Reflections [R]

1

Honoring the History of Modern Dance

Patrick Haskell    

    I had a lot of fun building my solo and ensemble piece throughout the semester. While it may look like just a dance, the pieces are made up of inspiration from Laban, Mary Wigman, Isadora Duncan, and Ruth St. Denis and their methods and techniques. I am excited to have an individual solo to carry with me for the rest of my life. It is something that embodies who I am and I would be proud to perform for anyone. As I stated in my synopsis, I want the piece to be a representation of who I am in the present moment. 

 

            I hope to reflect upon it in the future when my dreams hopefully come to fruition and acknowledge the growth I have made since then. I enjoyed learning about the pioneers of modern dance and their contributions to the dance style. It was exciting to take their methods of dance and incorporate it into solo and ensemble performances. While at times it was challenging, I found pleasure in honoring the history of modern dance as well as making it my own. 

 

            I am currently pursuing a minor in dance where I hope to continue dancing after college in some way, shape or form. While I am unsure of my future, I know the lessons I learned in dance through the solo and ensemble pieces will aid me in my journey as an artist. It is interesting to look back upon the beginning of the semester when I only had one eight-count choreographed and see how far I have come. The movement transformed itself into a performance without me realizing it and I am proud of how it turned out. 

 

            The day of the show was very nerve-racking for me, however seeing how supportive the class was of each other calmed my nerves very quickly. Modern dance is one of the few classes I’ve taken in college so far that has been difficult to say goodbye to. I feel I’ve made genuine connections with my peers and hope to stay in touch with as many of them as possible. While the semester is coming to an end and I am sad to leave the class, the lessons I learned and memories I made will stay with me forever.

2

Really Into the Dance

Madisen Brandon

I really enjoyed this class even more than I thought I would. I did not exactly know what I was getting myself into since I have never taken a dance class before. Throughout the semester, I was worried about my moves not looking right or not being creative enough, but when it all came together I was surprised. 

 

It was like everything came together so well and I was able to combine the different forms of dance that we had learned during the class. At first I was not confident in my solo, but after practicing several times it began to feel like second nature. After watching my performance, I was very impressed at how expressive my moves were and how I was really into the dance. 

 

I was also very impressed at how well the class bonded by the end of the semester - we all started talking to each other before and after class and encouraging each other. I will definitely carry the lessons I learned in this class with me throughout my career and use dance as an outlet to express myself. I am super grateful for the time I spent in this class and am so glad I took it.

3

Full of Freedom

Zihui Xie

    When I started this course, I had no idea what dance was or what modern dance was. But after this semester's study, I know that to dance is to rely on one’s own feelings and body’s expressions. 

 

    Modern dance is an art course full of freedom. And after a semester of study and practice, I realized that this course is also full of fun. 

 

    The same basic action, as long as is expressed with different feelings, different ways of doing them, can get different expressions and effects. 

 

    Finally, this semester, I felt happy, passionate, hard, moved and harvested.

4

Bonded Through Dance

Sofia Franciosa

    This class was one of my favorites this semester. I have done dance for years but never something like this and I feel like this helped me in many ways. I learned how to let go and focus on what makes me feel good in the moment. Creating my own solo performance was very freeing and expanded my dancing skills. 

 

    I also loved having a group ensemble on top of that because it helped me learn more patience and how to be a helpful leader when necessary. It also helped me with collaboration and how to work well in a group. Our final performance was amazing because I loved seeing how much I've grown this semester and seeing how much everyone in the class really bonded through dance. 

 

    All of these take-aways will help me in my major because as a Biomedical Engineer I will need to work in groups a lot. I now will have more experience of working in a group to help me in my career. This class will also help my career in the fact that not everything will go my way in my job so I can learn how to let it go and find a new solution until something fits, like how I worked on my solo piece. 

 

    Being in this class was definitely an interesting process for me as well. In the beginning, since I had never done something like this before, I felt a little awkward letting go and doing these "weirder" movements; however, over time I grew into this freedom and enjoyed every second of movement, no matter the form. 

5

Spinning and Floating

Liming Wei

    In this semester, I feel I have harvested a lot. From the beginning of the class, I did not know much about dance, to later learned to compose and show my dance movements with music; the course taught me a lot. 

 

    We imitated touching things in boxes, imitated sculptural movements to form dance movements. What's more, I was impressed that the professor taught us tai Chi, which is a kung fu from China, and it was really great to add it to the dance. 

