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Throughout Unit 3, we are exposed to the development of floorwork through regular classes with Lewis Wilkins. I find these classes to be greatly beneficial, emphasised by Lewis’ teaching methods. He creates a calm and supportive environment that, to me, encourages and celebrates progress, no matter the size, it’s an achievement. The atmosphere created within the class I feel to be judgement free, providing a space for true exploration and development of movement and how I can filter my own style onto this. Allowing myself to dance freely, with no feelings of judgement has been difficult for me in previous classes, perhaps hindering my overall progress. Although I still lack self-confidence, the environment within these classes has helped me greatly.

A general reflection on my practice within this class relates to my energy within movements themselves. The execution of movements, my movement memory and a fluid quality are clearly seen, however, I feel that these positives are hindered by this lack of energy.

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Prior my attendance to LCDS, I had never been exposed to the benefits of pilates. Over the last term and a half, I have found a new appreciation and enjoyment for this practice. I have often been intriuged by the more holistic approaches to contemporary dance and appreciate the variety of practices that combine knowledge to create a deeper understanding of contemporary dance itself.

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For me, Cunningham is a particularly new style of movement. I had never previously been trained specifically in Cunningham, therefore the movement language and vocabulary is still quite unfamiliar and new. Although this is a new practice, I am thoroughly enjoying seeing my growth and developments throughout each class, this part of dance as a genre greatly satisfies me and often fuels my desire to continue pushing and growing in unfamiliar styles.

Throughout this term, I have seen great improvements within my overall approach to Cunningham. My body feels physically more capable of attempting more complex sequences of movement. Alongside this, my overall confidence within the style has improved dramatically. I feel able to approach exercises with confidence and a sense of knowledge of movement.

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During this phrase, the lack of energy within specific movements is evident throughout. The moment seen between 19 and 24 seconds lacks energy and commitment.

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During Cunningham lessons with Hannah Kidd, we discuss the importance of expanding through the back spaces of the body. Throughout this week's floorwork lessons, I have been practicing this, keeping an active awareness of expansion through the back surfaces of my body, creating a new visual image for me – the creation of shapes behind myself.

This visual aid enhanced my overall awareness of the sensation of the movement. Because of this, I am able to simultaneously perform the movement as well as consider the energy within them. Allowing a variety of dynamics, placing emphasis on specific moments within the choreography. This is something I have not previously been able to achieve.

This idea of creating expansion through the body into the space, using the space to create tension links to ideas explored in term one with Arran Green. During these lessons I was not able to fully understanding the meaning of this for myself, however, after giving myself time to discover a personal meaning, this has been achieved.

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Throughout this attempt, I was actively paying attention to the feeling of each movement and the varying levels of energy I could execute. It is clear to see that overall, the transitions between movements are much clearer and seamless as well as this feeling of hesitation, that was evident within the previous video, is no longer seen.

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As well as observing and reflecting on my own performance in this class, I have found the observation of my classmates in greater depth to be helpful, in that I can witness the exact pathways that they use to overcome the physicality of movements.

Within this, it became apparent to me that many use their breath to accentuate and elongate movements, removing the hesitation that is seen within my own movements. I aim to test this method in following classes.

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Personally, this class presents many physical challenges that are not necessarily seen to be as physically intense as other classes such as floorwork or Cunningham. Pilates presents its intensity through targeting specific muscle groups, focusing on their strength and endurance through a variety of often seated or lying positions.

I thoroughly enjoy the challenge of this class and see it to highly beneficial, through the evident development in my own understanding and execution of the phrases completed.

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During Cunningham practice, I often receive the correction of maintaining hip alignment in parallel, specifically within twisting exercises. Throughout my experience of pilates, the maintaining of hip stability throughout the exercises is a focus, to remove any pressure on the lower back muscles. Due to the immobile movement of this class, it creates an effective method of focusing solely on the stability of specific muscles, ultimately allowing myself to experience the feeling of correct alignment prior to attempting to execute during more complex classes and phrases.

