BMT's 'Guys & Dolls' - Welcome to the Hot Box Club!

Rehearsals have now become a sexy time, now that I've joined the Hot Box Posse!  It's been about a month since I had been asked to be part of a fantastic group of girls who have helped me become the best dancer I can be.  I just hope I don't make the rest of 'em look bad, I'm working so hard.

I remember taking ballet when I was two, and quitting when I was two-and-a-half.  I guess we're finicky at that age when it comes to what we find entertaining.  I don't remember why I didn't want to go back, but for some reason I didn't like it.  Hindsight is always twenty-twenty, because I wish I had stuck with the training.

I've been in plenty of musicals and know my way around a mean jazz square thanks to many a patient choreographer, but I've never had the pleasure of studying the discipline of dance and movement from a proper teacher.  I'm a great mimic when it comes to things like that, and I'm familiar with how my body moves and looks, thanks to lots of mirror study.  Getting over looking at yourself in the mirror when you potentially look like a fool is the greatest asset any dancer, singer or actor can have - you know what you look like when your body, face and posture are doing things they don't normally do, you can correct yourself accordingly.  The mirror has been my best friend when it comes to this dancing, making sure I've got everything where it should be; kicking the proper leg up, hands in proper position, making sure I'm singing at the same time!

Stephanie, our choreographer, and April, our dance captain, are so patient with me.  It's probably my unnecessary paranoia that they want to chuck high heels at the back of my head.  I have such high respect for the training dancers endure, the discipline they have for their art.  I'm rather honoured to be a Hot Box Girl, really, and to be able to learn a little more about how to perform as a dancer with proper posture and poise.

We've got two numbers we're working on for the show, "Bushel and a Peck" and "Take Back Your Mink".  Choreo's all done, now it's just practice, practice, practice - the only way to Carnegie Hall ... or in our case, Rose Theatre!

Come see the turnout of all that time practicing April 12-14, 2012 at the Rose Theatre in Brampton!  Tickets are on sale online!

Synergy Arts Camp: Hip Hop Dance

Thursday is Hip Hop day at Synergy Arts Camp!  Hip hop culture is rather young in comparison to the history of the other dances we've reviewed this week, and it's also the most popular!  We gave some of the original and classic moves like The Running Man and The Robot - old school, for sho!  Check out the handouts I've made for the kids to enjoy!

Hip hop began as a form of musical expression and artistic culture in the South Bronx neighbourhoods of New York City in the 1970s.  There are four major elements of hip hop culture: MCing and rapping, DJing technique, graffiti art and hip hop dance.  Over the years, hip hop has crossed borders and cultures from its humble beginnings in Harlem and Brooklyn, becoming the most popular form of dance performance in the world – almost every country in the world has its own local hip hop scene, from music artists to dance crews!

There are many dance moves and techniques used in hip hop dance that borrow from other dance forms, such as tap and jazz dance.   Hip hop dance also has unique dance styles such as breaking, locking and popping, which were developed by African- and Latino-American communities in the 1970s.  Hip hop dance is also unique because of its often improvisational dance performances, or freestyle, where dancers occasionally perform in formal or informal dance competitions, usually known as battles.  

Hip hop dance was recognized as a performance dance form more than 30 years ago during the presence of professional breaking, locking and popping crews formed at the time.  Some of the most influential dance crews were the Rock Steady Crew, The Lockers and the Electric Boogaloos, who were responsible for spreading the art of hip hop dance respectively.  

As hip hop music began to evolve, the dance element evolved with it to include new moves, new styles and new expressions.   Dance styles such as new style, jazz funk, lyrical hip hop and krumping have all developed in the last ten years.  Hip hop dance movies have been popular since the 1980s, with titles such as Beat Street, Wild Style, Breakin’, You Got Served, Step Up, Honey and Save the Last Dance, and has also been featured in many reality television shows such as America’s Best Dance Crew and So You Think You Can Dance.  Hip hop culture now has a presence in theatre performance, featuring spoken word and hip hop dance and music combined in the production.

Synergy Arts Camp: Jazz Dance

Wednesday - we jazz it up!  I'm most excited about this handout because of my personal background in jazz dance with musical theatre performance.  It's energetic, it's full of expression, it's fun and exciting to watch!  My informal jazz training has come from years of musical theatre choreography, and I've got a handle on some of the basic stuff to know about jazz.  We tried a couple of moves in the Bob Fosse page - Sinead and I gave the Crane a try, both as a pose and a jump.  Our Stack looked pretty nifty, and especially cute with all those different sized arms!  Take a look at the rest of the Bob Fosse poses, as well as some jazz stretches, isolations and dancewear - all in the handouts!  Enjoy!

