MY JOURNEY OF DANCE
My journey of dance begins from when I was a young infant. I used to wake up every Saturday morning and watch video hits and dance around the room to the different songs. When I was 5 years old, turning 6, my mum decided I was old enough to start dancing. I started off with hip hop and I fell in love with the style. Here is my first ever dance group photo. I have been doing it ever since then. I have seen the style change and grow in popularity but that never changed my commitment and love for the style. This is my second hip hop routine performed in 2001.
This is the hip hop routines I am doing now, Dance United Concert 2009. This routine is my favourite hip hop routine which I have performed so far (2005). This was my first ever hip hop routine and dance performance. Performed in 2000.
My hip hop teacher suggested to me that I should try ballet to improve my dancing. So the next year I tried and I enjoyed it. It taught me a lot about technique, core strength and stamina and also improved my hip hop dancing. I did ballet for 5 years and haven't gone back since.
This is my first ever ballet dance routine I performed in 2001. This was a ballet routine I performed in 2004.
When I was 8 I started jazz and loved it. It helped with my stamina and strength even more because of the fast past of the dancing. It also gave me more style to my dancing which I incorporated into my ballet and more importantly hip hop.I have been doing jazz for 10 years and still enjoy it.
This is a jazz routine I performed with the comp troupe at the Ministry of Dance in 2009. This is my first jazz routine I performed, back in 2002.
When I was 11 I started contemporary. Back then when I did this style, it was more like ballet so I kept doing it even though I didn't enjoy it that much. Then when I moved dance schools in 2009 I did a contemporary class and the style of it amazed me. Compared to what I was doing before it shocked me. This class I feel, was when I matured as a dancer.
This is the contemporary routine I performed which I feel I matured as a dancer.
This was my first contemporary/modern expressive routine I performed in 2005.
When I was 13 I joined the senior dance troupe at my old school and we had to do jazz, contemporary and tap. I had never done tap before so I took some classes. I absolutely hated it and I wasn't very good at it. Sometimes when performing dances on stage I would make up steps because I wasn't capable of doing them.
This is my first tap routine I ever performed in 2007. This tap routine was also performed in 2007 along with the other one above.
In the senior troupe we also did national dances such as Italian, Hungarian and Russian. This is a Russian Routine I performed in 2009 as being part of the senior troupe.
Throughout my time of doing hip hop classes I have also done a style called house which is a more fast and energetic version of hip hop and with less arm movements. I have also done a little bit of popping and locking but I wasn't very good at it.
Throughout my dance journey I have moved to a variety of different dance schools. When I was 6 I started at Wendon Dance Studio. I learnt hip hop, jazz, tap and ballet there as well as the national dances. I did a variety of classes as well as joining the troupe. In 2008 I went to school called Dance United and did a hip hop class there. In 2009 I moved to Ministry of Dance. I learnt jazz and contemporary there. I did a variety of classes as well as the competition troupe. In 2010 until now I go to a school called Studio 1 where I do jazz classes. I used to do the competition troupe but it got to much for me to handle. In 2010 and until now also I moved to a dance studio called The Space where I do a hip hop class.
I have also done a variety of dance programs. I did one at Deakin University when I was 8. I just had to do a class once a week of jazz at the uni and at the end of the year we had a performance. I haven't been back since due to the style of jazz being done was more hip hop than jazz. And I didnt like that. I have also done a dance program which is run by the Victorian government. I did it for 5 years, starting when I was 11. In the program I did a jazz class once a week at the studio and then we did a variety of performances throughout the year eg. Victorian State Schools Spectacular and at the AFL Grand Final.
I have also done a variety of competitions in hip hop, jazz, tap and contemporary. These include: Crown Palladium Championships, Whitehorse Competition, Albury/Wodonga Competition and The Ballarat Eisteddfod.
I have also done a numerous amount of performances for charities and festivals. Some of these include: school holiday program at shopping centres, Carols By Candlelight at Jells Park, scouts, bushfire appeal, Australia Day Festival, Chinese New Year Festival and Royal Childrens Hospital Appeal.
This is a jazz routine I performed at an Australia Day Festival.
