Contemporary Reflection by Gillian R Gordon

Song that encapsulates my learned ideas about toughness.

gillianrgordon — 2025-01-31 06:50:48 UTC

The song "Shake it Out" by Florence and the Machine encapsulates toughness. I chose this song specifically because it emphasizes that people face hardships and use their resilience to get past them.

Song that encapsulates the idea of toughness proposed by Magness.

gillianrgordon — 2025-01-31 06:55:57 UTC

I chose the song "Carry On" by Fun because it encapsulates the ideas as shown in Chapter 1 of the reading "Do Hard Things." The song really shows how to navigate through one's struggles and to try and persevere through tough situations.

Self-Talk Habit

gillianrgordon — 2025-01-31 07:06:21 UTC

"There is always more forward; keep pushing." With this particular self-talk habit that I tell myself, it brings me to think about the idea of a sunset and how the horizon is infinite. It is kind of cheesy, but I like the idea. I feel that this particular Self-talk does work for me because it keeps me motivated even on days when I may be mentally or physically exhausted.

Chapter 1 Book Takeaway

gillianrgordon — 2025-01-31 07:11:21 UTC

"Real toughness isn’t about pushing through at all costs—it’s about being adaptable, aware, and knowing when to persist and when to recover."

I liked this because as dancers we tend to forget when to draw the line between exhaustion and pushing through. This quote really showcases how self-awareness of your mind and body is important.

Skill: What's a skill that you are learning in contemporary and/or ballet that helps you do hard things?

gillianrgordon — 2025-02-07 08:03:09 UTC

A main skill that I have applied to both my contemporary and ballet classes is to have an open mind and the ability to try and be comfortable in the uncomfortable. But, as mentioned in Chapter 2, the idea of "pushing through" should not be a thought; it is about learning, adapting, and self-awareness instead.

Teach: Imagine that you are teaching this skill to a friend who does not dance, and/or whose learning strengths are different than your own. How might you teach this skill to help them do hard things?

gillianrgordon — 2025-02-07 08:08:03 UTC

I would teach my friend to have a shift in their mindset. The idea of pushing through would be changed to adaptation. I would also mention that its fine to fail and learn from your mistakes.

First Stage: Feel

gillianrgordon — 2025-02-07 08:14:37 UTC

Here, Beyoncé is startled that she just won yet another Grammy.

Second Stage: Inner Debate

gillianrgordon — 2025-02-07 08:17:13 UTC

This GIF seemed fitting for the idea of inner debate. It connects to the story of how the girl was debating texting the guy she liked back because he never made plans.

Third Stage: Urge

gillianrgordon — 2025-02-07 08:20:12 UTC

The third stage is all about realization. This is a great step for someone realizing to "find their way through" something difficult. This helps with both creating and finding solutions.

Fourth Step: Decision

gillianrgordon — 2025-02-07 08:22:18 UTC

I chose this GIF because this is one of my dance idols, Briar Nolet, and she is trying to find herself in this Netflix series "The Next Step."

Book takeaway: Write one book takeaway that resonates with you/that you want to remember.

gillianrgordon — 2025-02-07 08:26:56 UTC

The question from this chapter that I keep thinking about is "How do we get from discomfort to action." I understand that they have us multiple steps to truly answer this question, but I want to know how it's applied in more situations other than the story told about the couple during the chapter.

Feel: A color that encapsulates the feeling you have when you see the world/a situation as a manageable challenge.

gillianrgordon — 2025-02-13 22:02:40 UTC

When I think of red, I think of difficulty. When I think of yellow, it's happiness. I thought orange was the perfect middle color with a combination of both red and yellow to show manageable challenges.

Feel: Find a color that encapsulates the feeling you have when you see the world/a situation as a threat.

gillianrgordon — 2025-02-13 22:10:29 UTC

When I think of a threatening situation, I think of the color red.

Envision/Reflect: Setting Your Mind on Reality

gillianrgordon — 2025-02-13 22:31:38 UTC

Authentic Goal: "I am going to perform on stage to the best of my ability without worrying about being a perfectionist on stage."

Define judgment and expectations according to process-oriented goals: Stay present throughout the whole performance rather than worrying about specific technical skills that may be stressing you out. Think about stage presence and how you want to perform to feel good about how you dance rather than the result or outcome.

Course-correct for Stress: If I were to compare myself to other dancers, I would remind myself that I am prepared and need to trust myself. But if I was nervous about performing, I would tell myself to take a deep breath and shake out my jitters.

Prime Your Mind: Before performing, I think of times I thought I performed both at my best and worst. I perform at my worst when I am worrying and at my best when I just dance for myself and when I remind myself why I love to dance and perform in the first place.