Jazz dance has its roots in African American free-form dance styles of the late 1800s to mid-1900s.  Tap dance was considered part of the jazz dance form in the mid-1950s, being the main performance dance at the time, and it was also choreographed to jazz music.  Tap and jazz began to evolve into separate dance forms, and many different jazz steps became popular.  Everything from swing dancing to the Charleston, boogie woogie to the Lindy Hop all became forms of jazz being danced everywhere! 

The pioneers of jazz dance start with the vaudeville star Joe Frisco, who, in the 1910s, danced in a loose-limbed style close to the ground while juggling his derby, hat and cigar.  Much of the musical theatre and modern jazz style can be credited to famous choreographer Bob Fosse, who's work can be defined in such musical theatre productions such as Chicago, Cabaret, Damn Yankees and The Pajama Game.   Other artists famous for their work in jazz dance are Jack Cole and Gus Giordano, who’s techniques are still used in modern jazz!

You'll find jazz everywhere nowadays!  It's the backbone of musical theatre choreography and it's all over television, movies, music videos and pop concerts.  Teen favourites such as Hairspray, High School Musical, So You Think You Can Dance and Glee are all great examples of some of the best modern and musical theatre jazz dance!

Synergy Arts Camp: Tap Dance

Tuesday is Tap Day at Synergy Arts Camp!  Tap dance is one of my favourite dance forms, I've been an appreciator of tap for some time, recently purchasing my very first pair of tap shoes from Synergy!  (We've got all sorts of dancewear here!)  I've been practicing with them on my balcony and some spare time in the Grand Ballroom at the academy.  I'm rather elated, actually, and will be considering proper tap lessons in the future.  I've had some basic lessons a few years ago and remember the steps, and have also looked up a few basic moves that are really good for balance and weight transfer for young kids to try.  Here's the handout for tap dance, as well as an activity sheet for the kids to fill out on the parts of a ballet pointe shoe.  (First one to finish got their choice of sticker!)  Enjoy!

Tap dance was developed in the United States during the nineteenth century and has gained popularity around the world!  The name 'tap' comes from the sound of the small metal plates on the soles of a tap dancers' shoes when they touch a hard floor.  This dance form uses precise and quick foot patterns in rhythms, choreographed to a pace in the music very much like a drummer in a band.  American composer Morton Gould has composed concertos for tap dancer and orchestra - using the dancer as the rhythm section!

A history of tap can be seen in traditional clog dances in the Netherlands, Irish and Scottish jigs, as well as the rhythmic foot stamping of African dances.  North American tap dancing has two modern techniques: classical tap and hoofers.  Classical tap blends elements of ballet or jazz dance into the upper body movements into the tap choreography, and tend to stay on their toes.  Dancers like Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire and Julie Andrews are great examples of classical tap.  Hoofers use every part of the shoes to make their feet sound like drums – a great example is the Broadway show Stomp!, where the dancers also incorporate objects like trash cans and broomsticks into their rhythmic choreography!

Tap dance is also a regular part of musical theatre choreography, with many shows specifically composed for ‘tap dancer accompaniment’.  Busby Berkeley started the trend of ‘movie musicals’ with hundreds of dancers tap dancing at once!  Other popular musicals featuring tap dance are Anything Goes, 42^nd Street, Singin’ in the Rain, Mary Poppins and many more!

Basic Tap Dance Warm-ups and Stretches

Arm Circles

Holding your arms straight and out to the sides, gently circle your arms about 20 times; 10 to the front and 10 to the back.   (A tap dancers uses the arms and shoulders for balance, so these will need to be nice and loose!)

Ankle Rolls

Standing with your weight on one foot, point the toe of your other foot into the floor.  Gently roll the heel of your foot around your toe.  Perform 20 turns on each foot, 10 to the front and 10 to the back.  (This helps stretch the muscles and tendons in your legs and feet!)

Point and Flex

Stand with your weight on one foot.  Point your other leg to the front, keeping your knee straight.  Change from one foot to the other until each foot has had 20 turns.  (This helps stretch your calf muscles in the back of your legs!)

