Discuss your development within the commercial sector over the past ten weeks. Select an influential commercial dance practitioner and discuss how they have inspired you

 

I will be writing about my development within the commercial sector in the past ten weeks. I will discuss how I feel I’ve improved and what has influenced me to gain better knowledge of the commercial world.

 

Throughout my first and second week of college I gained a lot of knowledge throughout my lectures and became to comprehend the work I would have this semester. I found Commercial Techniques the most interesting in this week as I was able to understand the actual meaning of commercial, what the style is and what is means to the industry. Commercial is an umbrella term for a rainbow of techniques including, Physical Theatre, Bollywood, Contact and Acrobatics, which are all styles I wouldn’t of put in the commercial category. I realised that commercial is used to make money, create media and to entertain. This has helped me engage my performance skills and realise as a performer the way to sell yourself is to use your face and engage with the style of dance you are presenting to truly amuse the audience.

 

Throughout the second week I gained awareness about women pioneers and how they have changed my life and many others. Emily Davison is one, she was so focused on getting women more rights and the chance to vote that she took her own life in front of crowds of people. Rosa Parks was another, she decided one day on her bus journey that as a black woman was supposed to she wouldn’t give up her seat for a white man. And finally Isadora Duncan was another, she was a feminist and was eager to change the way the public believed women should be covered from head to toe and be told what to do. She was all about being natural and wearing flowing, elegant clothing, which at the time would have been seen provocative. All of these women have inspired me with how passionate they were about their views and if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be able to vote, go to a multi-racial school and dance the styles of dance I enjoy most.

 

During week three I was introduced to the themes within commercial. Themes include an emotion, dance technique, music and a particular movement. For example if you were given the move Indian Step in breaking to funk music you could do this very excited. This has made me understand how the performance side of dancing is easily created and that themes help get the message across. In weeks four and five, I really concentrated on my weaknesses. I do not have strong feet so I find it difficult to point them and use all the muscles when jumping. I got advice from different teachers on their strategies and exercises to help this and I feel like they have improved slightly. I also find pirouettes very challenging when doing them on the left side and turned out. I have been given a lot of advice from my ballet and jazz teachers that have helped them improve. This has included keeping my arms strong, spotting and the feeling of lift whilst turning. This has helped me develop during commercial as I when we are given pirouettes in our show pieces, I feel more confident with them and can sometimes land a triple.

 

In week six I gained a large interest in Jerome Robbins and I would say he is the commercial dance practitioner who has inspired me. I think the main thing I love about his work is that he includes many styles together in one piece. For example in West Side Story the Sharks and Jets would execute jazz as well as acrobatics. "Dancers cast in West Side Story productions usually possess great athletic and acrobatic ability, as leaps and turns in the air are often used in the choreography to represent thickening plots and heightened moments of action." Love To Know (2006) I believe as a dancer you should always be versatile and prove you can do anything you are asked to do. I am not so confident when it comes to choreographing myself but I like the way Robbins gives his characters their own tasks when directing. This isn’t necessarily there own choreography but it might consist of really reading into there own characters so they can get their personalities across correctly. I think this is a good way to direct to make the characters more realist and believable to the audience.

 

Week seven gave me more of a prospectus on Bollywood as I didn’t realise the depth of it and how it all started. This was very interesting for me, as I have performed Bollywood in previous shows before coming to Creative Academy and always found it really fun but never understood the real roots of the style. Now I realise how much it has evolved in the past century and how it started as folk dance before being the vibrant style it is today. Finally in weeks eight, nine and ten in Dance History and Commercial Techniques I have increased intelligence within the style breaking. Break dancing has always fascinated me to it has been nice to learn the background of the technique. Also as well as learning this I have been able to try some break movement myself during the hip-hop lessons we have weekly.

 

In conclusion, I am glad I took dance at degree level because it has been surprising how much I have learnt already in lectures as well as in practical classes. I have learnt a large amount of new information about commercial and it has developed me physically and intellectually.

 

Bibliography

 

Love To Know. (2006). West Side Story Dance Analysis. Available: http://dance.lovetoknow.com/West_Side_Story_Dance_Analysis. Last accessed 18th Nov 2014.