Fortes, Dance, and Intrapersonal Intelligence
There are a few reasons why I'm glad I'm not in Ballet 2. I felt as though I didn't do as well as I could have in ballet during the spring semester. Considering that I spent my summer months not exercising, I am relieved that I chose Ballet 1 instead. For the first week of school, I went full swing into dance with three dance classes, learning four different kinds of dances, and for four out of the five school days. I am learning modern on Monday's and Wednesday's, hip hop and ballet on Tuesday's, and jazz and ballet on Thursday's. I was sore during the first day of modern and continued to be rather sore until Thursday. I didn't feel as sore once we did ballet on Thursday, which is when we stretched our legs and the rest of our bodies and chemicals from our muscles were released in order to help with exercising. (I can't quite remember how it helps. I will have to ask a friend of mine about how it works exactly.)
Main reason for soreness: (Modern) Exercising is good for a person's health. Though it can definitely cause soreness if you haven't done it in a while and overexert yourself in some form. For modern, we did first, second, and fourth positions that are usually done in ballet and did plies while using each count moving down and up. We used an 8 count (in another words: extreme slowness and soreness). I now know what kind of exercise to do when I don't go outside to run.
Hip hop class: When we were into the second week of classes, we began to learn how to do handstands. About the third week into classes, we began working on cartwheels. It was quite obvious that I had never went out into a grassy field and felt daring enough to do that kind of stuff. I was always afraid of doing it wrong and therefor end up injured. I feel safer when I have someone, like a professional, teaching me how to do handstands and cartwheels which is why I never attempted it before. As I was doing cartwheels down the floor, I would fall down on my feet. I wouldn't land, but I would fall on my feet after I had made it past the halfway mark of a cartwheel. I'm glad that a friend of mine pointed it out otherwise I wouldn't have known that I was doing it correctly at all. However, after falling down onto my feet for the 50th or so time, I became frightened (or tired) of falling and wanted to do a cartwheel correctly, so I would stop doing it. I also found while doing cartwheels that my left wrist has lost its strength. I will have to do push-ups every day in order to gain that strength and be able to do handstands and cartwheels more easily. In handstand news: We're also now working on walking on our hands. I hope I can reach that point in the next month or so.
Ballet class: I am very glad/relieved that I chose ballet 1 this semester. Ballet 2 is already doing harder moves that requires the balance that I have yet to find and the strength that I have yet to acquire. While ballet 1 (B1) had to do piques down the floor, ballet 2 (B2) had to do a pique, pique, forte, forte, pique, pique, forte, etc. combination. (Two piques and two fortes.) I recently discovered that I need to keep my back straight and my head up while doing the moves. This is one of the reasons why I keep falling down. I still need to find my balance on my feet.
Dance Appreciation: While most of the class is enrolled in Dance Appreciation, a few others and myself included are currently enrolled in Dance and Culture. While there isn't much difference in Dance Appreciation and Dance and Culture, the main difference is that Dance App. will have to answer fewer test questions and they will be working on group projects based upon their first test grade. (Example: The people who make an A will be together, the people who make a B will be together, etc. in order to work on their projects.) Dance and Culture does not have that kind of luxury and will be answering all of the discussion questions along with doing homework (group projects) by themselves instead of relying on others. I am so thankful that I am in Dance and Culture for that reason. Considering that I did not study very much, I am sure that I would have gotten a B at the most. I generally do quite well on discussion questions, though I'm not sure about this time since my grammar was a bit choppy for the first question and I didn't answer all of the other questions. I didn't answer all of the other questions due to simply skimming through the chapter instead of really studying it and making my own notes. I will have to spend around a week or so studying for the test next time.
I have already learned a bit about dance and have even begun to enjoy the class itself. While it will take a while to become used to the teaching style and be able to take accurate notes, I hope to learn so much more in the class. On August 28th (a little over a week ago on Friday) the teacher explained about the various kinds of intelligence that is needed in order to be a dancer or a choreographer and one in which is an extra piece of intelligence. She talked about interpersonal, intrapersonal, kinesthetics, spacial, and existential intelligence. Interpersonal refers to the ability to communicate with a person well and being able to tap into who they are in order to communicate with them. Intrapersonal refers to a person knowing what their limits are, what they can and cannot do, and wanting someone who is better at a particular activity in order to make them look good (or better) in a certain area. (Example: Dance; if a person isn't a very good dancer but is a good choreographer, then that person can make them look very good in the dance.) While there are people who try to find others who are worse at a subject in order to make themselves look good, people who are high in intrapersonal intelligence will try to find people who are better than they are in order to make themselves look good. It's a win-win situation. I win a person who is really good at something and can help me at that certain thing and they win a -hopefully positive- friendship. Kinesthetics (/math) refers to movement and musical intelligence. The ability to move a certain way to a certain kind of music. Spacial intelligence refers to being able to put everyone in certain places so that it looks good or to someone who can organize well. Existential intelligence is when (usually) a person has a feeling that something is wrong with a loved one while they are not very close physically to that person or are currently not in communication with them. This can happen between two lovers or a mother and her children. This can also happen between a person and someone they have barely met.