This awareness of the correct hip alignment and stability is greatly beneficial in my Cunningham practice. Although my hip alignment still requires development, the intention behind the movement and the mental awareness of the feeling of correct alignment is continually growing and eventually I hope to see this develop within my physical movement.

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During my one to one with Hannah at the end of term one, we discussed how my current lack of confidence limits my progress. She stated the potential of performance within my movement, pushing each movement to its fullest. This is something I have particularly struggled with in the past. I feel that within the more strict technique of Cunningham, I find more challenge in letting go and performing the exercises as apposed to just 'doing'. Alongside this, I feel that the unfamiliarity of the style hinders my confidence and therefore my ability to perform.

Over the past weeks, Hannah has provided many opportunities for a more open interpretation of movement qualities and choices within phrases, encouraging a creative aspect to the movement. This has been greatly beneficial for me, allowing me to adapt movement for my personal needs at that time. Alongside this, I have been more actively attempting to perform exercises with a developed level of dynamics, making clear movement choices for myself.

Hannah often discusses other visual aids to enhance movement quality. I find this helpful as it removes my focus from perfecting the technique, highlighting the opportunities for me to perform to a higher standard. We discussed the imagery of 'painting the space' with our movement. I hope to continue this use of visual aids to enhance my performance within Cunningham.

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February 21st. I struggle with anxiety and this day was challenging for me. I found myself wanting to leave the situation and give into this feeling. Although this feeling was there, I still attended Cunningham. I often find when situations become more challenging, my dance ability grows, and the feeling dance provides me with allows me to experience feelings of comfort. This class provided me with this.

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This class holds great significance for myself, I feel I had a turning point within my Cunningham ability. My confidence within the phrases and the quality of each movement had grown immensely and was able to embody the movement characteristics that are so apparent within Cunningham technique and portray these through my performance. I am unaware if this was visually evident but the feeling within myself caused a great sense of satisfaction and contentment. I feel I was able to execute each movement through the feeling it gave as opposed to the visually aesthetic aspects. This allowed me to perform with a greater use of my weight, encouraging a more ’within the body’ approach. Because of this I was also able to feel a greater sense of ‘letting loose’ within my movement, using my breath to create more release through my movements. This focus on breath offered an opportunity for my attention to be removed from my feelings and placed purely on the movement. This was incredibly useful within my movement quality as well as creating a calmer atmosphere for myself.

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This lesson was a really important factor within my Cunningham training. I feel it has provided me a sense of excitement for my future developments, utilising the feelings I experienced during this class to further my progressions. It allowed me to discover a sense of my own purpose within these classes - encouraging a feeling of motivation.

Following this class, I have found Cunningham to be particularly grounding for the emotional feelings I experience and have found it to be an effective method of dealing with these.

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Contact improvisation is a style that has continuously interested me, through the sheer unexpected nature of the movement. How this can be executed seamlessly and portray what seems to be effortless performance. This is a completely new style of movement for me and takes me out of my comfort zone. Because of the recent change in classes and the relationships to be made with new classmates will through the not yet developed sense of trust between us, I have found these classes to encourage a greater level of trust amongst us.

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Over the last two contact improvisation lessons, I have a developed a new appreciation for the practice. I have thoroughly enjoyed becoming more comfortable with the intimacy it brings and the developed connection between others. I have found the moments of shared emotion and connection to excite me, creating a sense of a growing love and passion for contact improvisation.

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To me, the incorporation of contact improvisation within my own movement vocabulary holds great significance. I often find myself holding a rather critical mindset towards my own movement ability, however, creating and dancing alongside my peers, has encouraged a greater appreciation for myself. Knowing that my own decisions and movements alter and affect others movement has helped me understand and appreciate the significance that my own decisions hold. It has aided the gain of knowing self worth and importance for myself. Which ultimately is a factor I often disregard.

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The art of teaching has always held significance for me, being a factor that I hope to develop and perhaps take further after graduation. As I mentioned in Blog Three, the difficulties I face with anxiety are often at the forefront of my mind, making the act of teaching challenging for myself. However, no matter the difficulty faced, I wish to improve my confidence within teaching and articulating in-front of my peers.

