Source: Wikipedia

Competitive dance is a popular, widespread activity in which competitors perform dances in any of several permitted dance styles—such as acro, ballet, jazz, hip-hop, lyrical, modern, and tap—before a common group of judges. This is in contrast with other activities that involve competition among dancers based on purpose, or specific dance style, such as pom squad and dancesport.

The competitive dance industry largely consists of competition production companies—also sometimes called dance competition companies—that conduct regional competitions at stops along their annual, nationwide tours. Dancers who compete at these regional competitions are students ranging in age from about four to eighteen years old. Dance schools, also referred to as dance studios, arrange for their classes to compete as groups. Advanced dancers may be chosen to compete solos, duets, trios, or in a small group dance; in addition to or in place of large group routines.

Competitive dancers must be physically fit, because even short dances can be physically demanding. Dancers must continuously train to maintain and improve their technique, balance skills, strength and flexibility. Competitive dancing requires dedication as it is typically a year round sport; competitions begin in January and end anywhere from July to early August. When competition season is occurring and when not, dancers are usually required to take weekly technique classes in all forms of dance. All though there is no true end to a competitive dance season, there are short breaks within the year for holidays and summer.

A routine is the dance that is performed by a dancer or group of dancers at a competition. Each routine is required to be entered into an appropriate category at every competition. A number of factors determine the category into which a routine should be entered.

• Dance style. All dance competitions include categories for specific dance styles such as acro, ballet, contemporary, jazz, hip-hop, lyrical, pointe and tap. In addition, most competitions include an open category for dance styles outside the scope of the specific categories. Also, some competitions define categories that are altogether outside the scope of dance styles. For example, categories such as musical theater and photogenic are not based on dance style and in some cases may not require a performer to dance at all.

• Average age of dancers. Age divisions vary among competitions. Typical age divisions include mini (3-4), petit (5-8) junior (9-12), teen (13-15), senior (16-19), and adult (20+).

• Number of dancers. Typically there are separate categories such as solo, duos/trio, small group, large group, line, and production, which are based on the number of dancers in a routine. The numbers of dancers constituting the various groups, as well as the group categories themselves, may differ at different competitions.

• Experience. Some competitions have divisions based on the number of years of dance education.

• Recreational, Intermediate, and Competitivedancers, based on the number of hours of dance instruction per week per week they attend.The music used in competitive dance routines is typically adapted from commercially available songs created by professional recording artists. Dance routines are subject to time limits at most dance competitions, and consequently the original, commercial music is usually edited to conform to such time limits.At some competitions, the dance competition music is adjudicated in terms of its appropriateness for the ages of the performers as well as the character of the dance routine. The quality of the music, however, is not explicitly judged. Even so, dance competition music is an integral part of a dancer’s performance, so dancers will sometimes employ professional music editing services in order to obtain high quality music—and thus a competitive edge—for their dance routines.

  Dance routines may be performed without accompanying music. Although rare, this approach is most commonly employed in tap routines in order to feature the sound and rhythm of the dancer’s tap shoes.

  A routine must comply with the rules of the overall competition, which may vary considerably from one competition to another. Also, a routine must comply with all rules that apply specifically to its category. Violations may cause point deductions or, in some cases, disqualification. For example:

  • An upper time limit is usually imposed on a routine based on its number of dancers.
  • Ballet routines may not include acrobatic elements.
  • Soloists are usually allowed to compete more than one solo at a competition, although most competitions do not allow a soloist to compete in the same style twice. For example, it is not permissible for a dancer to compete two lyrical solos at a competition. Style definitions will sometimes overlap at a competition, thus providing an opportunity for a dancer to compete two dances that might otherwise be considered to have the same style. For example, a soloist might be permitted to compete two acro routines by entering one as acro and the other as open.

In general, similar sized groups compete against each other. Solos compete against solos, duos and trios against each other, small groups against each other, large groups against each other, and lines against each other. Typically, placement awards are given out for each group size and style.

The judges at a dance competition are typically professional dancers. They usually sit at the front of the audience, facing the stage, and observe all of the dances. Each judge completes a scoresheet for each routine by awarding points for various categories such as; technique, facial expression, costume, choreography, and over all impression. Judges may also write comments on their scoresheets or, in some cases, record audio comments for the benefit of dancers and their choreographers. When audio comments are recorded, they are typically given to dancers on CD or DVD media to allow review of a performance while listening to real-time judge commentary.

