Singing, Dancing and Acting for the Holidays!
I t’s the Holidays! Time for presents, trimming the tree, classic holiday movies and gathering with friends and family. It’s also the time to head to the theatre for a live performance of one of the many holiday shows that come but once a year. Maybe get on a plane and head to New York City to see a performance of the world famous Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall ? But, that can be quite a lengthy and expensive night out, so if you want to get the same holiday spirit without leaving town, why not try one of
the many holiday shows put on by your local dance and theatre arts schools.
Did you know? The performing arts require the same level of training and commitment to achieve excellence as in any other sport, but it differs from other kinds of rhythmic movement, such as dribbling a basketball. This is true especially of dance, because in dance, the movement itself is the goal of the activity. Music usually accompanies dance, providing the rhythm, tempo, and mood for the movements.
Both the beginner and seasoned athlete (regardless of the sport) should look upon dance as another legitimate method to improve upon flexibility, coordination, balance, endurance and conditioning. Dance styles vary greatly, but they all have their foundation in ballet:
BALLET is the oldest and most highly developed form of dance, growing out of European court dances of the 1400s and 1500s. Ballet dances were later replaced by ballroom dancing as a form of social dance. In addition
M-Th: 8am-1pm, 4-8:30pm Fri: 8am-6:30pm Sat-Sun: 8am-4:30pm
to performing ballets themselves, by the 1600s, court aristocracy employed professional dancers to perform the ballets as staged entertainment. Academies were established to train these professional performers and encourage the development of their art.
By the late 1800s, ballet had reached a high level of refinement. Ballet companies had become expensive organizations that produced great
spectacles. Ballets used elaborate scenery and costumes to help tell romantic, fairy-tale stories. Ballet uses formal, set movements and poses characterized by elegance and grace. Ballet dancers usually hold their bodies straight and lifted up. Ballet technique is based on positions in which the movements and poses are characterized by elegance and grace. Ballet technique is based on positions in which the dancer’s legs rotate outward from the hip joint
and the feet turn outward. This rotation is called turnout.
Ballet is a living art that can vary from performance to performance. Different dancers bring different qualities to their roles. The production will be affected by the harmony among performers, especially between the principal male dancer and the ballerina (leading female dancer). Throughout ballet history, some remarkable partnerships have developed, such as the one that began in the 1960s between Russian-born dancer Rudolf Nureyev and
traditional movements of ballet. Duncan began the modern dance emphasis on individuality and innovation. She called her style of movement “the dance of the future,” but it became best known as modern dance. Duncan’s supporters applauded her work as remarkably fresh and spontaneous.
Several American women continued Duncan’s innovations. These dancer-teacherchoreographers included Ruth St. Denis, Doris Humphrey and Martha Graham. Martha Graham became the central figure in modern dance in the mid-1900s. Through her artistry, passion and intensity, Graham brought modern dance to the level of great art. She developed a method of movement, inspired by the act of breathing, which was based on the contraction and release of muscles. The method was designed to capture the rhythm
of human emotion. Graham’s method became the standard modern dance technique adopted throughout the world.
African Americans made important contributions to modern dance. Alvin Ailey was a major figure. In creating his American Dance Theater, Ailey sought to make modern dance into a vehicle for expressing the black experience through music and movement. His company gained praise for its exuberance and energy.
Many younger choreographers of the late 1900s turned away from modern dance as an art that consisted purely of movement. Their work mixed and often emphasized video, spoken language and other non-dance elements.
JAZZ dance, like jazz music, relies strongly on rhythm. It is usually energetic, with dancers using different parts of the body, such as the shoulders, pelvis, and head, in isolated movement. Jazz dancing is a personal style that emphasizes individual expression and often includes humor and improvisation. Strangely, jazz is usually done to the latest top 40 dance music and not jazz. Jazz requires a very flexible
body, “isolated” joints that can be moved independently, and an ability on the dancer’s part to perform exaggerated movement stylishly. Good jazz dancers take at least 2 years to get their bodies into shape.
TAP dancing combines dance traditions from Britain and Africa. It resembles jazz dancing in its strong rhythms and frequent displays of improvisation. Tap dancing relies almost totally on footwork, however. The feet become musical instruments, marking out complex rhythms with the heel and toe. Tap dancing underwent a revival during the 1990s, largely due to the work of such young dancers and choreographers as Gregory Hines and Savion Glover
In the book, “Black Dance in America,” the first name mentioned is “Uncle” Jim Lowe, a black man that did jigs and reels in saloons and who was listed as an influence on the first great rhythm dancer, William Henry Lane, also known as “Juba.” Lane was born in 1825 and was well known by the 1840s. His dancing included African steps, like the shuffle and slide, added to the jig steps. He was the first to add syncopation and improvisation to his dancing.
MUSICAL THEATER
is a primarily American form of theatrical entertainment that typically tells a story through songs and dialogue as well as dance. Musicals generally feature athletic, rhythmic dancing, but some also include dance pieces that resemble classical ballet.
Important ballet choreographers who have created dances for musicals include George Balanchine, Agnes de Mille and Jerome Robbins. Some of the greatest American musicals are known primarily for their dances, such as Robbins’ West Side Story (1957); A Chorus Line (1975), with choreography by Michael Bennett; Chicago (1975), with choreography by Bob Fosse; My One and Only (1983), with choreography by Tommy Tune and Crazy for You (1992), with choreography by Susan Stroman.
HIP HOP was born in New York City in late 1984 as break dancing reached its apex, with the release of the movies Breakin’, Breakin’ 2, Electric Boogaloo and Beatstreet, as well as several commercials and videos. It is the style of dance popularized by the choreographer Paula Abdul and the MTV generation and combines elements of tap, jazz and modern dance.
Tampa Bay is blessed with a wealth of talented professionals who have dedicated their careers to passing on their love of performing through teaching. For the beginner to the advanced, each studio has its own style and philosophy, so find the one that’s right for you and start a tradition of...
A Primer Special Education for Special Kids
The holidays are typically filled with traveling, gathering, reveling and more. However, the word typical rarely applies to those families with special needs children. For these families, the chaos of the holidays can reach epic proportions without careful preparation and plenty of support. When faced with a season of sensory overload and schedule disruptions, special needs holiday preparation is critical to managing expectations, making the best of challenging situations, and embracing joy through adaptive holiday strategies.
of when baby Johnny or Jane should crawl, walk or utter the first word.
If you don’t know when, then you could be missing signs of a developmental delay. The National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities advises, “Learn the signs now and then act sooner rather than later.”
There are 14 defined disabilities that are encompassed by the IDEA:
AUTISM
For parents that have been dealing with holiday challanges for a number of years, experience, trail and error and patience have seen them through the holiday season.
But what if you think you have a special needs child but are unsure?
“Ten toes and ten fingers.” That’s a familiar statement that elicits a sigh of relief from parents of a newborn. As the days turn to weeks, then to months, a child will reach pre-set milestones for height and weight but also for other areas of development. Many first time parents are unsure
In 1990, the US Congress passed the nation’s first special education law called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, known for short as the IDEA. That October it was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush. This law insures services to children with disabilities throughout the nation. IDEA governs how states and public agencies provide early intervention, special education and related services to more than 6.5 million eligible infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities.
A developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age three, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. Other characteristics often associated with autism are engaging in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences. The term autism does not apply if the child’s educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has an emotional disturbance,as defined in #5 below. A child who shows the characteristics of autism after age 3 could be diagnosed as having autism if the criteria above are satisfied.
DEAFNESS-BLINDNESS
A concomitant [simultaneous] hearing and visual impairment, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in
