Big topics

We have been talking Bill T. Jones about in my Dance Composition III class at Texas State University – San Marcos.  This man does some amazing things in dance.   The past 2 documentaries that we have seen (The Last Supper at Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Dancing to the Promised Land, and Still/Here) are summed up in 2 small words: VERY EPIC.  We all know that Racism, Spirituality, AIDS, HIV ( and other life threatening diseases) and Sexual orientation are big topics that we are delicate and careful about.  Springing up these discussions could get brutal and ferocious rapidly.  It comes from thin air and hits like a hurricane.  That’s exactly what Bill T. Jones does, and expresses it like a tennis player’s serve.  He lays it all out! First of all, I think he’s awesome just for doing that.  It takes a lot of courage, imagination, and understanding to hit these kind of topics.  It’s very risky to pursue these discussions and could easily offend or turn off people.  Dance critiques either love what Bill T. Jones does and praise him for his masterpieces OR absolutely hate what Bill T. Jones does and rip him apart for it.  Another thing that was cool for him to do was to add nudity to it.  Women and men were dancing nude.  A lot of performers could be very shy and/or uncomfortable dancing nude.  I think I would also. I’m not gonna lie. (Topless of course, but I’m talking about bottomless also) Then again, no one has ever asked me to dance bottomless so I do not know for sure.  Anyhow, Bill T. Jones = VERY EPIC.

 

I speak for myself and not the entire male population

So, these past two weeks, my Dance Composition III class at Texas State University – San Marcos have been really into the topic of gender and relationships.  Being the only male in class, I am looked to to get insight on my perspective about this.  I think its funny, and I truely appreciate that this class does not make me feel awkward.  There are many times that I could have felt awkward dissing males or something (not that we did that, but it could have happened. haha.)  Instead, I feel very comfortable and open to the class. I enjoy sharing what information and perspective that I can offer.  But at the same time, I cannot speak for the entire population of males.  Michelle Nance has clearly stated that (I believe.)  I want to send lots of love out to Amanda Longoria right now because she considers me her brother, (aww, she’s so cute too. Men, she’s single) and that’s exactly the relationship that I would love with y’all.  I already believe that we are brothers and sisters through Christ and a part of being a brother is being a friend.  To be a male companion to love for who they are, or a male support to hug whenever you need or want one (and I love to hug.  Maybe I’ll need a hug so I’ll go up to the nearest person and just embrace them. *Not creepy.)  I also see my peers as my sisters.  I feel like I can share with yall anything I share to my own blood sisters.  But anyways, the point of this blog is that I appreciate how the class does not make me uncomfortable and it creates a healthy, safe, and open enviornment. Whether they know it or not, it makes me feel good.  I love y’all! I love Texas State!

Sarah Lena, Mom, Eva Lizette, Me

This weekend’s (9/23-9/26) inspiration

This past weekend was very inspirational! On Thursday evening, Texas State University had the 2nd performance of Opening Door Dance Theatre and then I went to Adoration at the Catholic Student Center.  Adoration is a time when the holy Eucharist is presented on the altar and people come in to spend however long they want to pray, read the bible, meditate, or study.  Knowing that Jesus’s body is present in front of you is powerful, while you surround yourself with people who are spending their time to visit Jesus with you is encouraging and motivational. On Saturday, the spirit of the football game that Texas State University kicked butt in against Southern Utah 42-28 was moving.  Texas State fans were cheering and Boko the Bobcat was very animated as always! Everyone cheering together brought encouragement to the football team and led us to victory!  On Sunday, I went to see the Department of Music concert to see a friend of mine, Kimberly ‘Kimi’ Butler, sing in the University Singers choir.  But the men’s choir was very inspiring to me.  It reminded me of the motivation that I get from a Men’s Technique class (I get reminded of my summer at Ballet Chicago). They sang this one song called “Shosholoza” which is a South African Traditonal song by Bankay. I think that was my favorite one.  I think I want to have some live singers for my show now! That would be awesome! I loved all of the foreign songs than the English songs in the show!

Sexuality of our Dance

How do we describe what’s masculine or feminine? We see in the media ideas of what masculinity is and what feminity is.  Not just that but since we were young, its natural that girls play with their barbies and boys play with  toy cars or G.I.Joes.  Girls have tea time and boys.  But how do these ideas change our dance? We see in ballet, the man has a broad chest and shows how high he can jump and how tall he can be.  The woman shows how delicate and soft and light she can be.  These roles have been portrayed since the beginning of dance when King Louis XIV brought court dancing in the late 1600s.  Nowadays, we still see these roles being played. I know that I have mostly played roles where I am the strong, “masculine” man (for example, I have been cast in Arabian in The Nutcracker  for 4 years of the past 5 years), but there have been those rare moments where I played a delicate role (which was refreshing because it was different).  We also see these roles differently and taken to another step.  I’d like to think about the Sexuality of our Dance deeper and analyze this more.

This choreography is NOT for me, Its for you.

This week was very interesting for the students at Texas State Dance Composition III class.  We did something we have never done or have not done in a long time: Place choreography for someone else’s dance style.  Sometimes we’ve never really think about choreographing for someone else, but now that we have to do it, we have to take the time to think about what choreography would NOT fit best on me, but on the other person!  For our next assignment, we have to add more choreography to these combinations and almost make this a full dance.  I think Angelica and I definitely had fun with this assignment.  Michelle Nance did a great job with pairing us up and finding our opposites to challenge us.  After this assignment, I can’t wait to see if we have to place choreography specifically for duet/trio/group of people and not for ourselves. How challenging and fun that would be?!  Thats what I love about this class.  It is challenging, in a very fun way.  Anywho, I’m getting a better feeling of the kind of dancer that I am and that I hope to be one day. haha. Being athletic and agile is one of them so it makes me happy that my peers put that in my list of how I dance. haha.

