Settling In Evening

Settling in evening was an opportunity for the parents to come in and see what we have been doing in the dance strand. My Mum Dad and Sister came to watch and they loved it. 

I think I did alright that night but it's like every performance I do I always think I could do so much better. I focused on my posture mainly as that's the main area I need to work on. I think I could have smiled and performance a lot better also I could have used my kinesphere a lot more. 

This just gives me another target I can do for the next performance therefore I will stand out a lot more than I did.

Focus Of Training 3

For my 3rd focus of training I chosen to use my kinesphere. I need to use my space a lot more and make every move bigger and longer this will make me stand out in a performance. Using my kinesphere will make my performance better also will help it flow through each movement more. Every part of my body will need to be bigger not just every other part.

Focus Of Training 2

I have chosen flexibility as my second focus of training. I really would like to do the splits on both legs and box splits. In order to do this I will stretch whenever I can, holding a stretch for 30 seconds each. By the end of term 2 I would like to be able to get into the splits on at least one leg and half way on the other. By the end of this year I would like to be able to get into the box splits and both left and right legs.

Focus of training 1

On my first focus of training I need to work on my posture. One of the reasons I chose this is because I don't always remember to keep my posture up right. I need to make my core a lot stronger. If your core is not strengthened your posture can be poor. I can strengthen my core by doing sit ups, plank and press ups.

What Makes A Good Dancer

I think to be a good dancer you have to be focused, have to be determined ,but I think the main thing is to have motivation. If you lack motivation you tend to give up more easily instead of pushing harder and striving to do the move you are wanting to do. Motivation makes you want to practice in your spare time. Also if you get feedback saying you need to work on something you will respond with a positive attitude. You also need to be versatile so have options open for jobs instead of just knowing one type of dance.

Personally I think we need to have good communication skills to enable you to communicate with other dancers, chorographers, parents, teachers and the list goes on. To dance with out injury you need to warm up before dancing such as doing cardiovascular which warms up the body and gets the heart racing, sending blood around your body to warm up your muscles so you can safely stretch. After every dance lesson you will need to cool down so your muscles will be less likely to hurt or ache the day after.

Versatile means when you do lots of different types of dances, this is helpful as you will be more likely to get a job with more than one dance background.

Fitness

On the first week we focused on our own fitness. We did different exercises such as:

Push Ups- This helped our upper body strength.In order to do a proper push up we need to make sure our arms are underneath our shoulders and also to keep your neck long, for more information on how  to do a good push up there are lots of different websites and videos that you could follow. In 30 seconds I did 8 push ups which isn't so great, therefore all I need to do is work on my upper body strength.

Crunches- Most peoples necks normally hurt, in order to stop this you need to use your hands to support behind the neck. In 30 seconds I did 23 crunches.

Plank- This will help your core strength you will need to keep your neck long. I held plank for 2 mins 10 seconds. Incorrect:

 Correct:

Running- We first checked our resting pulse, mine was 122 beats per minute, then ran up and down stairs for 2 minutes, and counted our pulse for 30 seconds. mine was 86 beats in 30 seconds, we had to times it by 2 which is 172 so we could estimate our pulse rate in one minute.

After a couple of weeks we did the same exercises to see what we had improved on and what we needed to work on and recorded them. In the second time we did this I improved in most of them but in one I got worse.

Push Ups- I improved in this, in 30 seconds I did 17 push ups on feet.
Crunches- I improved a lot in this, in 30 seconds I did 34 crunches.
Plank- I need to work on this as I only stayed up for 1 minute 20 seconds whereas on the first week I achieved staying up for 2 minutes.
Running- I got 53 beats per minutes rest time and then in 30 seconds I got 89 beats after running meaning times 2 to get beats per minute therefore getting 178.

Audit Skills:

In our booklet we were provided we had a place to write what we could improve on called audit skills. I think the main area I would like to improve on would be my posture, it's mainly in my jazz forth and my second position.

 Incorrect:

                                                                                                                             Correct:
Before every dance or sport you need to warm up and the best way to do that is to do cardiovascular. This warms you up and gets the heart racing, sending blood round your body to warm up your muscles so you won't get injured. If your muscles are warm it is easier to stretch. Stretching maintains and increases the flexibility of the muscles and improve mobility joints, stretching will be different in warm ups and cool downs. In the warm ups the stretches use speed and movement preparing a variety of muscles that you use when dancing. In the cool down its the complete opposite, you can hold a stretch up to 60 seconds without causing discomfort or risking injury. When stretching you should be able to feel the stretch but if its painful you will need to stop.

There are different types of stretching-

Static Stretch- These are mainly used in a cool down. This type of stretch is held for 30 seconds onwards and if it's ever used in a warm up don't hold it for longer than 10 seconds in order to relieve stiffnesss in muscles overused in the previous exercise session.
PNF stretch- This should only be used when fully warmed up. PNF stands for Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation which means that the small sensors that identify tension are used to achieve maximum elongation (lengthening) of the muscle without initiating the stretch reflex.
Dynamic Stretch- Dynamic stretching is used in the warm up. It involves slow continuous moments. example: for hamstrings, inner thigh and hip flexors you can do a controlled grand battlement extending the leg to the front to the side and the back then repeat. For calves, inner thigh muscles and hip felxors use knee bends, plies and lunges.
Ballistic stretch- This type of stretch needs to be used at the end of a warm up as it could be potentially harmful if the muscles are not fully warm. This is similar to the dynamic stretching but the speed is faster.