Adjudication categories vary at different competitions, but commonly judged categories cover aspects such as showmanship, technique (i.e., proper form, execution of movements, transitions), difficulty of the routine, costume, and choreography. At some competitions, points may be deducted if the costume or music is deemed inappropriate for the age of the dancers. Also, judges may disqualify a routine if it violates any rules of the competition.

The points issued by each judge are totaled to compute the judge’s score. Typically, a maximum of 100 points can be awarded by an individual judge (i.e., a perfect score). All of the judges’ scores are then added together to produce a final score. At some competitions the lowest and highest judges’ scores are discarded before computing the final score. For example, a competition might employ five judges, each of whom may award up to 100 points; when the low and high scores have been discarded, the resulting final score will have a maximum possible value of 300 points.

There is no industry-wide standard for scoring. The maximum number of points issued by each judge, as well as the maximum possible final score, varies among competition production companies. Although it is common for judges to issue a maximum of 100 points each, at least one company implements a system in which judges may issue up to 200 points, based on the rationale that such a scoring system is similar to that employed in public schools.

A dance routine may receive an individual award based on its final score, or based on its ranking in a particular category, depending on the competition. Some competitions issue individual awards for every routine while others present awards only for the highest overall scoring routines at a competition. Top scoring routines are sometimes awarded prize money and/or scholarships for dance education. These routines may also be eligible to advance to a higher level (e.g., national) competition.

Awards are usually issued in the form of trophies and plaques or, less frequently, as medals. Awards nomenclature varies considerably among competitions, although most awards systems have a value theme involving precious metals or gemstones. For example, at some competitions a routine might receive a bronze, silver, gold or platinum award, while at another competition one might receive an emerald, ruby or diamond award. In addition to variations in nomenclature, there are differences insofar as the number of points required for each award. For example, a gold award might require 270 points at one competition and 280 at another.

Some competitions also present judges’ choice or other special awards. These awards are usually given without regard to final score. The topics of these awards (e.g., Best Costume, Best Choreography, Most Original) are often determined by the judge who issues them, although some competitions have fixed, standard topics for special awards.

Dance competitions often bestow titles upon select dancers. Depending on the competition, titles may be automatically assigned to the highest scoring dancer in each age category, or an additional pageant may be conducted to determine the title winner. Individual titles are usually given to male and female contestants. When a pageant is conducted, contestants are typically required to perform a solo routine, model their costumes, introduce themselves to the audience, give a short speech, be interviewed, or some combination of these. Titles are typically applicable for one year.

The duration of a competition event is dictated by the number, and types, of dance routines that are scheduled to compete. In addition to the time needed for dance performances—which represents the majority of the total event time—additional time is allotted for judging, score tabulation and awards ceremonies.

Due to late entries and scratches, competition schedules are often subject to change until just a few days before the competition. Because of this, the final schedule is often published, and made available to competitors, shortly before the competition begins.

Dancers are required to be at the competition venue during their performances and, in most cases, at the associated awards ceremonies as well. In addition, dance schools require their dancers to arrive no later than a specified time (i.e., the call time). Dancer call times are generally well before their scheduled performance times because:

• A competition may run ahead of its published schedule.
• Dancing is an athletic endeavor, and thus requires sufficient warm-up to avoid injuries.
• Many studios encourage idle dancers to watch and learn from other dancers and also serve as supportive audience for other dancers.

The choreography of a dance routine—which is the design of movement and flow of steps in the routine—is copyrightable. Consequently, video recording is often prohibited at dance competitions in order to steer clear of copyright infringement issues. Some competition production companies employ professional videographers to capture and sell video recordings of competitive performances with the restriction that video recordings may only be sold to the subject performers or members of their studios, thus avoiding infringement. When no professional videographer is available, competition production companies will sometimes permit each attending dance school to designate a videographer to record performances of students from that school.

Unlike videography, still photography does not infringe copyrighted choreography.Because of this, many competition production companies permit photography at their competitions. Virtually all competitions prohibit flash photography, however, both for the safety of performers and to prevent undesirable distractions. Some competition production companies employ professional photographers to capture and sell photographs of dance performances. In such cases, photography by audience members is typically prohibited so as to provide an exclusive market for the official photographers.

A dance group strikes an ending pose at the conclusion of their competitive performance. Groups such as this are typically formed from students in a dance class. The dancers in this image are members of a tap dance class.

