Jazz Lyrical Mirror Dance - Week 1 [10/1/24] & Week 2 [17/1/24]

  Jazz Lyrical Mirror Dance 

DANCE DEVELOPMENT

What is Jazz Lyrical Dance? 

• 'Lyrical jazz or lyrical dance is a style of dance created from the fusion of ballet with jazz and contemporary dance techniques. It combines many technical elements of classical ballet with the freedom, fluidity, and expressiveness of jazz, contemporary and modern dance.' Oxford University Dance Society
• Ballet and Jazz Lyrical are two styles that share a lot of the same techniques.

Key Features/ Characteristics in Jazz Lyrical

• 'Choreographers use the lyrics from the song to inspire the dance and the result is a style that focuses on strong emotion as well as a more individual approach than some dance styles. It is also a very precise dance with the dancer’s movements portraying the emotion and story of the song.' Jade Harrison School of Dance
• This style of dance allows the dancer to be very expressive in the way they dance. 
• Movements are performed with fluidity and grace as the dancer moves seamlessly from one movement to another.
• 'This style of dance is usually very pleasing to the audience because it a way for the dancer to communicate with them. The audience is able to connect easily with the dancer because of the emotions being expressed.' Omaha School of Music and Dance
• 'Movements are choreographed to flow very naturally and seamlessly into the other, with virtually no pauses, stops and or still moments holding finishing steps as long as possible. Sharp movements such as contractions or spiking with limbs are sometimes choreographed in to emphasize certain parts of the dance, but usually, the movements are flowing, "carving" and "arcing" and merging into each other.' Beyond The Barre 

6 Physical Skills In Dance

1. Flexibility - The range of movement that you have around a joint or muscle.
2. Stamina - The ability to maintain a good physical and metal state during a lot of exercise.
3. Coordination - Moving different body parts at the same time smoothly.
4. Posture & Alignment - Posture = The position a person holds their body while standing or sitting. Alignment = When something is arranged into a straight line or correct positions.
5. Balance - An even distribution of weight so a person/object can remain upright/steady and not fall.
6. Strength - The ability to do things that require a lot of physical or mental effort.

Our Jazz Lyrical Dance

• For our next upcoming show, 'One Night Only' we are creating our own Jazz Lyrical Dance but adding the technique, 'Mirroring'. This technique is when you and your partner mirror what each other is doing like a when your watching your reflection in a mirror. It's a non-contact technique meaning you can't touch the other person. Every pair/group of 3 are mirroring except Harrison and Grace (the pair that begin the dance). They are dancing together with contact which nicely juxtaposes the rest of us.

 VIDEOS OF THE DANCE

10/1/24 - Run Through 1

10/1/24 - Run Through 2

What Went Well?

• Run Through 1: Everyone knew the exact time that they needed to enter the stage for our individual pair/group of 3 dance sections. Everyone also exited at the right time too. In my section my pair and I were giving the lyrics to choreography dance movements too. As this style of dance is Jazz Lyrical, the dance movements directly correlate to the lyrics and I think we successfully achieved that. For example, the lyric, "free my mind" we reach towards our heads and on the lyric, "all the talking", we gesture to our mouths. 

Even Better If?

• Run Through 1: My partner and I's pair work begins with us doing our first movement facing the back. Rob, our teacher, gave us feedback that we should do this movement facing the audience as it opens up our dance section. Facing the back closes us and the dance off from the audience. Also, if the audience see our backs on the first movement, they won't see the expression and emotion of the movement. On one movement, where we get up after the action on the lyric, "fading", my partner and I get up from the floor to get into our next movement. Due to our bad spacing, we did bump into each other. This makes the dance look messy so we need to neaten it up by correcting our spacing for this part so that when we get up we don't crash into each other. We also need to work on our synchronisation and timing with the music and one another as a pair because at certain points where we aren't facing each other we loose our synchronisation as we don't know when the other one is doing the action. This can easily be fixed by listening to the music again and clarifying the beat or lyric in the song that we are doing specific movements on. 

What Went Well?

