Unit 13 and 14 Contemporary Dance Workshop - Danielle Gardner from The Garage, Norwich 11th January 2023

Floorwork Swinging Sequence

With this exercise it focused on the physical skills of flexibility, strength and balance and helped develop them. Flexibility was targeted in the exercise through the swinging of the legs and the strength and balance was targeted through the plank and getting up and back to the floor of the piece.

In my personal opinion, when doing this exercise, I performed it successfully in using my full ability in all the skills that it targeted. However I could improve by perfecting the overall technique of the exercise so that I can target the physical skills that it focuses on more.  

When it comes to this exercise, it helps develop my contemporary dance skills as it helps focus of the more giving into gravity elements of contemporary whilst also exploring floor work when it comes to getting up/ down and even on the floor in general.

Weight Transference Stepping Sequence

With this exercise it focused on the physical skills of Stamina and co-ordination and helped develop them. Stamina was targeted in the exercise through the continues moving during it whilst the co-ordination was targeted when it came to jumping from one foot to another during the exercise.  

In my personal opinion, when doing this exercise, I performed it successfully in using my full ability in all the skills that it targeted. However I could improve by perfecting the overall technique of the exercise so that I can target the physical skills that it focuses on more.  

When it comes to this exercise, it helps develop my contemporary dance skills as it helps build up a good stamina which will be helpful when it comes to being able to perform other contemporary to a high standard. Along with this the jumping to different directions also helps develop my ability to give into gravity effectively and well. 

Handstand Sequence

With this exercise it focused on the physical skills of balance, strength and co-ordination and helped develop them. In this exercise, balance was targeted when it came to balancing in the final position whilst also targeting strength. Along with this co-ordination was targeted as I had to do different things with my arms and legs at the same time.

In my personal opinion, when doing this exercise, I performed it successfully in using my full ability in all the skills that it targeted. However I could improve by perfecting the overall technique of the exercise so that I can target the physical skills that it focuses on more.  

When it comes to this exercise, it helps develop my contemporary dance skills as it helps build up an understanding of some moves that can be done in a contemporary dance environment along with it helping develop my key skills, which in turn will help with my contemporary dance skills. When it comes to the general contemporary dance skills it helps when it comes to understanding throwing and giving into gravity as shown as we throw ourselves into the last position of the exercise on the floor. 

Group Performance

In this group piece that me and my group created, we explored the contemporary skills of push, pull, drag and giving into gravity. When it came to push, we explored this skill when we demonstrated a pushing contraction as we pushed our hands out in front of us. When it came to pull, we took a different look at this and we made the move that explored this a group one in where I feel back onto the others as they pulled me down and then pushed me back up. When it comes to drag, we explored this as we dragged back our arm after we had just gotten up off of the floor and contracted. Finally, when it comes to giving into gravity we explored this when we leant over to the side with our arms together, but this is only one of the examples of the times that we gave into gravity in our short group piece.

Personally, I  believe that me and my group worked together effectively, feeding off of each others creative ideas to create a piece that helped us explore the different types of skills that you need when it comes to contemporary dance. When it comes to my own individual performance in this group piece I feel that I performed the piece with confidence and effectively demonstrated all the key skills of not only contemporary but dance in general. If I was to do this again, I would like to refine the moves so that the piece flowed more smoothly and looked more aesthetically pleasing on my half.