please give me a good grade

we are still pop, locking, and dropping it in week what feels like 10000 of school, but hey we gotta keep trucking along!!! 

Krumping I feel like is a style of hip hop we see pretty often but I also feel like we don’t talk about as much as breaking or popping. The first time I ever saw cramping was actually on So You Think You Can Dance when one dancer “specialized” you could say in this style of hip hop. At first this style of dance seems very aggressive and physical in the movement quality. In the reading I really enjoyed reading about the progression that krumping had. Starting off with this clown makeup then transitioning to this tribal face paint to show how serious these dancer were. Another thing I found interesting was how this was almost the only style that was as sexualized as the other styles of hip hop. The last thing that I really liked in this reading was how it talked about Christinas music video Dirrty. Least to say I LOVE this song and now whenever I hear it I’m going to try krumping to it. 

Here we are back again with another blog. Crazy to think that even in a completely different topic of ballet toxic masculinity strikes again. 

Tuesdays reading I really enjoyed. it showed how and why these men were doing what they were doing and it started to make sense in my brain. first reading it I was confused as to why dancing for younger men would be this sexual awakening for them. Then after hearing about during those times they may have not been in the best places with everything they could possibly need, dancing was an escape for them and another way for them to feel like their in control of their body. What was a major power move back then (and even now) was the grabbing of the crotch. This was to show fertility in man. Something I find interesting is that today we see women doing the same thing. Back then women weren't involved in these battles because it was seemed to violent for them to partake in. Sorry but we aren't as fragile as you think. So I think its crazy and empowering that we women have also adapted this move to show that we can also be powerful in our sexuality! 

For yesterdays reading I was very interested in what Harris had to say. Ive never seen hip-hop done in a concert setting except for one time…..and it was wack to say the least. It was hip hop choreo done to classical music. Idk not my cup of tea. ANYWAYS back to the reading, Harris talked about how he would use African inspired movements to create choreography and also tap into the spiritual side. Yes hip hop comes from the African roots but I thought it was interesting to hear the spiritual side of it because I’ve never heard someone take that route when it comes to hip hop.

Overall I think the history/origins of hip hop have stuck around pretty well. We still see today people battling when they’re taking a hip hop class and using these big power moves to gain control of the crowd and the use of improv in their free style. Using their body has the main source of inspiration I find soooo cool. Theres no other agenda that the audience has to figure out, its just plain and simple. 

Guess who's not late. Me!!!!!!! Round of applause for that!!!!! LETS GOOOOOOO. 

As we start to wrap up ballet, we get into the sticky subject of is Ballet ~really~ the foundation of dance. Growing up that’s what I was taught. If you have a simple understanding of ballet then you'll be able to do anything. While I do somewhat agree with that statement, I don't think ballet is the high and mighty technique. You can make the argument that ballet is the oldest codified technique so there for it has to have some sort of importance, but when you approach it from a different angle, who is to say that a person with extreme ballet technique is better than a person with extreme jazz, modern, or hip hop technique. I find myself in the middle of the argument because I think ballet does have strong roots in a majority of different techniques. Without the use of a demi plie most dance moves are impossible in any technique. The simple act of turnout (forced or not) comes from the roots of ballet and are used in most dance techniques. I don't think ballet is the best and most important form of dance, but I do think everyone can. benefit from good ballet training. 

I force got who said this in class, but when it comes to the topic of race, we get timid to talk about it. We Americans have a bad history with race problems and are still trying to make things right, but when it comes to race problems somewhere else then thats a different thing, When looking back at the picture took of two Russian dancers, if you were to show this picture to anyone here at BSU they would see a blatant black face representation. And most people would agree that it is wrong. But I guess in Russia that seems to be just peachy. Something that baffles my mind is how the whole Bolshoi Dance company is all white. Not very diverse if you ask me. You would think that one of their most famous company dancers, Svetlana Zakharova, who has danced all over the world and has danced with many other famous dancers, who might even know other black dancers would say something about that. I said this in class but Russia isn't surrounded by this iron wall that excluded them from the issues of the rest of the world. They are probably aware of the racism around the world, and I don't think just because they wanted to portray the culture more is an excuse. (I'm having a hard time trying to make my thoughts complete sentences)  But its fucked up and I think they have some major changing to do. 

yes I'm still a piece of shit I don't wanna talk about it

Lets get into it peoppplleeeeeee. I think my new word to describe how I feel is “crazy” because what people would do and get away with is LITERALLY CRAZY.  This common theme of women being virgins and sold off to sacrificed in order for everyone else to have a normal life is wack. And I do understand that times were different and this was what happened but the fact that people would call their wedding day “their funeral” is (sorry my French) fucked up. 

when you think about it, two powerful latin women took the stage of the most watched event in history and SLAYED that shit, AND GUESS WHAT. people still are uncultured and ignorant. 

