DANCE
DANCE
After high school, I took a complete break from dancing for a few years, thinking that maybe I wasn't a dancer after all. The few ballet classes I took during that time didn't count- they were disheartening and a struggle since I had lost so much strength, and consequently the ability to dance the way I wanted. This and the knowledge that I could only get worse at ballet was immensely frustrating to me, and still is.
However, dance kept on tugging at me, and I eventually signed up for a UW dance class, musical theatre, in my senior year. Something good seemed to come out of my hiatus, because when I started doing these movements that I had done so awkwardly before, they felt natural and right. While my forte remained (and still remains) in the technique aspect of dance rather than expression, it was a freeing experience. This revelation also led me to explore other kinds of dance, like salsa, tango, and different types of modern dance that I had not done before.
However, dance kept on tugging at me, and I eventually signed up for a UW dance class, musical theatre, in my senior year. Something good seemed to come out of my hiatus, because when I started doing these movements that I had done so awkwardly before, they felt natural and right. While my forte remained (and still remains) in the technique aspect of dance rather than expression, it was a freeing experience. This revelation also led me to explore other kinds of dance, like salsa, tango, and different types of modern dance that I had not done before.
SPRING 2014
Project: MFA Dance Concert Annotation: I performed in the MFA Dance Concert in a modern dance piece choreographed by Pablo Piantino, a graduate student in the Dance Department. He was great to work with, and overall it was a great experience. It pushed me outside of my comfort zone, since I had not ever done this type of modern dance before (it's somewhat inspired by choreography done by Nacho Duato and Jiri Kylian) and since we performed it six times. After high school, I actually hadn't wanted to perform again, and my decision to audition for this year's MFA Concert was on a whim. I was surprised to find that I really enjoyed performing as I gradually grew re-accustomed to the stage over the run of the show. It has made me rethink my current relation to dance as well as what I want my dance future to look like. SPRING 2014 Course: Dance 239, Tango-- Juliet McMains & Nathan Smith Annotation: This class made me realize the joys of tango, which I had before thought I wouldn't like. I had I associated it with the show-y, dramatic, and passionate stage tango that we see so often on television dance competitions. The tango we learned though was Argentine tango, and I found out that social dancing is about intimacy, caring for your partner, and making the dance the most enjoyable dance that you can make for him/her. I really enjoyed this aspect and found that the longer lines of tango (versus salsa) felt natural to me. Though I am still very much a beginner, I plan to continue dancing tango as far into the future as I can see. The picture on the right is of my first pair of tango shoes, which I bought at the UW Tango Club's spring milonga (formal tango social dance). As silly as it sounds, this was memorable event for me, as it was one of my first major steps and investments in really delving into the tango world. |
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