2ND November (Cunningham Flat Back)

In this exercise we should be working on extention of the arms through our torso twists which also works our torso flexibility. We should be working on control through our flat backs and not nose dive! Tension of the legs when straightening our flat backs. Alingment when lifting into our stretch out pose. Spotting when torso twisting to the back. Energy through the speed of the extention exercise.

Throughout this exercise I lack energy and my tension is terrible!  However at 0.04 my clarity and arm tension is good. At 0.06 I am having a serious nose dive, which shows I have low control levels of my flat back, to improve this I need to be more aware of where I am placing my body if a wiggle my hands and can see them out of the cornor of my eye I am doing it right, of course on a performance do can't do this but whilst doing the exercise it will improve and eventually I will just know where to put my body. At 0.21 though my flat back looks much more controlled which shows I can do it; it is just being able to do it continuously that I need to improve.

At 0.26 when turning my arms are far too back, this shows I need to improve my alingment; to do this I need to not fling my arms so much and place them more. At 0.30 I move too quickly which shows my memory was not working that day! To improve this I need an early night so my brain works the way it should! 

From 0.34 onwards my energy is awful, I lack tension and enthusisum; However at 0.52 my alingment in my extention of the leg is good, it just needs to be more of a right angle; to do this I need to improve my flexibility, learning the splits could help..

My strengths in the exercise are when controlled my flat back however if I lose control of it it could become a weakness so I need to be careful of that. When extenting my leg my alignment is good however I need a bit more flexibility to improve this I will attempt learning the splits.

My weakensses in this exercise are tension and energy; I was clearly tired in this video as usually my energy and my tension is good so to improve this I need more sleep! Also I need more control; I need to place myself rather than plonk myself.

Targets:

• Engergy- Get some sleep !
• Control- Need to be less heavy in myself and place myself better.

2ND November (Cunningham Bounces in Parallel)

In this lesson we extended on our Cunningham exercises, we done this as it helps us make our dance more various and also work more parts of the body. In this exercise we are working on our alignment by extention of the arms and legs. We are also working on control through our bounces which also helps our back flexibility. We work on the use of 'Headlights' (keeping hips still) throughout the exercise your hips face mainly to the front & in our extention of the exercise we work on our control through twists which also helps with spotting and finally we work on elevation through our pushing off the floor.

As we have done this exercise a few times now I feel we have all improved. However this doesnt mean to say we dont still have things we need to improve on. In this video you can't see me clearly till around 0.45 where I can see that my parallel needs to be wider and my curve could be bigger and more clear; although my arm shape is good which show my tension and clarity in my arms has improved.

On the extention we extend our arms and they are meant to be in line with our shoulders at 1.01 mine are not. To improve this I need to check where I am extending my arms too. When pushing off the floor my point is good at 1.02. After this point you can't see my feet but my although my arms are in the wrong place the shape is good as is my tension.

In this exercise my strength are tension in my arms; when I first did this exercise my arms didnt have any tension so this is a good improvement. My next strength is my toe point this has better tension and rises of the floor more.

In this exercise my weaknesses are Alingment in the arms to improve this I need to place my arms in line with my shoulders, also clarity; my moves need to be clearer and when holding a position it should look like a still image. Finally my evelation could be bigger.

Targets:

• Wider Parallel- Check my feet are in the right position before starting.
• Alingment in Arms- Again checking before Istart; place my arms dont just put them anywhere
• Clarity- I think this will improve when I become more confident with the exercises (also the loose top doesn't help!)
• Evelation- I need to push off more !

2ND November (Cunningham Plies)

In this exercise we should be improving/working our back flexibility through upper body twists; which also improves control. Our leg tension by plies in first. Arm tension in plies. Leg flexibility/tension through lower plies. Foot extention through raising feet whilst doing a plie. Tension and control when hold foot rise in plie.

Throughout this video I am hard to see however at 0.05 you see that I need to put my bum in. At 0.09 you can see my upper body twist, I look focused and the twist is controlled and held for the right amount of counts. At 0.13 my arms are too far back to improve this I need more control in my shoulders. At 0.15 my arch is good however my plie could be bigger/lower. At 0.17 my plie is good, I have control and am focused and I am also well tensioned and low. At 0.22 my twist is agin well controlled and spotted well.

