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Finishing The Movement

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Teacher article

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How often do you look at your dancers in class or during a performance and think to yourself, "There's just something missing!" It's really not something that is huge but in a way it is, because so often when the dancer does not finish the movement completely the whole thing starts to look like a blur. There are no defining moments, there is no crispness to the movement and it is often lackluster in appearance.

The most important part of the movement that needs to be clear is the port de bras and the use of the head. I notice that many times when students come out of a pirouette they do not finish the movement off especially if they feel it hasn't gone as well as they would have liked it to. I always say to my students, that no matter what happens during the pirouette even if they land in a heap on the floor -"just finish it off!" By that I mean hit a pose that makes it clear to the audience that you have completed that particular movement. Good, bad or indifferent there needs to be a defining moment when the person watching the dancer understands that they have completed that portion of the exercise or performance. If the student can get this ingrained into their brain their dancing will improve because it will always look clean. Every dancer has moments when things don't work for them as well as they would like, in fact I tell my dancers that especially with pirouettes, if they go perfectly 2 times out of 10 they should be ecstatic but that it is how they cope and finish off the other 8 times that will show control in their technique.

Port de bras can make or break the way a dancer comes across to their audience. If the arms are rigid or only working from the shoulders instead of from the back it makes it so much harder to hit good lines. Anything that you, as a teacher, can do to help your students understand how to use the port de bras from the center of their backs will help them tremendously, not only in their overall dancing but when it comes to finishing the movement they will be able to lengthen the arms and give a great line at the end of each movement.

The use of the head and eyes is also extremely important. Sometimes a student will finish a movement without putting the head in a position that completes the picture, or their eyes will be wandering all over the place making it very unclear to the person watching whether or not the movement is finished. Training your dancers to have good eye focus is an important part of their technical knowledge. Not only is eye focus important to let the audience feel the emotion that the dancer is portraying but it will also tell the audience where you want them to look which helps to give them a better idea of the movement and the fact that it is completed.

Sometimes finishing off the movement can be something as simple as throwing the hands to emphasize the finish or even just stretching the fingers and looking directly at the audience. By training the students to always finish off their movements you will be making it much easier to have clean and polished group performances and exciting and dynamic solo performances. If everyone knows that when they come out of their pirouette they hit a certain arm position and look front it will be much easier to keep everyone together. The key is to make everything crystal clear.

Of course there are always subtleties and nuances in dance movements that need to be explored and a movement can go on and on into infinity so to speak but by using the eyes and head the audience will understand that it is the end of the movement. I use port de bras exercises in class to help my students understand how to finish movements off and to let them see that there is more than one way to do so. Making fists with the hands and then throwing them to finish is a good way to get students to understand the different dynamics the hands can portray. This type of movement is great as an end to a jazz pirouette or to emphasize something in a dramatic way. I also have them do arm movements that go from a rounded position to a fully stretched arm and hand all the way to the fingertips. One that I particularly like is taking one arm over the head in a full circle and then stretching it out to an arabesque position using the eye hand coordination to complete the movement. I also like to do these exercises in groups and have the students watch each other so that they can really get a good idea of how different people do or don't finish their movements.

For clean execution of choreography, finishing off the movements is important and will make a big difference to your performances once the dancers understand what it means and how it will impact their work.

Author

Angela D'Valda Sirico

Angela D'Valda Sirico

Originally from England, Angela spent her early years in Hong Kong where she studied with Carol Bateman. She continued her training at Arts Educational Trust in England. After moving to New York City she continued her studies with Martha Graham and Matt Mattox. She appeared with the Matt Mattox Company and toured with the first Disney On Parade working with Disney and N.B.C. Contracted to the Teatro National of Buenos Aires she performed for one year and spent an additional year as a featured soloist at the Teatro Maipo, Argentina. Travelling to Madrid, Spain she worked for Spanish television in a weekly variety show Tarde Para Todos and from there decided to form her own Dance Company. With the Company she choreographed and performed throughout Spain in theatres, and on television. Angela met her husband Steve while working together on a television special The Valerie Peters Show filmed in Tampa, Florida. In 1979 they formed the Adagio act DValda & Sirico appearing in theatres, clubs and on television shows such as David Letterman, Star Search and the Jerry Lewis Telethon. In 1982 they were contracted to Europe and appeared in a variety of shows in Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland and Italy before going to London, England where they appeared as Guest Artists for Wayne Sleep (formerly of the Royal Ballet) in his show Dash at the Dominium Theatre. Angela and Steve have owned and directed their dance studio in Fairfield, CT. for the past twenty two years and in 2005 added music and vocal classes to their curriculum. Angela served as chairperson for the tri state panel of the Royal Academy of Dancing and is Co-author of a Partner syllabus currently used for teacher training by Dance Educators of America. She continues to adjudicate and teach for major dance organizations and choreographs for theatre, television and conventions and was commissioned by Boston Ballet 11 to choreograph the highly acclaimed Brother Can You Spare A Dime? DValda & Sirico are currently in production choreographing the opening to the National Speakers Association convention on Broadway at the Marriott Marquis for August of 2008. Angela is co-owner of Dance Teacher Web designed as an online resource for teachers worldwide.

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