Teaching

Quotes of the Day:-           "Learning to walk sets you free. Learning to dance gives you to greatest freedom of all; to express with your whole self, the person you are."

I am currently volunteering at my dance school CM Dance on a Saturday morning from 10am-12noon.  I have been teaching here for over 2 years now and I thoroughly enjoy it as the children are a pleasure to work with (even though they are sometimes lazy) and I feel it has greatly helped me in my own dance class as I have to greatly go into detail with techniques and dances. I have taught different age groups but the one i most enjoy teaching is the primary class and this is children aged 5-7/8. In this age group the children are starting to develop a personality and you can really get to know a child because they feel they can trust you and tell you EVERYTHING! I take a great pride in this trust and some of the things they say can be witty and very funny. Ever child has an individual level of skill and concentration and this depends on how quickly they pick up dances and how well they can dance, this can be a challenge sometimes as everyone Is at a different level and you can’t make routines too easy and you can’t make it too hard or they will lose concentration. Even though I enjoy teaching and I don’t mind volunteering, one day I would like to get my teachers qualification and start getting paid for my work and maybe one day when I am older I could own my own dance school’ that is my dream.  Dancing has always been my passion for as long as I can remember and I hope to pass this on to my children when I am holder and make them the best dancers they can be. I have added a picture of my dance school on a Saturday morning raising money for Comic Relief.

The Rockettes

Quote of the Day:-       ""Dream as if you'll live forever, dance as you'll die today"

The Scottish rockettes are the UK’s top pro sports dance team and cheerlead for Scotland’s only pro-basketball team “The Glasgow Rocks”. They appear at the Glasgow Rocks home games at the Kelvin Hall International sports arena where they play a major role in the sporting extravaganza. They Rockettes are also the official dance squad of the Scottish National football team. The cheerleaders entertain the supporters at International matches and world cup qualifiers at Hampden Park. They provide high energy entertainment at many prestigious events such as UEFA Cup, Scottish Grand National and motor shows. Last year try outs were on the 9^TH and 16^TH of May and were held at Glasgow’s premier DW Sports Fitness club to find a new member. During the initial round the girls were put through a set of demanding fitness tests including body fat analysis, endurance, strength and flexibility in order to produce personal fitness reports to be used by the judges in the final round. The next stage is a dance technique section where each girl is asked to execute a series of kicks, leaps and pirouettes and then incorporate them into a demanding jazz dance. Though once you have secured a place in the Rockettes it has a time limit of one year and next year you will have to apply again.

It's Show Time

Quote of the Day:-  Dance an art form, the body an instrument, learn to play the instrument so you can master the art.

Every year in my dance school we hold 2 dance shows. The first one involves the full school all ages and classes. This is our biggest show of the year and runs for two nights (usually the Friday and Saturday). This year our show is the 13^th and 14^th of May and is held in Cardinal Newman High School that has a large stage and auditorium which is not too big or expensive for our dance school (I have added a picture of what this venue looks like from the outside). Every class does 1 or 2 dances per style of dance and the show lasts for about 2 hours and 30 minutes. Parents, aunts, uncles, friends, cousins etc are all welcome to come, tickets cost around £7/8 and £5 for children and the elderly. Even though the build up for the shows are physically tough and stressful the outcome is always positive and everyone always compliments our dancing ability. The second show we do is done in December and again in Cardinal Newman High School though this show is only for the senior girls. This show gives the girls in my class an opportunity to show off their talent individually through solo dances or duets that are choreographed by them. The senior show is the one i enjoy the most as we get a chance to dance more and we do not have the responsibility of looking after the younger children.

Zumba

Quote of the Day:-       "Dancers are the Athletes of God"

            

Zumba is a popular fitness class inspired by latin dance. The word Zumba comes from a Colombian word that means to move fast and have fun, which is just how people describe the routines. Using upbeat latin music with cardiovascular exercise; Zumba is aerobic dancing that is lots of fun and easy to learn. A typical Zumba class lasts about an hour and involves lots of different styles of dance such as salsa and flamenco. The music includes both fast and slow rhythms allowing for a great cardio workout to achieve a great body. During a Zumba class you will usually burn about 500-800 calories. Zumba has also recently started  Aqua Zumba which is the exact same thing but in the water. Zumba was created by Alberto Perez “Beto” in the mid 1990’s, he is from Columbia and is a celebrity personal trainer and has choreographed for international pop stars. He combines his favourite latin music with hot and trendy dance moves. Alberto brought Zumba to the US in 1999 where it has become one of the fastest growing dance based fitness classes not only in the US but in countries all over the world.

