23/10/11 Private Practice

Here is some private practice on a sequence we learnt in our Graham/Cunningham class on the 14/10/11. I chose  to practice to a different genre of music to see how this effects my musicality and stylistic approach to the movemnt, it's extremely useful and interesting being able to look back at both videos and compare the improvements I have made.

• "On the vey first shift can see that I could be more daring in my suspension by relaxing my head backwards to allow my body to fall into the next step so that the catch of the leg into second is more exciting as this will bring an element of risk to the step." Hayes, O. (2011) 14/10/11 Release Technique. Available at: oliviahayesdance.blogspot.com.

I can see myself tilting my head backwards to pull my body into the suspension, however, I could relax the skull more and trust in myself to recover effectively but i can see a difference between these two moments.

• "Looking at the leg extension at 5 seconds, I would say this looks pretty good but more of a pull into the next step would really bring this moment to life." Hayes, O. (2011) 14/10/11 Release Technique. Available at: oliviahayesdance.blogspot.com

The drop into the following movement could go deeper into the plie, but the reaching forward elelement has been improved as you can see with the focus and the aim the direction I am pulling in.

• "At 10 seconds when I handstand I need to point my underneath foot to complete the line of the leg and really give a sense of extension through the air."  Hayes, O. (2011) 14/10/11 Release Technique. Available at: oliviahayesdance.blogspot.com

 The line of the underneath leg now looks clean and fully extended giving this shape definition and strength through the air.

• "The suspension over at 13 seconds I know I have executed more effectively in other attempts and I felt very frustrated when this video was being taken as  I know in myself I can and have done it better, this is a great lesson in movement. Your body is always changing, every time you do a movement it is different than the time before, I think the pressure of the video also pushed me to take a risk in the suspension at this point which unfortunately failed however, without trying to push my own boundaries I will never know how far I can go." Hayes, O. (2011) 14/10/11 Release Technique. Available at: oliviahayesdance.blogspot.com

The second time filming I can see I did not take as much of a risk but this has allowed for this suspension to look controled and graceful which I am pleased with myself for, I could let the head relax backwards more into the roll rather than holding it forward but overall this moment appears to be performed to a higher standard than before. .

• "Into 19 seconds when I push off  the floor into the turning low arabesque, i really need to extended my right leg out to achieve the full shape of the attitude by fully engaging my centre to support the push off my right, I need to watch my positioning on the floor beforehand as if my right leg is bent too far over my foot it makes it substantially more difficult to push up onto the supporting leg." Hayes, O. (2011) 14/10/11 Release Technique. Available at: oliviahayesdance.blogspot.com

I noticed my arms more as a problem on the second video as the force I excert on them causes the ribs to become displace and interfere with the alignment of this moment, however, the push off the floor is more conrolled form the centre and the leg achieves a more precise low arabesque posistion than it did previously.

• "The drop at 27 seconds looks a little forced and fake to me, here I really need to engage the breath and exhale as I release deeper into my plie, this will really give a dramatic sense of rise and fall to this moment."  Hayes, O. (2011) 14/10/11 Release Technique. Available at: oliviahayesdance.blogspot.com

 Looking retrospectively I can see why this moment appears fake, if I engage my plie to create more of a contrast between the down before pushing into the rise, this will allow the fall afterward to appear deeper also. Comparing the two videos I cannot see much of a difference between the two so I will focus on this sense of release into the drop next time in class.