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Gaga, the movement language developed by Ohad Naharin in conjunction with his work as artistic director of Israel's Batsheva Dance Company, has in the last decade been introduced as a training option for dancers. Examining Gaga's evolution, structure, and characteristics, this article suggests that Gaga's divergence from conventional models of technique allows it to address many needs of dancers working in the twenty-first century. I consider how Gaga fits into contemporary training paradigms and assert that the freedom to explore concrete directives and creative imagery in classes helps dancers develop the link between their physicality and their artistry.

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Gaga, the movement language developed by Ohad Naharin in conjunction with his work as artistic director of Israel's Batsheva Dance Company, has in the last decade been introduced as a training option for dancers. Examining Gaga's evolution, structure, and characteristics, this article suggests that Gaga's divergence from conventional models of technique allows it to address many needs of dancers working in the twenty-first century. I consider how Gaga fits into contemporary training paradigms and assert that the freedom to explore concrete directives and creative imagery in classes helps dancers develop the link between their physicality and their artistry.

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After briefly learning about the Gaga technique with Julius I found it interesting when discovering that a lot of hip hop dancers are also now exploring the technique to expand their knowledge of movement in general.

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"Dancers coming to their first Horton class can prepare by drawing on their experience with jazz dance. "Many jazz teachers incorporate some of Horton's ideas in their warm-ups,"

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"Dancers coming to their first Horton class can prepare by drawing on their experience with jazz dance. "Many jazz teachers incorporate some of Horton's ideas in their warm-ups,"

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The first time I learned the technique was intact within a jazz warm up therefore I was surprised to be doing the same moves in a contemporary technique class.

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An example of Tovaris Wilson's work. (the choreographer in which inspired my own personal choreography).

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Uploaded by Dominic Lawrence on 2014-07-15.

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Here I feel is an example where when the choreography sped up I lost control of my technique. As you can see I fell out of both turns and did not manage to hit the correct line for the arabesque. Despite this I still managed to put both the stylistic quality and performance into the routine as well as keeping with the timing. Therefore my next step is to achieve the performance and technique aspects together.

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"When people explore kinesthetic embodiment of the auditory, communication lines open and information is developed and exchanged. This positions dancing to music as a powerful and important carrier of cultural knowledge. Jazz and American vernacular dance forms in particular give people rhythmically specific, individual, groove-driven, and expressive yet cool ways to generate and transmit ideas. Additionally, study of these forms encourages complex musicality, a valuable skill for dancers and programs that wish to develop versatile performers."

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"When people explore kinesthetic embodiment of the auditory, communication lines open and information is developed and exchanged. This positions dancing to music as a powerful and important carrier of cultural knowledge. Jazz and American vernacular dance forms in particular give people rhythmically specific, individual, groove-driven, and expressive yet cool ways to generate and transmit ideas. Additionally, study of these forms encourages complex musicality, a valuable skill for dancers and programs that wish to develop versatile performers."

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This shows how the technique of jazz can give you skill sets transferrable to all styles of dance.

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Watching back I feel a lot happier in terms of my up keeping of technical ability. I usually feel a lot more comfortable when the tempo of the music is slow so this could possibly be the reason to why. I feel very messy when it gets to the floor as make it looker harder than it actually is - which is the opposite of what I am trying to achieve. When doing this choreography I feel like I achieved the musicality in which Jasmine was looking for and this is something that is a strength of mine throughout all of my styles of dance.

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Recently I have tried to experiment with my choreography by adding some of the skills I have learned throughout the semester. Instead of doing hip hop/commercial I tried to choreograph using jazz elements focusing on lines and body isolations as well as using jazz funk/soul music. My piece was mainly inspired by jazz funk choreographer Tovaris Wilson. I would not have been able to create a piece like this without my jazz training from this semester.

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"Just because the majority of ballet port de bras happens to the side or front of the body doesn't mean your back isn't working, too. In fact a simple sweeping of the arms from en bas through second to fifth position utilizes a host of muscles throughout the upper back and shoulders, including the trapezius and deltoids. When these muscles aren't engaged, otherwise pristine port de bras can appear droopy and weak."

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"Just because the majority of ballet port de bras happens to the side or front of the body doesn't mean your back isn't working, too. In fact a simple sweeping of the arms from en bas through second to fifth position utilizes a host of muscles throughout the upper back and shoulders, including the trapezius and deltoids. When these muscles aren't engaged, otherwise pristine port de bras can appear droopy and weak."

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Often in ballet, jazz and contemporary we are reminded that our arm strength comes from our back. After my back injury occurred I noticed a significant difference with the lack of arm strength which I obtain. This compromised my ability within dance yet has now made me more aware of my positioning as I have began to recover. Watching back on my videos I can now see the improvement and this is why.

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Chad Taylor Commercial Class (front, wearing all black)

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Chad Taylor Commercial Class (front, wearing all black)

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Here is where I started to notice my improvement in terms of lines within my commercial work.

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Eric Carpenter Jazz Class (front centre)

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Eric Carpenter Jazz Class (front centre)

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This footage is from November 2016 - 3 months into my training at Shockout Arts. Something which I notice when looking back at this is my arms. When I don't think about them they get messy and I over extend them. At the time I had no idea I was doing this but I feel like as my body has strengthened this has improved because the problem is not just from lack of strength in my arms but my back also. I can also tell from my facial expressions that I was thinking about what was coming next. I used to struggle picking up Eric's choreography but the more I have learned from him the more I feel this has improved as I feel less anxious within the choreography aspects of his lessons.

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Youtube, (2014) Tovaris Wilson -That Girl. Availabe at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tth_QwyDxUY

Schrock, M. 2015, Perk Up Your Port de Bras, Dance Media LLC, dba Macfadden Performing Arts Media, LLC, New York.

Legg, J. 2007, Focus: Modern: Horton Technique, Macfadden Performing Arts Media, LLC, New York, N.Y.

Liebhard, E. 2015, "It Don’t Mean a Thing if It Ain’t Got Musicality: A Music-First Method for Teaching Historically Rooted Jazz Dance", Journal of Dance Education, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 159-163.

Galili, D.F. 2015, "Gaga: Moving beyond Technique with Ohad Naharin in the Twenty-First Century", Dance Chronicle - Studies in Dance and the Related Arts, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 360-392.

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Emer Walsh Commercial Class (Middle, black top & grey bottoms)

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Emer Walsh Commercial Class (Middle, black top & grey bottoms)

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This footage was taken towards the end of semester. Looking back I can see the transferred skills from technique class such as musicality, performance, lines and body isolations. Overall I am pleased with how I executed Emer's choreography and the improvement which has been made proving that commercial dancers also need technique.