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Acquiring and developing skills

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We had learnt this routine a couple weeks ago at a workshop and had practiced since to improve. However, I feel as though since we learnt it I had forgotten the details of the choreography, so I need to always make sure I understand every aspect of the movement and then retain the information. This will help me maintain employment as if on a cruise ship or tour (long jobs), I wont start forgetting the choreography over time. I can do this by standing closer to the teacher so I can definitely see everything as I typically stand at the back of class. I feel that levels was a weakness for me and I need to make sure I focus on that more as I typically do not give it a thought when I am in class. I think that stylistic quality and retention was my strength as I managed to remember all of the choreography after learning it a while ago. To improve on this routine, I can watch how Olivia and Phoebe perform it themselves so then I can stay true to their chorographic content.

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In this class, I did not have the right mind set, meaning I found it very hard to concentrate and focus in the lesson. This made me feel as though I did not understand the choreography and had not picked it up but when performing I did know it and had paid close attention to detail, highlighting my lack of confidence. This style is different to what I have ever done before but I was very willing to learn as I hope to be a versatile dancer. This will allow me to be open for more job opportunities as I will have a wider skill set and ability to do more. As I have never danced this way before, I found it hard trying to perform as I was not clear on how to portray the choreographic content. Even though it was more a chilled dance, I still need to make sure my movements are filled with strength and power to make me more exciting and effortless to watch. My body alignment, I felt, was a strength but I am looking to further improve it, as well as my confidence, by beginning to attend more open classes suited to this specific dance style.

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I personally feel that this is my weakest video and watching this helped to highlight what things I really need to be working on whether that be technical or expressive. I did not feel very confident with the pirouettes as they have always been a weakness for me so I went into doing them with a negative attitude which obviously did not help me. I want to get a lot better at turns, even if I am not a natural turner I still want to be able to do them well. I can improve them by remembering to spot, so then I know where I am stopping and I will avoid becoming dizzy. My preparation also needs work to help me and I need to make sure I have a wider fourth position (I have been told to do this before but forget) and that I am fully over relevé. For my performances, I need to be confident, even if I am not I need to perform like someone who is. This well help me in auditions as I will feel nervous yet need to portray myself as someone who is not, to be more likely to get the job. You can tell that I am concentrating which makes me almost unentertaining to watch so I need to start performing with facial expressions and projection to really engage with the audience.

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Watching this massively helped me realise what difference using my facial expressions could make to my performance, and how much I need to start using them. I was finding it quite hard to retain the choreography so had to concentrate a lot to remember it, and this shows on my face. In an audition I will not be given a lot of time to learn the choreography will need to perform and think of the movements instead of just doing one as then I will be more likely to get the job, as I appear confident in myself. Whilst I was using my dynamics in this class and heavily thought about using them, I still need to have control over my movements as in this it tended to look too forced and sharp in areas so I need to work on finding the balance of using dynamics but still having control. As a strength, I think my communication of the choreographic content works as I stayed true to the style and was committed to the overall vibe of the performance but could have took it even further with facial performance to connect to the audience.
https://vimeo.com/244264755

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I was confident in this choreography as I managed to pick it up fast but when it came down to dancing in groups, I was apprehensive with my performance. I appear weak and I can completely change this to improve by finishing every single movement off. Also, I am small so I need to work on my projection which links to my previous point. This will make me look stronger and more powerful when performing on stage. A long term goal of mine is to be a backing dancer, so I need to work on making my movements just as big for someone at the front of the audience, for someone at the back of the audience, for if I was dancing on a stage. My musicality was a strength as well as my performance as this is my preferred commercial styles so I had the confidence to perform.

