In the past couple of days, there have been hints of fall in the air. With the incessant rain that the North Shore got here, the temperatures dropped a bit, and the coolness sparked the thoughts of dance into my head.
I love the fall. It’s absolutely my favorite season. Even without being in school anymore, I get the luxury of “going back.” While most people only have their jobs that continue, and merely get to look forward to the change in seasons, I get to return to the excitement of a new season of dance!
The anticipation of starting a new year is always a joy. It’s a time to reflect on the previous season, and look forward to the new one. At the studio I work at, we have a two week summer intensive for the competitive students, so I get to also reflect on that, and take what I saw in their classes and apply it to the new year. I get to think about all the returning students that I’ve grown to love, and the new ones that will quickly adapt to their new dance surroundings. I also get to think about all the new steps and combinations that I will have the opportunity to teach them, and how quickly (or slowly) they will pick them up, and how the progressions will make them, and me, feel!
Reflecting on the past, and looking to the future. That’s really what fall is about, right? Fall brings about the reflection of the summer. Summer is about the sunny weather, the time spent outside, and the enjoyment of being able to spend more time with friends and family, whether it’s on a vacation or celebrating the fourth of July at a barbeque. We look back to those good times and the happiness that the lazy days of the warmer seasons brought us.
At the same time, we look forward to the future. In the fall, while many of us move forward with heavy hearts of summer behind us, we begin the excitement of going back to school. With the temperatures dropping, a buzz for everything we are learning and doing grows. Our lives become busier with the hustle and bustle of the new. As a dance teacher, I can hardly contain my happiness when my summer-dormant creative outlets are reinstated.
Just going through music, trying to find and put together play lists for class, gets me hyped up for the year. My brain starts putting together steps and coming up with ideas for new and fun things for class. Sometimes my brain runs away, and I begin to choreograph for classes that I don’t have, but that’s okay. Usually, it leads to an idea for a class that I DO have! This typically makes me think of my students, and I can’t wait to see how they will react to the things I throw at them!
The other minor excitement is getting new dance clothes! Even today, I just received my package of yoga pants that I will be using for the year! I love browsing through all the dance supply catalogs online to see what I might be interested in getting, and to see what I can buy that’s “in” (because really, as a dance teacher, sometimes you have to try to stay “hip” when dealing with adolescents!). I love trying to anticipate what all my students will be attempting to wear in my ballet classes (no baggy clothes, and warm ups only until rond de jambes on REALLY cold days!), or what the recreational students will be bringing in to wear for hip hop! I also love finding the few choice pieces that will pop in my wardrobe, and will keep me within my budget!
All in all, I cannot wait for autumn to begin. I am excited to see my students, and to begin choreographing. I know that many of my students are excited to return as well. I can’t wait for all of us to be happily reunited again!
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Dance- A sport, or an art?
Today my topic stems from an announcement made on So You Think You Can Dance last Thursday. During the usual opening for the show, Nigel Lythgoe told America that Gatorade was now recognizing dance as a sport. The winner of this season’s show will go on to become the first recognized dancer to represent Gatorade. This has sparked a huge debate in the dance world- is dance really a sport, or is it an art?
My first delve into researching this topic led me to trying to define “art” and “sport.” Wikipedia seemed to give me the best definitions.
“Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way to affect the sense or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music, literature, film, photography, sculpture, and paintings. The meaning of art is explored in a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics.”
It intrigued me that even though this described dance perfectly, dance was not listed as an art. Choreography is essentially the “arranging of elements.” When one dances, all the elements align and are put together to create a whole piece. Dance hits all the points of that definition, particularly the mode of expression. I don’t know a single dancer who hasn’t been moved by at least one piece that they’ve danced or created in their life. Even my younger students talk about how they’ve felt during a piece. Essentially, as well, aesthetics are a big part of dance. Everything has to look right, whether it’s meant to be aesthetic for the audience, or for the choreographer.
After seeing that dance was not truly considered an “art”, I did a search for performing art, and that’s where I found it listed. It was basically described as the materials for the art being the human form, as opposed to physical objects. This makes sense, but then this is where we get dangerously close to the definition of a sport.