 At 0.34 my arch back is too far back; to improve this I need more control of my shoulders. At 1.01 my arms are just slightly too far back to improve this I need to work on my control. At 1.16 my arm tension needs to be alot more. At 1.22 my plie could be alot lower; learning the splits will help my leg flexibility. At 1.29 my foot could raise alot more, to improve this I need to work on my foot strength.

In this exercise my strength are my lower plie control and tension is very clear as you can see in the picture I have screen shot. My upper body twist are well controlled and I have focus through out this exercise which shows I have made an improvement.

In this exercise my weaknesses are my accurcey within my arms to improve this I need to work on my spacial awareness. Although my plies are good I need to work on getting them a bit lower to therefore improve my lower flexibility. I also need to make sure my lower half has better tension (keep my bum in)



Targets:

• Lower tension- Keep my bum in!
• Spacial Awareness- More control of upper body
• Get my piles lower- Lower flexibility.

2ND November (Cunningham Duets)

In this lesson we worked in pairs to create a duet that had to have Cunningham's technique in it. I worked with Chloe and our theme was the arguement stage of a relationship where you feel like your at a constant battle and you have to keep fighting. The routine had to include a twist, a tilt, a curve and an arch. By doing this types of routine we inprove our back flexiblity and control. This was the first draft of our dance so it's good to recorded it as it makes it easier to improve it.

Me and Chloe come on at 0.31. At the moment our routine looks more stage movement than a dance so therefore this wil be a first improvement! We start with me in an upper back curve at 0.32 my arch IT is done well although I need to lift up and over more. At 0.34 Chloe's arm extention is good as it is followed right through to the finger tips. With this dance as at the moment it does tell the story as it is just basic stage movements so we need to be careful not to lose the story when making it more of a dance routine. At 0.35 it is clear Chloe is in control of the dance and I am the weaker character. At 0.41 both mine and Chloe's alignment need to be better; we need more tension in our legs and they need to be higher, if we took turns to extened our legs then we could lean into eachother therefore making the lift bigger. At 0.45 my turn needs to be more controled, to do this I need to spot. At 0.49 both mine and Chloe's tension is good as she pushing me to the floor and brings herself up. At 0.49 my tension is lost and the move looks weak to improve this we could maybe place a jump in its place so i jump then fall. At 0.53 we finish however I think we need a still image to show this better.

In this rotutine we need to improve our tension and make the routine more of a dance.

Targets:

• Add more to the routine to make it more of a dance
• Improve our tension throughout
• Have a finish.

17th November (Cunningham Foot Exercise 2(Gleesays))

In this lesson we was working on our Cunningham Gleesays we do this as it helps us with lower body control and also works our foot point. Throughout this exercise we have to use 'Headlights' to keeps our hips focused. By doing this exercise we build up a clear strongth lower body strength.

In this video I am the one in the flowery top; throughout the exercise you can see my left leg is a lot stronger than my right. To improve this I need to work more on my right leg to get the balance right.  At 0.00 my point is extened well however I am slightly un balanced to improve this I need to focus my headlights more.

At 0.02 I feel I really pull through the floor which was one of my targets so this is a big improvement! At 0.06 my right leg is not extended enough and needs to be straighter. At 0.10 again on my right leg I seem to avoid the floor completely, I need to break down the movemtn on my right leg to get it up to my left leg standards.  At 0.17 I lose my tension in my left foot and it appears sloppy to improve this I need to build up my foot tension. At 0.20 my right foot has no point as iIwas getting ready to plie I must remember to compete this exercise before rushing to finish.

In this exercise my strengths are usually my point apart from a few points where I'm sloppy, my left leg is the stronger leg also.

In this exercise my weaknesses are my right leg is noticeabley weaker than my left, to improve this I need to balacne my body more, maybe through yoga and foot tension, to improve this I need to do more foot exercises. 

Targets:

• Better body balance- Make my right as strong as my left
• Foot tension- Make my foot strength a lot stronger.

17th November (Cunningham Flat Back (Extention))

In this exercise we work on our flat backs, torso twists, alignment and also our control. We work to improve our flat backs through control trying not to nose dive! We worked on our torso twists to improve our spotting and our back flexibility and finally we worked on our alignment by evaluating our legs to make a right angle. By doing this our body flexibility will improve.


