Archive for the ‘dance’ Category:
It took me three days to write this post so it didn’t sound like a section of my thesis.
So my life has not been very blog-worthy lately.
Wake up, go to ballet, come home, work out, do school work, get frustrated with school work, sleep, repeat.
But, yesterday, something exciting happened! I got to meet my dance scholar idol. Okay, so it sounds kind of lame after all that build up; but it was really important to me. In fact, my major research project is based to a great degree on her work. When I read things that this woman has written I think to myself, “How is it that this person is able to read my mind and write exactly what I am thinking?” Unlike many others, we see ballet as potentially empowering.
Anyway, the point is, that yesterday the dance department hosted a lecture panel on masculinity and dance across cultures, which is why she was there to present. While I often feel a lot of pressure as a dance scholar to look at forms beyond ballet and even beyond western theatre dance, I was happy that Jennifer was there yesterday to validate ballet as worthy of attention. And to inspire me to keep doing the work I do.
These past few weeks I have been absolutely consumed with finishing my final research project. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I really want to say and feeling a little unsure about my argument that changing the way society thinks about transcending gender could begin in the dance studio. However, at the end of her presentation, Jennifer said exactly what I needed to hear to validate my life project! She asked, “What kind of world to you want to live in and how can dance contribute to making this?” I think I’m going to get it put on a bumper sticker!
There’s something very special about finding people who inspire you to do better in some aspect of your life, not by preaching, but just by modeling practices. I’m pretty lucky because it seems like I can learn something from everyone I know and it was certainly nice to be reminded of this yesterday.
Subscribe to the comments for this postFinal Ballet Class of the Year. Going to miss dancing, but looking forward to sleeping in.
The daily posts don’t have to be Christmas themed do they?
Today was my last ballet class of the year. It’s been a good year and in some ways I feel like I’ve progressed a lot, but in others I feel like I am getting a little too old to be doing this! I’m starting to really understand some of the subtleties of ballet movement yet my body is having a hard time reflecting them all. I chaulk some of this up to getting older, some of it to being mentally and physically unprepared for class at 8:30 in the morning and some of it up to how I’m constantly undoing all the physical progress I make by slumping over at my school work and cooking for hours of the day. However, building on some of the things I learned last year, I’m also learning not to make excuses for my dancing. It’s quite freeing.
Anyway, that’s not what this post is about. This post is about one of the things that helps you get through ballet class before sane people are out of bed - the live musicians. My experience with the musicians here at York has been incredible. There are only a handful (maybe 3) piano players and so you get to know them throughout the year. They each have their own style but they all improvise and keep the class exciting by incorporating tunes of popular songs, classical repertoire, and their own creations.
I am amazed at how talented they must be to work in the ballet class environment and how much they really do contribute to the class. They are able to pick up tempos and time signatures just from the teacher’s brief demonstration of the exercise and they know how to phrase and structure the music to get the most out of the dancers. When things are looking “heavy” in a jump they might change from a waltz to a mazurka and suddenly everyone is able to hover! A whole new type of communication happens. They musican “says” a lot to the dancers without ever talking.
I know not all ballet class musicians are like this and that I am spoiled here! However, I’m enjoying it while I can and have learned so much about the music/dance connection in this past year and a half.
Oh, and to incorporate the holiday theme. Our musician this morning was in quite a good mood and finally indulged us in some Christmas songs during barre. Fondu to a jazzy rendition of Silver Bells made my extensions the best they had been all semester! He also played the last few bars of We Wish You a Merry Christmas for reverence (bow at the end of class) which made it seem like he was telling all of us dancers “I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year” before we left the room!
Yes, I tried to make a grape pie.
As an update from our video blog, my eye has healed just fine. I spent a few days with blurred vision but eventually healed. Since then my life has been a non-stop flurry of appointments, followed by meetings, followed by workshops, followed by assignments, followed by work (followed by cooking, cleaning, teeth brushing, etc.). The back to school rush hasn’t seemed to settle quite yet! Right now I’m just continually working for the next deadline, which is not ideal, but I just keep reminding myself that it’s all worth it.
However, while this post was going to be about a (mis)adventure I had in making a grape pie, something interesting happened yesterday that I feel the need to blog about.
