Jazz Lyrical Mirror Dance - Week 3 [24/1/24]

   Jazz Lyrical Mirror Dance 

DANCE DEVELOPMENT

Our Jazz Lyrical Dance - Progress

• In this rehearsal, we developed the dance further by learning a new dance break actin to add on after Mathilde, Chloe and Rachel (group of 3). This new section is going to be with all of us dancing this new section at the same time to add an element of unison and group coordination. In the video the new section is at 3 minutes and 32 seconds until the end. 

VIDEOS OF THE DANCE

24/1/24 - Full Run-Through

What Went Well?                                                                                                                                              

• Full Run-Through: In my partner and I’s duet section, I feel that are timing with the music is good and we are hitting the beats with our movements well. When I watched the video back of the dance, I noticed that my partner and I are well coordinated with one another. We lose are synchronisation at the start but the rest of our duet section we are pretty together with our movements. I think we all did really well with learning the choreography, we all picked it up quite quickly.

Even Better If?

• Full Run-Through: In my partner and I’s duet section, we need to extend our phrasing more. For example we need to stretch and extend our arm and leg movements and really engage with the dance more. We know the movements well but now we need to get in touch with the style and experiment with our timing. In our duet section, are movements are very separated - you can really notice when one movement finishes and when we are exactly waiting for the next movement. This makes our section not flow nicely and transition well like movements should do in a Jazz Lyrical Dance Piece. We also need to work on our group coordination and timing with the music for the newly learnt dance break section. As this section is something we learnt in today’s lesson, we are still in the development process for this section so it’s not going to be perfect straight away. With practice, our coordination will improve. I’m my partner and I’s duet section, I also think I need to work on my expression both with my body and face more. Dance requires not only your body to portray emotion but also your face. Right now, I haven’t been expressing my emotions when I am dancing as I’m concentrating on the timing and new dance choreography. Like with our group coordination, my ability to express myself through the dance will come with practice as I am become more confident with the choreography. 

AREAS OF SUCCESS - 6 Physical Skills 

1. Stamina - I think that Stamina is an area of success as I was able to go through the new dance section multiple without feeling a huge physical strain. This may be because I was marking through the dance as I wasn’t confident with it enough to be able to do it full out as I was focusing on my movements. I repeated the dance section multiple times to help me to remember it so that it stays in my head. I had a lot of physical endurance in this lesson as I did repeat it so many times. Getting my body used to the dance section will in turn improve my stamina further. I also think my stamina was an area of success as I mainly worked on the little dance break section. This section is small so it’s easier to go over it multiple times. My stamina becomes a weakness when we start repeating the dance in its entirety as it is a big and long dance that has lots of little bits in it.  
2. Strength - I think strength is a success as when I watched back the video, I think I am holding my positions strong and moving my arms and legs strongly. Also, as a group, I believe we are all holding our positions strong, mainly when we are dancing our pair/group of 3 sections. Those sections were created first so that means they are the ones that have been practiced and perfected the most. Hence why, we are stronger with our movements in these sections of the dance. 

AREAS FOR DEVELOPMENT -6 Physical Skills 

1. Flexibility - Flexibility is definitely an area of development for me as it’s something I really struggle with. Flexibility is a key element in dance and I want to personally aim to increase my flexibility as when I watched back the video of the dance, I am not extending and raising my leg as I as I want to and as high as I probably could. I think I can lift my leg higher but juts haven’t tried so over the next few rehearsals, I am going to try and push myself harder to help me be able to raise my leg higher when we extend it. 
2. Coordination - As a group, coordination becomes an area for development mainly in the new dance section we learnt in this lesson. The main reason why we aren’t all coordinated is because it is new choreography to us so we are still going to be developing and improving this section over the next couple of lessons. This means that are coordination will be an area of development until we are all individually confident with this section. Once we are all confident with this section, as a group, we can then work on it by paying attention to detail and focusing on our coordination. Over the next few rehearsals, the videos of the dance should start to show a development and improvement in this dance section as we begin to practice and work on it more. 
3. Balance - When I looked back at the video, I was looking closely to see how balanced I am. It was then brought to my attention that my balance was off throughout the dance. Balance is one of my personal areas of development particularly for the position at 3 minutes 49 seconds that takes place during the new dance break section. In the video I noticed how my feet were wobbly during my releve and I could see my angles struggling. My balance was very off in this part so I need to work on it. I can improve my balance by spotting and by practicing my releve more often.   
4. Posture & Alignment - I think posture and alignment is an area for development as when I watched back the video of the dance, I can see that my body is not aligned in the right way when I am holding the position that then begins the dance break section at 3 minutes and 36 seconds into the song. My back foot is off the floor when it shouldn’t be, causing the weight to all be on my front foot. My back is also not aligned with my back leg or bent knee. When I hold this position my back is meant to look completely straight and like a diagonal line from my head all the way to my back foot. I would say that this also applies as an area for development to the whole group, once I looked back at the video.