 

    The dancing of the silk, the slow spinning and floating, the swinging of the sticks all made this class so much fun. Furthermore, every member of our team worked very hard; we got together to discuss dance moves, members shared their opinions on advice, and then discussed a suitable action and practiced together.

 

    Group members were very patient to help every team member. That is why we finally arrived to the successful completion of our dance performance together. I was very happy to meet my group members, and it was fun to dance with them and communicate with them. 

 

    I enjoyed this dance class very much. I liked the teaching method very much. The class made me to be interested in dance.

6

Becoming Friends

Sierra Maziur

    I really enjoyed this class so much! It was so fun to be able to dance in a studio again and to choreograph routines. It was really nice to be able to work with the international students too, as we were all able to work together to come up with a routine while becoming friends along the way. 

 

    I feel like this class helped me express myself through my movement better. It was a very fun class. 

    Stepping out of my comfort zone while learning different types of movements and having to choreograph routines basically from scratch was something I will certainly take away from this class.  It has helped me become a better, more experienced and knowledgeable dancer. 

7

Telling My Story

Dorel Last

    This course was not what I expected. Initially, I thought that we are going to learn new combinations just like in traditional dance classes. I appreciate that we were given the time to come up with our own movements in every class and that we built our dances' choreography throughout the whole semester. 

 

    I was amazed by how well the movements that we created matched the story we chose to tell and the music. I felt this especially with my solo. Even though the choice of the story and the music came only after we built the choreography, my movements felt like they were meant to be telling my story with the music I chose. 

 

    I was happy to drive (from Miami Beach) twice a week solely for this class. Thank you for an awesome last semester, this class is unforgettable!

8

My Dancing Roots

Esther Monexe

Overall I really enjoyed taking this class. It was great connecting back with my dancing roots . Also it was a stress reliever from all my other challenging class I have taken this semester.

 

Above all else I learned so much about my musicality movement and just diverse use of movement and creativity. 

 

I was pleased to see my solo become a creative piece that I will forever hold on to and keep near to myself.

 

In addition, I extremely happy with the turnout of the ensemble just being able to collaborate with other students of different nation to create one cohesive piece. 

 

Our group has come such a long way from the beginning of the semester and i am pleased to say that it ended on an extremely High note. 

9

A Deeper Passion

Lin Wang

    This semester, I feel that I have gained a lot. From the beginning of class, I didn’t know anything about dance. Later, I learned how to use music to compose and perform dance moves. 

 

     The course taught me a lot. For example, touching things in the box, imitating sculpture movements, teaching us Tai Chi. 

 

      All these elements made this class very interesting. In addition, teamwork gave me a deeper passion for dance. 

 

      I know I still had many shortcomings in this final, because it was the first time I performed I was very nervous, and some of the moves were not performed the best.

10

Following the Dance

Ying Liu

I have learned a lot in this semester. I have begun to follow the dance of music freedom. 

 

I started to learn to dance with the rhythm, which makes me find fun.

 

 I didn't have confidence before, I felt alone, but I started to have confidence through this class. 

 

I love this class very much, and I love my professor and classmates.

11

Happy

Xina Wei

I am very happy to take the course DAN211 this semester. 

I learned a lot about modern dance and movements. 

Dance is about following your heart and emotions. 

This class changed my perspective on dance. 

Group dancing makes me feel very involved. 

For solo dance creation, although it is a little difficult, I enjoy the happiness of it. 

I'm so happy I joined this class!

12

Dance Movements By Ourselves

Shuai Xiao

In this semester's dancing class, I think I have gained a lot. I still remember when I introduced myself in the first class, I noticed that many students in the course had learned dance, but I had no basic knowledge of dance, and I just signed up for this class out of interest, which made me feel flustered. 

However, after a week's study, I found the dance class very interesting, and the professor's teaching method was very unique. He would teach a knowledge point in each class and then asked us to make up dance movements by ourselves. 

From the beginning of the box, emotions and sculpture to the later creation using silk and wooden sticks, I found it was very novel. At the end of the semester, I couldn't believe that I had finished the ensemble and solo dance.

13

Make Progress Together

Yuze Zheng

I gained a lot of things from the dance class in this semester that I had never been exposed to before. First of all, it was my first exposure to dance. At the beginning, I approached this class with the mentality of trying. But gradually I found that the professor was very patient and taught us dance movements carefully in class, and he would lead us to warm up before every class. What's more, I found that every student in class was very enthusiastic, and every member of our group helped each other to make progress together. 