                           

Got To Dance

Quote of the day:-                                  "DANCE FOR LIFE"

The programme “got to dance” is featured on sky1 and sk1 HD; it is the newest and biggest dance show to hit tv for a long time. It consists of 3 judges Adam Garcia- his career in dance started in 1992 when he was in the Australian Tour of Hot Shoe Shuffle and he is most famous for his outstanding tap dancing. Kimberly Wyatt began dancing at the age of 7 and attended the world renowned Joffery Ballet and Broadway Dance Centre. Ashley Banjo caught the countries attention as the leader and choreographer of Diversity which are a street dance act that won Britains Got Talent in 2009. The show is also hosted by famous presenter Davina McCall who has been presenting for 18 years and used to present reality tv show Big Brother. “Got to dance” travels all over the UK and Ireland to find the best dancer(s) in the nation. It has only been running for 2 years though it is already very popular and contestants have a high level of skill and it is extremely competitive. There are 3 stages to the competition; the first one is similar to Britains Got Talent and the judges can give you a gold or a red star. If you get 2 gold stars or more you get through to the shortlist. From this list the judges pick semi-finalists and these dancers get  to perform again on a live show and this time the public get to vote on the finalists. In 2009 Akai won the show, he amazed the judges with his amazing break dancing moves for such a small person. He has since been in lots of dance films such as Street Dance 3D and is quite well-known now. In 2010 Chris and Wes won the show, the best friends took to the Olympia stage to show their comedy capers with a good routine blending hip-hop, street and abstract moves. They didn’t only win the title of Got to Dance winners they also won £250,000. I have attached 2 videos of the past winners of the show.

Ballet

Quote of the Day:-  " Work like you dont need them money. Love like you have never been hurt. Dance like nobodys watching."

When I was younger my mum took me to ballet lessons and i used to love prancing about in my tutu and leotard but now I would say ballet is my least favourite style of dancing to perform though I love to watch great ballet dancers as I think they move so beautifully and gracefully. A new phenomenon of dance has recently come to Glasgow though they have performed in places all over the world such as Milan, Paris and the USA. It is called Matthew Bournes Swan Lake; this is an all male ballet performance that is sweeping not only this country but many more around the world. This ballet is best known for replacing the traditional female corps de ballet with a stronger and larger male ensemble. Matthew blends ballet with style, humour, spectacle, comedy and mime to create a provocative and powerful classic for our ever changing culture. It has collected over 30 international theatre awards including 3 Tony’s for the Broadway production. Matthew is the only British director to have won the Tony Award for the Best Director and Choreographer of a musical so it is no doubt that he has produced something special with this ballet. I have attached a slide show of some pictures of the production and videos can be found on Youtube. Also you can find out more about cast or tour dates on their website.

http://www.swanlaketour.com/

O'Couture

Quote of the day :- "Dance c'est ma passion, c'est ma vie!"

Recently my dance group has started to dance at O’Couture Night Club in Sauchiehall street in Glasgow (of course it is only the over 18’s that are allowed to dance). The preparation for dancing in a club is complex and time consuming. Firstly you have to put at least three laters of fake tan which must be built up over a few nights. On the Friday night (the night we dance) we go to my coach’s house at about 8pm to prepare even more by curling our hair, putting our make-up on and finally false eye lashes. This much effort must be put in because  people are far away from us when we are dancing and our make-up must be visible from far away so it cannot be scarcely put on.  Once we have picked out our costumes/outfits we then leave to the club at about 11pm. In the club we dance in the main hall that plays all the up-to-date chart music. This is an advantage to us as we do routines at dance classes to a lot of the songs that they play here so this means we never get stuck on what move to do next.  Each girl gets a 15 minutes set dancing on the bar and then a 15 minute break. The first week we danced here I thought I would be able to dance with no problem for 15 minutes but i was greatly mistaken as it is extremely tough and physically draining. I didn’t realise that the 15 minutes we had to dance for was so constant and intense as everyone is watching you so you don’t get a chance to slow down and all moves must be sharp to look effective. The feeling i get when I am dancing up there is amazing. I feel so good about myself and the adrenalin is rushing through my body. It is so exhilarating and exciting. I hope to keep doing this as not only is it fun but it is a great way to keep really fit at the same time. Here is some pictures of me at O’Couture.  