Even though I have yet to complete this degree I am already thinking about the next one and the deadlines for applying for the big scholarships are fast approaching. I went to a workshop yesterday morning designed to help students with their applications. Basically, each scholarship requires that you write a one or two page proposed project including as much detail about the project and yourself as possible. This workshop broke students up in to small groups who, along with a faculty member, read each others proposals and provided feedback.
I had been warned that it would happen at some point, but it still caught me off guard. When it came time to discuss my proposal there were a few excellent suggestions and criticisms (which will improve my paper so much) but there was also this unsettling discrimination against dance research. While it would be difficult to explain exactly what things were said and how they were framed, some of the particularly frustrating comments included things like, “I don’t think they’re going to want to fund a dance school” (keeping in mind my project has nothing to do with dance schools); and “You don’t have the background to call this a social science project” (keeping in mind that I’m not just a dancer. I have a degree in social science and have focused my master’s research on doing social science fieldwork and writing).
It’s something that dance scholars seem to come up against all the time. Other academics don’t “get” that it is a legitimate topic to study (yet music, film, food, and sports are all okay). There are a lot of reasons why this barrier exists, and now is not the time to get into them, but the point is - it hurts. I do just as much reading, researching, and fieldwork as students in other programs and my work also involves actually moving and working with people who move. My work is not frivolous. Dance scholars don’t just sit around all day and write reviews of classical ballet. I am devoting my academic career to this topic because I really believe it is important. I am learning and discovering and advocating for new and exciting ways to challenge our world - through dance. Dance is not just people performing on stage. Dance is SO much more.
Obviously I didn’t get defensive or go into this rant at the session. It just wouldn’t have been worth it. So, luckily you got to “hear” it, for one because it was frustrating me, but also because I wonder how many people who actually know me don’t know what I do and think my research is frivolous. . . . I’d be happy to explain it to you some day. Just ask!
I need to get a new “agenda-book”
I’ve mentioned a few times how busy we’re going to be next year, but I thought I’d write a post to fill everyone in on what my plans are. Maybe Tom will do the same?
- School. This year I will be working on my Major Research Paper. I’ve already done a fair bit of writing, researching, and interviewing, so I hope to do some more interviews and observations in October, and then have a draft completed by Christmas. The project is looking at male dancers and how their experience of recreational ballet classes is unique and also allows them to build different relationships and social circles than other organized activities. Whoo!
I also have to take one more course, and since there is nothing being offered that can benefit me right now, I’ve decided to take a “reading” course with a professor that I really like in Dance and Popular Culture. Basically this means that her and I will devise a (ridiculously long) set of readings for me to work my way through during the semester rather than going to a class.
- Work. This year I have also been offered a position as a TA in a Fine Arts Cultural Studies course called “Arts and Ideas.” Basically I will be responsible for attending their lectures every Friday and then holding a tutorial for a group of them immediately afterward. I will also be responsible for some marking. The course runs all year and while I’m sure it will be a lot of work I’m looking forward to a new challenge.
I’m also going to be teaching some classes at York’s gym. So far they have offered me several classes, but I have decided to take a Turbo Kick class on Thursday mornings (only during the peak times of the year) and a Ballet class and a dance fitness class on Wednesday evenings (if enough people sign up). I’m really looking forward to this. It’s been a long time since I’ve taught any movement classes and I really love it. Hopefully I’m not too much out of practice! I’ve already started planning some of the classes.
- Dancing. I still haven’t decided what my dancing plans are for next year. I had a slight breakdown last week and thought that I might give up dance all together since it seems like I am getting worse and not better and my hip and ankle tendons are really limiting my movement. However, on reflection, I just think it’s been a long time since I’ve had a good class and probably should go back. Now I have to decide between taking a ballet or a modern class. I’d like to do both but 3 hours of dancing a day might not be the best idea with everything else I have on my plate . . .
Weights + Mattress + Turbo = Magic Bag (I should get a math degree too!)
I am so sore today! And, at least this time, it’s for a reason and not just because I’m old. Actually it’s for a variety of reasons.
1) My mattress has no support. I tried to think of a funny analogy, but I can’t. It’s that bad. The couch also has no support and neither do my aging sneakers.