• Run Through 2: You can see the improvements we have made since the first run through and this run through. We changed the direction of our starting movement to face the audience, like Rob said. This opened up our dance section so much more and looks so much better. We also made our transition neater when we stand up so that we don't crash into each other. My partner, Lola, has moved slightly over to give us more room so that we don't crash into one another when we get off the floor. I also think our synchronisation with each other and our timing with the song has improved too. I watched back the video and compared to to run through 1 and you can clearly see that we are more synchronised. 

Even Better If?

• Run Through 2: Even though our timing and synchronisation improved compared to run through 1, I still think we could push our ability to be synchronised even more and try and get our movements as in-sync as possible. This will come with time and practice. I also think we could work on our transitions between each movement to make our dance section flow more smoothly. Fluidity of movements is a key element to the Jazz Lyrical style so we need to make sure our transitions our fluid too. 

VIDEOS OF DANCE

17/1/24 - Developed

What Went Well?

• In this rehearsal/lesson, we developed our dance sections even more by adding more choreography as we had some of the song left to choreograph. The dance movements that Lola and I choreographed last week, went really well in this rehearsal. When I watched the video back for this rehearsal, our synchronisation was almost perfect with most of the movements and we hit each movement on the right lyric/point of the music really well and has improved a lot since we last went through it. Something that wasn't really work for us last week, was a pirouette en dehors. It was very difficult to be consistent with our landings and I personally struggled to double pirouette. Due to this, we changed the spin to more of a pencil turn and I think this went really well and I think that changing the turn was a good idea as we will be able to make it neater, more organised and consistent than with a pirouette. I think our transitions between each movements was a lot smoother as well. 

Even Better If?

• In our section that Lola and I choreographed today, we are barely synchronised with our movements when I watched the video back. We were very together with the section choreographed last week and then this completely changed once we began our new part. With more practice, our synchronisation with one another will improve as we will be more certain of where each movement is in relation to the lyrics and the song/music. Personally, I also think I could improve the height of my leg when we do a kind of kick jump. This is a movement that is part of the new section which we choreographed today.

AREAS OF SUCCESS - 6 Physical Skills 

1. Stamina - I personally think my stamina was good throughout the my partner and I's dance section. I was able to get through the dance without feeling tired and without being out of breath. The style of dance that this is doesn't make me out of breath yet makes my body ache after doing it as I have been using my core muscles and strength to hold positions. 
2. Coordination - After watching back all the videos of the dance, I think I am personally well coordinated as my arms and legs and doing different things at different times and I am executing that well. I also feel that this is a success that is common throughout the whole group because everyone is well coordinated when I watched back the videos. 
3. Posture & Alignment - When watching the videos back, I think my posture and alignment is a personal area of success as at all the moments I am doing movements stood up, I am well aligned and my feet are hip width apart. 

AREAS FOR DEVELOPMENT -6 Physical Skills 

1. Strength - As I said in my areas of success for stamina, I am using my core strength as I can feel them ache after I dance. Saying this though, I still personally think it is an area of development for me as I feel like I could hold my positions stronger especially for the relevé I do on the lyric, "free my mind". I feel myself wobble a little bit so I need to be more intact with my core muscles/core strength to help me hold this position even stronger.
2. Flexibility - I am personally not a very flexible personal so I do struggle with movements that require high kicks etc. As a whole, I need to work on my flexibility but in relation to this dance, I need to specifically focus on developing and improving my flexibility for the leg kick jump on the lyric, "but I've got". I feel that my leg isn't going as high as I would like it to when I do this particular movement. I can improve my flexibility by doing stretches like lunges and quad stretches. 
3. Balance - I think this is one of my personal areas of development as during the rehearsals of the dance during the lesson, I was quite unbalanced during the turn in our newly added section and during my relevé on the lyric, "free my mind". This isn't evident in the videos of the dance but it was happening in the rehearsal time/lesson. My balance will improve when I use my core strength more as my core strength will help me remain upright. Eyeline is also key when balancing, so I need to make sure my eyeline is up and my chin is up to also help me balance. The first movement that begins Lola and I's section also requires good balance so I can focus on improving my balancing for this movement too.