When we choreographed the dance movements, we would think of ways together. I think it is a very good way to promote everyone's teamwork spirit. For the final solo dance and group dance performance, ALTHOUGH I felt a little nervous, I was afraid that I would be nervous and forget the movements, but because of the previous practice, I presented the work well to everyone. I think it was a great class and I am very grateful to the professor and everyone in the class.

14

Communicate, Exchange & Learn

Anna Wu

This is an elective course and is worth taking. There is no need for any dance foundation. The professor is very nice at all times and is very tolerant of other students’ lateness, even if it’s wrong to be late.

 

This is also a class to deepen the friendship between classmates. We rarely have time for such intensive interaction with other classmates in other classes. This class gave us a good opportunity to communicate, exchange and learn.

 

This is also the first time I have choreographed a dance. I have never tried the original dance in this way before. Although this lesson is still a bit challenging for me, but overall, I still feel that I have learned a lot. There is an equation that says pain + reflection = progress. So the final result is that this class made me progress and enriched my entertainment time for a whole semester.

 

I also reflected on the dance moves I did at the end. In fact, it was not perfect, and I did some wrong moves. I don't know why. I usually practice it, but I did it wrong at the critical moment. Now, I think about it clearly, no one is perfect, I have tried my best and that is enough.

 

Finally, I want to thank the professor. This is the last time I stayed in Miami and will graduate in next Friday. I am very happy to take your dance class. If I have time in the future, I will continue to learn dance, thank you!

15

The Meaning of Real Dance

Jiayue Wang

First of all, thank you professor for your teaching this semester. I really enjoy your class, that's why I choose to enroll your modern dance class again. I took your "Dance Movement for Therapy" class before, and I was deeply attracted by your impromptu Dance, which was so moving, flexible, fluent and story-telling. What shocked me most was the theme and mood you wanted to express in your dance. This is probably the meaning of real dance!

 

Back to this modern dance class, I still learned a lot about modern dance, including: the fluidity of dance, the strength of dance, the embodiment of dance, etc. Different dance movements can convey different emotions, such as fear, happiness, sadness, sadness, guilt, surprise and so on. You trained us in every class and combined our dance movements together, and then achieved our Group dance and Solo dance. 

As for the group dance, you encouraged us to create various forms of expression, and finally we completed a dance with the theme of deep sea dance perfectly. I really enjoyed the feeling of dancing with my team members. When we finished, I felt a sense of achievement and pride that I had never felt before. 

For the Solo dance, you encouraged us to combine all the dance movement types and music in the class to create a personal dance with a story. During this period, I also asked you if you could combine the two pieces of music together, and you said yes. So, I finished; the theme is: a little girl who loves dancing from shy to confident and unrestrained process.

 

Thank you for all your help in this class. I really learned a lot of useful dance knowledge and understood the real meaning of dancing. You are a very amiable but detail-oriented professor. This course is the last elective course in my undergraduate life. I think I will have no regrets in the undergraduate period. Thank you, my dear professor!

16

I Think I Did Well

Guanzhao Cheng

I really enjoy this class. I used to dislike dance in primary school since I cannot make beautiful movements. However, when I took dance 190, the class changed my impression of dance. So, I discuss my experience with this modern dance class. 

 

The class does not have a standard on dance movement and professor encourages us to create personal work using different topics. This greatly impressed me since I had been taught to do the same movement in primary school for a long time. The performing and creating of dance are challenging to me since I do not have such experience. It was a little bit awkward to dance in front of a large amount of people, but I think I did well. 

 

This class is also a great place for communication, compared to traditional classes. We have to discuss when we need to make dance movements. Even though I did not do perfect with my dance, I tried my best to change it and to improve it.  It was a sport class in some ways, so we can use a class time to fully move our body out of our lazy and pessimistic patterns. 

 

The alluring dance topic I chose combines so many elements like Kung Fu, taiji, Greek sculpture poses, emotions and so on. Each one of these things is less connected to the typical way of teaching dance, but they can create great performances. I thank the professor for being gentle and kind to all of us and for teaching a amazing class. I really want to take this class again and I highly recommend my friends and other students to take it.

17

No Need to Be Shy

Boxiang (Kevin) Zhang

This class brought me a lot of happiness in this semester. Because of the pandemic, I had to stay at home for like nearly a year, taking this class really can help me with my body health and stretch my muscles among the heavy school work. I know that my movements are not smooth enough, but thanks to my dear professor, I can show my movement boldly, there is no need to be shy, the bigger the movement, the bigger  one looks at this world. 