2) I’ve been doing a new weightlifting program. It’s a four month program. The first month wasn’t too bad, but I didn’t see many results. In the second month you lift really heavy weights. I’ve been lifting really heavy weights. It’s not that bad, but combined with the mattress . . .
3) Yesterday did a full day workshop and completed the Turbo Kick instructor training course! Turbo Kick is the live version of Turbo Jam - which is perhaps the most fun type of exercise I’ve ever done that combines kickboxing and dance. Anyway, I’m now an instructor! Yesterday was really fun (with the exception of a particularly annoying woman who had a comment about everything, complained incessantly and then tried to take over teaching the course even though she’d never done any type of Turbo workout before). However, as part of my practical exam I ended up doing about a half an hour of punching and the repetitive strain combined with the weights and the mattress has forced me to be tied to a Magic Bag for most of the day!
I’m really happy about becoming a Turbo Kick instructor. Hopefully I’ll be able to teach some classes soon. I really like teaching fittness classes, and I really miss teaching dance, so hopefully this will help fill some of that void. However, does anyone know someone who is looking to hire a fitness instructor? Even for just one or two guest classes?
On a seperate note, I made some great crackers/flatbread today using my dehydrator. I used flax, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, tomato, onion, and garlic. I think they are going to be really good with salsa and cream cheese on them. I also tried to make my own banana chips, but got impatient so Tom and I ate some warm, leathery bananas before our supper! On reflection I’ve become quite granola-y since moving here. Not only have I made my own crackers, but in the past week alone I’ve made my own apple butter, sunflower seed butter (YUM!), “lara bars,” and sprouted my own sprouts.
And finally, I wanted to congratulated all my DSW friends for having such a great show this past weekend. I’ve only heard good things, and can’t wait to see the video (though I know it won’t be the same at all). It was really hard for me not to be there. A lot harder than I expected. I spent the better part of Saturday unable to figure out why I would keep breaking into tears, but realised yesterday, when I cried over everyone’s show pictures, that I had just been upset about not being there for the show. I miss everyone so much. It’s pretty lonely here and I can’t wait to get home as soon as possible.
Oh, and Tom started work at Staples today. He says it could be a sitcom. I love social situations like that. Hopefully he’ll enjoy working there. (Tehe! he also now has one of those red polo shirts and a name tag. I’ll have to get a picture of it to post).
Wedding Research. But, of course, not for my own wedding.
Even though all other university students in Canada are already enjoying their summer break, it’s hard to believe that we only have three weeks of classes left. This is mostly because most people have about five weeks worth of work to do in those three weeks. Tom has been absolutely swamped though he did manage to go to “Free Comic Book” day yesterday (he tells me there is a picture over at www.theothertomcochrane.com).
I handed in my MRP proposal and am taking a little break from that research to work on a side project for my Dance Writing class. I could have done something that related to my big project, but I needed a brain break from it! I’m doing a little folklore-y project on the tradition and the significance of having a “first dance” at weddings. When else in my life am I going to be motivated to study weddings?! Sadly, the research has been a little grueling though - there’s just not much written on first dances other then “How to Overcome Your First Dance Fears”-type pieces. To remedy this I’m going to be doing a few interviews, so, if you want to talk to me about your first dance (or lack thereof) send me an e-mail!
Or, you could just send me an e-mail to catch up. I’ve been terribly homesick this week.
The post was going to end there, but that’s a horrible way to end a post. Instead I recommend that you check out the cupcake flowchart from one of my favourite blogs, Cranky Fitness.
Happy International Dance Day!
Yes, that’s right. April 29th is International Dance Day. How are you celebrating? I think at least one crazy dance around your kitchen is in order! If you’re stuck for some steps check out this guy’s moves (remember this video?). Or just spend a good portion of the day watching dance videos on YouTube. You also might want to check out some important Canadian dance groups/people. Why not start at Dance Collection Danse or The Dance Current? Or, reread some of your favourite tomandcandice posts on dance. Anyway, at least think about dance today. Please.
To celebrate I’m posting a very short review/commentary I wrote a while back on TDT’s Chaismata (which also played in St. John’s last summer). The show is long over, but the writing shows how difficult it is to put movement into words.