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During the first lesson, I thoroughly enjoyed working alongside a partner to create a simple warm up phrase for one of us to later teach to the class. This process was quick and came naturally to both of us and I enjoyed the natural flow of creativity and ideas amongst us.

Because this phrase would only be taught by one of us, with the other assisting if needed, Noor (my partner) offered to teach during this lesson. My anxiety was challenging this day, so this was thoroughly helpful for myself maintaining a good mindset throughout.

Although I was only assisting during this lesson, I still found this to be incredibly beneficial. Witnessing our phrase being taught to peers, acknowledging methods that worked effectively.

Alongside this, participating in the teaching of other students phrases, I noticed using a more descriptive tone, integrating moments of anatomy and reasoning for each movement, worked well in ensuring movement was understood. Reflecting on my previous experience within teaching, I feel that I could intertwine this further, encouraging safe dance practice as well as expanding the anatomical knowledge for students and myself. This is an element that I took into consideration and expressed within my own teaching session. I expressed a knowledge on the importance of the articulation of the spine, mobilising the joints in preparation for further exercises, lubricating the vertebrae to allow soft and fluid movements of the spine. Ultimately preparing the body in a safe and knowledge led way.

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Throughout this assessment, I hope to gain a more positive reflective outlook on my dance abilities, using this progress and reflect on my studies and a variety of genres. I will touch on the variety of classes I will encounter of the next two terms, reflecting on my progress as a dancer and person.

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Throughout the experience of working alongside Hannah Kidd and Richard Alston, I have really found myself committing to the creative process and the different challenges faced amongst this.

As I previously mentioned, I have found a new appreciation and love for Cunningham based work and this intensive has only fuelled this. Reflecting back on this process, I have gained confidence in many different ways, through my movement ability, through my approach to different creative methods as well as collaborating with my peers and articulating my thoughts.

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The creative process explored throughout the past two weeks has really opened my eyes to the benefits of working alongside others. At moments, I found this aspect of the project slightly challenging. At times, I found the amount of people in a smaller space a little overwhelming, particularly within creative tasks. However, I feel this enabled myself to feel a greater level of achievement when I completed these tasks. Throughout the remaining days, I was able to develop these solo moments of creative material and create movement that fitted my body and something that I could indulge in and portray a complete contrast to the repertoire. These moments, developed into the sections that I thoroughly enjoyed performing. Getting an opportunity to perform a part of myself.

This was also enhanced through the teaching of this material to my peers in a safe and encouraging environment. Throughout this process, the act of teaching and sharing material, ideas and creative thoughts was vital for the creation of the final production. I enjoyed this aspect, and although at times I found the creative elements more challenging, having the opportunity to share my own movement style with peers enabled me to become more confident in my movement material. It has also allowed me to witness the confidence I already attain, providing myself with a sense of accomplishment and reward.

Alongside this, the creative collaboration between each other provided a huge sense of excitement and enthusiasm for the progression of the piece.

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After performing this piece, I feel I have found a part of myself that I never thought I would. This intensive has provided me with the opportunity to gain a great amount of self confidence and a sense of accomplishment. I feel as though I have reached a point where I am thoroughly enjoying Cunningham as a genre and am witnessing my own improvements within each lesson.

Cunningham has given me an opportunity to truly delve into the developments I can make, encouraging a further push within myself. I have found real comfort in Cunningham, perhaps because of the heavy focus on release. It has encouraged me to use the emotions I feel to further my ability in class.

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This term, we began ballet. This is a time period I have been continually anxious about due to my lack of previous experience in ballet and is something that does not come particularly naturally to me and my current movement style. Although anxious, I was thoroughly excited to see my progressions and my confidence grow within ballet and am enthused to witness how this influences the other styles explored at LCDS.

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Popping is a completely new concept for, having no previous experience in this genre. I think that the incorporation of popping is incredibly beneficial to the development of any mover, but I feel that this is something I would like to invest more time and work into to progress further.