 

Professor never judge us on our movements; the thing that he looked at was: what is the spirit behind our piece; what do we get from our piece. Spirit was the most important part throughout the whole semester. There were different subjects that needed to be develop through different movements, which was a lot fun. 

 

The part that I enjoyed most was when we were designing the fourth part of our solo. We had to choose an instrument and dance with it. The movement that I did was the natural reaction my body had while listening to the music; it was quite fascinating for me to experience this. After that, I became aware of the fact that there is no need to be shy, because your body wants to do it, so just let it be. 

 

The group piece was also enjoyable; my teammates were really warm and sweet, especially thanks to Sophia, she really took the responsibility of making up movements and suggesting takeaways; she is very responsible. After we performed our group dance, we felt a great sense of accomplishment, and I think that is my main take out from this class. After this semester, I feel I have a broader horizon to view the world. I will be brave to do anything in the future and I will always be proud of having taken this class.

18

Spreading Love

Melody Muniz

            I cannot believe how much I learned this semester. Coming from a dance background, I did have prior knowledge of certain technical aspects of dance like pointed feet and certain stretches. But there was a lot I didn’t know, like for example, how important levels and directions are in dance. You can make so many variations of the same dance if you use different levels and directions. The one class that really resonated with me was Dr. Seidel’s masterclass where she taught us about Isadora Duncan’s technique. I really liked the idea of spreading love to ourselves, the people around us, the world, and the earth. The running and skipping was also super enjoyable. 

            I loved everything about this class. It was the last class after a long day, and after four classes of sitting still it was a welcome change to move my stiff limbs. Some of the stretches that we did in class I now do when I get out of bed in the morning. I also incorporated many of the concepts we learned about dance into my own dancing. Moving with a purpose, the importance of the solar plexus, varying directions and levels, holding energy in every part of the body like your hands and arms, and maintaining confidence in front of others. 

            Even though we had masks, I really loved meeting everyone in class as well. Dance is an equalizer; sometimes I felt a bit silly doing some of the movements, but then I realized everyone probably feels a bit silly as well, and if you lean into that silliness, if you stop fighting it and give yourself the freedom to just play with your movements and your body, then it’s actually really rewarding. 

            I loved all the new things I learned about dance, and all the new movements I’ve learned from you and my fellow dancers.

19

Human Beauty

Hanlin Wang

In my last semester, I gained many friends and teachers in DAN 211 who taught me what dance is and how to relax my body. This is very important to me! 

Dance education belongs to art education, emotional education, and it is also an important part of aesthetic education.

This allowed me to gradually have better basic quality of human beauty, obtain the basic level of coordinated movements, comprehend the basic characteristics and laws of dance art.

So I have gained a certain level of accomplishment, enhanced noble sentiments, and derived very important significance to cultivate good character, will and dance art quality.

20

Reignited

Ashna Vaidyanath

 

    This semester of dance has reignited my love and passion for the art form. Being allowed to move and create my own movement after such a long period of stagnation brought forth so many of the beautiful memories and emotions I have attached to dance over the years. 

 

    I loved the freedom we had during our lessons as it gave me the ability to create movement that I wouldn't have thought of before and I loved the connections we made to mindfulness throughout the class as it provided me a safe space to move my body. 

21

Rekindling My Love of Dance

Yuri Kitajima

 

I really like to dance, and dance was my favorite thing to do when I was small. When I was three years old, I began learning ballet. However, when I was in middle school, because I was working full-capacity in regards to the academic work at my school, I quit. I was deeply in love with ballet, but, even though I loved it, I was not able to continue.

 

In this course I learned different movements to express emotion. One part of my solo-movement was about showing emotions such as greed, happiness, anger, surprise, and guilt. This was the first time I created a solo piece. 

When I was learning ballet, my choreography coach taught me how to do the movements and show my expression. However, in this class, we needed to create our own choreography. This was really fresh to me, and I think it is one of the most interesting parts of this course. 

 

Moreover, in this class, we had our ensemble dance piece as well. I am a very shy person, and I usually do not talk with people that I have not met. However, in this course, we were encouraged to talk with other students, and make a team with students from different countries and cultures. 

 

At first, I was really worried about myself, because I was afraid to speak English. I am thankful for the opportunity to talk and get to know national students. I am thankful for the rekindling of my love  of dance.