This past week the teacher gave us a chance on voting when we would have our test. I voted on Friday since it would allow me more time to study since I wouldn't have much time between Monday and Wednesday to study while most of the class voted for having the test on Wednesday. (Sigh of relief for not being in Dance App. since I would be able to work on the projects by myself even if I made an F.) Because of that, we had Friday off.
Main reason for soreness: (Modern) Exercising is good for a person's health. Though it can definitely cause soreness if you haven't done it in a while and overexert yourself in some form. For modern, we did first, second, and fourth positions that are usually done in ballet and did plies while using each count moving down and up. We used an 8 count (in another words: extreme slowness and soreness). I now know what kind of exercise to do when I don't go outside to run.
Hip hop class: When we were into the second week of classes, we began to learn how to do handstands. About the third week into classes, we began working on cartwheels. It was quite obvious that I had never went out into a grassy field and felt daring enough to do that kind of stuff. I was always afraid of doing it wrong and therefor end up injured. I feel safer when I have someone, like a professional, teaching me how to do handstands and cartwheels which is why I never attempted it before. As I was doing cartwheels down the floor, I would fall down on my feet. I wouldn't land, but I would fall on my feet after I had made it past the halfway mark of a cartwheel. I'm glad that a friend of mine pointed it out otherwise I wouldn't have known that I was doing it correctly at all. However, after falling down onto my feet for the 50th or so time, I became frightened (or tired) of falling and wanted to do a cartwheel correctly, so I would stop doing it. I also found while doing cartwheels that my left wrist has lost its strength. I will have to do push-ups every day in order to gain that strength and be able to do handstands and cartwheels more easily. In handstand news: We're also now working on walking on our hands. I hope I can reach that point in the next month or so.
Ballet class: I am very glad/relieved that I chose ballet 1 this semester. Ballet 2 is already doing harder moves that requires the balance that I have yet to find and the strength that I have yet to acquire. While ballet 1 (B1) had to do piques down the floor, ballet 2 (B2) had to do a pique, pique, forte, forte, pique, pique, forte, etc. combination. (Two piques and two fortes.) I recently discovered that I need to keep my back straight and my head up while doing the moves. This is one of the reasons why I keep falling down. I still need to find my balance on my feet.
Dance Appreciation: While most of the class is enrolled in Dance Appreciation, a few others and myself included are currently enrolled in Dance and Culture. While there isn't much difference in Dance Appreciation and Dance and Culture, the main difference is that Dance App. will have to answer fewer test questions and they will be working on group projects based upon their first test grade. (Example: The people who make an A will be together, the people who make a B will be together, etc. in order to work on their projects.) Dance and Culture does not have that kind of luxury and will be answering all of the discussion questions along with doing homework (group projects) by themselves instead of relying on others. I am so thankful that I am in Dance and Culture for that reason. Considering that I did not study very much, I am sure that I would have gotten a B at the most. I generally do quite well on discussion questions, though I'm not sure about this time since my grammar was a bit choppy for the first question and I didn't answer all of the other questions. I didn't answer all of the other questions due to simply skimming through the chapter instead of really studying it and making my own notes. I will have to spend around a week or so studying for the test next time.
I have already learned a bit about dance and have even begun to enjoy the class itself. While it will take a while to become used to the teaching style and be able to take accurate notes, I hope to learn so much more in the class. On August 28th (a little over a week ago on Friday) the teacher explained about the various kinds of intelligence that is needed in order to be a dancer or a choreographer and one in which is an extra piece of intelligence. She talked about interpersonal, intrapersonal, kinesthetics, spacial, and existential intelligence. Interpersonal refers to the ability to communicate with a person well and being able to tap into who they are in order to communicate with them. Intrapersonal refers to a person knowing what their limits are, what they can and cannot do, and wanting someone who is better at a particular activity in order to make them look good (or better) in a certain area. (Example: Dance; if a person isn't a very good dancer but is a good choreographer, then that person can make them look very good in the dance.) While there are people who try to find others who are worse at a subject in order to make themselves look good, people who are high in intrapersonal intelligence will try to find people who are better than they are in order to make themselves look good. It's a win-win situation. I win a person who is really good at something and can help me at that certain thing and they win a -hopefully positive- friendship. Kinesthetics (/math) refers to movement and musical intelligence. The ability to move a certain way to a certain kind of music. Spacial intelligence refers to being able to put everyone in certain places so that it looks good or to someone who can organize well. Existential intelligence is when (usually) a person has a feeling that something is wrong with a loved one while they are not very close physically to that person or are currently not in communication with them. This can happen between two lovers or a mother and her children. This can also happen between a person and someone they have barely met.
This past week the teacher gave us a chance on voting when we would have our test. I voted on Friday since it would allow me more time to study since I wouldn't have much time between Monday and Wednesday to study while most of the class voted for having the test on Wednesday. (Sigh of relief for not being in Dance App. since I would be able to work on the projects by myself even if I made an F.) Because of that, we had Friday off.