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This routine is different to what I am used to, but as we were being taught it, I realised it is a style I thoroughly enjoy. I really need to start being more willing to try new styles as it turns out I loved this but I went into learning this dance apprehensive. In the future, I aspire to be a versatile dancer so I need to be open to more than just what my personal preference is. Being more versatile opens you to more job opportunities as you are capable of dong more, which means the chances of gaining employment are higher. With the choreography, it allowed you to focus on dynamics which I typically don't and I have wrote about wanting to improve my use of them continuously in my self reflections. I am happy that my dynamics were a strength for me but I need to show more commitment to the routine. For example, the four poses at the end of the dance need to be hit strongly but I just carelessly went through them and didn't think anything of it until Chad expressed the importance of doing every move with strength.

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I personally felt as though I danced this messily and that my movements looked rush, but listening to my friends opinions, they said I danced it really clean. I have incredibly high expectations of how I want to dance so I tend to give myself tough criticism even though I still have so much time to grow as a performer. My performance was a strength in relation to my bodily expression, however I still struggle with my facial performance but I have set a short term goal to start using facial expressions to make me more engaging to an audience. Also, my pick up was good in this class but as soon as it came to dancing in groups I completely forgot the choreography, I think this is due to my lack of confidence so I panicked because of people watching me. To become more confident at dancing in groups I am going to start putting myself forward and out of my comfort zone to build up my experience of dancing in smaller groups. I need to get over these nerves and I will do as my confidence is growing slowly as I have already become a lot more confident since starting the BTEC in September. https://vimeo.com/244264614

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This style is more what I am used to and I felt very confident in learning it. My pick up was fast and I managed to retain the details easily. When it came back to performing I held back quite a lot due to feeling nervous. In this video, I feel as though I dance weak, small and stiff. I need to work on my isolations so that I can have a bigger range of movement to allow me to put more into my dancing. I am small so need to make sure I dance to strong and with projection to appear powerful and avoid being overshadowed. To improve on this, I need to almost go over the top with my movements and exaggerate them so that they look a lot bigger.

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I originally used to feel very weak in the Jazz dance style and I think I have developed massively; you can see this progress by comparing this video to an earlier jazz video I have put onto Padlet. I have previously talked about wanting to improve my pirouettes and in this video I managed to comfortably do a double. Sometimes I can do them but sometimes I cant, and to make it so I am capable of them every day I need to always ensure that I am spotting and have my weight correct in my preparation. If in a show every night that requires pirouettes I will need to be able to do them confidently each show to maintain employment. My back flexibility is quite poor and to make my back bend look more effective in this choreography, I am going to work on strengthening and stretching my back. I also think my levels could do with some work as typically I do not think about them and for this dance especially, I stayed at the same level throughout. Although Ysabelle Capitulé is a commercial dancer, the way she uses her levels is amazing and so I am going to watch videos of her and try to incorporate experimentation into my dancing. My jazz performance has massively improved I feel even though I know I could go even further with it.

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This choreography is from the grease production and so is intended to be danced with projection so that the whole audience will be able to see clearly what the dancers are doing on stage. I understood what was needed and so I made sure I focused on using projection to make my movements bigger. I think my projection in this video is the best it has been in comparison to the other videos so that skill is progressing. However, I need to show more commitment to the choreography and be in character throughout. As it is musical theatre, the need to portray a character is much greater as you actually are playing one so need to remain true to them. My performance was also good as I used my facial expression but I should pay a closer attention to detail as for certain movements I differed from everyone else, but we should be in unison. If in a group performance for a job, you are expected to dance together so a few differences could lead to losing work.
https://vimeo.com/249742429

