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07/03/13

I am sad to say that today was our last class. These past 6 weeks have really flew by. But I am proud to say that I actually have learned a lot. I want to continue dancing and am even thinking about trying out for fall dance happening. As always todays class was fun. I was kind of nervous as it was the final exam and had a couple brain farts during the movement portion but overall I believe I did pretty well. I am impressed with the amount of improvement I have made in such a short amount of time. Stretching is no longer my favorite as I do not like it on the barre. The arm movements combined with the arabesques are my new favorite. Doing toe port de bras makes me feel like I am a real ballerina. :) Thank you so much for a wonderful 6 weeks of class. I have no room in my schedule for a dance class in the upcoming fall and am graduating in December, but I hope to continue doing some form of dance in the future. (Whether it be just in my bedroom to music on my computer, or taking a class as a local studio.)

07/01/13

Wow I cannot believe it is already July. This summer is just flying by. Today in class we talked about the final and went over a few combinations. 

FINAL EXAM:

5 questions, 5 components to each

1. Steps= definitions (matching)

2. Facings= matching

3. Anatomy= matching

4. History= choreographers (matching)

5. Port De Bras= words or drawing; positions of the warms

**know definitions

Balance= rocking step

Pirouette= turn 

Glissade= to glide

Pas De Chat

Soutenne En Tournant= whip

Assemble= to assemble (2-->1)

Petit Jete

Chasse= to cjase

06/26/13

History:
-Frederick Ashton: English; classical/english musical
--Cinderella, Sylvia; ABT, Les Patineurs
-Jerome Robbins: NYCB; west side story (various pieces)
--dance at a gathering; the cage (dark/twisted); the concert (comedy)
-Antony Tudor: Jardin Aux Lilas; dark elegies (plotted ballets)
--Pillar of fire (most 3 important works)
-George Balanchine: NYCB; "father of american ballet"

**Robbins and Balanchine= major for NYCB

Bronislava Nikinska- first female choreographer of the modern era; ballet russes
--Les Noces: most famous work

-Ballet=men
-modern= women

-Twyla Tharp: post modern, broadway, film
--Push comes to shove= most famous (ABT)


Today's class was very good. I was really tired as the night before I was out celebrating my birthday with some dinner. But, I my muscle memory is starting to kick in as I now find myself doing things without thinking about it as much. I am sad that we only have two classes left as I really enjoy this class. I have learned so much in such little time.

06/24/13

Directions/Positions

Croisse- crossed; leg/foot closest to the front of the room is in front (facing diagonally forward)
Efface- leg/foot closest to the front is behind (reverse of croisse)
En face- directly front
Ecarte- second position on a diagonal
**all are positions

En avant- devant; moving forward
En arriere- derriere; moving backward
**both are movements

A la second- second position facing forward (no diagonal)
A la quatriem- fouth
En croix- in a cross; devant, second, derriere, second (common word/ slang)
-devant= front
-derriere= back

I feel like I have improved a lot since day one. I admit that the last combination we did was a little challenging but after a while I started to pick it up. I was a little distracted in class today as tomorrow is my birthday and I am very excited. But overall, todays class was fun and I am sad that we only have about three classes left.

Video Response Paper

Katina Studzinski

Beginning Ballet- Summer I 2013

            In class we viewed two videos of dances. One vodeo was called “ La vivandiere” by Arthur St. Leon. This dance is dated back to 1848. It is very formal and balanced. The things I really enjoyed about it was the partner work. The dancers were bery together and danced in unison.  The 6 people looked like one dancer. This dance, based upon the Mirov and Maryinski Ballet, had a lot of foot work and turns. It was very entertaining to watch. The second performance was more up beat and happy. It was faster. The male dancer had a very adnvanced variation and I liked watching him. The third performance had two female dancers with very fast foot work. They danced in alsmot perfect unison.  The fourth performance was a femal solo. She was flawless as she paraded across the stage doing turns, leaps and once again, intricate footwork. The fifth performance was the male solo. His dance was filled with a lot of turns and jumps. He even did a triple turn. Then they did some more partner work. The partner work was my favorite as I love watching the dancers interact with eachother and dance in syncronization. The ending was very interesting. All the female dancers gathered around the male dancer. It was a pretty cool visual to see since they all has their legs and arms up in a pattern around him. Overall, I really enjoyed this dance. I was not used to hearing the rhythmic clapping of the European audience so that threw me off at the end but this dance was very entertaining to watch.

            The second video however, I did not really enjoy that much as I found it harder to follow. I enjoyed the story plot as the dances were about relationships and people, not just the steps of the dance. The dance “Jardin Aux Lilas” (Lilac Garden) is dated back to 1936. It was choreograhed by Englishman, Antony Tudor, and the music was composed by Chausson. This dance had a lot of charcters in it. It is cimprised of four princials: Carolyn, the man she must marry, an incident from his past, and her lover. In the first performance Carolyn and the man she must marry dance together. By the second scene the episode from his past makes an appearanc. In the thirs performance, her lover comes into play. By the end the four characters are dancing in unison. It ends with Carolyn being told she can never see her lover again.

            This dance was a theatrical play without words that portrays silent emotions. The dancers moved like water and flowed with the story line. Overall, I enjoyed the story line of this plot as it was easier to understand, but I found it hard to follow the characters and it got confusing at some points. 

06/19/13

Today we got back our midterm grades. I was happy to see that I did not completely fail as I thought I would. I was so nervous, but do not know why. I kept messing up during the movement evaluation and forgot a lot of the terms on the the quiz. I am not a good test taker. I am happy with my 9.2-10 :) and I look forward to getting a perfect 10 on the final!!

In class we talked about all the terms we have learned about in this sort amount of time,

-demi plie-- used all the time
-tendu-- most often a beginning/end pose
-degage
-fondu
-grand battement-- begin from large steps
-petit battement-- "beat" the leg (performance step)
-saut-- (2 to 2) women are expected to do a full resolution
-port de bras-- arms are most important (carried)
-glissade-- glide
-pas de chat-- "walking like a cat"
-chasse-- chase
-tombre-- falling step
-pas de bouree-- basic step (32 kinds)
-grand jete-- leap
-petit jete-- little step
-temps leve
-assemble
-sissone
-pirovette
-changement de pied-- LEARNED TODAY
-tour en l'air-- arial turn
-petit allegro-- little combination (small quick part)

-Everything at the barre is translated into performance
-Our memory tends to only remember things that are important

Homework: paper on the videos we watched after the midterm (due on 06/24- as a blog)