Inventing our Personal Movement

Group Modern Dance

This past week at Texas State University in Dance Compisition III, I believe that we have seen change in our dancing selves.  Looking back to when we danced in high school, through our early years of college, and analyzing ourselves in the present, we have seen a significant improvement.  Not only have we developed our skills and ablilty to understand movement, but we have established an amazing personal movement.  We saw that through our studies, this past week. The analysis that we recieved told me things about myself that I already knew about myself or things I didn’t know about myself. For myself, I knew about myself that I could be athletic and lifted, but I didn’t think that I was mischevious and grounded.  My ballet training has definitely left an imprint on my body, but my curiosity and motivation on other dance genres (hip hop, modern, tae-kwon-do, ballroom, theatre) help me invent my personal movement.  The influences and interests that we recognize in dance help all of us invent our unique personal movement. I think that is awesome and fascinating in dance. Not 2 dancers personal movement are similar. We see that in dance battles all the time. No breakers (breakdancers) are the same, just like no latin ballroom dancers are the same. I am not the same from the next person. So, I look forward to what we do this week because I am looking forward to it.

So far at Disney World…

Well, I have been having some fun at Disney World so far. So many things are different.  A lot of construction is going on in Magic Kingdom’s Main Street and Fantasy Land.  Fantasy Land is going to be completely different. I am thinking that they are remodeling it to the different lands of the Ariel and Belle.  Knowing Disney, I am not going to be dissappointed, but awed and wowed.  There is also construction going on at EPCOT. Mexico is under going some changes so we will see how that goes. Personally, because I am of Mexican descent, I am excited and anxious about whats going to happen.   

Another awesome thing going on Star Wars Weekends is back at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and it is great. Meeting the characters and the people who played the characters are always fun things to do. But I feel that the main event is the evening show “Snig and Oopla’s HYPERSPACE HOOPLA” This years Hoopla is absolutely hilarious.  I didn’t get to see Hoopla 2009, but I do remember Hoopla 2008.  Somethings that they do are similar and somethings are different. BUT ITS STILL SO FUNNY!

One sad event that I heard about Hollywood Studios is that the Power Rangers will be leaving the park permanently at the end of the Summer.  So many years of Rangers will be missed. The last crew of rangers at Hollywood Studios are Mystic Force Pink Ranger, Space Patrol Delta (SPD) Red Ranger, Operation Overdrive Yellow Ranger, Jungle Fury Blue Ranger, and RPM Green Ranger.   But now with the recent purchase of Marvel,  I wonder if Disney will substitute the Power Rangers appearance with Marvel appearances.  Even though Universal theme park has Marvel characters right now, will Disney have to wait until their contract with Universal finishes to move them over to Hollywood Studios OR will Universal pay Disney to keep Marvel characters at their park. We will just have to see.

Dancing with the Stars: what I would like to see

Dancing with the Stars uses social media like Facebook and Twitter to communicate and advertise to their audience pretty well, but I would like to see more interactive use with social media to have fun.  I believe that social media has become one of the most efficient ways to reach out to customers, viewers, and guests.  According to WebInkNow.com “You can buy attention (advertising). You can beg for attention from the media (public relations).  You can bug people one at a time to get attention – (sales).  OR you can earn attention by creating something interesting and valuable and then publishing it online for free…”

I think Dancing with the Stars should add a micro-sweepstakes to their Twitter for Twitter users to win something like free tickets to go see a live show.  They could also add a video contest for YouTube users to upload and submit videos giving shout-outs to their favorite cast member. (I would like to give a shout-out to Edyta Sliwinska!) These ideas would bring a competitive edge to the fans.  Afterall, Dancing with the Stars is a competition.  I think they should involve the viewers in a little friendly competition as well. 

On their Facebook page, I think Dancing with the Stars should add polls to collect information about what the viewers think.  I think polls are the best way to collect quantitative data, especially if ABC is doing research about their viewers.

The media strategy of ABC’s Dancing With The Stars

Edyta Sliwinska from ABC's Dancing With The Stars

   Season 10 of Dancing With The Stars is almost at its half-way point.  Shannon Doherty, Buzz Aldrin, Aiden Turner, and Kate Gosselin are out of the game and Nicole Scherzinger is at the top of the leader boards.  However, for my final paper, I want to analyze the huge media strategy that DWTS takes in order to keep attention on them that makes this season the most watched season ever. 

There are cardio dance DVDs, watching Full Episodes on-line, voting for your favorite couple (texting with AT&T, calling a number and online votes),  DWTS merchandise, using Twitter to Tweet with the Stars and Professionals, a Facebook page that reaches out to its huge audience.

http://abc.go.com/shows/dancing-with-the-stars

Ballet Class With Professor Ana Baer

 Here are a couple of clips of a ballet class at Texas State University – San Marcos.  Professor Ana Baer is teaching Lauren Smith and many other dance students.  After ballet class, I was able to have a quick interview with Lauren Smith, a dance sophomore.