Unit 13 and 14 Contemporary Dance Workshop

 Floorwork Swinging Sequence

Physical Skills This Exercise Develops

Strength - During the plank movement in this exercise I demonstrate a good use of strength as I am consistently able to hold this movement for the desired period of time.  

Flexibility - During one of the movements on the floor, I showed a high level of flexibility in both my spine and hips due to the fact that I am able to rotate my spine to the desired angle and place the sides of knees nearly flat onto the floor and when swinging my legs to touch my hands I was able to get them quite close to touching. 

How Was I Successful in This Exercise and What Needed Improving?

Overall I feel I was successful in performing the exercise, I was able to keep in time with the music and general I had a good physicality; however I do think I could have improved my technicality a little while performing the movements in particular the shape I made with my feet and my posture could have been used more effectively. I also feel that I could improve on my flexibility in certain movements to more accurately perform the dance. 

How Does This Exercise Develop Contemporary Dance Skills?

This exercise utilises the floor work aspect of Contemporary dance, this is one of the styles most prominent features that differentiates it from many others. The movements in this exercise really leaned into the idea of giving into gravity and letting the floor have your weight; this allows you to use the floor as a big part of your dance giving you a wider range of movements in which you can perform. 

Weight Transference Stepping Sequence 

Physical Skills This Exercise Develops

Coordination - This exercise improve the coordination of your legs and feet, as you have to move both of your legs at the same two however they are both completing separate movements that can be difficult to keep track of.

How Was I Successful in This Exercise and What Needed Improving?

I feel that I could have improved a great deal in this exercise. I think that I could have definitely improved on my technique and my overall accuracy of the movement especially when performing the turn, however I was able to keep in time with the music for the most part despite not getting the foot work entirely correct. I know that I could improve on my movements within this exercise if I began by performing it slower and build up to the correct speed. 

How Does This Exercise Develop Contemporary Dance Skills?

This exercise helps to increase your ability to smoothly transfer your body weight from one leg to the other, this is a big part of making your movements look more professional and natural and can go a long way to improve your dancing no matter the style. Although this is a big part of Contemporary as many of the movements require you to be able to transfer your body weight as many movements are done on one leg at a time. 

Handstand Sequence 

Physical Skills This Exercise Develops

Flexibility - This exercise requires flexibility as you have to stretch your legs to an angle which may not be natural for some performers and will require some work on their flexibility. Some may also struggle to straighten their legs while they are spread apart like this. 

Balance - Balance is a big part of this exercise as you have to ensure that you can use yours to balance your weight and to not topple over. This can be difficult due to the motion in which you are moving. 

Strength/core strength - This is a big requirement for this exercise as you have to have the strength to support your body weight on just your arms alone, which are less used to holding up such a weight. To also hold your lower body at this angle, you must also have a good core strength otherwise you may not be able to complete the movement and hold your lower body in the air. 

Performance of Group Work Based on Words: Push, Pull, Wrap and Throw 

Elements of Contemporary Dance Seen in Performance

In this piece, we use multiple elements of contemporary dance. Two of the biggest things we included was the use of floor work and giving into gravity, we made sure to use floor work as it opens up the dance to use a wider range of movements that can be more expressive with the emotions that we wished to show at certain points within the piece. 

We also included moments which varied in speed however still kept in time with the music. We also wanted to include moments that caused us to travel and use up the performance space we had, this would also allow us to be much more creative in the movements we made. 

Many of the movements caused us to have contorted limbs in particular our spine and torso, this is something that contemporary dance is known for and is one of the differentiating factors from many other types of dance, as posture is not as heavily focused on.

Specific Movements That Show Stimulus Words

Push 

Pull 

Wrap 

Throw