I had hated it from the beginning. The skin tight leotards, the unforgiving stretches and the cold wood floors all made me want to rip apart the headache-inducing bun that sat at the top of my head. I never knew that at the age of five, I could harness so much hatred for something as dainty as ballet class. As the years passed, my dislike for dance only grew. I wanted to be done with all the pain, the torn muscles, the broken toes, the endless amount of blisters, and the countless number of worn out pointe shoes.
Dance is not just a hobby or a pastime; it is an essential part of who I am. Whether I'm dancing in a studio, at home, or even while waiting for my food to heat, I find joy and fulfillment in every
Therefore, it is the great responsibility on teachers to provide age and stage appropriate dance experiences to children to develop their skills. Children need to learn the wide dance and movement vocabulary. The teachers can facilitate children ’s learning through providing them different dance experiences, for example, individual, include a partner and group dance, which may lead to formal and informal performance. Then, the children should get enough time and space to explore their interest in dance without the teacher’s interference what Hanna (1982) calls “dance play” (as cited in Sinclair, C., Jeanneret, N. & O'Toole, J. (2012).
To be the best dancer possible, I had to practice even outside of class time during my spare time. It was my responsibility to make sure that my makeup, my hair and my costume looked exactly like the rest of the team. Working as a team meant that everyone’s dance move had to happen at the same time, and no one should mess up. I had to learn to get along with my team and obey what the coaches said. Dancing was my passion and it never tired me out, in fact I found the whole process
I have been dancing in Dance Mission’s youth program, GRRL Brigade, since I was eight years old. I currently take modern dance and I play the Taiko drums. Dance Mission has a motto that, “Anyone can dance, no matter their body size, ethnicity, or financial situation.” The Dance Mission community is a diverse
Dance is a captivating and fun sport as well as a beautiful art. Throughout the years dance has been continuously underestimated and misunderstood. I have heard many times “Ballet is easy, you don’t even break a sweat,” and it seems many people do not understand the complexity of dancing. While there are no arguments whether dance is an art or not, there is controversy as to whether or not it is a sport. Dance is a sport because it can be competitive, it has the risk of injury, and it is also both physically and mentally challenging.
Day dreaming of the talents I have absorbed over the years, I thought about the process of learning something new, specifically in dance. When I was learning to dance on pointe, the thought of putting all my weight directly on my toes sounded excruciating. The effortless movement of the ballerina as she tiptoes across the stage was something I always wanted to achieve. I wanted to be blessed with the grace and poise of a professional. After seeing countless dancers in the upper level classes catch on quickly, I undoubtedly bought a pair of pink Grishko slippers for myself.
That is also one of the benefit that I gained in my dance class. I am able to exercise and dance at the same time. I am doing what I love fine arts make me happy all the time, it helps me to make friends, and to become more compassionate about what I love. The skills and knowledge that
In ballet, the dancers make it look easy and graceful. What people do not know is just how much work goes into becoming a prima ballerina. These athletes are working incredibly hard and suffering through the pain. It isn’t easy to stand on your toes everyday. Dance is a sport because it involves competition, is a workout, and it’s a physical and emotional challenge.
for the first two years I always complained “It's so boring” and stuff like “don't force me to go again” but I got my stubbornness from my parents, so I kept going. It took a long time for me to stop complaining and realize that nothing is really “girly”. It wasn't until my fourth year that i realized it was something i really enjoyed. the dance shoppe has weekly hour long classes, usually just practicing, learning new steps, and combos and stuff. Then once it hits christmas break, we start to learn our dance.
While things in the realm of academics came fairly naturally to me, everything about my body and mind reacted hostilely to dance’s challenges. I had no flexibility, strength, endurance, short-term memory, or love of the limelight. As I watched my more naturally talented peers literally leap in front of me, I couldn’t help but to feel anything but “good enough.” Forget occasionally crying in the bathroom at school, at dance I felt every ounce of confidence I had maintained seep away. I gave up completely, resigning myself to hide in the back of the class and attempt to claim as little of my teachers’ attention as possible.
Dance is a language, a way of communicating and knowing, through body movements by the use of time, space and force. Dance is the only language that visually allows the audience to feel and understand a situation. Dancers express themselves in different dance forms. In modern dance the dancer allows his/her emotions to express their feelings about a situation. In the 1900’s, modern dance began to develop as a rebellion against classical ballet, mainly in the United States, central Europe and Germany.
Growing up, I always thought that going to college meant giving up my dream of becoming a professional dancer. However, after attending two summer dance intensives, the George Mason SummerDance program and the Summer Residential Governor’s School, I realized that this is not necessarily the case. Getting a degree in dance is becoming more common in the highly competitive dance field. With this in mind, I began my college search by looking for schools with both stellar academics and distinguished dance programs. Once I found Duke, I knew it was the right fit for me.
For the past fourteen years, I gained a multitude of essential qualities, while gracefully twirling to the sound of ballet music. I gained patience through the meticulous repetition of movements. I gained confidence through performances. I learned the meaning of passion through my commitment. These characteristics have enriched my life creatively, academically, and socially, while fueling a unfettering desire to comprehend dance in a global context.
Since I began, I have traveled to 4 different studios, being at my most current and last studio for 10 years. Over the years, dance has evolved from just an activity after school,
