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Performance Tips for Students
by Nita Collins
June 2005
There’s a hafla coming up and you want to challenge
yourself to perform! Whether you are going to choreograph or improvise,
you want to enjoy the process of putting it all together. Here are a few
tips for student dancers that I hope you’ll find useful.
Picking your music
I’m going to be talking about dancing to recorded music because
we don’t have live music available to us here in Whitehorse (yet! think
positive).
Pick music that elicits some emotional response in
you…music you connect to. Maybe it makes you feel happy and bouncy,
maybe it makes you feel powerful and strong. Perhaps it has interesting
stops and rhythm changes that catch your attention and intrigue you. As
a dancer, you develop an intimate relationship with your music, and this
relationship is what you share with the audience.
A song around 3 minutes is nicely manageable for students new to
performing. Unless you are a professional performer and have good
stamina, audience skills and technical ability, it can be tough to keep
your energy level up and keep the audience’s attention through a long
piece. You want to leave the stage feeling energized, proud and
exuberant with your accomplishment, not drained and exhausted.
You want to enjoy yourself, and you want to leave them wanting more!
If you have a song that you love but are overwhelmed by the length of
it, ask me to fade it at a certain count on the clock. Or fade it out
using CD burning software such as Nero, or with a tape deck that has
adjustable recording levels. I once helped a student shorten a Lorena
McKennit song down from over 6 minutes to fewer than 4 with a nice fade
at an appropriate spot. The fade fit right in and sounded fine.
You’ve picked out your music…
now what?
Occasionally a student will tell me that she wants to perform at the
next hafla, but can’t think of what to do with her music. My answer?
Don’t think—dance!
Dance, dance, dance. Dance in your kitchen, dance in your living room,
dance down the hallway. Listen to your music every chance you get.
Listen, listen, listen. As you listen and dance, you’ll notice that you
start to put the same movements in certain places every time. Some parts
will begin to take a shape. You can rely on this shape – you know
what’s coming up in the music and you know what you’re going to
automatically do with it.
At its heart, at its very root, this is an
improvisational folkloric dance form. Get it out of your head that you
have to choreograph every beat. No, I don’t mean just wing it and hope
for the best – good improvisations are good because the dancer knows her
music inside out and matches her movements to the music. The dances that
are the most memorable for the audience are often pieces that have a
framework of choreographed moments interspersed with non-choreographed
moments. Try to allow space for improvisation. Think back to the
improvisation exercises we’ve done in class. Remember the “golden ball
of energy” analogy I use in class? Think also about some of the small
group choreography exercises we do in level II class—remember the
assignment of making up 4-movement combinations with a classmate? Be
aware of where the accents, stops and rhythm changes are in your music.
Can you choreograph those transitions and leave room for improvisation
in other spots? You’ll be comfortable because you’ll know your music
inside out. No surprises.
Everyone has a “fall back” movement: that one
movement that comes most naturally to you when you’re dancing by
yourself. For some it’s a figure 8 in the hips, for others it’s the
basic Egyptian step (walking hip lifts). Start dancing with the one or
two moves that come most naturally to you, listen to the music and adapt
your movement to match what you hear. Can you do it faster/slower?
Travel with it? Can you use the golden ball of energy to move it from
your hips into your torso, arms, hands and back down again? Use what
you’ve learned in class about interpreting the music. Is the music
urging your feet to travel? Does this spot make you want to stop and
shimmy? Does that spot make you want to undulate your arms and torso?
Keep it
simple
I say it over and over again: Simple movements done well are
beautiful and much nicer to watch than complicated movements done
sloppily. You don’t have to throw every move you ever learned into
your dance. Take the pressure off yourself! Having said that, I know
that your mind goes blank and you sometimes feel paralyzed with not
knowing what to do. Get a piece of paper and a pencil and write down
some of the movements you know. Use your own words and descriptions. Is
there a new movement or combination we did in class that you would like
to incorporate into your piece? Write it down and tape it to the wall
where you practice (I litter the top of my husband’s pool table with my
notes and cds—he is constantly picking up after me.) As you are dancing,
glance at the paper and practice the new movement to the music. You’ll
find that there may be an appropriate spot in the song that your desired
movement fits right into. You may find that you have automatically
adjusted your movement or combination to fit the music without even
thinking about it.
Works
in Progress
Don’t be afraid to present your dance as a work in progress. All
of the haflas I sponsor are for YOU. (note: if you’re reading this and
you aren’t my student, you might want to check with your teacher on her
feelings regarding works in progress) The hafla is your time to share
your dance with your classmates and invited family and friends. We want
to cheer you on! Sometimes students would like to get up and dance, but
worry that their dance “isn’t ready.” This is just what student haflas
are for: there’s no public—just us and our invited guests dancing for
each other. At our last hafla, two brand new beginners got up on the
spur of the moment and asked for the music we had used in class that
day. They danced together while we clapped and cheered them on. I faded
the music after about 2 minutes as they asked me to. That’s what it’s
all about!
Costume Advice
See
the easy costume ideas for students page on the website for ideas
that are appropriate for haflas without spending a lot of money.
Remember—always dance in your costume at home before wearing it in a
performance! Not much is more embarrassing than bits and pieces of your
costume popping off in the middle of your dance! If you don’t have a
costume yet, that’s okay, too. A costume isn’t a requirement for
student nights. Wear your hipscarf and a pretty skirt and blouse and
you’ll be fine. I want you to have a good time and feel happy about
meeting the challenge you set for yourself.
In short:
Pick music that moves/inspires you.
Put thought into the length of your piece. It’s okay to fade an ending
or cut the piece if the song you like is too long.
Simple movements done well are beautiful to watch, and you’ll feel more
confident and secure.
Rehearse in your costume before performance day.
Have fun—this is your
moment!
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