CULTURAL INFLUENCES Contemporary
After centries of the rigid structure of ballet, dancer's grew tired of always following the rules, thus contemporary dance was born. It emerged in the 20th century. Contemporary fuses different types of modern and post modern methods and techniques. It employs a specific philosphy where dancers explore the natural energy and raw emotions of their bodies that results in a emotional peformance. The movements in ballet are vertical and upright where as contemporary dance has changed that, where the movements are abstract. Throughout my research I have not discovered how and why contemporary dance came about in Australia, but I believe it was through popularity overseas, choreographers from overseas bringing hthe style to Australia and from TV shows such as So You Think You Can Dance. The reason I started contemporary dance was because I didn't like all the boundries and rules that ballet had, and also because it was very different from all the other styles of dance I was doing at the time.
Ballet
Ballet started in the late 15th century in Italy. These ballet performances were performed to fill in time during a royal banquet. Ballet was created to try and imitate fencing. The costumes which the performers wore, were reminders to the royals how rich they were (gold and silver costumes). The basic steps of ballet were produced in the 1600's to make the dancer look graceful. Ballet in Australia developed and started becoming big in the 1900's. It was brought to Australia by a Russian ballet dancer and soon the first ballet company was established. During the 1900's ballet performances mainly had a dramatic background story to it producing dramatic movements (used in contemporary). Now days most performances either have a story of any kind or dont have a story at all and are purely just above the movement. The reason I started ballet was because my hip hop teacher at the time said that it would be good for me because it would improve my dance technique, strength and style.
Tap
Tap dancing is a mixture of different styles of dance. It originated in America. This includes, English clog dancing, Irish step dancing and African druk rhythums and movements. Also contains wild movements from swing dancing and Lindy Hop and, also gliding came from the Waltz and Foxtrot. Tap dancing became known through degrading blackslaves through performances on Vaudeville shows in the 20th century. Throughout my reasearch I wasn't able to find when tap dacning started in Australia, but I beleive like for contemporary, that other countries and overseas people visiting Australia brought the style here. I started tap dancing because I had to in order to stay in the senoir dance troupe. I was never good at it and never really liked it.
Jazz
Jazz began in Africa. Africa cultures would celebrate life moments eg. birth, marriage and death by jazz dancing. African slaves were taken to America in the 1800's. This is where the Caucasians began darkening there facing and imitating the slave dancers. These Caucasian performed in stage shows called Vaudeville and this is how the style of jazz grew bigger. As time goes on and moves forward, the style of jazz changes and evolves. With the style of jazz growing America, it moved onto broadway where the famous choreographer Bob Fosse, stylised and changed the style of jazz as what we know it today. Throughout my reasearch I couldn't find when the sytle of jazz reached Australia, but I beleive it was the influeance of other countries and choreographers visiting the country. I started dancing jazz because I liked the fast pace of the music as well as how it wasn't restricted like ballet and it was a completly different style to hip hop.
Hip Hop
Hip Hop originated in the black ghettos of New York, America where hip hop crews/gangs would battle against one another. Hip Hop isn't just a dance style, it is a culture and can represent music and even fashion. Hip Hop dancing is a way to escaoe the boredom of your day and can take you away from your problems. Hip Hop has become very popular in the last decade with fashion and especially music being influenced. So many video clips of artists singing these days use, hip hop beats for there songs as well as hip hop dances in the background. Hip hop also influenced the way people dance at parties, influenced the entertainment industry with movies being produced about the style as well as people using the style as a fitness regime. Hip hop came to Australia by the influences of the music, entertainment and fashion industry. The trends from overseas were brought here by these factors and had become popular in this country and all over the world. The reason I started hip hop was because of the music industry. I used to get up every Saturday morning to watch Video Hits, and I used to dance around to the different songs played and watched all the dances shown. I really enjoyed this and mum decided to enrol me in hip hop classes and this is where my love of dance began.
These are some videos displaying how the culture of hip hop has influenced the world of TV competitions, battles and the dance world, all over the world from America to Australia.
MY FAVOURITE DANCE IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD!! (performed on So You Think You Can Dance America)
DVP!!! (hip hop crew in Australia, qualifying for The Australian Hip Hop Championships)
GOTTA LOVE JUSTICE CREW!!! (hip hop crew in Australia and won TV Competition, Australia's Got Talent)
MY DANCE TEACHERS HIP HOP CREW!!! (my hip hop teacher's hip hop crew, practicing for The Australian Hip Hop Championships)
MY JOURNEY OF DANCE
My journey of dance begins from when I was a young infant. I used to wake up every Saturday morning and watch video hits and dance around the room to the different songs. When I was 5 years old, turning 6, my mum decided I was old enough to start dancing. I started off with hip hop and I fell in love with the style. Here is my first ever dance group photo. I have been doing it ever since then. I have seen the style change and grow in popularity but that never changed my commitment and love for the style.
