|
|
| |
There will be resumes posted on this website, by all lectures, keep looking for updates.
The congress started with opening speech by Mr Kenny Welsh - President of the Ballroom Dancers Federation.
10.20 - 10.40. Richard Porter "The Art of Dancing"
Dance is a special thing we do, - this is our chance to express us and do it our way.
Too often dance can become a " Non Dance", because it looses "Magic". Too many technical rules, repetitions, competitiveness, counting and efficiency can be the reason for loss of Magic.
The art of dance results from a passionate human being, knowing what he or she is trying to show, but having a discipline to keep repeating it. The knowledge must be displayed behind each step; the steps have to have intention, commitment and discipline; every individual have to know what it takes physically to do a certain step and have to know how the step should look.
8 most important things in aim of Art of Dance:
1. Body Condition; fitness; flexibility; muscle strength.
2. Choreography: recognizable, fresh, suitable, boring, individual.
3. Technique - of a dance style.
4. Dynamics and actions: energy; heavy/light; free/bound; jump/turn; twist/slide.
5. Rhythm.
6. Partnering: torso/eye/hand; weight transfer; conversation of energy; suggest/protect; goodwill/sacrifice.
7. Characterization, - knowing all flavours.
8. Space; personal; relationship; arena.
Quote by Diana Jordon:" self expression through dance is an expression of life and comes from within. The visible expression of our inside selves."
10.40 - 11.00. Anne Gleave "How to win at Blackpool"
Having been given the title of my lecture "How to win Blackpool", I undertook study of 15 former British Open Professional and Amateur Ballroom and Latin American Champions from all over the World (10 Professional and 5 Amateur). Four questions were set to see if there are common denominators in winning Blackpool and if it were possible to establish a formula, and from that I gleaned the following information.
1. Basic training at a young age was a necessary component.
2. A small trusted team of teachers was used by every champion, and in some cases only 1 teacher to guide them to success.
3. On the question of winning Blackpool, the former champions used many words to describe qualities necessary such as dedication, commitment, practice, perseverance etc. but the two words that were most commonly used were motivation and intelligence, and from that I deduced they were the most important psychological factors.
11.20 - 11.40. David Sycamore and Denise Weavers "Rhythmical Interpretation of the Latin Dances"
When watching Latin competitions, both as adjudicators and spectators, we often feel there is plenty of room for improvement in the rhythmical interpretation of each dance and each figure within the dance. This applies at every level from Juvenile to Professional and at a high level includes rhythmical expression as well as simple accuracy and clarity. Given the short duration of the lectures today (20 minutes), our intention was to show examples of areas of weakness we frequently see in competitions and how these can be improved.
Our first example was a Stationary Samba Walk, a very basic figure but one often included in a competitive routine and we applaud the inclusion of such simple and characteristic figures. However, it is important that the technical aspects of feet positions, footwork etc. are accurately performed and this includes the timing. Very frequently this is danced with a QQS foot rhythm instead of the correct 1a2 rhythm. This point applies to many figures with this timing such as Whisks, Bota Fogos etc.
We then showed a variation based on the steps of a Volta with the body-weight quickly changing direction from side to side. An understanding of the pendulum action of the centre of gravity is essential to make it possible to dance the a1a2 rhythm. Get this wrong and the struggle to stay in time with the music results in the rhythm being changed to QQQQ. Whilst the figure could be danced with this rhythm, it is more characteristic of Cha Cha Cha than Samba.
We moved on to Reverse and Natural Rolls, where the correct timing is SQQ. However, the three steps often appear to be danced with an equal length of time (123). Apart from lacking clarity, this also means that the musical accent that should be seen on beats 2 and 4 is absent. We also used this figure to emphasise that the given timing count of any figure refers only to the feet and not the upper body, which frequently does something different. In the case of Reverse and Natural Rolls, the upper body should have a very smooth, continuous movement, contrasting with the more staccato action of the feet.
Our final example in Samba was the Cocorolla. This could be danced with various timings but the timing we consider to be the best choice is QQS(&) on the forward half and 1a2 on the backward half. (The “and” count in brackets is for the timing of the body contraction and associated lifting of the free leg). We showed this figure in both Shadow Position and with the Man and Lady circling each other i.e. one dancing the forward half whilst the other dances the backward half. The point here is that one is dancing QQS whilst the other dances 1a2 – the just position of the rhythms compliment each other and add interest.
Our attention then turned to the Cha Cha Cha, the first example being a Syncopated Time Step. Like the Stationary Samba Walk in Samba, the Time Step is a fundamental figure of the Cha Cha Cha and this syncopated version should show the ˝˝1 beat split of the 2&3 or 4&1 count. Because of the competitor’s desire for speed, the foot timing is often snatched giving less than full value to the half-beat steps. Rather than seeing speed, the viewer feels unnatural rhythm and is likely to look elsewhere.
Our final example was a Syncopated New York, where we highlighted the difference in action when a syncopated timing is applied. All of the above are examples of lapses in rhythmical clarity, which are far ranging across a variety of figures; there are also numerous examples in the other three Latin dances (not to mention the Ballroom dances!) but with only 20 minutes available, we could only hope to scratch the surface. Hopefully, however, the seeds of thought will be sewn for competitors to do further research of their own and ultimately improve their rhythmical awareness and presentation.
David Sycamore and Denise Weavers
11.40 - 12.00. Michael Barr "What does the future hold?"
Michael expressed his worry about the future of Ballroom dance with a lot of passion. He showed quite a few examples of distorted lines and movements, which are the result of careless development. Michael’s message was explaining that Ballroom dance is a form of art and not a race or fighting field, and although the progress if crucial, it cannot change the roots of Ballroom Dance.
12.00 - 12.20. Michael Stylianos and Lorna Lee "Creating a winning performance"
12.20 - 1.00.Jonathan Wilkins & Hazel Newbury "Our Dancing"
Hazel emphasized the importance of lead in lines and explained in depth how to achieve it with ease and beauty.
Michael Malitowski and Joanna Leunis "Our Dancing"
Michael and Joanna displayed deep understanding of principals in Jive. They guided through various possibilities of timing and characteristics, completing the congress with their version of beautifully danced Jive.
|
|
Posted On: 03-12-2009
|
|
|