Book Takeaway

gillianrgordon — 2025-02-13 22:35:26 UTC

One major idea I would take away from this chapter is that stress can be used as a tool rather than a negative problem. Stress can be used to address a challenge and turn it into a manageable challenge. Once you turn something into a manageable challenge, all you have to do is persevere and know that you're capable of fighting adversity.

Personal Inventory

gillianrgordon — 2025-02-21 01:17:21 UTC

Lower the bar: 3 challenges/things I need to work on in class are my use of plié, creating seamless transitions between movements rather than just hitting positions, and getting out of the habit of looking in the mirror.

Raise the Floor: By relying less on the mirror, I can stop always worrying about perfection and trust what my body is doing. By using my plié and working on seamless transitions, my movement quality will improve.

Shed Perfection

gillianrgordon — 2025-02-21 01:25:48 UTC

Three things that I know I need to work on are being less placed, increasing movement in my spine, and to get more comfortable with floor work. I accommodate these challenges by truly taking in the material that is given and trying to avoid muscling through the movements. When there is the use of contraction, I try to think about the belly button to the spine, and with floorwork, I tend to observe how both the teacher and others around me are doing the combination to help me.

Trust Yourself

gillianrgordon — 2025-02-21 01:27:20 UTC

An area in which I know I have grown through consistent work and can totally trust myself is picking up material and choreography.

Chapter Takeaway

gillianrgordon — 2025-02-21 01:31:38 UTC

A main takeaway I took from this chapter is that inner confidence doesn't just come over you. You learn to have self-confidence through the many challenges and experiences you face. I also liked the idea of rasing the floor and switching negative self-talk to almost a positive affirmation.

True Confidence Song

gillianrgordon — 2025-02-21 01:33:37 UTC

Song: "Unstoppable" by Sia

Real Confidence Role Model

gillianrgordon — 2025-02-21 01:36:01 UTC

I would say Tate Mcrae is my real confidence role model. Growing up, I would watch her perform at the same dance competitions. Seeing her go from a dancer to a famous singer is inspiring.

A behavior that he describes that feels familiar, either because you've seen someone else exhibit it, or because you've done it yourself?

gillianrgordon — 2025-02-27 01:19:53 UTC

A distinct connection between Chapter 5 and myself is the idea of overthinking. I tend to over-analyze any situation, and I have to admit I am very indecisive. I hate making decisions. There are pros and cons to being an overthinker, but I think I have slowly improved my indecisiveness.

"Leading Yourself"

gillianrgordon — 2025-02-27 01:38:51 UTC

One exercise that I have used successfully is "From small to large." This exercise is actually new to me. I learned this exercise first semester in the class Performance as a Public Practice. There was homework entitled Goals and Steps. We had to think of both short- and long-term goals. In order to do that, we had to break each goal down into steps to achieve whatever the goal might have been.

Leading Others

gillianrgordon — 2025-02-27 01:47:04 UTC

In contemporary class, when we were doing the phrase in duets, the idea of "Set the constraints and let them go" truly came through. During the phase, we had been working on direction-facing. As the dancers, we had the creative freedom to change the facings of the phrase, but we had to keep the integrity of the choreography. This is similar to the ideas explained in Chapter 5 with setting constraints and letting go. On the other hand, in ballet, I have seen the idea of "Allowing them to fail, reflect, and improve." We had an assignment where we had to take videos of our pirouettes in slow motion, and then we had to critique ourselves and see how we could improve on them. We also have weekly self-evaluations to see what we can do differently and how we can improve each class.

Reflect on the difference between naming an emotion and the physical responses that might accompany it. Are there any emotions that you have a hard time distinguishing from a physical response? How might you practice separating the two?

gillianrgordon — 2025-03-08 01:39:55 UTC

When I have anxiety, my heart tends to race. When I am feeling a sense of joy, I tend to smile more. Many emotions have obvious physical responses that come with them, but others tend to have a quiet impact. When I'm upset or annoyed, I can't think of a particular physical response. It tends to be different every time. Sometimes, I feel the need to rant and talk to someone about how I'm feeling, and other times, I tend to keep to myself. As I get older, I have been better at separating my emotions and physical responses. For instance, if I am upset on a given day, I tend to cover it up and not showcase it with a physical response.

Prompt 1: A song that resonates with Chapter 6

gillianrgordon — 2025-03-08 01:54:53 UTC

I chose the song "Brave" by Sara Bareilles because it exemplifies the idea of resilience as stated in Chapter 6. If you listen to the lyrics, she is basically telling people to stand up for themselves.