This is my second hip hop routine performed in 2001.
This is the hip hop routines I am doing now, Dance United Concert 2009.
This routine is my favourite hip hop routine which I have performed so far (2005).
This was my first ever hip hop routine and dance performance. Performed in 2000.
My hip hop teacher suggested to me that I should try ballet to improve my dancing. So the next year I tried and I enjoyed it. It taught me a lot about technique, core strength and stamina and also improved my hip hop dancing. I did ballet for 5 years and haven't gone back since.
This is my first ever ballet dance routine I performed in 2001.
This was a ballet routine I performed in 2004.
When I was 8 I started jazz and loved it. It helped with my stamina and strength even more because of the fast past of the dancing. It also gave me more style to my dancing which I incorporated into my ballet and more importantly hip hop.I have been doing jazz for 10 years and still enjoy it.
This is a jazz routine I performed with the comp troupe at the Ministry of Dance in 2009.
This is my first jazz routine I performed, back in 2002.
When I was 11 I started contemporary. Back then when I did this style, it was more like ballet so I kept doing it even though I didn't enjoy it that much. Then when I moved dance schools in 2009 I did a contemporary class and the style of it amazed me. Compared to what I was doing before it shocked me. This class I feel, was when I matured as a dancer.
This is the contemporary routine I performed which I feel I matured as a dancer.
This was my first contemporary/modern expressive routine I performed in 2005.
When I was 13 I joined the senior dance troupe at my old school and we had to do jazz, contemporary and tap. I had never done tap before so I took some classes. I absolutely hated it and I wasn't very good at it. Sometimes when performing dances on stage I would make up steps because I wasn't capable of doing them.
This is my first tap routine I ever performed in 2007.
This tap routine was also performed in 2007 along with the other one above.
In the senior troupe we also did national dances such as Italian, Hungarian and Russian.
This is a Russian Routine I performed in 2009 as being part of the senior troupe.
Throughout my time of doing hip hop classes I have also done a style called house which is a more fast and energetic version of hip hop and with less arm movements. I have also done a little bit of popping and locking but I wasn't very good at it.
Throughout my dance journey I have moved to a variety of different dance schools. When I was 6 I started at Wendon Dance Studio. I learnt hip hop, jazz, tap and ballet there as well as the national dances. I did a variety of classes as well as joining the troupe. In 2008 I went to school called Dance United and did a hip hop class there. In 2009 I moved to Ministry of Dance. I learnt jazz and contemporary there. I did a variety of classes as well as the competition troupe. In 2010 until now I go to a school called Studio 1 where I do jazz classes. I used to do the competition troupe but it got to much for me to handle. In 2010 and until now also I moved to a dance studio called The Space where I do a hip hop class.
I have also done a variety of dance programs. I did one at Deakin University when I was 8. I just had to do a class once a week of jazz at the uni and at the end of the year we had a performance. I haven't been back since due to the style of jazz being done was more hip hop than jazz. And I didnt like that. I have also done a dance program which is run by the Victorian government. I did it for 5 years, starting when I was 11. In the program I did a jazz class once a week at the studio and then we did a variety of performances throughout the year eg. Victorian State Schools Spectacular and at the AFL Grand Final.
I have also done a variety of competitions in hip hop, jazz, tap and contemporary. These include: Crown Palladium Championships, Whitehorse Competition, Albury/Wodonga Competition and The Ballarat Eisteddfod.
I have also done a numerous amount of performances for charities and festivals. Some of these include: school holiday program at shopping centres, Carols By Candlelight at Jells Park, scouts, bushfire appeal, Australia Day Festival, Chinese New Year Festival and Royal Childrens Hospital Appeal.
This is a jazz routine I performed at an Australia Day Festival.
