Jazz Evaluation
During the course of our spring term 1 we have been studying Jazz, of which we took part in many workshops and studied the background and history of the style. At the beginning of the course we were taught a jazz dance which our teacher has choreographed for us to the song. It was following the fosse theme using well known movements such as traditional fosse isolations and hand movements. This gave us an idea of the basic movements to jazz so we would be able to confidently choreograph our own jazz routines.
We then choreographed a jazz dance to Chicago which we also sang to. We used a lot of the fosse movements Miss Dolan had taught us as it was extremely jazz based, and fosse like! This was really fun to choreograph as it wasn’t all about complicated choreography but simple head and arm movements, which actually looked really effective. We were each given a line to sing to make sure everyone had a go, and sang some bits together! There was also a lot of acting required in this dance to meet the full requirement s of jazz and fosse dance and make it a lot more professional.
We then where split into different groups based on our specific dance style. There was a rock ‘n’ roll group, Hip hop, and contemporary Jazz group. I was put into the contemporary group along with Alice and Kelly. We decided to use Beautiful by Christina Aguilera to choreograph our piece to. We started to choreograph contemporary steps, but as the task was to make a Jazz contemporary routine up we had to make the movements more Jazz orientated. To follow the Jazz feel the backing beat gave us a lot of inspiration as it was very powerful to the song. Once we had finished choreographing our dance our task was to teach it to the rest of the group, remembering important teaching skills such as breaking the steps down, and doing it in slow motion so it would be easier to pick up. Within our group Alice, Kelly and I chose a section each that we would like to teach to the rest of the class. I think this was a good way of teaching as it meant we could spend more time on each section allowing it to stay in the dancer’s heads easier. We had one of us dancing it at the back, and two at the front so they felt comfortable that if they felt they didn’t know what happened next they had us there to guide them. Once all the sections had been taught we rehearsed the routine with them without the music, and then once we thought they were ready we added the music and did it a couple of times with them to give them guidance and reassurance. Once we thought it was in their heads we watched them do it, so we could see if our teaching skills had worked and if they had picked up the dance. They all did very well with learning the dance, and picked it up very quickly. I think we did a good job of teaching them the routine, the best part was how well we broke up the steps in order for them to grasp the style as it is something they are not used to. However if I could improve on my teaching skills I would have mirrored the dancers, this would have made it easier to see what the steps where meant to look like. They all performed it very well and looked really good when doing it.
We then got taught the Jazz rock ‘n’ roll dance. This was choreographed by Chloe Green, Laure – anne o’connor, Ellie Goodchild, Louise Baker and Shauna McMillian. They choreographed there dance to Candy man also by Christina Aguilera. There dance style was very upbeat and required a lot of energy and constant moving. There dance used a lot of repetition with steps and sequences which follows traditional jazz fosse style, and there’s was therefore a lot longer than ours, and they had a lot more choreographers so they needed more sections in order for everyone to teach. I thought something they did very well was how before they taught us there choreography they taught us the two main rock ‘n’ roll steps which are called flick basic and the 9 step. This really helped as when it got to the routine I felt a lot more confident as I knew the step; it always took less time as we all knew what to do so they didn’t have to spend time breaking it down. To improve their teaching skills, I think they could have mirrored us so we had a better idea and view of the routine/step. I really enjoyed learning this style, as it isn’t something I am used to. It was very fun to do as well as it was very upbeat!
The last dance we had to learn was the Jazz Hip hop, this was choreographed by Shannon Phillips, Chloe Stockman and Katie Burrows. The song they choreographed to was called Deuces by Chris Brown. This was quite a difficult dance to learn, as I am not used to this style at all, and it took me a bit longer to grasp the style, however I got there in the end. The movements that they choreographed were very sharp, and danced to the beat. They also used tradition isolations which is key in fosse. To make it easier each step was choreographed to a word, this helped as it made it easier to remember what was coming next. Once I had learnt the moves which they broke down for me I focussed on getting the street style. I liked how we kept going back to the beginning of the dance when we learnt a new bit this was because most of the routine wouldn’t make sense otherwise, as most of it flowed into each bit and carried on into each section. It helped that they mirrored us in some bits for example to show us certain arm movements. To improve their teaching they could have broken down the moves a bit more, and start at the basic step and show us how it has developed into what they choreographed.
Overall I really enjoyed doing the Jazz assignment, as we did many different ways of learning and choreographing routines. It is also a style that I haven’t done that much of and I am really happy I know the basic fosse steps and background of Jazz, as it will definitely help me in the future.