Runner’s Lunge

To perform a runner's lunge, lunge forward on one knee, straightening the other leg behind.  Place your hands on your lunged knee.  Push the heel of your back leg into the ground, feeling the stretch through your entire calf area.  Hold the stretch for 20 seconds on each leg.  (A tap dancers’ lower legs work very hard – this stretch helps stretch those out a little more!)

Hamstring Stretch

Stand with one leg in front with your foot flexed.  Place your hands on your thighs to support your body weight.  Lower your upper body towards your leg.  Hold the stretch for 20 seconds on each leg.  (This will help stretch the back of your thighs!)

Tap Dance Shoes

Here are some great tap dance videos to inspire!

Gene Kelly and Julie Andrews are two of the most popular classical tap dancers, having entertained in movies and musicals together with their singing voices and tap dancing.  This clip features a very interesting way you could practice your tap moves!



Ms. Sutton Foster stars in the Broadway revival of the musical Anything Goes, full of romantic antics aboard a steamer cruise ship across the Atlantic.  This tap dance number, as performed at the 65th Annual Tony Awards celebrating Broadway theatre, is of the title song 'Anything Goes' that closes the first act.  And for an added surprise ...



The opening credits from one of my favourite movies, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom!  Here's Kate Capshaw peforming 'Anything Goes' in Mandarin - and a Busby Berkley tribute to tap dance!

Synergy Arts Camp: Ballet

Monday at camp, we learn about ballet in dance!  I introduced these handouts and activities during the Toy Story week, and they were great for the kids!   I was very careful to have plenty of inclusion for boys in the ballet handout, from pictures to written content, especially for future weeks.  Boys in ballet still carries a stigma about it being solely a girls' activity, and I would like to help change minds in young boys who would like to be dancers.  Ballet is an important base form if one wishes to be a professional dancer, because its movements are translated into just about every other dance form in the world.  Ballet also has a history that not many people may know about, that it used to be danced exclusively by men until the Romantic era, when the female dancer became featured and the tutu was invented.  The handouts were a big help, and certainly helped me learn much more about ballet!  I'll be posting the handouts separately for your perusing pleasure, and I also plan to expand them over the next few weeks, especially since we'll have kids coming back for a few weeks at a time.  (I'm sure there's only so many times you can show them the five basic positions!)  Enjoy!
 

Ballet comes from the Latin word ballare, meaning to dance.  Its origins trace all the way back to the 1500s in Italian Renaissance courts as dances regularly performed at aristocratic weddings by the guests.  It would become a formalized form of concert dance with the help of its development in countries like France and Russia.  Louis XIV, king of France in the 1600s, was known around the world for his talent as a ballet danseur and had a role created for him, Sun King in Ballet de la Nuit, written by Jean-Baptiste Lully.  Louis XIV's favourite ballet teacher, Pierre Beauchamp, created the five basic positions of the feet and arms that are taught in ballet technique even today!  Just think - you are learning what was taught to great kings!

Choreographed ballet works also include elements of mime and acting, and are usually set to classical music.  One of the most popular ballet music composers is Pyotr Tchaikovsky, who wrote music for Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and his most famous, The Nutcracker!   Nowadays, ballet is danced to many types of music, including rock n' roll!

Learning ballet is very hard work; it is highly technical with its own recognizable 'vocabulary' of movement and requires a lot of practice.  Its technique includes pointe work, turn-out of the legs and its graceful, flowing movements.  Professional ballet dancers look like they're floating on air!  The most popular form of ballet is called classical ballet, while there are also modern forms such as neoclassical ballet and contemporary ballet.

Basic Ballet Positions of the Arms and Feet 

Ballet Dancewear

Fill in the blanks below!

Here are some ballet performance videos for you to enjoy!

This ballet is inspired by the popular classical ballet Coppélia, about an inventor who makes a life-size dancing doll.  It is known as a comic ballet, and this modern interpretation is for a family audience, still with its ballet traditions.



The Moscow Ballet is a famous international ballet company, with many dancers aspiring to study with their teachers.  This excerpt is from one of their performances of The Nutcracker, featuring beautiful technique and spirited dancing as the toys come to life!  Look at how they dance on their toes - that's called 'pointe work'.



Karen Kain is Canada's most famous primaballerina and an international star!  She has danced with some of the best international ballet companies for over thirty years!  Now retired from ballet, she is the Artistic Director for the National Ballet of Canada.  Here she is, dancing a pas de deux - a 'dance duet' - with Frank Ausgustyn from the ballet Gisele.