Favorite Musical Dance

I chose this video to show because The Sound of Music is my all time favorite musical. I love how all the characters work together, and the whole movie is written very well. I chose this song especially because I just love how all of the kids all of them have their own solos. I also like how there's a "chorus" in the dance as well as the song where they do the same dance over. I believe that this dance is very creative, and I also like how each of the kids look happy. There were some moments that the dance had to be in beat with the song, and it seemed to be very tough, yet the children worked well with it.  For example, when they are "kicking" the child out of the line and to bed they each do something that corresponds to the song. Also each of their dances had to do with something in the song which I thought was incredible. Overall, I think that is very clever and it's very appealing for me to watch. I wish to do something like this in dance class where we do something that has to do with what the song is saying.

Dance Reflection

Dance Link

Personal Reflection -

I believe the strongest part of our dance was when we all come up and I go into the middle, and we do the level dance. I thought it was very strong because we all did very good on it, and we were all on sync. Also, I really liked that part of the dance, because it was very electric, and very high energy. I could feel like the audience was very into that part of the dance, and that they felt the energy too. While doing it, I could feel that all the people in my group, were all happy and smiling, and were very focused on the task. I think the most challenging aspect is when we were doing the “Don't wake me up” part and when we went and transitioned to Alice jumping off our backs. That was very hard for us because first of we needed the pillow in the right place, so Lauren could get it in time.  Secondly, we thought it was challenging because then we had to quickly get into position to when Alice steps on our backs, and we had to do it to the beat of our song. It was very fast, and we had to do it quickly in order for it to turn out like we wanted it to. Personally, I really liked our performance. It was very well thought out and we all contributes own styles of dance. I was also glad we chose Pop danthology because we first couldn't decide the song, and when we found pop danthology, it was the perfect mix of all the songs we liked. Also I liked the beginning part of our dance where we went pop danthology, because it seemed so smooth, and it was on time. It was very well thought out, and very smart. One thing that I still work is the part where we it switches to the song “Lights”  because I always mess up at that part. I kick my front leg instead of my back leg, and it doesn't look completely wrong, but it would be better if I did it right. Our group worked pretty well together. Sometimes, though, there were arguments and disagreements regarding the dances. Sometimes one person in our group would be playing around while we would want to practice, and it would get frustrating. But I think overall we did work good. We incorporated all our strengths, and tried to avoid our weaknesses. We also had a lot of fun together, since we are all friends, and I think it was just a really fun experience! One thing I would change is our transitions. Sometimes we would be standing there looking confused, but we should be looking professional. One thing that I think we did really well, was just our dance overall. We got all the steps correct it seemed very visually appealing, and it overall looked very professional. The most challenging aspect was just learning the dance moves. It was very hard to remember all of them at once, so we tried to break up the song and make it easier for us. Also it was very hard for all three of us to be in sync sometimes, so we’d have to repeat the whole dance to make sure we got it. It was also very challenging when we’d come back two days later (because of block schedule) because sometimes we’d forget parts of the song, and that wouldn't be very good. To overcome the previous challenge, we kept practicing day after day, and we even stayed after school to practice. Every chance we got, we’d tried to really to get the steps down. I think all this hard work paid off, though, because the final performance turned out very good. We did do the aspects of the dance that were asked of us, pretty well. We got everything that was requested from us, and though they were requirements, they did make our dance look much better. It had a more professional look to it, when we did it with the elements. We tried to incorporate everything that was asked, but there were a few challenges. For example, the prop was pretty hard for us to find because we didn't want anything to look too awkward. Also we didn't want to suddenly bring the prop in our dance and making it look very strange. My group wanted something that fit with the song, and finally we came up with the prop, a pillow. It was perfect for the part when the artist said “Don’t wake me up” because we could act like someone was sleeping on the pillow. I think the pillow idea was very good. If I were to change something, I would really change some of our moves, and make it a little smoother. This is because our transitions were a little rough, and sometimes one of us would be just standing there, when everyone should be dancing. It would make the dance look much better if everyone was doing something. It would also look a lot better if we didn't run around like we did sometimes. Like we would be walking, but walking in a dancing way that made the audience think that it was all part of the dance. Overall, I thought it was very good, and I was so proud of how it came out.

Group Reflection

We chose this song and dance because we wanted something upbeat, and fun. We didn’t know which song to choose before, because there were so many, and we finally came across Pop Danthology which had the perfect selections of all the songs we wanted. Also we liked it because we could change the pace of our dance moves from slow to fast in seconds which we could really work with. We also loved working with this song, because we could do so many things with it, and make it a whole story, from finish to end. Also we all agreed to have that song, which made it easier for figuring out the dance moves.

We took turns choosing the dance moves. As a group we tried to incorporate the dance moves with each part of the song. As you read previously our group picked a mashup of many different songs. The dance moves are meant to illustrate and bring emotion into the dance. It took us a little while to work out all the moves. This is because we all had different ideas and were not always able to agree on everything. As far as who made what moves, we all took turn sharing the many different ideas that were mentioned. In the end every move was interpreted my the dancers and changed slightly. Some dance moves that I know for sure were invented by different people are the following. Dana came up with the idea of the ticking clock, Alice came up with most of the arm motions, and Lauren had the idea of Alice stepping on Dana and Lauren like steps and then jumping off.

Overall, we feel that our dance is good for our first time trying to do choreography. We all like the first part of the song because it is strong and moves to the beat with the song. But the second part we do not feel so good about because it seems very unorganized. The group says that we could of worked on it better and made it a bit more professional.

Speech

I believe that my speech didn't go as well as I thought. For example, I wanted to do so much more gestures. I also wanted to change my voice a little more, and I wanted to walk around a lot more. Even though, I did have a few mistakes, I still did a few things that I liked in my speech. For example, there was one part of my speech where I emphasized a word, when I didn't mean to, and it turned out very good. I also had a few moments when I caught eye contact with a few people, and it really made the speech a lot better. 

This speech was about a personal experience that has happened in our life, that has changed us. I talked about the time I moved into my new house, and about how I was so excited about the pool. My intentions for this speech, were not to be about the pool and me riding on it, I meant it to be about how I changed as a person from before to now. For example, how I became more mature, and how I changed to being more optimistic and more happy in my life. I had a lot of challenges when I was writing my speech. For example, I had a lot of trouble figuring out what I was going to talk about, because I never really had an adventurous life. I thought and I thought, and finally I came up with this idea, and I knew it was perfect for this class. Before the speech, I definitely felt very nervous, because I felt like I hadn't practiced it enough, even though I practiced more than I should've. After my speech, I felt a lot better that it was over, and it seemed like it went on forever. I wasn't exactly unhappy about my speech, but I was more disappointed that I didn't do the things that I hoped to. Some of the feedback that I had recieved was that I didn't have enough eye contact, and I agreed with that. When I'm nervous, I try to look down at my paper, more than look at other people, because sometimes it makes me feel uncomfortable, and so I really need to work on that.

I feel that the areas of strength for me s my voice and articulation, because I talk a lot to other people, so most of the time I don't feel uncomfortable. Also, I have taken a few theater classes, so I know how to speak and seem like I'm completely comfortable with my surroundings. The areas that I really need to work on is eye contact, and the swaying that I do when I'm nervous. I'm not sure if anyone notices my "swaying" because most of the time I just tap on my legs, or move my hands in a pattern, but I definitely need to work on it. Also I need to work with eye contact, and feeling more comfortable with myself, and looking at others. 

Overall, I feel like I did a pretty good job, and I feel proud of myself that I had received the award, and I hope the next speech goes as well as this one!