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In my opinion, I find it very hard to tell whether I like this performance or not, as I think it does have strengths but alongside that, it has its weaknesses. In relation to the strengths, I think that my dynamics are good, as whilst they have been a constant weakness for me throughout this unit, I feel that they look strong in this choreography. The choreography really helped work on them and I am glad because I do not tend to focus on them in class, so it was good to focus on them. I also think that my musicality is a strength, and I believe this is because it is a song I know very well so I am very confident with the beats and different layers to the song. Musicality is good a skill to have as if working on a job that requires you to dance to different types of music, you will be able to understand each piece and also it is essential to dance in time to the music at all times.  My willingness was also a strength, as I have never attempted afro beats or any other cultural dance styles before but I still gave them movements a go as I want to improve on them and become versatile. I want to attend an afro beats workshop for some intense training and to feel more comfortable in this style as my stylistic quality is currently poor. For weaknesses, in this dance especially I can see how I sometimes dance in towards myself, and this choreography helped to emphasise this habit, allowing me to see how much work I need put into projecting my movements to let them look stronger and powerful. My pick up was also quite poor as I found it hard to understand some parts of the choreography and felt a constant need to check what others were doing at them points for reassurance. To gain employment I need to fake confidence in myself even when I am feeling unsure of what I am doing.
https://vimeo.com/244263917

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I personally feel that this is the most confident I have felt in one of Jecoliah’s open classes and I think this is because my pick up was fast so I learnt the choreography fast which gave me time to work on more of the expressive aspects of the dance. As I knew the routine, I did not have to focus that much on the choreography which could allow me to focus on my performance. The positive energy in the class made me feel comfortable enough to start using facial expressions which although you cant see that clear in the video I was using them. I am happy that I finally performed as I normally hold myself back a bit. I am also glad that dynamics was a strength of mine in this class as they normally are not. However, I need more commitment to the choreographic content, as for certain movements (I realise watching now) I should’ve danced them a certain way to portray a certain character. Characterisation is something I struggle with but need to work on as if I was ever to dance in a music video, for example, I may need to act a specific way and create a character. I am going to watch some Parris Goebel videos as she excels in her characterisation and I can learn a lot from seeing how someone so successful in the industry is.

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This video is from the day after the class happened and hence explains why we are not wearing heels. I personally felt a lot more comfortable performing this dance without my heels but this is probably due to having more experience in trainers, meaning I should work on dancing to the point where I am just as confident in both. A majority of commercial jobs in the industry require you to dance in heels so I am going to attend more heels classes to feel more confident. As this was the day after class, I make a couple mistakes simply due to the fact I forgot some details so my retention was a weakness. However, I think as all the pressure of filming it in class was gone I felt a lot more confident to perform and have fun with the choreography which I did. This shows how I need to become more confident with being filmed in classes and dancing in smaller groups - I can improve on this by putting myself out there and volunteering for smaller groups as I will begin to feel more confident with experience. This choreography was a mixture of sexy and fun and I thoroughly enjoyed learning/performing it. I am going to watch some Amy Morgan videos as I feel as though she is a teacher who is really excelling in this style at the moment and therefore I could learn a lot from watching her. My projection is a strength in this and I am happy about that because it normally is nt but I feel as though it was today, and I hope this development continues
https://vimeo.com/250059032

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This style is quite different to what I am used to but I was still very willing to learn as I aspire to be versatile and have been wanting to try this style for a while now. I think my musicality was a strength as I could hear all the sounds and had a good understanding of the beats. However, I think I look quite weak doing this and I need to have stronger arms to show commitment to the choreography. Dancing weak makes your performance boring towards an audience and as though you are not trying so I need to make sure I always look strong. I also had a poor use of dynamics but my levels were better today so I am just going to continue practicing the choreography and attending more classes for this commercial style.

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Improving my flexibility has been a short term goal of mine and although my kicks are no where near where I aim for them to be in the future, they have still improved massively since the beginning of the BTEC course in September. Kicks are a required skill for any job whether that be technical work on not, so I need to make sure they are something I excel at. They are a lot higher now than they used to be and I do not find my posture being as hunched over in my forward kicks anymore; although it still is not perfectly straight, it is better than before. My turn out is a strength as well as my elongation as I pointe my toes and straighten both my working and resting leg. I am going to continue practicing and stretching to further develop my flexibility and kicks.