Prompt 2: If you were to pick a color for Chapter 6, what would it be and why?

gillianrgordon — 2025-03-08 01:57:23 UTC

If I had to pick one color, it would be orange. Orange to me showcases the ideas of both resilience and courage.

Describe a typical moment when your helpless child appears when you are in a dance class/environment.

gillianrgordon — 2025-03-10 23:41:02 UTC

A typical moment in class when my helpless child typically appears is when I'm learning something new that may be foreign to me. Sometimes silly questions pop up in my head like "Do I look awkward?" I am learning not to care what I look like in the mirror and rather take in the new things I'm learning that may feel uncomfortable.

Describe TWO other selves listed there that could come forward, listen to your Helpless Child, and help you move from Helpless Child to agent of change.

gillianrgordon — 2025-03-11 02:42:47 UTC

The calm optimist would ask me "What's the worst that can happen? It's just dance!" My helpless child would then realize that there's no reason to feel insecure and awkward when you are learning something new. The faithful friend would encourage me and say how I have many strengths and that it's okay to not be good at something.

Switching Self Talk- I/you/she

gillianrgordon — 2025-03-11 02:47:33 UTC

I have to admit that changing my self-talk to you or she limited how I self-critize. When I say you or she instead of I to myself, it truly sounds mean to me. I'm starting to realize how harsh I am trying to correct myself during class.

Positive/Negative

gillianrgordon — 2025-03-11 02:54:59 UTC

I think neutral self-talk is the most effective self-talk for me. I like to be honest with myself, and I feel that the middle ground between positive and negative self-talk pushes me. When I truly am having a hard day, I think positive self-talk is needed, but on days when I need a push, negative self-talk can be effective as well.

Freewriting—Noticing: Practice Boredom

gillianrgordon — 2025-03-28 17:37:05 UTC

Today, in my yoga sculpt class at Corepower, I got a few minutes to try this exercise. This exercise in yoga is called Shavasana. Today, I let my miscellaneous thoughts come to mind but then they just happened to disappear. I didn't feel the urge to look at those around me. This time in hot yoga also is like a reward in a sense because you have been working out for an hour straight and then you have a chance to lay down and close your eyes in the last few minutes of class.

Takeaway

gillianrgordon — 2025-03-28 17:39:27 UTC

I want to remember that I can use these exercises at any time to better myself.

In this Chapter, Magness offers ways for us to identify and change our processing ratio (p 208-210). Choose one of these exercises, do it, and reflect on it before 4/4.

gillianrgordon — 2025-04-02 21:42:55 UTC

The exercise I chose was visual zooming. This exercise felt familiar because I did it in our contemporary class this year. This exercise can be used on daily and is helpful when looking for both small and broad details.

Takeaway

gillianrgordon — 2025-04-02 21:44:35 UTC

A takeaway I have learned from this chapter is that every situation needs to be handled different. Not everything can be solved with the same solution.

Conversation with my twin sister Tori

gillianrgordon — 2025-04-18 06:15:29 UTC

I recently had a conversation with my twin sister, Tori, who is a dance major at the Johns Hopkins Peabody Institute. I thought she was the perfect person because she relates most to what I am going through currently. I have recently been stressing about what I need/want to do this summer and in the future with my dance career. Sometimes I feel that I am doing too little on a day-to-day basis, so I make myself as busy as possible to try and seem productive. This sometimes isn't a great thing because I work myself to pure exhaustion when I have ambitions. She reminded me that I am rushing my life away and need to take one day at a time, but I should keep my ambitions to stay motivated. When she said that to me, I told her that she was being cliché, but now that I think about it, she's right. If I keep working hard, everything that I want to happen with life and my dance career will.

Chapter 11 Takeaway

gillianrgordon — 2025-04-19 03:33:58 UTC

Something that stuck with me from this chapter is that when you have a purpose, you are able to persist and endure anything. I think the idea that purpose is the fuel that allows me to be tough resonates with me more than I knew.

Big Picture

gillianrgordon — 2025-04-19 03:43:46 UTC

Something that I have worked on intentionally this semester that I took away from this book is my positive/negative self-talk and honesty about myself. This semester, I truly think I improved and utilized the mental skills mentioned in the book. At the beginning of the semester, I felt that I was present and trying to be as mentally in class as possible, but now that I look back, I just wasn't. At the beginning of the semester, I was going through some health issues and didn't feel like I was dancing like myself. 3 months later, I feel that my health is doing well both mentally and physically, and I feel more confident with my dancing. I truly had a great semester, thank you!

Long View

gillianrgordon — 2025-04-19 03:45:40 UTC

Something from the book that I think I will draw upon for years is being realistic. I think being honest about how you're doing in life, dance, school, etc. will help improve you as a person.