Gosh, I haven’t been on this blog for AGES! I created it last year and I guess I completly forgot about it! I’m now going to post loads more to make up for all the time I’ve missed! If you would like me to specifically do a post about a certain subject, then just comment and ask! Anyway, bye……………

Oh, and before you guys go, I just wanted to say a HUGE thankyou to all the people who have looked at my blog; I’m nearly up to 300! I didn’t know so many people had looked at my blog! It’s made me more modivated to post more now, so I’ll post more; that’s a promise!

So I better go now! Luv you guyz! xxx

Julia

Source: About.com

The pirouette, a spin around on one leg, is one of the most difficult of all dance steps. To do a pirouette, you must make a complete turn around yourself, while balancing on one leg. A pirouette may be performed en dehors (turning away from the supporting leg) or en dedans (turning toward the supporting leg).  Pirouettes usually begin in fourth, fifth or secondposition. This is a pirouette from fourth position.

• Stand in fourth position.
• Both legs should be straight.
• If your right foot is in front, make sure your left arm is facing the front, and vice versa.
• Fix your eyes on a spot at eye level.

Bend Both Legs

Bend both legs into a deep plie.

• Concentrate on sinking both heels into the floor, so that you can push off into your pirouette.
• Keep your eyes fixated as you prepare to start the turn.

Spring Up and Turn

Spring up into retire position as you begin your turn.

• Releve to demi-pointe, or full-pointe if you are wearing pointe shoes, bringing your back foot up to your front leg.
• Hold your arms in first position.
• Find your center of balance and hold it tightly.
• Turn your body and legs together as a unit.
• Hold your shoulders level.
• Keep your eyes fixed as long as you can, then whip your head around and focus again.

Complete the Turn

Hold your body straight while you complete the turn.

• Stay tight by holding in your abs.
• Hold your foot exactly in place as you turn.
• Keep both legs turned out throughout the pirouette.
• As you spot, make sure your head completes the rotation before your body, as this will prevent dizziness and create momentum.

Finishing Position

The finish of a pirouette is as important as the start. Gracefully finish the pirouette in fourth position.

Source: About.com

Learning a centre split is just as important as a front split to your gymnastics. You’ll use a centre split in straddle jumps, side leaps, press to handstands, stalders, flairs on pommel horse, and scales. Here’s how to get a great centre split, with stretches for all the different muscles you’ll use.

Butterfly Stretch

• From a seated position, touch your feet together and slowly bring your knees apart.
• Move your heels in towards your body as much as possible, while at the same time pushing your knees gently down toward the floor.
• Maintain good posture by keeping your back straight up and down.
• To increase the stretch, lean your body forward as far as you can, keeping you back straight and reaching beyond your feet.
• Hold this stretch for 30-60 seconds at a time.

Pancake Stretch

• From a seated position, straddle your legs as wide as is comfortable.
• Keep your legs straight and your toes pointed.
• Lean forward as far as you can, keeping your back straight and stretching outward as much as possible.
• Hold this stretch for 30-60 seconds at a time.

Beginner Center Split: Both Knees Bent

• Start in a kneeling position, with your hands on the floor.
• Move your knees out as far as possible from your body, forming a straight line from one knee to the other.
• Keep your knees bent at a 90 degree angle, and shift your weight from your hands to your elbows.
• Gently continue to move your knees out, moving your body as close to the ground as possible.
• Your goal: For your hips to be completely flat, or on the ground.
• Hold this stretch for 30-60 seconds.

Beginner Center Split: One Knee Bent

Once you feel comfortable doing the previous stretch with both legs bent, try it with only one leg bent.

• Your body should form a straight line from the bent knee to the toe of the straight leg.
• Point your toes – it will help you to practice good form now in your stretching.
• Switch which leg is straight. Do each side for 30-60 seconds.

Full Center Split

Now try the same stretch with both legs straight.

• Be sure your body is perpendicular to your legs – you don’t want your hips to be far back or leaning forward.
• Keep your knees straight and toes pointed.
• Have a friend gently push on your legs to help you get closer to the ground.
• If you’re really flexible, try an oversplit with your leg up on a mat, or even on a friend!

 Sit Up in Your Split

If you can do a full split on the ground leaning forward, it’s time to try it in a seated position. This will help you learn how to roll your hips up as you would in a straddle jump.

Have fun!

