Competition – Page 2

Dancers: On Preparing for Nationals

July 7, 2015 by Rachel Hellwig

"Apologize" by BdwayDiva1. Licensed under CC Attribution 2.0 Generic. — “Apologize” by BdwayDiva1. Licensed under CC Attribution 2.0 Generic.

by Karen Musey

It is amazing how fast the end of the dance season has arrived! Just when the challenges of the year are met, suddenly Nationals season arrives. For many studios it is just the beginning of a fast paced, intense week that will live on in studios’ and families’ memories for years to come.

A few tips on getting the most out of your week(s):

Rest. Make sure dancers/teachers/parents take some time out to recuperate from the year, before rehearsals and preparation for Nationals begin. After the intensity of the dance and school year and other personal challenges everyone faces, a little time off beforehand recharges students, faculty and families for the thrilling and energetic week that is Nationals. This is especially important if your studio registers for more than one Nationals. A little rest will recharge everyone’s body and spirit to be able to refocus on goals for the end of the season.

Update your goal. At the end of the season, sometimes dancers find themselves having already achieved their goals, and sometimes challenges come up that force dancers to rethink their goals. Maybe the achieved goal was to complete a clean triple pirouette. The new goal could be to make sure the movement before, during and after the triple stays emotionally connected to the piece. Make sure every team player knows what the overall team goal is, and recommit energy and focus to it. Share with each other specific, measurable goals that will feel like great achievements regardless of marks or placement.

[Read more…]

Creating Momentum & Forward Progress Between Dance Competitions

May 11, 2015 by 4dancers

"Once Upon A December" by Tom Godber. Licensed under CC Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic — “Once Upon A December” by Tom Godber. Licensed under CC Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic

by Karen Musey

Each competition experience brings new highlights and challenges! How time is utilized in-between events is a big factor in determining how each dance studio and dancer excels at each event, and how they grow over the year.

Keeping choreography fresh and spirits high after drilling and performing the same material week after week for months at a time can be a challenge! As dancers find their groove within the choreography, sometimes they start to sit back when they feel that they’ve accomplished the task. Also, often the choreographer is no longer on hand to continue the development of the work. It is important to maintain the structure of the piece, as well as encouraging each dancer to continue to evolve their own interpretation and ideas of it.

The more dancers move out of a neutral approach to performing their piece, the more the piece will evolve and affect the audience. And PS – continually finding ways to improve, define and deepen the work is great preparation for understanding how to develop work as a professional dancer; it is also a great skill to develop for any job…

Deepening The Work

Play! – Once the piece is memorized and the muscle memory has set in, then the artist is free to explore! If you can experience your piece through different kinds of filters (just like Instagram!), you will discover new layers and depth within the choreography. For example – changing up how we work with resistance helps us to discover different kinds of qualities in a movement. Moving through peanut butter vs feeling like you are made of bubbles vs oozing like green slime all change the dancer’s interpretation of the same movement, which opens up new possibilities of expression.

If a piece has a light, carefree expression to it, try approaching the choreography from an opposite angle – tension, gravity, labored. After experiencing the opposite, turn the filter back in the reverse direction, to extreme lightness and fluidity – more than was experienced originally. You will find that the piece will naturally want to lean in a certain direction. Changing the intention will open up new ideas in how the choreographer was interpreting the music. Maybe adding more lightness creates more freedom. Maybe adding weight and stillness creates a stronger emotional impact in the choreography. Maybe the intention stays the same, but now the original movement has expanded in feeling and has more nuance and variation. Playing with an opposite intention against the original goals of the choreography can open up huge, new emotional spectrums in the piece. Finding unexpected pockets in movement for hope, sadness, sweetness, longing, and connection is wonderful to discover.

[Read more…]

Difficulty vs Execution – Which is More Important To A Judge?

March 20, 2015 by Karen Musey

"Flying High" by BdwayDiva1. Licensed under CC Attribution 2.0 Generic. — “Flying High” by BdwayDiva1. Licensed under CC Attribution 2.0 Generic.

by Karen Musey

What matters more in a competitive piece – difficulty or execution?

I feel this quandary plagues a lot of competitive teams and dancers. A competing studio’s dancer executes a new “trick” successfully onstage and suddenly the bar of what is considering ranking in an age category jumps up. The pressure to stay current with the bar of excellence is then set, so obviously you need to start pushing yourself to do stuff you can’t do yet.

Really?
[Read more…]

Dance Competition: Thoughts From A Pro

November 17, 2014 by 4dancers

Today we have Drew Vamosi with us to talk about dance competitions. Drew is one of the people behind Leap! National Dance Competition, and we asked him to share some thoughts on what Leap! judges look for, as well as his tips for preparing to compete…

How important do you feel overall appearance is in terms of competition? Does what the dancer is wearing matter, or is a nice, neat presentation enough?

The dancer needs to wear a costume that fits the piece and the dancer’s body type. Often we see costumes that are not flattering on the dancer especially when weight is a factor. The dancer needs to feel confident and a costume that fits helps immensely!

What is the biggest mistake you see dancers making at your competitions? [Read more…]

LEAP! A “Boutique” Dance Competition

November 13, 2013 by 4dancers

Today we are talking with Drew Vamosi, Owner/Executive Director of LEAP! National Dance Competition. We asked him to tell us a little bit about what makes LEAP! a different experience for dancers and this is what he had to say…

Can you describe LEAP! for readers who may not have heard of it before?

Leap! is just in it’s third season but has become very popular. We call Leap! our boutique competition because it is only in select cities and has a very relaxed but exciting feel. We make the dancers feel special with our state-of-the-art lights and sound, music videos between each routine, and audience giveaways! We offer two levels of competition, a terrific panel of judges, and much more. All of the staff are uniformed, professional, and helpful. We tend to always run on time or ahead of schedule which makes the event run smoothly.

Who can participate in these competitions?

The competition is open to all ages. Leap! offers two levels of competition. The “LEAP!” level is for the more competitive dancer while the “SKIP!” level offers something for the dancer that may be more interested in the experience of competitive dance and is in the studio 5 or less hours per week.

There are many different dance competitions out there – what makes this one special? [Read more…]

Deepening The Work

Disclosure – Affiliate & Ad Info

Copyright Notice