At 0.04 my arms are too far back to improve this I need to be more aware of the space around me. At 0.05 my body shape is clear and my arm tension is good. At 0.09 my arms are still well tensioned however my parallel needs to be wider. At 0.12 I come up too soon. At 0.20 my arms are again far to far back! Need to be much more aware of where I'm putting my arms. At 0.24 my plie is good and my shape is clear. At 0.28 my flat back is good. At 0.32 although my arm tension is bad my focus is good. At 0.41 my twist is well focused. At 0.47 although my arm shape is clear it needs a lot more tension. At 0.49 my evaluation is good however it could be bigger and more clear. At 0.54 my arm tension is weak and my arms look floppy. At 0.59 my leg extension is very good my leg seems to go up more than before so that is good!

In this exercise my strengths are my leg flexibility towards the end and my focus; before my focus was lacking so this is a good improvement.

In this exercise my weakness's are my flat back, I need nose diving, to improve this i need to be more focused in my arms. My arms tension is weak especially in my torso twists, to improve this I need to do more arm exercises.

Targets:

• Arm tension- My amrs need to be tensioned at all times
• Flat Back- STOP NOSE DIVING!!

17th November (Cunningham Plies)

In this exercise we worked on back flexibility by extending our arms and making a circle by moving our torso area. We worked on our balance through holding our plie which also works our core strength. By doing this exercise our stamina will also improve as will our focus.

I feel I have improved in this exercise quite a lot as I have a lot more tension and I seem to pull up more. At 0.07 when circling the torso my arms need be straighter however my torso is clear and well extended. At 0.15 my arched back could be more arched to make the movement more clear. At 0.24 I pull my top down I need to not fidget in between moves.At 0.43 my second parallel turn out has improved and I am more in line with my lower body. At 0.53 my bum is out and I need more tension also my arms are too far back therefore my alignment needs to improve; to do this I need to spot more. At 0.59 my head is facing the floor and should be up and my bum is sticking out; to improve this I need more focus. At 1.06 my arms need a lot more tension. Again at 1.09 my bum is out -.-. At 1.14 I realise and straighten up. When doing my plies at 1.17 I would like to be able to go lower to do this I need more flexibility; learning the splits which I am trying to do will help this. I am trying to do this by stretching out over pillows and slowly taking away pillows to lower myself; this also helps with my balance. At 1.27 my foot extension is good. Throughout hold the plie in a foot extension my balance is fairly good however at 1.35 I start to wobble just before we release. I recover well and pull up nicely to finish showing good focus and tension.

My strengths in this exercise are my lower body tension which before was quite weak so this is a good improvement. Also my realisation on my mistakes i.e. when my bum was out I realised and pulled it in and straighten up. Although at some points I didn't notice I have shown improvement by realising that time.

My weaknesses in this exercise are the flexibility when holding a position (arched back) to improve this I could try and learn to do a crab from standing position. Being able to keep my bottom in place ! I need more tension in that area to keep it still.

Targets:

• Keep bum in (Lower body tension)
• Learn splits (To improve leg flexibility)
• Learn backwards crab.( To improve back flexibility)

17th November (Cunningham Foot Exercise)

17 November ( Cunningham leg exercise)

My Beautiful Street Dancing Skills (Attempted One)

In this lesson we look at dances we don't usually do and then went on to research about them and how they can help us as a dancer. I chose street dance as it's a lot faster than my normal style and also it is a alot looser than contempoary.
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As you can see this style of dance needs alot of improvement!
Although at a first glance it looks as if i am not able to do street at all. I do have some strength through out; My alingment is good in most of the routine which is good because it shows i can copy movements acreactly and in street dance when working in groups freeze movements need to be totally presise.
My next strength is Good Structure Shape: This is important for freezes in street dance so show claraitiy, again if working in a group you each need to be clear in your movements to help you blend in.
My Final Strength is...My feet are grounded. Throughout the routine my feet tend to keep the dance together however as they are so grounded when doing jumps or lifts they didnt elevate much so therefore i now need to work of quick elevation.

I have many weaknesses which I hope to improve as the weeks go by my first weakness is my lack of tension. When freezing positions in street dance as much as the style is quite lose I still need tension in my arms when extending.
Throughout my routine my head is down; this is because I was unsure still of what I was doing and being filmed is always a bit awkward! Once i feel more confident my head will be up high :)
My elevations need to be alot bigger and more like a firework as in street dance the jumps are like a bomb has exploded and the whole company will be in time with the lift and the fall; I need more of a spring in my step.
My headlights (Hip Focus) was not used at all. I think I thought 'well the dance is lose so therefore i must be' I was wrong !!



Targets:
Tension
Headlights
Spring in my Step
Head up !