“A sport is commonly defined as an organized, competitive, and skillful physical activity requiring commitment and fair play. It is governed by a set of rules or customs. In a sport the key factors are the physical capabilities and skills of the competitor when determining the outcome (winning or losing). The physical activity involves the movement of people, animals and/or a variety of objects such as balls and machines. In contrast, games such as card games and board games, though these could be called mind sports and some are recognized as Olympic sports, require only mental skills. Non-competitive activities such as jogging and rock-climbing, are usually classified as recreations.”
This also defines dance. Whether we dance in competitions, or in class, it is still competitive. It’s the difference between competing with other people, and competing with yourself. Dancers are constantly trying to one up themselves to achieve that physical perfection. It’s organized with a set of rules for each class, and how each movement is executed. It’s also most indefinitely a skillful physical activity.
So here’s where the arguments come in. Both art and sport define dance.
Nigel said on the episode of SYTYCD that he couldn’t wait for dance to be included in the Olympics. My gut reaction was “No way!” Dance is so SUBJECTIVE. Contrary to some of the arguments I’ve heard, dance is not like gymnastics. While there are the floor sections that might as well be a dance with a lot of flips, there is still a set amount of tricks that need to be performed. That’s all it basically is, though- a bunch of tricks. I hear from so many judges and dance teachers that complain when dances become all about the “wow” factor, and they don’t have the basics to back it up. In gymnastics, I’m pretty sure that the judges aren’t critiquing on how the gymnasts hold their hands or how wonderful their chasses are (I don’t know this for a fact. If a gymnast out there reads this and I’m wrong feel free to correct me). In dance, those are the basics that need to be judged on. Gymnastics is also based on the steps. Dance is typically based on the emotion or the expression. How could a judge critique emotion? You can’t set a bunch of rules on how to judge emotion. One judge may like the fact that they’re making big faces, while the other may think the dancer is doing too much. A syllabus on how to determine that couldn’t very well be made without a huge controversy.
At the same time, though, dance is SO athletic! Why do you think most dancers are thin but muscular? It’s because of the intensity that it brings to our physical beings. If you get the right dance teachers, they’ll tell you that you should be sweating after the first combination that you do in class. Dance is created so that you work right off the bat. The physical demands are so extreme that classes are designed to almost immediately warm up your body. In this aspect, it almost DEMANDS to be a sport. The physicality of it is almost more-so than half the sports out there. I mean, come on, look at curling. If THAT can be called a sport, why not call dance a sport?
Then there’s the comparison of dance and cheerleading, and how cheerleading is not being considered a sport. This just boggles my mind. How can cheerleading NOT be called a sport? Yes, it involves poms poms, and yes, it involves yelling, but seriously, I’d like to see some of those nay-sayers do a split jump in second, or even attempt a back flip! I can’t do it. I’d absolutely put cheerleading in the category of sports. There’s an element of creativity to it, of course, but it’s not really a performing art. The physical demands of dance and cheerleading are very much so the same, with the only differences being the types of tricks that are performed. So if cheerleading won’t be considered a sport, then why is dance now being considered?
I’m going to go out on a limb here and walk that fiery line of being on both sides. I think it’s an athletic performing art. The other performing arts out there don’t put that physical demand on the body. You can’t call acting a sport, right? There isn’t the same level of activity. At the same time, it’s a form of expression and was originally created as a way for people to interact. It’s a performance, not just a regulated series of steps. Essentially, dance is the best of the both worlds. It’s the only performing art that requires that physicality, while at the same time is one of the few sports that require the creative aspect along with emotion.
The next time you talk to a dancer, give them some credit. They’re always being told that they’re one thing or another, when really they’re all the good things of the categories they’re being defined as rolled into one. I really think that dance stands on its own, and is in and of itself its own entity. Thanks for the nudge, though, Gatorade! We appreciate the recognition!
(Just a little note- thanks to www.wikipedia.com for the definitions! I am not endorsed or anything to use their site or anything like that, though! I don't own those definitions!)
My first delve into researching this topic led me to trying to define “art” and “sport.” Wikipedia seemed to give me the best definitions.
“Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way to affect the sense or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music, literature, film, photography, sculpture, and paintings. The meaning of art is explored in a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics.”
It intrigued me that even though this described dance perfectly, dance was not listed as an art. Choreography is essentially the “arranging of elements.” When one dances, all the elements align and are put together to create a whole piece. Dance hits all the points of that definition, particularly the mode of expression. I don’t know a single dancer who hasn’t been moved by at least one piece that they’ve danced or created in their life. Even my younger students talk about how they’ve felt during a piece. Essentially, as well, aesthetics are a big part of dance. Everything has to look right, whether it’s meant to be aesthetic for the audience, or for the choreographer.