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I desperately want to improve my freestyle and also boost my confidence in my freestyle. At an audition or even just in class, you are more than likely expected to freestyle before and after performing the choreography and this can affect peoples opinions on your dancing massively. Also, on a job there is a chance that you will be asked to freestyle for some counts so I need to confidently be able to do this in order to maintain employment. I typically just do grooves and find it hard to make up full out choreography on the spot. I think this is evident in this video as whilst my more chilled style matched the music well I still took to more groves if anything. My musicality is a strength and I have been told this in class before but as it was a song I know well I understood the music and used this knowledge to my advantage. At times, I was just repeating the same movements as I struggled to make up completely fresh and new ideas for the whole time. I tried to challenge myself by carrying on the freestyle even when there were a few times I felt like stopping it as I could not think of something else to do but by carrying on it is building up my experience.
https://vimeo.com/249742775

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My flexibility has improved so much since starting the course as I could not do any splits then, but now I am capable of doing all three. I would say my left leg is my strongest and my box is my weakness but depending on how much I stretch before hand, they are all quite the same. I need to make sure that I am pointing my toes (unless told otherwise) when I do the splits from now on as the extension creates a cleaner line and a better stretch. To further develop my flexibility and splits, I am going to start attempting over splits and working my way up to them.

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As I am trying to develop my freestyle, I did a more high energy performance based dance this time to try and become more versatile and open to more opportunities. My performance was a strength in this and so this shows that I do have the ability to use facial expressions so need to start using them more when training at college. It is good to perform as it makes your performance more exciting and engaging to an audience. Again, my mind went blank at times as I struggled thinking with what I should do next but I persevered and even if I just repeated a section, I didn’t completely stop. I want to become a lot better at doing more full out freestyles as they are more likely going to be wanted in the industry. In this I was more full out than the other freestyle but I still linked it with the grooves so that I felt more comfortable. My projection and dynamics were a strength showing I have the understanding of dance but just need to work on building up my confidence to allow me to freestyle comfortably in front of others.
https://vimeo.com/249742790

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This choreography is what both Olivia and Phoebe do on tour with Jax Jones and so it needed to be performed with high energy, an engaging performance and projection. It was a smaller class so we each performed the dance solo which was I found very intimidating as it is not something I typically do and I had low confidence. Although I felt anxious I still pushed myself to do it the best I could as I know how much it will help me and that I could then receive feedback after which could have a massive impact on me. They remembered how shy I was in the workshop but could see how my confidence had started grow, even though they could tell I was nervous. In the industry, I need to appear confident even if I am not to increase my chance of gaining employment as employers will not be looking for someone who is shy. I also need to be confident when working on a job to have a good reputation to maintain employment and have the possibility of being recommended to others. In relation to the dance, I am happy with how I performed and I can see the difference from other times as I was using facial expressions. The choreography featured some house moves but I have never been trained in house so I found them challenging but was very willing to learn; therefore on the more house section my stylistic quality was a weakness as I focused mainly on doing the actual steps correctly. They pointed out a few times how I use my back and dance in myself at times which can explain why my projection is normally a weakness for me. It is a habit I have fallen into so it is going to be hard to break but now that I am aware of it, I will try hard to start elongating and opening out my movements. Also for the some of the grooves, I was making them too much of my own and whilst that is good in open classes. When working on a job, it is not correct to adjust the set choreography as it is not true to the choreographic content.
https://vimeo.com/249742644

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This is the first time I have been picked out by the teacher in any open class to dance in a smaller group (there was two of us) and I am happy about because it obviously shows my development as I am now given this opportunity whereas I have not been before. Jecoliah did say that we did not have the choreography perfect which is evident but we had the stylistic quality and persistence to make it worthwhile. I was trying really hard in this class as I was struggling to pick up certain sections of the dance and they are the bits which we forget but we still continue after which shows our commitment to the choreography. I have realised that it is perfectly okay to make mistakes and that we can learn from them to grow as dancers. For this choreography, I am just going to practice it more till I understand it better, but in future classes I need to start using my initiative and asking the teacher for help more. I was very nervous to begin with as it was only us but as soon as I started I began to feel confident and performed which shows that I am capable of putting myself out there, and should do more. My musicality was a strength in this as this choreography was to every beat but I quickly could hear them and managed to apply that music knowledge to my dancing. However, I need to have more strength in my arms especially so that I can look a lot cleaner and powerful which will help me gain/maintain employment, as at times in this video I feel as though I looked weak and messy which is obviously not what I hoped for.

