Three Big Ideas

-What does dance teach you?
-Emotional Benefits/Doing things you enjoy often makes you happier
-How can dancing benefit your future self

4/17/2017

To establish a mentorship, I decided to email one of the co-directors of the University of Iowa’s Department of Dance. In the email I talked about my project and what I was trying to do. I also asked if I could interview her through email to get her perspectives on if/how dancing affects the brain. For my field experience I go to dance every Wednesday and sometimes I will go other days of the week. For instance, I have a dance competition almost every weekend which provides me with more experience in the dance world. While at dance I asked other girls about how dance makes them feel or how they would describe dance with one word and I was surprised that everyone gave me really positive feedback. I have decided that instead of trying to learn a new dance trick every week, I am just going to focus on learning about the effects on the brain. The articles I read about this all said that dancing makes you happier over all but going to dance class and actually talking to friends we really get to experience this. One thing the articles didn’t talk about is how dance can be frustrating sometimes, but when you get past that, it makes you feel really good about yourself! Whats next for my project would be waiting for the co-director of the U of I Department of Dance to email me back and hopefully getting to ask her a few questions about my topic!

“Go where the people dance.”

Week 4!

For my trick this week i am going to try and learn how to do a Fanning Tuck Jump! Here is a video of showing what they look like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_BfcCdjJfA

Many people say that it is hard to find a job as a dancer or that doing dance at a younger age wont benefit you later in life. The author of "Take the Right Steps Towards a Career in Dance" argues that there are many different jobs and opportunities in the dance world, she also implies that some are harder to get than others. I agree with because becoming a dance teacher or choreographer might be a tad easier than becoming Beyoncé's back up dancer. In this article the author also says that since it is a little tougher to find a dancing job, you should have another source of income. "To land a job in this field, dancers usually have to audition for a part along with several other dancers." This is just saying how since you are auditioning for a job you wont know for sure if you'll get the part or not so having another source of income would be a smart idea. When i started this project i was wondering what type of education was needed to find a job in this area, and according to the author, a formal education isn't absolutely necessary, but the more experience you have dancing the better off you'll be. If someone was wanting to become a dance teacher or choreography they would need to be well-rounded and able to perform many types of dance while being very experienced in just one type. The person would also need to get their teaching certificates. If someone wanted to open their own studio they should also consider getting a degree in business. I think that it would be difficult to find a job in this area but if you're willing to work hard and not give up i believe being a dancer has a lot of benefits. According to an article titled "Dancing Benefits of Physical, Emotional, and Mental Health" there are many benefits of dancing one of them being that dancing makes you happier. I agree with this and think that if you danced for a living you would live a happier, less stressful life!

Week 3!

In my first blog post I said the first trick i was going to try and learn was a Fire Bird, and i think i got pretty close to getting this trick down! Since the jump is sort of in a split formation i thought doing some stretches that help improve your splits would help me with this trick so for two weeks every other day i did some of the following stretches; Runners stretch, Single legged hamstring stretch, and just sitting in my splits. To work on the actual jumping part of the trick i just stood in first position (first position is where your heels are together and your toes are pointing away from you) and just jumped. While doing this, I tried to focus on pushing all the way through the arch of my feet to get more power to jump higher! Here is a picture of me doing a fire bird!

One of the questions i had in my second blog post was, how does dance benefit you emotionally and mentally? And after doing a little bit of research i have some answers! Before I looked this up i just thought dance was just a fun way to make yourself happier but i found out there are some other benefits! According to an article posted by Health Pedia, by dancing you can get a cheerful emotional stateand a more positive attitude! Dance is also a way to relieve stress and anxiety. There are also some ways dancing can help you in school and in the real world! When you dance you are not just exercising your body but you are also exercising the brain cells, which makes your memory strong and the overall health of your brain becomes better over time. These are just some of the examples i found of how dancing really does help you in many different ways! 

"To watch us dance, is to hear our hearts speak." 

Checking in

Jaiden:

Great start! I love that I get to know students better through this kind of a project. Who would be a good mentor for you? What will you do with your newly learned dance moves? Is the focus to perform or choreograph? Or both!? Things to keep considering as you move forward.

Week 1 Dance Post!

For my 20 times project, I will be trying to learn a new dance trick every week! I feel like this is a good idea and will help me further my dance career. I am planning on becoming a teacher/dance teacher so this will help me teach my future dance classes all the cool tricks and tips I learn during this time. Every Friday I will write about my progress learning the trick and how i figured it out, and all that jazz. Another plus is that I already spend so much time at my dance studio so why not put that time to use and better myself. Dance is my passion so i feel like this project will not only be easy for me to participate in but i will also enjoy it very much! I've made a list of jumps and turns that I would like to master. Some of those include; Calypsos, fire birds, and a swim through. I plan on take a picture or video of these tricks and posting it on here with a short description of how long i worked on it throughout the week, all the stretches that I did, and then some tips that i learned to make it easier! I will also be researching different benefits of dancing. In the next week I'm going to work on my fire bird jump! (picture below)

“We should consider every day lost on which we don’t dance.” Neitzsche