After seeing that dance was not truly considered an “art”, I did a search for performing art, and that’s where I found it listed. It was basically described as the materials for the art being the human form, as opposed to physical objects. This makes sense, but then this is where we get dangerously close to the definition of a sport.
“A sport is commonly defined as an organized, competitive, and skillful physical activity requiring commitment and fair play. It is governed by a set of rules or customs. In a sport the key factors are the physical capabilities and skills of the competitor when determining the outcome (winning or losing). The physical activity involves the movement of people, animals and/or a variety of objects such as balls and machines. In contrast, games such as card games and board games, though these could be called mind sports and some are recognized as Olympic sports, require only mental skills. Non-competitive activities such as jogging and rock-climbing, are usually classified as recreations.”
This also defines dance. Whether we dance in competitions, or in class, it is still competitive. It’s the difference between competing with other people, and competing with yourself. Dancers are constantly trying to one up themselves to achieve that physical perfection. It’s organized with a set of rules for each class, and how each movement is executed. It’s also most indefinitely a skillful physical activity.
So here’s where the arguments come in. Both art and sport define dance.
Nigel said on the episode of SYTYCD that he couldn’t wait for dance to be included in the Olympics. My gut reaction was “No way!” Dance is so SUBJECTIVE. Contrary to some of the arguments I’ve heard, dance is not like gymnastics. While there are the floor sections that might as well be a dance with a lot of flips, there is still a set amount of tricks that need to be performed. That’s all it basically is, though- a bunch of tricks. I hear from so many judges and dance teachers that complain when dances become all about the “wow” factor, and they don’t have the basics to back it up. In gymnastics, I’m pretty sure that the judges aren’t critiquing on how the gymnasts hold their hands or how wonderful their chasses are (I don’t know this for a fact. If a gymnast out there reads this and I’m wrong feel free to correct me). In dance, those are the basics that need to be judged on. Gymnastics is also based on the steps. Dance is typically based on the emotion or the expression. How could a judge critique emotion? You can’t set a bunch of rules on how to judge emotion. One judge may like the fact that they’re making big faces, while the other may think the dancer is doing too much. A syllabus on how to determine that couldn’t very well be made without a huge controversy.
At the same time, though, dance is SO athletic! Why do you think most dancers are thin but muscular? It’s because of the intensity that it brings to our physical beings. If you get the right dance teachers, they’ll tell you that you should be sweating after the first combination that you do in class. Dance is created so that you work right off the bat. The physical demands are so extreme that classes are designed to almost immediately warm up your body. In this aspect, it almost DEMANDS to be a sport. The physicality of it is almost more-so than half the sports out there. I mean, come on, look at curling. If THAT can be called a sport, why not call dance a sport?
Then there’s the comparison of dance and cheerleading, and how cheerleading is not being considered a sport. This just boggles my mind. How can cheerleading NOT be called a sport? Yes, it involves poms poms, and yes, it involves yelling, but seriously, I’d like to see some of those nay-sayers do a split jump in second, or even attempt a back flip! I can’t do it. I’d absolutely put cheerleading in the category of sports. There’s an element of creativity to it, of course, but it’s not really a performing art. The physical demands of dance and cheerleading are very much so the same, with the only differences being the types of tricks that are performed. So if cheerleading won’t be considered a sport, then why is dance now being considered?
I’m going to go out on a limb here and walk that fiery line of being on both sides. I think it’s an athletic performing art. The other performing arts out there don’t put that physical demand on the body. You can’t call acting a sport, right? There isn’t the same level of activity. At the same time, it’s a form of expression and was originally created as a way for people to interact. It’s a performance, not just a regulated series of steps. Essentially, dance is the best of the both worlds. It’s the only performing art that requires that physicality, while at the same time is one of the few sports that require the creative aspect along with emotion.
The next time you talk to a dancer, give them some credit. They’re always being told that they’re one thing or another, when really they’re all the good things of the categories they’re being defined as rolled into one. I really think that dance stands on its own, and is in and of itself its own entity. Thanks for the nudge, though, Gatorade! We appreciate the recognition!
(Just a little note- thanks to www.wikipedia.com for the definitions! I am not endorsed or anything to use their site or anything like that, though! I don't own those definitions!)
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