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These are the first sections we learnt and when this video was filmed I wasn't feeling very well which I think affects my performance as at times I appear weak and forget certain details. However, when I'm working on a job in the future it will not be an excuse whether I am slightly unwell or not. I think my stylistic quality is a strength as I had practiced the dance enough to know what things felt comfortable to me and changing small things so that they still remain true to the choreographic content but are more comfortable for me to do. Using my initiative like this will help build my confidence as what I am dancing will make me feel more confident.
https://vimeo.com/244266277

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I am very happy with my progress in this as it is something I have wanted to be able to do for a long time and have put a lot energy into working on. In summer when I started training to do this I found it very hard to get my leg at a 90degrees angle. I initially focused on improving my flexibility which I have talked about wanting to do previously and I feel as though that helped me get to where I am now in relation to the leg hold. However, I think to further develop it I need to work on deepening my core strength so I am able to hold it for longer and have a better posture when I do it.

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Target Setting For The Final Assessment Piece

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Target Setting For The Final Assessment Piece

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These are my 3 personal areas of improvement which I aim to progress in by the assessment.

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Target setting for the final assessment piece

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This is from the last rehearsal before our actual assessment and I can see clearly the progress I have made since the first video of this to now. I think my willingness and dedication is a massive reason as to why I have showed development as I am asking for feedback to apply, practicing all the time and attending classes as I am desperate to improve and the best I possibly can. This approach to learning will allow me to progress faster and better myself, which in the future will allow me to maintain employment as I am showing constant development. Now I dance a lot stronger and project my movements a lot more than I used to; however, I need to make sure I keep up this energy throughout the whole performance so that the energy doesn't fall and it remains high. If working on a long job (i.e. a musical or a concert) I will have to keep energy high to keep the audience entertained; I am going to improve my stamina for this to become better. I really need to work on using my facial expressions now so that I can start to command more attention and engage with the audience.
https://vimeo.com/246873995

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My highlighted key strengths were dedication/attendance, high energy, fast pick up rate, bodily performance, stylistic quality and a willingness to learn and improve. My area for improvement are projection, confidence, dynamics, facial expressions, use of space and pushing myself to do even better.

Target 1 - be more confident!
I am going to go to more classes to gain more confidence with gaining more experience. I need to improve on this so that then I will feel better in performing, taking risks and also look better to employers, as they wont want somebody timid for the job.
Target 2 - use facial expressions!
To start using my face, I need to just take what I am already doing over the top, as that will have the most effective look. Facial expressions add dimension to a performance as they add another level to connect with the audience on and portray the choreographer's intentions. It also makes you more engaging and less awkward for an audience to watch.
Target 3 - use dynamics!
I am going to focus on them a lot more and in a varied style of classes. They make the performance more exciting as there is more given to the choreography.

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Personal Management and Discipline Skills Evaluation

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Personal Management and Discipline Skills Evaluation

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Personal management and discipline evaluation

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Lulu assessed me and she highlighted stamina, musicality, stylistic quality and cleanliness as my key strengths with performance as my area for improvement.

Target 1 - performance!
I should watch Youtube videos to gain some inspiration. Performing can completely change your dance ability as people are more drawn to you and you are more intriguing.
Target 2 - musicality!
I am going to go to more night classes and workshops in different styles. Musicality helps to maintain employment as you are always expected to be dancing on time to the music and others.
Target 3 - confidence!
To boost my confidence, I am going to go to more open classes and start to put myself forward in groups. My confidence will make me easier to work with and better my performance, all equating in me gaining/maintaining employment.

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Self Evaluation Of My Overall Progression In This Unit 

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Self Evaluation Of My Overall Progression In This Unit 