing, which is to make my students feel good about themselves. I cherish my toddler, pre-school, and kindergarten classes for this reason. My goals in the classroom at this age are simple yet effective. I am teaching these young little dancers some of the most basic concepts, but they bring the joy of discovery and self-confidence to each child in that classroom. The first time a 3 year old learns to stand in first position and that feeling of something new…Or the first time a kindergartner understands shuffle and realizes that sound & feeling go together in perfect harmony in Tap dance… The simple joy that teaching with creative approaches and simple goals are what being in the classroom is all about.
Sometimes I lose sight of this simplicity, especially as I work with advanced level dancers or competitive level dancers that are in the stage of training that requires fine-tuning and corrections in class. As I prepare my list of goals for the upcoming season, I will not forget that happiness is one of them. The feeling of freedom that comes with understanding movement and executing it without hesitancy is a feeling that all dancers deserve to feel. Sometimes there may be hurdles to overcome in order to get that double pirouette, or to kick that leg a big higher, but those are GOALS that I want to keep alive in each of my dancers. Helping my students to seek the happiness & joy of dance is a goal that I will try to achieve this year.
What will it take for you to be able to do “Charlie Turns”? Here are some great tips on pirouettes from Anaheim Ballet, and a great idea for a turning contest in class!
Join us for a week filled with your favorite classes to get you geared up and in shape for the Fall season. All CSDS students are welcome to take the appropriate class during the dates below in the coming weeks.
$15 per class. Cash only please.
Classes will be taught by Jaclyn Demianiuk & Christina Leonard-Kristan. Please feel free to bring friends and guests to class to try out a “master class” setting.