Source: Wikipedia

B-boying or breaking, often called “break-dancing”, is a style of street dance that originated as a part of hip hop culture among African American and Latino youths in New York City during the early 1970s. Fast to gain popularity in the media, the dance style also gained popularity worldwide especially in South Korea, France, Russia, Japan, and Brazil. While diverse in the amount of variation available in the dance, b-boying consists of four primary elements: toprock, downrock, power moves, and freezes. B-boying is typically danced to hip-hop and especially break beats  although modern trends allow for much wider varieties of music along certain ranges of tempo and beat patterns.

A practitioner of this dance is called a b-boy, b-girl, or breaker. Although the term “break-dance” is frequently used to refer to the dance, “b-boying” and “breaking” are the original terms.

If you love tap, you must see this film!     Source: Wikipedia

Singin’ in the Rain is a 1952 American musical comedy film starring Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds and directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, with Kelly also providing the choreography. It offers a lighthearted depiction of Hollywood, with the three stars portraying performers caught up in the transition from silent films to “talkies” [movies].

Plot:

Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) is a popular silent film star with humble roots as a singer, dancer and stunt man. Don barely tolerates his vapid, shallow leading lady, Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), though their studio, Monumental Pictures, links them romantically to increase their popularity. Lina herself is convinced they are in love, despite Don’s protestations otherwise.

At the premiere of his newest film, The Royal Rascal, Don tells the gathered crowd an exaggerated version of his life story. His words are humorously contradicted by flashbacks.

One day, to escape from fans, Don jumps into a passing car driven by Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds). She drops him off, but not before claiming to be a stage actress and sneering at his undignified accomplishments. Later, at a party, the head of Don’s studio, R.F. Simpson (Millard Mitchell), shows a short demonstration of a Vitaphone talking picture^[3] but his guests are unimpressed. To Don’s amusement and Kathy’s embarrassment, she pops out of a mock cake right in front of him as part of the entertainment; Kathy, it turns out, is a chorus girl. Furious at Don’s teasing, she throws a real cake at him, only to hit Lina right in the face. Later, after weeks of searching, Don makes up with Kathy after he finds her working in another Monumental Pictures production. She confesses to having been a fan of Don and Lina’s all along and they begin to fall in love.

After a rival studio has an enormous hit with its first talking picture, 1927’s The Jazz Singer, R.F. decides he has no choice but to convert the next Lockwood and Lamont film, The Dueling Cavalier, into a talkie. The production is beset with difficulties. By far, the worst problem is Lina’s grating voice. An exasperated diction coach tried to teach her how to speak properly, but to no avail. Meanwhile, Don is also taking diction lessons (albeit with much better results). He makes use of Tongue-twisters while his best friend, Cosmo Brown (Donald O’Connor), makes goofy faces in the background. Afterwards, Don and Cosmo mess up the room while staging a song and dance number (“Moses Supposes His Toeses are Roses”) much to the bewilderment of Don’s diction coach. The Dueling Cavalier’s test screening is a disaster. In one scene, Don repeats the line “I love you” to Lina over and over, to the audience’s derisive laughter. Then in the middle of the film, the sound goes out of synchronization, with hilarious results.

Cosmo then comes up with the idea to dub Lina’s voice with Kathy’s, and they persuade R.F. to turn The Dueling Cavalier into a musical called The Dancing Cavalier, complete with a modern musical number called “Broadway Melody”. When Lina finds out, she is infuriated and does everything possible to sabotage the romance between Don and Kathy. She becomes even angrier when she discovers that R.F. intends to give Kathy a screen credit and a big publicity promotion. Lina, after consulting lawyers, threatens to sue R.F. unless he cancels Kathy’s buildup and orders her to continue working (uncredited) as Lina’s voice. R.F. reluctantly agrees to her demands.

The premiere of The Dancing Cavalier is a tremendous success. When the audience clamors for Lina to sing live, Don, Cosmo, and R.F. improvise and get her to lip sync into the microphone while Kathy, hidden behind the stage curtain, sings into a second one. While Lina is “singing,” Don, Cosmo and R.F. gleefully raise the curtain. When Cosmo replaces Kathy at the microphone, the sham becomes obvious. Lina flees in embarrassment. Kathy tries to run away as well, but Don introduces the audience to “the real star of the film.” The final shot shows Kathy and Don kissing in front of a billboard for their new film, Singin’ in the Rain.

               My Personal Review:

This is a fantastic musical that has impossible tap, great singing, and a creative story line. I definitely rate it 5 out of 5, and make sure you watch it sometime!

