YOU PERFORM LIKE YOU TRAIN: There is a Time and a Place to Show Your Individuality

Dance is a very personal art form, yet it is very structured. There is a time and place to show your individuality. Technique class is not the time to be “yourself”. Group classes, such as your jazz class, really may not be the correct time to work on individually either. Sometimes, these style classes are used to train dancers to pay attention to every single detail, and used to make sure the dancers can transition from technique to choreography applying what they have learned using the skills in "dance" (in practical situations and choreography). These classes are meant for training. Training in a specific style with specific technical elements, learning to dance with others, and how to follow detailed instructions are learned here. Taking the liberties and freedoms to express yourself as an individual dancer and grow in that realm is a necessity that definitely has a time and place, but not while you are training as a technician and to dance alongside others.

TRAINING IS IMPORTANT. You cannot skip the fundamentals. It is the FOUNDATION upon which everything is built. You perform the way you train. If you don’t have the technical skills to back up the style, what do you have? Style is nothing without technique, but also technique is nothing without style. These are two things you must fuse together with great artistry, articulation, and passion. When competing or performing with a group, you must dance as one. The easiest way to clean a number is to learn it clean. The easiest way to learn choreography clean is to train clean. HOW YOU TRAIN IS HOW YOU PERFORM. 

What do I mean by training clean? The way you learn a technical element is the way you will perform that element; plain and simple. Everyone should go into the element exactly the same and finish the element exactly the same…..with the same expression, such a smile. Attention to detail is important and shouldn’t be overlooked at any time for any reason. For example, in a progression across the floor for a pirouette, the focus should be on EVERYTHING not just the pirouette itself. This is prime time for creating technically sound dancers who can stay in straight lines, keep their arms strong and placed at all times, and dance as one even with intricate footwork and directional changes. A BIG KEY TO BEING A CLEAN DANCER: FINISH ONE STEP BEFORE YOU BEGIN THE NEXT! I can’t stress this enough. Often times, a dance is messy because dancers anticipate what is coming next so they move quickly from step to step without completely executing anything. This, in conjunction with multiple dancers showing individuality, produces one hot mess. In progressions, every detail should be taught in a manner that the dancers look the same coming across the floor group by group. This will carry into the way they learn combinations center floor. Combinations center floor should continue training the dancers to be alike. Progressions and center floor combinations ultimately lead to choreography. If this practice is mastered in across the floor and center work, choreography will be so much easier! The dancers will already understand the process, and it will be like second nature. They will learn choreography clean no matter who the choreographer is. This is just like ballet training whether it be at the barre or center floor. Everything comes from ballet, so why should training in another subject be taught differently?

On the subject of dance competitions, a clean number will always score well! It is easy on the eye. The message, if any, comes across in a clear way. Formations are understood and appreciated. The judges are not distracted. If you are competing a solo, clean is still the right option. When a number is clean, there is never a question about what something was meant to be.
Three simple examples:
1) Was that meant to be a coupe’ or a passe’? The foot placement was somewhere in between.
2) Why did you just take two random steps? Were they meant to be there or did you just stumble? I cannot tell partly because your arms were swinging. Should they be placed? If you were taking two steps, you need to walk with determination and clarity.
3) Everyone’s arms need to match. There are different arm placements and I don’t know where they should be. The same goes for your feet. Everyone has their feet in a different place so it looks very messy.

It all comes down to training. TRAINING. TRAINING. TRAINING. Train clean. Remember, energy does not come before effort. Put in the effort to make everything correct and the energy will follow. It will come naturally. If you put in energy first, the effort will not be there, and well, your dancing will just be uncontrollable movement! EFFORT FIRST! The energy follows! That’s what it means to dance smart! Dancing smart produces not only good dancers but clean dancers.

Whether you are wanting to work professionally in the industry as a dancer, or you are working towards competing in a dance competition, or towards a performance of any kind, you are learning choreography that literally is a thought pattern and vision inside the choreographer’s head. You, the dancer, are bringing someone else’s vision to life. With that being said, when performing someone else’s vision, you must remain true to the choreographer’s direction and their artistic vision. Unless specifically told, dancers must keep their lines, angles, and movements exactly alike to avoid chaos and distraction. Dancing as one keeps the number clean, the choreographer’s vision clear, and makes it enjoyable for the audience to watch. If you are performing a solo, you may ask your choreographer if you can take artistic liberties to show your individuality.

BOTTOM LINE: Choreography is one's ideas, thought patterns, and movements. Choreography is nothing without educated dancers. Dancers must be able to properly execute the mechanics of the elements and style to which they are given.  It is imperative that dancers have training and education, regardless of their level of commitment. Everything one learns in technique classes, including ballet class, is applied in choreography. Training and performance go hand in hand. You cannot separate the two. If you train clean, across the floor and center floor, your performances will be clean. You will have a solid technical foundation. You will know how to function as one. You will know how to work well with others. You will also know how to follow directions and execute choreography exactly as directed. When you have a strong fundamental background, you can explore movement and individuality in a private lesson, or a different class such as improvisation. There is a time and place for everything! 

Dance hard. Dance smart.
Meredith
thecompetitiveedgebymeredith.blogspot.com

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