 

Hip Hop

Quote of the day:- "Dance is silent poetry, dance is the mother of all arts, dance is the hidden language of the soul and nothing is more revealing than dance."

Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated from African American communities in the 1970's and is still largley used in cultures of dance all over the world. I have taken hip hop classes from a very young age and have always enjoyed popping, locking, breaking and jumping to cool and current songs. Hip hop is always developing in the world of dance and there is always a move that has never been created which adds to the excitement of this kind of dance. 2 years ago it was my dream to attend Telfrod College in Edinburgh and study dance there, I was planning to do a HNC then continue onto a Degree though my perception of dancing and how difficult it is to be successful has changed. I came across a workshop that was going on at the college and you didnt need to be a student to participate in it so this took my attention immediately. It was called Funk Physics and was run by Kimberly Jay who has choreographed for Nike Dance adverts. It was an all day event which consisted of three dance classes, the first one was break dancing in which they showed us lots of poses and stunts though I found these quite difficult to perform as it requires a great amount of upper arm and core strenght. The second class was general hip ho and the last was folk. All of the classes were full of complicated moves and had a fast pace which was difficult to keep up with but at teh same time I definately enojyed the challenge and made a few new friends at the same time.Funk Pysics is still up and running and is still holding events over the UK though their dance studio is based in London. Hip hop is a good way to get your emotions out as it can be full of high energy routines which can help to relieve stress. It has also been a great diversion for young people as community centres put on dance classes and this keeps them off the streets and out of trouble. 

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Cheerleading

Quote of the day:- " A cheerleader is like an elastic band, they are flexible, they stretch, they spring, they get snapped up into the air. They do their hair but with too much stress they can break! Cheer hard and love life.

My squad, Dance Dynamics currently dance for O'Couture night club, Albion Rovers football club, Breast Cancer Care events, M&D's theme park, Uddingston Pride and Bellshill Street Fair. These events are a good way to get noticed, keep us fit and at the same time we all enjoy it, We have been cheerleading for Albion Rovers  for about 2/3 years now and they have always been very generous and welcoming towards us.  They have provided us with all our new uniforms and also refurbished a changing room. Cheerleading has been a big part of my life for about 4 years although I'm sure if I lived in America I would be much more involved in this sport. This is because cheerleading is a massive part of  high school culture there and everybody is highly competitive with it whether its competing in competitions or cheerleading for your high school football team. There is a squad of cheerleaders in America called All Star Cheerleaders that take part in three different types of competitions throughout the year. The first one is "Locals" these are the smallest of competitons and take part in loccal gyms and sports halls, the second is "Nationals" these are next level up and are done in bigger events around America. The last of the competitions is the "Cheerleading Worlds" which are most important, whoever wins this competition will be seen as the best cheerleading squad for that year. They are hosted at Disney World in Orlando Florida. During a routine in the competitions the cheerleaders will perform a choreographed piece of work which involves stunts, jumps and tumbling incorporating dance aswell. There are lots of organisations that run these events such as ICU (International Cheer Union) though to win one of these competitions is not easy; there are many rules and regulations and the judges are very hard to please. Here is a video to show cheerleading in America.

Introduction to Dance

Quote of the day:- "We dance for laughter, we dance for fears, we dance for madness, we dance for tears, we dance for hopes, we dance for screams; we are the dancers we create the dreams."

This quote sums up for me the real reason why we dance, it is all about emotion and expressing yourself through movements. Throughout the next few weeks I will updating and informing everyone about different genres of dance that I am involved in. My first topic and most favourite is Cheerleading. Cheerleading is all about precision and tricks, this takes a great amount of concentration. It is my favourite style of dance because the songs are usually current, upbeat and vibrant. Of course with cheerleading you use pom poms and my dance school have recently bought new gold shiny pom poms that look great while we dance. (I have added a picture of these for you to see.) My cheerleading squad is called Dance Dynamics and you can search for us under CMDance on facebook. The squad consists of girls aged 15-24 and we meet every Thursday night for training which is similar to an intense workout though I do enjoy it as it keeps me fit and I have met lots of close friends through cheerleading.