Tap dancing appears to be fairly complicated. It all starts with a series of basic steps linked together. Add timing, fluidity and creativity, and it looks masterful.

1. Put on your tap shoes and some cool music.
2. Start by tapping your toe to the beat. Do this faster and faster to build strength.
3. Brush the ball of one foot forward and then back to shuffle.
4. Step back on the ball of your right foot and step on your left (or vice versa) to do the ball change.
5. Brush forward with the ball of your foot and step on the ball of it for the flap.
6. Do a cramp roll by jumping up and landing with your feet. Do this in the following order: Land first on the ball of your right foot, then the ball of your left foot, followed by your right heel and, finally, your left heel.
7. Step with your right foot and touch your left toe behind it for the step toe.
8. Learn the stomp. It’s similar to stepping, but you hit your foot on the ground to stomp and then lift it off (placing no weight on the foot when you stomp).
9. Perform the shuffle hop. Do the basic shuffle with your right foot and, leaving your right foot in the air, jump up.

Great job! You’re doing great, and remember, practice make perfect, so if you’re serious about learning tap, practice any spare moment you can.

Have fun!

A split is one of those moves that is really easy for some people and much harder for others.  Even if you’re as tight as can be, though, you’ll still be able to master it if you work hard at your stretching.
A great way to get (or improve) your split is to move through a series of different stretches, from simple to advanced.  If you are a beginner, you’ll probably want to master the easier stretches first before moving on to full split stretches.
Be sure to do each stretch on both sides – you’ll want a good split on both your right leg and your left leg in order to be a great gymnast.

Both Knees Bent Stretch

• From a kneeling position, put one foot in front of you on a mat, step, or other object about a foot or more off the ground.
• Bend your leg to 90 degrees, and place your foot flat on the mat.
• Keeping your hips facing the mat, move your other leg backwards, bending your knee behind you, until you form a “mini split” from knee to knee.
• Push your hips forward as much as possible, working towards 180 degrees from knee to knee.
• Keep your chest up and your hands on your front knee.
• Hold this stretch for 30-60 seconds at a time.

Front Leg Straight Stretch

• From a kneeling position, put one leg up straight in front of you onto the mat.
• Move your body back, so only your heel is on the mat.
• Your back leg should be at a 90 degree angle, and your hips should be “square” – they should be facing the mat, not turned one way or the other.
• Keeping your front leg straight, lean forward as far as possible.
• Hold this stretch for 30-60 seconds at a time.

Both Legs Straight Stretch

• From a standing position, put one leg on the mat in front of you.
• Keeping both legs straight and your hips square, lean forward as far as possible.
• Your back foot should be planted on the ground, with your foot straight or turned slightly out.

Full Split

Move to the floor and try a full split. In your split, be sure that:

• Your hips are square with your body. Your torso should be facing straight, not to the side, even if squaring your hips means you can’t go down as far
• Both of your legs are straight, and turned slightly outward
• Your toes are pointed
• Your chest is up, not leaning forward

Beginner Hint: If you aren’t yet flexible enough to do a split with your hands comfortably on the floor, try your split between two objects – mats, springboards, or even books can give you something to put your hands on. Then you’ll be able to do the stretch without leaning forward with your body.

Square Out Your Split

To make sure your hips are square, try doing your split against a wall. Your back knee should be almost touching the wall, and your back leg should be bent at a 90 degree angle upward. Be sure that your back foot is pointing straight to the ceiling.

You can also do this stretch with a friend holding your leg and helping you to keep your foot pointing straight up.

Oversplits

If you can already do a square split on the floor, it’s time to put your foot up on a mat. This stretches your legs even further into an over split – or a split more than 180 degrees.

For even more of a stretch, do your split between two mats or two springboards.

And so with a bit of practice, hopefully you can do some splits too!

Have fun!

A split is a physical position in which the legs are in line with each other and extended in opposite directions. Splits are performed in various athletic activities, including dance, figure skating, gymnastics, martial arts, contortionism, synchronized swimming, cheerleading and yoga. A person who has assumed a split position is said to be “in a split”or “doing the splits”.

When executing a split, the lines defined by the inner thighs of the legs form an angle of approximately 180 degrees. This large angle significantly stretches, and thus demonstrates excellent flexibility of, the hamstring and iliopsoas muscles. Consequently, splits are often used as a stretching exercise to warm up and enhance the flexibility of leg muscles.

A Left Leg Split

A Right Leg Split