Chiasmata Quivers: Talking to the Audience and the Universe Through Dance
On March 21, 2009 the lights went down on a full house at the home of the Toronto Dance Theatre - the Winchester Street Theatre. The small black box theatre shivered with anticipation as the audience prepared to watch twelve extraordinary modern dancers in their final performance of Christopher House’s Chiasmata.
Electronic music, twinkling like wind chimes, began the piece seconds before the lights went up on the entire cast spread across the stage dressed in long, earth-tone tunics. One at a time the dancers began to engage with the music, but not with each other. Gestural movements reminiscent of tapping, and searching defined the tone for the piece’s movement and gradually increased in physicality while maintaining the integrity of the scene. This pattern continued throughout the work as various combinations of the cast initiated their scenes by setting a particular movement vocabulary and then playing with echoes of the original physical sentiments to explore new interactions with time, space, and interpersonal relationships.
The scenes flowed logically beginning with sequences where the dancers barely acknowledge one another, moving to scenes that explore the various intersections of human relationships, and finishing with an intimate heterosexual pas de deux where intense human connection is finally established. Chiasmata questions the idea of free agency in relationships as the dancers move each other into turns, flips, and falls with a light touch or no touch at all, increasing the power of their subtle energy bodies, a difficult task for dancers who are so often firmly rooted in their physical bodies. Chiasmata is characterised by juxtaposing a fluid, carving, smooth arcing of limbs with sharp, short, repetitive movements that disrupt the natural energetic vibrations in the dancers’ proximal space.
Each section of the dance creates a distinct character with variations on the music and lighting and an obvious common intention amongst the dancers. The shared focus is easy to see as the dancers all use the same angles, efforts, phrasing techniques, and breathing spaces to speak to their audience on both physical and spiritual levels.
The real balance needed for ballet
As part of my Dance Writing class I have to give a three minute speech on the topic of my choice. After weeks of thinking about it, today I realised what I had to talk about. I’ve posted a draft of my speech here. Right now it’s called “Balancing Ballet and Feminism.” I’m working on a more clever title!
Oh, and by the way, although I’m still a little weary of it, I now have a twitter account. Follow me at www.twitter.com/candicepike
Here it is:
I have grown up as strong willed individual. I realised early on what the implications of being labelled “female” were and have been exploring how best to highlight and improve the status of marginalised people in my own subtle (and not so subtle) ways ever since. Yet, I have also grown up as a “ballerina.” I have worn excessive amounts of tulle and lycra, bourred around studios like an innocent sylph, forced my body into unconventional positions, been lifted and supported by men, and generally submitted myself, as a privileged white girl, to an inherently patriarchal system.
These two identities battled each other for years, creating a rather annoying mental dialogue.
“Shouldn’t a feminist be into the more ‘natural’ women-empowered modern dance?”
“Do the other ballerinas worry that I’m going to start some sort of anti-pink uprising?”
“Why aren’t I fighting the unrealistic aesthetic goals ballet sets for women?”
“What right does an independent thinker like me have to do these passive moves?”
The struggle intensified when I started reading critical dance writing. I loved that people had chosen to write about ballet, but Ann Daly’s analysis of the Balanchine woman controlled by men, Susan Leigh Foster’s discussion of the ballerina’s “phallic pointe,” (aka the asymmetrical male/female relations in ballet) and the multitude of other feminist writers who critiqued the unrealistic physical demands placed on female dancers, the power structures that kept them down, and the way men ‘choreographed’ their realities disheartened me. How could I continue to respect ballet? I even wrote my first academic paper in dance on Balanchine as a father figure who replicated family patriarchy in the ballet world.
After finishing the first phase of my adult dancing “career”, I thought a lot about whether or not I would continue to study ballet at the graduate level. If it is so wrought with contradictions to my values, why bother? But then I realised, perhaps ballet has a lot more in common with my values than I realised. Years of ballet and dance training have taught me how to be dedicated and how hard work can make almost any goal perfectly attainable. Ballet allows for subtle achievements and the development of incredible social groups and networks. It let me discover how to be an effective teacher and learner and has generally enhanced my life and helped me get where I am today.
