Activity- dance

 

14/09/23

21/09/23

                   

28/09/23

05/10/23

12/10/23

19/10/23

20/10/23

This is my second year dancing, the dance genre is called 'commercial' and it's a mix of jazz and hip hop. My classes are at Egurrola Dance Studio. We used to have 2 hours per week but now we just started having an extra hour on Fridays. I like it a lot as it's a fun way to stay in shape. Last year, me and my group went to a competition and got second place, this year we will likely attend more competitions. I think working as a group helps us all motivate and help each other but at times if I feel behind with a certain choreography I find it slightly stressful.

A difficulty I noticed I have is that I keep my moves quite restricted when I should be always using my full body for every dance move, using as much energy as possible, so this is something I will be working to improve upon. Another goal I want to achieve is to become more 'smooth' when I dance, by having each move smoothly connect to the next. To achieve my goals quickly, I will be also practicing more at home and I hope to show improvement. These past few lessons, I already feel more confident, as I manage to memorize more choreographies in less time.

I hope that within the next year and a half, I can become an above-intermediate dancer and that I can win more competitions with my group.

26/10/23

27/10/23

02/11/23

03/11/23

09/11/23

16/11/23

17/11/23

Over the past few weeks, I think I have improved when it comes to my general style as I manage to restrict myself a bit less and use my whole body all the time. I feel it gets easier and easier for me to memorize choreographies and I manage to remember most of them by the end of each class. I also feel I'm getting more flexible and my stamina is better which helps a lot. However, I still often struggle to connect all my moves smoothly so I will continue working on that, together with the other things mentioned earlier. 

I believe that if I continue working at this pace I will be able to achieve my goals and I'm very motivated to do so. I also think dance allows me to be more balanced between my school and sports life which is one of my IB goals. 

23/11/23

30/11/23

07/12/23

14/12/23

11/01/24

I am now preparing myself for a performance that will take place on the 03/02 and a competition in Warsaw on the 25/02. This has been quite difficult as the choreographies are getting longer and there is a lot to memorise. To make this easier for me, I practiced at home a couple times and I'm still doing so as I missed two classes. 

Approval questions:

• I chose this project as I enjoy dancing and would like to develop my skills over the next few years. I think dancing is a fun way to stay active.
• This project will help me be a risk-taker as I will have multiple performances/competitions, balanced as I need to balance my school life with dance, and reflective as I think of ways to improve.
• I don't particularly need a supervisor as I rely on my observations as to whether I am improving and experiences, like competitions/performances.
• My goal is to become more fluent and flexible with my moves so that I can observe proper improvement. I also hope to win competitions.
• My classes take place in Egurrola Dance Studio in Galeria Kazimierz.
• My classes are every Thursday 20:00-22:00 and sometimes Fridays 20:00-21:00. I hope to continue this project until I graduate.

25/01/24

  

01/02/24

02/02/24

03/02/24

                                                            

                                                                        

Recently, we made a decision to merge our group with the one that's a level lower than us to have more people. At the start it was a bit challenging as we didn't really know the lower group and their abilities, however, later we got to know each other and they improved their skills, which made our overall group better. This made me principled, caring and a communicator as I treated the new members fairly and with respect. Moreover, it made me a risk-taker as the outcomes of merging two groups together could have either ended well or badly and no one was sure how it would turn out, however, we accepted the challenge. 

After a couple of weeks, we performed our main choreography and a mini one, at Galeria Kazimierz which was a fun experience. At the beginning, there were a lot of doubts about how we would all fit on the stage since it was quite small, however, we managed to adapt to the given conditions. This was a good experience to prepare us for our upcoming competition. 

                                    

08/02/24

25/02/24

                                            

Unfortunately, because I left the country for a while, i missed a few lessons and had to catch up on my own to prepare for the competition. I practiced a lot at home to make sure I performed everything as well as possible. The day of the competition was exhausting as it was the same day I came back to Krakow. I had to plan my time accordingly to make sure I would catch the bus my group was going with to Warsaw for the competition. The experience was therefore quite stressful. When we got to the place, we practiced our choreography a couple of times to make sure we were ready. 

Unfortunately, we didn't win but came 4th place which was quite disappointing for us, as on our last competition we came 2nd, however, I still had a lot of fun. When reviewing the videos, it turned out that the difference in skills were quite prominent between us and the new members as they had less experience and it was their first competition. Therefore, a lot of the time we were not all synchronized. It turned out that it was the reason we didn't get on the podium and so my trainer decided to divide our groups back to how it was at the start so the new members would have a chance to properly develop their skills at their own pace and maybe in a couple of months we would try again to merge the groups. Nevertheless, collaborating with the lower level group was still entertaining and there were good memories and experiences obtained from that and it allowed my problem-solving skills to be improved.

This event made me balanced as when preparing for the competition I had to balance my school life with dance practices both at the dance studio and at home. Moreover, it made me reflective, an inquirer and a thinker as I asked questions when I was not sure of something and I looked at recordings of myself dancing to see what I did right and how I could improve. It also made me open-minded and knowledgeable as I had to learn to cooperate with new people and gained new skills and experiences. 

29/02/24

                                                

07/03/24

12/03/24

21/03/24

11/04/24

18/04/24

Unfortunately, I forgot my watch at home on this day so I couldn't record my workout (calories burnt).

25/04/24

                                                                   

09/05/24

16/05/24

Learning outcomes/reflection

These past few months, a lot of people from my group left as they either got injured or had to prepare for the Polish Matura. Therefore, for now, there are about 10 people in my group meaning we can't go to competitions until the end of this school year as there is not enough people. However, we still have regular trainings and are learning a lot of new choreographies and therefore I am learning a lot of new dancing skills. I feel I am reaching my goals in becoming more smooth and using my whole body when dancing. This is also thanks to a lot of exercises we do which are purposely designed to improve this skill. I manage to memorise a lot more choreographies and feel more confident, which makes the whole dancing experience very fun. I still struggle with certain exercises that involve critical thinking, like practicing certain moves/choreographies in different directions (including not facing the mirror) and merging different hand movements with different leg movements. I managed to improve a bit, however, it requires a lot of concentration and is therefore quite difficult for me so I hope to continue improving in this field over time. I really enjoy working as a group as we can motivate each other and give each other tips on how to improve. I also feel more balanced as I manage to balance dance with school better and make myself less overwhelmed with the work I have to do. 

I still have dance classes until the end of June and I am definitely planning on continuing with this project the next school year. I have attended most classes. This experience continues to make me reflective, a risk-taker and a communicator as I try to improve my skills based on my own and other's observations/comments and try new things/try to improve in things I'm not that confident in.

An ethical concern with learning dance is that in the rooms, the AC is usually on which increases carbon emissions and therefore could influence climate change. Moreover, these carbon emissions are also increased when we go to competitions as we travel by bus. Another ethical issue is that we purchase new cloths/accessories at least once a year and often these things are from brands like "Shein" which are fast fashion brands (meaning bad for the environment), and they exploit their workers. By purchasing from there, this unethical marketing is supported. Moreover, serious injuries can occur, which happened in my group as a lot of people had to quit dancing. 



11/09/24

13/09/24

18/09/24

20/09/24

25/09/24

02/10/24

04/10/24

09/10/24