I find it crazy that we as a western society can still find ways to sexualize almost everything. When thinking about it, the Super Bowl was held in Miami where the latin culture has a very strong presence in the community and are very well known. And months in advanced people knew that Jlo and Shakira were going to be the halftime show performers, AND people still get mad when they use show the world their culture. if anything its rather fitting that these two women use this stage to promote their culture because it literally makes sense. I also find it crazy that we can't see two women dancing on stage, shaking their hips and what not and look past the sexualization of it. Its dance. Something I'm rather grateful for that I have learned over the years is to look at a body as nothing more than a body and a vessel for movement and endless possibilities. 

We’re back back back again with another weekly blog. Still on the topic of ballet but getting into he beginning of what most common people see ballet as. Ballet is HARD. What we do to our bodies is unnatural. We aren't meant to have 180 degree turnout, our leg really isn't meant to be lifted to our ear, yet here we are wrecking our bodies so we can have good technique. Although it being a very hard and very codified technique, almost every style of dance has the same basic principles that ballet has. 

Having a dance background where ballet was drilled into my body and head for 6-7 years talking about ballet is something I really enjoy because it was something I loved and thought I was gonna have a career in. Being young and naive I never saw the connection of the love beyond the grave. Now being older and have watched countless of ballets I never saw this theme. And it makes me question why does the female character have to literally DIE in order for the male to realize the love. There is the saying “you never know what you have till its gone”, and how foo foo it sounds it really makes sense in the case of some of the most famous ballets. Nikita dies, Giselle dies, Odette dies. Why can't they live and find their happiness???? 

In ballet we are told to be light on our feel. No one wants to see someone who looks like they're carrying a bowling ball while their dancing. (I could go on about the body aesthetic of ballet but ill save that for a different blog) This lightness and weightlessness is a common theme in the early romantic ballets. Giselle is one of the most famous romantic ballets that have stayed alive throughout the centuries. She's literally a little peasant girl who DIES of a broken heart. seeing the ballet many times, her movement is even shown as light and delicate with small petite allegros, except the mad scene, and is literally is a lightly colored tutu and is doing hella petite allergo. I somehow feel as if she is represented as this light and helpless character in the ballet. And when she turns into a Willi, she now becomes this ghost of a woman dancing in the long white romantic tutu what almost looks translucent on stage. You tell me thats not light and weightless looking on stage. 

 This week we dabbled in the beginning stages of ballet. Everyone has this idea of what ballet is, and the most common idea is the pretty ballerinas in tutus and point shoes. They aren't totally wrong, and of course there are many more aspects to the modern day ballet. But lets back it up real quick. The origins of ballet started in the 1600s believe it or not. Back in the day it was called baroque dance, and it looked almost nothing like ballet today. They had similar steps here and there, but it was very simple and basic, and I think Lisa would laugh if we started doing that in class lol. Something I found funny is that when we were looking at the videos the narrator made a comment about how this dance can bring up sexual tension between the partners....and let me say this. Idk if I was looking at the dance wrong or maybe its cause I wasn't born in the 1600s or 1700s, but I don't see how any of those steps can bring out sexual tension. call me crazy  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

When thinking about dance and movement in the Japanese culture I feel rather naive. All though these readings are full with knowledge about the topics at hand, but since I don't know the Japanese culture well at all, I find myself just skimming the surface and making assumptions based off of those notions. 

Having somewhat an idea of what Butoh is supposed to be then reading the article, I feel as if we were almost taught wrong. No shade to Lani but having Butoh being more taboo topics and finding the mental connections that Butoh requires. And maybe that was our fault not being 100% committed to what was at hand and only having 8 weeks isn't enough time to fully understand this dance.