And recently, I have found someone else who has faced similar contradictions and come to a similar conclusion. In “Nutcracker Nation” Jennifer Fisher briefly writes about how she too was disheartened by the feminist critiques of ballet when it had provided her with “a metaphor for achievement and transcendence,” a way of “armouring” her body against the world, an understanding that persistence and hard work can achieve any goal, and a variety of strategies for dealing with failure. Since reading this little aside in the book I have been constantly thinking about how both women and men negotiate multiple identities with ballet. I see an over ambitious research project in the future!
So, I am continuing to research gender inequality in ballet, but now I am doing it from a position of great reverence, using the skills and values that I have gained from living the past 17 years as a dancer and a feminist.
I’ve cheated on you with another blog. Please forgive me.
A few exciting things have happened since my last post. However, I’ve been waiting to write them all up in a post about my exciting dance life in Toronto.
Last Thursday I was lucky enough to go to see the National Ballet perform Romeo and Juliet with one of my friends from school. It was not all fun and games though. We were actually there to write reviews for the National’s blog. We had only 250 words and 16 hours (8 of which I slept through) to describe a two hour ballet but, at long last they are finally posted. Please read it here. It’s only 250 words, you all can handle that!
I did really enjoy the performance though. I think my favourite dance scenes were the ensemble “folk” dances and ball scenes. They really brought the performance to life. Piotr Stanczyk’s Mercutio was also encredible. He stood out next to the two other leads. I wasn’t a huge fan of the sets and costumes, but they certainly achieved what they were going for. And of course, I was singing the music for the next three days!
However, the best part of going to the ballet is not watching the dancers but watching the audience. There were people there in evening gowns and diamonds and people in jeans and tank tops. Some people slept, some people cried, some people picked their nose and a lot of people ate ice cream. There was a grandfather and granddaughter sitting near me and before the performance started he was telling the six year old all the politics of the company - who the new dancers were, who was retiring, his take on the new directions of the company! It was strangely endearing!
I was exhausted by the end of the evening though. However, that might have been because I was up early to teach two ballet classes! That’s right, I got to play substitute teacher for two first year ballet classes while their teachers were away. The two classes were very different, and already had most of their exercise assigned, but it was fun to work with the musicians and attempt to bring some life to the dancers that early in the morning. I have to find an opportunity to teach more. It fed me for the rest of the week.
Fosse-Fosse-Fosse, Jazz Hands-Jazz Hands, or “Hey boy, wanna dance? A little dance never hurt anyone.”
Because I obviously don’t have enough to do right now, this semester I am taking a jazz class in addition to everything else. I’m really enjoying it. Jazz has always been a favourite of mine, and my body likes its particular “vocabulary” and technique and rhythm. This class meets for two hours on Mondays and Wednesdays. Half the time is devoted to warm-ups and combinations, and the other half repertoire. This semester’s focus is on comparing Jerome Robbins and Bob Fosse, so all the repertoire pieces come from musicals they choreographed and the warm-ups are also “inspired” by them.
This weeks piece is “Rich Man’s Frug” from Sweet Charity. I’ve been having fun doing my jazz hands and hip cranks and other subtle Fosse movements, but I nearly had a breakdown when we did one of the combinations today. After teaching the sequence the professor said “let’s keep with the theme and do this to some music from Sweet Charity.”
At this point I’m thinking to myself “oh no, please no, he wouldn’t” but of course, oh yes, he did, and Hey Big Spender comes blaring over the speakers.
Under normal circumstances this wouldn’t be that bad. I would have rolled my eyes a little remembering the “fun, laughs, and good times” we had doing this piece in Sexy and Dangerous, but, the recording he used also had the whole scene before the song. You know, the one that goes:
Amy: Hey fellow can I talk to you for a second?
Pam: Hey Good-looking I like your hair
Tara: Hey mister, have you got a cigarette for me haaa
Mary: Oh sure, you speak French: Parlez-vous Francais?
Candice: Hey boy, do you wanna dance, a little dance, won’t hurt you
Darlene: Guy you wanna Tango, it always takes two to tango
Ooh you’re so tall
Tom: Let’s have some fun
tsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Well, except for that it wasn’t us. Anyway, I found the whole thing unbearably hilarious (because of how ridiculous we thought the whole thing was and how serious everyone in the class was taking it). So, in trying to stifle my laughter I ended up letting out a giant snort and had no concentration for the rest of the class! Classy girl.