dance – Page 14

Review: Michael Jackson, The Experience – XBOX 360 Kinect

July 15, 2011 by 4dancers

*Note: This XBOX 360 game requires a Kinect sensor in order to play

If you love Michael Jackson’s dance moves, now you have the opportunity to learn them. This XBOX 360 Kinect game, Michael Jackson, The Experience, features his actual choreography, as well as the chance to sing along with the music if you are so inclined. One of my favorite parts of this game was the stage backgrounds for the different songs. They were fun!

There are plenty of great MJ songs here to choose from, including Billie Jean, Smooth Criminal and Bad. To me, one of the things that makes this game is the fact that you are actually on-screen with the group, thanks to the advances with Kinect technology. It never ceases to amaze me how far we’ve come these days.

This game is a good one to play with friends, as there is a multi-player option, and other cool features include the opportunity to star in your own Michael Jackson video and “Michael’s Dance School”.

I’d be hard-pressed to say whether younger dance fans would find this game as fun as I did, since they are so used to this type of technology…but I enjoyed the chance to try my hand at the “King of Pop’s” moves. I’ve long been a fan of his dancing and thought the game was a good time. I will say that I had no difficulty picking up the dance steps, but hesitate to make a blanket statement about them being simple since I have a dance background.

The real value in this XBOX game is the fact that you can learn the actual choreography. Michael Jackson had some pretty smooth moves, and I always loved to watch him dance. It was cool to break the movements down and do them myself.

If you’ve played this game, I’d love to hear your thoughts…

Review copy courtesy of Ubisoft

I’ve Never Seen It Quite That Way – Leopold Group Meets Photographer Arn Klein

July 9, 2011 by 4dancers

By Lizzie Leopold

For a long time I was a rabid supporter of liveness, a performance purist. Dance happens on the stage, audience and dancer sharing space and time, communicating body to body.

Then I met Arn Klein. I was in a situation that lots of young choreographers find themselves in. I needed to save some money. I was premiering a new work and needed some press photos but couldn’t afford to hire anyone. In a last ditch effort, I blindly emailed the Chicago Photography Center – a former neighbor of ours when we were in residence at the Lakeview YMCA.

I introduced myself and explained simply that I was looking for someone, anyone, who might be interested in taking photographs of dance. My email was forwarded onto their instructors and in a week I had a response.

Arn Klein first visited our rehearsal in January. We talked briefly about trying to capture movement within the frame, as overly posed dance photographs are a personal pet peeve. I’ve seen one too many perfectly placed arabesques, beautiful and boring. He took the idea and ran with it.

The result was an incredible blur of colors, an abstraction and melding of the body and the dance. For someone who was completely new to dance, he was fearless and unbound.

Session number two was in June, adding photographer Matthew Gregory Hollis to the mix. He too is an instructor at the Chicago Photography Center and was anxious to explore dance. The results were night and day. The photographs are sharp, clean and precise, lit exquisitely. He seems to have captured the inhale, leaving the photograph full of potential and threatening to dance itself.

It has only been a few short months and we have already taught each other so much. I continue to learn about the power of the photograph, not simply as a tool for capture but as a dance-maker itself.

Natalia — Photo credit: Matthew Gregory Hollis and Arn Klein

My preference for live performance comes from the need for suspense and surprise. Live performance always has an element of “What will happen next?’ It is never the same dance twice. Arn’s photographs have brought that sense of immediacy and uncertainty to the still picture. Looking at his pictures show me parts of my choreography that I never knew existed.

In the coming months we will continue to explore choreography through photography and photography through choreography. The photographs will be shown at the Chicago Photography Center in late fall 2011. Visit www.leopoldgroup.org for more information and see the photographs.

(Arn Klein: www.picsimage.com)

(Matthew Gregory Hollis: http://theobsessiveeye.blogspot.com)

Teaching Tip: Have A Backup Plan

July 5, 2011 by 4dancers

Today’s teaching tip is simple, but crucial – always have a backup plan.

This piece of advice can apply in several different ways. For example, you’ll always want to have more than one music choice. If you have a ballet class CD that you use all the time, be sure and pack another one–just in case. Scratches happen, as do simple accidents, and you don’t ever want to be caught without tunes. It’s so hard to teach that way.

Another “backup plan” suggestion…have extra shoes to teach in on hand. If an elastic breaks or you think you packed your shoes in a bag but didn’t, you’ll have another pair. I’ve thought my shoes were in the car (I’m lazy and usually leave them in the trunk) and found I brought them in the house. Not a great way to appear to your students. Teaching in gym shoes just isn’t pretty.

Pack a mini-emergency baggie. In it, keep a band-aid or two, an aspirin (or other painkiller), a granola bar or protein bar, nail clipper and hair band. Basically, items you may need and not have on hand. You don’t have to go crazy with this one, but if you find yourself needing something, toss it in the bag for next time so you are prepared.

Do you have any “backup plan” tips for dance teachers? Has something saved you from trouble? If so, tell us about it! You never know–you might save someone else from having the same issue!

It Gets Better Project – A Powerful Resource For Dance Teachers

July 3, 2011 by 4dancers

“It gets better.” These words are a necessity for every child and/or teenager feeling bullied, isolated, depressed or who is thinking about ending his or her life. These words were the inspiration for the It Gets Better Project started by Dan Savage, a political gay activist, and his husband Terry Miller. The objective of the project is to help save lives by reaching out to LGBT teens who can’t see a future for themselves; let alone a future full of amazing possibilities.

Through the It Gets Better Project adults in the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi and trans) community have been sharing their life experiences (through You Tube) with teens struggling with their own sexuality and all of the intolerance and ignorance that unfortunately can come along with it. (As if growing up wasn’t hard enough.) The words that are repeated and reinforced in all of the videos are that no matter what hardships you are facing today – life will get better. No matter how bad your situation is today- it is temporary.

There is so much love and life to live. This message of love and hope has reached hundreds of thousands of lesbian, gay, bi, trans and straight people all over the world.

Information From www.itgetsbetter.org :

Dan heard about the suicides of Justin Aaberg and Billy Lucas and had a reaction so many LGBT adults had. “I wish I could’ve talked to that kid for five minutes before he killed himself,” Dan recently said. “I’d tell him that however bad it was in high school or middle school…it gets better.” The It Gets Better Project was born. [Read more…]

Tips For Using Twitter

June 20, 2011 by 4dancers

Regardless of whether you are new to Twitter or have been tweeting for a long time, there is plenty to know about this social media application. Twitter is a very useful platform, and I started out hating it, but now enjoy it immensely.

Part of the enjoyment is because I understand the basics. Chris Brogan (of social media fame) wrote a great introductory post about Twitter for those who have not yet investigated it in much detail. (If that is you, check it out.) It can help make sense out of all the noise.

Those of you who have been around for a while may want to branch out (bad pun–see picture) and learn some of the fancy ways to use the site. There are deeper ways to use Twitter, according to Brogan, and I like what he has to say about that as well. I consider myself an intermediate user, since I know a good deal about it, but I know that there is always more to read out there.

Social media in general is constantly evolving and changing. Keeping up with it all can be a real challenge–but it can also be worth it. If you utilize sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, try to learn something new about them once in a while to help maximize your presence there. Believe it or not–it can actually make networking online more fun!

How do you use Twitter? Are you an avid tweeter or do you shun the idea of it all? Would love to hear some voices from the dance world on that one!

There is so much love and life to live. This message of love and hope has reached hundreds of thousands of lesbian, gay, bi, trans and straight people all over the world.

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