What A Feeling… |Dreams That Glitter

My dance teacher kindly reminded me yesterday I was supposed to have choreographed my solo for the show by now and asked to see it, and of course I hadn’t even decided what music I was using really. I was really tempted to change my choice from Flashdance to El Tango de Roxanne just because I really like that music, but at some point I’d told my teacher I was thinking about Flashdance and she wrote it in the program, so I wasn’t going to be awkward and change my mind last minute. So anyway, she said I had until Friday to show her something, cue panic mode. How do you choreograph an entire 3-4 minute dance in just a few days?

Quite easily, apparently. I went in there today after school, I think it was just after 4pm, and mum said she’d pick me up at 5.30pm, which I didn’t think was a lot of time and didn’t expect to get all that much done, but I surprised myself. I only have 3 bars of 8 left to choreograph, and then a whole lot of rehearsing and perfecting. I started by watching the final dance from Flashdance for inspiration and copied the movement as closely as I could for the first 30 seconds or so, adapting it slightly to suit me. After that I just kind of improvised until I got something I liked, then kept going through the song over and over doing the same thing. I’ve got the whole start section that goes into the first verse, then the chorus and a linking section in the instrumental bit (which I sneakily stole – well not really since I half made it up anyway – from what we did in Dance at school). It then goes into the second verse where I did half of what I did in the first verse reversed on the opposite side, and then comes the bit I’m missing. Then it’s the chorus again followed by another little section, and that’s it! The dance is 3:19 altogether so I think I did quite well to get the majority of it done in quite a short time! 

I did record it but I won’t post it now because it’s not a great video… but when the choreography is finished and I have the energy to perform it flat out (it involves a lot of jumping and rolling on the floor – I have about a million new bruises) for recording purposes I shall do and will put it up here like I’ve done for others. 

I realise this is quite a lengthy post about one bit of choreography but oh well haha! I just wanted to write a little update and share that with you all. 

PS I’ve just decided I’m going to upload a short clip of the video baring in mind it’s not great but I just wanted to post it so I can compare it to the final piece later on. So that will be to follow shortly 😉 

Dance Company Update |Dreams That Glitter

Look what my fabulous friend Amy made! Isn’t she clever?;)

I just got some rather exciting news…. I got into the school dance company! I’m so happy and can’t wait to start rehearsals on Tuesday! I don’t think my audition went quite as well as it could have to be honest but I guess that doesn’t matter because I got in as long as I keep working hard and put lots of effort in. I’m getting a copy of the video of my solo from the audition from my teacher, I forgot to take in my memory stick earlier in the week and then my teacher wasn’t in, so hopefully I’ll get hold of that on Tuesday and post it here if I can bare it. Hopefully there’s an improvement at least in the performance side of it from the other video I posted from Sunday. I’ve just realised this now means on Tuesdays I’m going to be in school over 9 hours from 7.15 – 4.30…. that’s not a nice thought. Trampolining at 7.15, I then have PE and Dance in the day and then dance company after… I shouldn’t complain though should I?! With the help of coffee and some kind of energy filled foods I’m sure I’ll get through it all. And then probably an early night. Anyway, we’re working towards a show in December called ‘Night at the Movies’ and we’re doing pieces from the Matrix and Slumdog Millionaire, so it should be good!

A bit of a ballet update here while I’m at it… Pointe is going really well, I can actually do things without clutching onto the barre for dear life, hooray! My friend Maisie (I’ve mentioned her a few times before) has started ballet and been coming to the Inter Foundation class I do before pointe, and she’s doing really well so yay for that too! And my teacher is clearly already considering her a favourite which is always a bonus. 😉

Ok I think that’s it for now… Happy Friday! Hope you all have a fabulous weekend. 🙂 xxx

To Be A Dancer|Dreams That Glitter

So, I’ve always loved dancing, I’ve done ballet for ten years now, that’s a long time, the majority of my life, in fact. Although I’ve never quit or given up with it, it’s always been in phases – phases where I drift in and out of having my entire life taken over by dancing. Up until late last year, when I decided I wanted to be a dancer. I didn’t admit it to anyone for a while, but then I thought, well if I don’t, how am I going to do it? I can’t work my way there by myself. This year I’ve really focussed in ballet classes (I’ve been doing Grade 8, Inter foundation and started pointe work last September – with a few problems along the way) and I think I have improved quite a lot, because I’m putting more into it.

For about three years prior to that, although I rarely miss a class, I’ve just been there, I haven’t really been there. I’ve just got my way through the class, without taking everything in. I’ve found that I don’t actually have that bad a dance movement memory and actually I can remember syllabus. The whole pointe thing was a bit of a disaster at first, but I’m getting there now, slowly but surely. I still have a lot of work to do on that side of things.

Now I think I know I’m never going to be a prima ballerina, but why not give it my all anyway? Why not give it my best shot and see what happens, with lots of extra stretching and strengthening between classes there could be a big improvement. Realistically I know that to be a dancer I need to be fitter and probably lose weight too to where I’m at now, but I can do that. I’m willing to work for this because I love it, and I know it takes a lot of input to get anything out, and I know it’s a competitive industry and I know it’s not going to be a piece of cake to get where I want to be, but this is my dream, and why shouldn’t I have a good go at it?

I had a careers appointment at school on the last week, and I’m still decided if it was helpful or not, which I guess it wasn’t too much. The lady was lovely but she didn’t really seem to know much about what I was talking about, I’m probably better talking to my dance teacher at school because she’ll know what she’s talking about more. I’ll go see her when we go back. She told me a lot of what I already knew beforehand, like after GCSE’s I basically have three options: college/specialist College, sixth form or an apprenticeship (which isn’t really appropriate for this). What I’ll do is apply for sixth form at my school (here I’d do Dance A level and a dance leaders qualification, and Fashion and Clothing BTEC course which is the only other thing I really want to do there, which is good for a back-up plan if the whole dancer thing doesn’t work out for whatever reason). I looked through all the leaflets I got from Move It back in March, and put aside all the ones that might be of use to me. Much as I’d love to go to a ballet school I’m not sure on my chances about getting in are, I’m short, I don’t have the body (now at least) and I don’t have the best technique in the world, I’m just not sure I have what it takes to be a ballerina, much as I’d love to, and I am prepared to work on that and I will. I think I might be better suited to go more in the direction of contemporary dance, but then in most dance schools both of these styles are compulsory classes, and many schools train their dancers in a variety of different styles.

When I go to Move It next year, I’ll go around and ask about the different colleges and what’s available to me post 16 and post 18 and see what the better route to take is. I have to consider which is going to need more qualifications to get into, but also all the different courses on offer, funding and transport/accommodation. It’s a lot to think about so it’s probably a good thing that I’m starting to think about it now, so I have a while to sort everything out, rather than leaving it all last minute…

So yeah, now I’ve put all that out here, I feel like I have all the more reason to work as hard as I can in dance and try and get into a dance school next year maybe. Or stay on and do A level dance and do as well as I can in that, whatever it is I decide to pick in the end. Either way, I’ll update this blog with everything. If anyone has any advice or experience they’d like to share please do comment and get in touch! 🙂