 

My Dance Life

Well as I mentioned in my last post I started to dance when I was three years old. My first type of dance I started was Ballet then through out the years i picked up modern,jazz, hiphop, musical theatre, tap and luckily in The BRIT school we are taught contemporary and jazz. Unfortunately contemporary isn't available in my dance school which is Grayes but the school offers you lots of other dances and i dont think i could have got into the BRIT school without Grayes.

I don't really have a favourite type of dance. I started modern at about five years old, but I took up tap when I was a lot older at about ten, luckily I have caught up quicker than I thought I would. Jazz and hiphop you have to be a certain age to take them up, jazz you have to be about eight and hiphop has a junior and senior group.

I have done many exams and mainly achieved distinctions. At grayes we only do tap modern and ballet exams. Last modern exam I got a merit which I wasn't that happy about but just have to take it on the chin and just improve the areas that weren't that great.

Every summer grayes put on a summer school for all ages up to sixteen years old. I love it each year and have done it ever since it's started.

 Summer school is where westend dancers come in and teach us amazing dances and even a BBC make up artist came in and taught us the make up for BBC or west end shows we have had the lion king: 

We have also had:

And also the black swan:

We get goes at trying this on each other such as in this picture I did the younger dancers make up on the right and then she did mine. I have loved summer school every time I have done it and it gives me more things to do in the summer as I don't like sitting around doing nothing.

It's such great fun and everyone I have talked to that has done it have always been so positive.

Now on to musical theatre, I have only recently joined this class at my dance school and so far it's been so good. Each term we prepare from a show and my first term we did the production 'Cats the musical'

Our next show we will be doing is going to be 'Our House' , can't wait to get it all together and see what the finished product will be like, exciting! I like musical theatre as it has all aspects of performance, most dancers need to be versatile within dance and also able to sing and act. I think singing is an important part of being a performer this is why I have signed up to do peri lessons within the BRIT school.

My Life So Far

Hey, Im Tasha Cooper. I'm fourteen years old live in London and I love to dance. I have been dancing since I was three years old. I do a range of dances such as: Ballet,Point (Ballet),Tap,Modern,Jazz,HipHop,Musical Theatre and contemporary. I have recently joined The Brit School as a year 10 dance student. As you can probably guess I got in as a Dance strand student. I am so happy I got in and accepted the place here at Brit School.

My week is very busy which I love, as I love to be up and active, I get bored very easily. Every morning I get up at 6:30 and leave my house at 7:25 to get to the train station at 7:35 ish ,my train gets to the station at quarter to eight, luckily the train only takes fifteen minutes and we have about forty minutes to sit and relax in the canteen. On Mondays we finish at 4:00 then Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday finish at 4:10 then Fridays we finish at 12:15.

(In pink will be the actives I do)
Mondays: Lessons for four periods then Dance (strand) for two periods just to finish the day with. Head straight off to intermediate foundation at Grayes. 
Tuesday: Lessons all day (only full day of lessons) Off to musical theatre also at Grayes
Wednesday: Lessons for four periods then drama (your option) stay at Brit for stretch and conditioning then straight off to modern at Grayes.
Thursday: Four periods of dance then two periods of PE. Normally stay at school to rehearse any dances that we have learnt, then back to Grayes for jazz which is my latest class at 8-8:45 
Friday: Assembly then two periods of lessons stay at school for point class then go home and try and meet up with my old school friends and we have two breaks during the day. At first I was thinking that I would never get up this early for school, but there is just something about Brit that makes me get up straight away and go to school. Even for the days that is just all lessons.

I have mentioned Grayes which is my dance school, I have gone there since I started dancing it was my first dance school. I have been there ever since and I couldn't imagine going anywhere better. If you are looking for a dance school for any of the dances I do I would recommend it.

Now, I have done a few things in the past. I did dance shows and musicals at Grayes and stagecoach. My first proper job was a marks and spencer's fittings model when I was nine. I have also auditioned for the West End several times and was lucky enough to be shortlisted for a munchkin role in the wizard of oz auditioning for Arlene Phillips. I have sang at the Secombe Theatre celebrating scola's 40 years compered by Tim Vine. I was then asked to sing in manor park, sutton for The Big Event. As a result of this performance I was asked to record a promotion track for Scola. This will be available on Twitter, Facebook and on the Scola website as soon as they have sorted it. I met loads of people with this experience. I went for ball girl at Wimbledon lawn tennis championships and was lucky to get down to the semi finals and I'm glad where I got too even to I didn't get through the whole way I tried my best and it was great to try out. The trials were tough and required determination. I was selected out of sixty applicants and so happy for my friends that got through the whole way. Recently I have been entered into a choreography competition and will be performing two dances; a duet and another dance with two other younger dancers.

I think the students at Brit are so friendly and the higher years are so welcoming it makes me want to be there even more than I would ever want to. I like the fact that all the strands are mixed in classes which means that making friends is a whole lot easier. The dance teachers have been a huge help, pushing me to achieve my best. Encouraging me to achieve my goals and become a better and a more accomplished person.