CULTURAL INFLUENCESContemporary
After centries of the rigid structure of ballet, dancer's grew tired of always following the rules, thus contemporary dance was born. It emerged in the 20th century. Contemporary fuses different types of modern and post modern methods and techniques. It employs a specific philosphy where dancers explore the natural energy and raw emotions of their bodies that results in a emotional peformance. The movements in ballet are vertical and upright where as contemporary dance has changed that, where the movements are abstract. Throughout my research I have not discovered how and why contemporary dance came about in Australia, but I believe it was through popularity overseas, choreographers from overseas bringing hthe style to Australia and from TV shows such as So You Think You Can Dance. The reason I started contemporary dance was because I didn't like all the boundries and rules that ballet had, and also because it was very different from all the other styles of dance I was doing at the time.
Ballet
Ballet started in the late 15th century in Italy. These ballet performances were performed to fill in time during a royal banquet. Ballet was created to try and imitate fencing. The costumes which the performers wore, were reminders to the royals how rich they were (gold and silver costumes). The basic steps of ballet were produced in the 1600's to make the dancer look graceful. Ballet in Australia developed and started becoming big in the 1900's. It was brought to Australia by a Russian ballet dancer and soon the first ballet company was established. During the 1900's ballet performances mainly had a dramatic background story to it producing dramatic movements (used in contemporary). Now days most performances either have a story of any kind or dont have a story at all and are purely just above the movement. The reason I started ballet was because my hip hop teacher at the time said that it would be good for me because it would improve my dance technique, strength and style.
Tap
Tap dancing is a mixture of different styles of dance. It originated in America. This includes, English clog dancing, Irish step dancing and African druk rhythums and movements. Also contains wild movements from swing dancing and Lindy Hop and, also gliding came from the Waltz and Foxtrot. Tap dancing became known through degrading blackslaves through performances on Vaudeville shows in the 20th century. Throughout my reasearch I wasn't able to find when tap dacning started in Australia, but I beleive like for contemporary, that other countries and overseas people visiting Australia brought the style here. I started tap dancing because I had to in order to stay in the senoir dance troupe. I was never good at it and never really liked it.
Jazz
Jazz began in Africa. Africa cultures would celebrate life moments eg. birth, marriage and death by jazz dancing. African slaves were taken to America in the 1800's. This is where the Caucasians began darkening there facing and imitating the slave dancers. These Caucasian performed in stage shows called Vaudeville and this is how the style of jazz grew bigger. As time goes on and moves forward, the style of jazz changes and evolves. With the style of jazz growing America, it moved onto broadway where the famous choreographer Bob Fosse, stylised and changed the style of jazz as what we know it today. Throughout my reasearch I couldn't find when the sytle of jazz reached Australia, but I beleive it was the influeance of other countries and choreographers visiting the country. I started dancing jazz because I liked the fast pace of the music as well as how it wasn't restricted like ballet and it was a completly different style to hip hop.
Hip Hop
Hip Hop originated in the black ghettos of New York, America where hip hop crews/gangs would battle against one another. Hip Hop isn't just a dance style, it is a culture and can represent music and even fashion. Hip Hop dancing is a way to escaoe the boredom of your day and can take you away from your problems. Hip Hop has become very popular in the last decade with fashion and especially music being influenced. So many video clips of artists singing these days use, hip hop beats for there songs as well as hip hop dances in the background. Hip hop also influenced the way people dance at parties, influenced the entertainment industry with movies being produced about the style as well as people using the style as a fitness regime. Hip hop came to Australia by the influences of the music, entertainment and fashion industry. The trends from overseas were brought here by these factors and had become popular in this country and all over the world. The reason I started hip hop was because of the music industry. I used to get up every Saturday morning to watch Video Hits, and I used to dance around to the different songs played and watched all the dances shown. I really enjoyed this and mum decided to enrol me in hip hop classes and this is where my love of dance began.
These are some videos displaying how the culture of hip hop has influenced the world of TV competitions, battles and the dance world, all over the world from America to Australia.
MY FAVOURITE DANCE IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD!! (performed on So You Think You Can Dance America)
DVP!!! (hip hop crew in Australia, qualifying for The Australian Hip Hop Championships)
GOTTA LOVE JUSTICE CREW!!! (hip hop crew in Australia and won TV Competition, Australia's Got Talent)
MY DANCE TEACHERS HIP HOP CREW!!! (my hip hop teacher's hip hop crew, practicing for The Australian Hip Hop Championships)