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Gaga is a completely new concept for me, having no previous knowledge or experience in the style. After having a brief explanation of its overall idea, I knew it would be something that greatly interests me.

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After attending a significant number of ballet lessons, I feel that my confidence has grown immensely; in my ability as well as in the studio more generally.

I have found the class itself to be extremely rewarding. Although I find ballet challenging, the feeling of completing a movement correctly is an indescribable feeling.

Throughout my ballet journey so far, I have experienced moments of intrinsic motivation, my progressions being my reasoning for motivation. I have found great pleasure in the movement phrases completed at the barre at the beginning of class. I find these exercises to be short and concise, allowing me to pick them up faster and enabling me to complete them correctly and safely. This section of the class is an element that I am more familiar with, being a factor I have more experience in. Although this a familiar place, I would like to gain more confidence and strength within other exercises such as, travelling phrases and allegro. These sections of class have been a limiting factor in the past due to injury, so this is something that I am really excited to develop in.

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After completing only two classes in Gaga, I have already gained a significant interest and respect for the style, in its heavily improvisation led element. In the past, improvisation has been a an aspect I find challenging and yet hugely freeing, and is something I often fall back on to come to terms with and work though emotions or feelings. This being a main part of Gaga is something I can relate to and engage with.

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Throughout the classes, the main focus has been on the feeling you get with the movement and how this can influence the way you move. I find this element thoroughly enjoyable and have developed a love for how this is making me feel. I often find myself having a slight lack in motivation, but as I previously mentioned, the act of improvisation is often something that reinforces my passion for movement. I have found that Gaga has enabled me to feel this motivation and love for moving within each lesson, through the emphasis on moving how you wish to. I find Gaga thoroughly satisfying for myself, allowing my body to move how it wants within that very moment.

The tools provided, through different uses of imagery, introducing this idea of exploring 'games' with yourself, really aids my confidence to be more exploratory within my movement, steering away from my usual movement patterns. This is thoroughly enjoyable to feel and see within my movement. I have found myself becoming much more comfortable and confident with improvisation as a whole and have been more enthused to improvise within my own time.

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Because of the experience of a new genre, this forced me to face many challenges.

Throughout my training in groove during term one, the idea of cyphers was introduced. This was something that I found incredibly difficult to commit to and embrace. Towards the end of this term, I became more acclimatised to the idea and gained confidence within my own movement style, becoming more exploratory and enthused to grow this further. However, after not exploring this concept for one term, it has taken me a considerable amount of time to become comfortable with this once again within popping. This is something that brings great anxiety to myself, but is something I do not want to be compromised because of personal challenges.

Despite certain anxieties within this class, it has almost been a turning point for my movement quality, being exposed to different ways of moving my body. I have found a great sense of enjoyment in learning and growing my ability in this style, seeing my confidence develop and becoming more exploratory.

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During my most recent ballet class, I feel as though I have gained a new understanding for the movement and its quality. Through this, I have been able to experience an enjoyment for ballet, which is an element I have not felt before, ultimately allowing me to feel more enthused and confident. This has been accentuated by personal feedback from Kate, allowing me to see my full potential throughout class. Alongside this, being surrounded by a mix of different levels of experience has been really beneficial to me. Having peers on a similar level of knowledge and experience to me, provides a certain element of comfort and reassurance in my own ability. This also enables a level of exploration amongst me and my peers to develop together, figuring out the ways that make sense to us as individuals. This combined with having more experienced peers within our class also allows me to witness the correct performance quality and technique to apply to my own ability.

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During Gaga, we discuss the importance of being aware of the body and its feeling in that moment, I feel that I have been incorporating this into popping classes, focusing less on how the movement looks and more on how it feels. This has been extremely useful for gaining confidence and lessening my anxieties.

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Popping is a genre that I have developed a great respect for, its intricate and precise technique and an obvious level of control is something that I hope to continue to develop over the coming weeks. I think this style is hugely beneficial to my way of moving, having already seen its influence in my improvisation.