18th class

Today, we learned a fairly easy choreo today that consisted of a lot of hip hop grooves. I think this was because we had two new people in the class. It was fairly easy and fun, and I had no problems keeping up, I added my own style when grooving. I also noticed that I got better at "marking" the choreo. It is when we listen to the music, and watch the teacher do the choreo. While that is happening, we would either follow along with short movements, or just think about it. It is used to learn which parts of the song matches with the choreo. So basically, I got better at practicing while following along. The next thing I would need to do is choose and/or create choreography that I will use for my Senior Presentation.


Time Logged This Time: 1 hr
Time Logged In Total: 19 hrs
Yesh.

-Austin Gumban

17th class

Today, I showed my mentor the choreo that was started last week. In the previous post, I failed to mention that one of the criteria she gave us for creating the choreo was to do something on the floor. So to fulfill that criteria, I just kneeled on my knees, did a simple spin, and stood up. Overall, the choreo was pretty short. It was only about 15 seconds long.
The choreo we learned today was to a rock song, to add a little variety. But just because it's to a different song genre rather than something such as hip hop or dubstep, doesn't mean that we would have to overall change the style. For example, it was somewhat just like a hip hop choreography. Another thing, was that this choreo was very fast. So I worked on trying to be sharper. But that was hard to do since I had trouble keeping up with this choreo. I just need to get better at learning "hard hitting" and fast choreos quicker.

Time Logged This Time: 1 hr
Time Logged In Total: 18 hrs
Yesh.

-Austin Gumban

16th class

 Today, we didn't really learn any new choreography. Instead, my mentor played a song over and over again, and told the class to create choreography to it. She gave us a few tips beforehand, and sent us on way to creating choreo. It was hard for me to do something like that because I felt awkward making things up and trying them in front of other people. But my mentor noticed, and told me that everyone was doing the same thing, and I shouldn't worry about being embarrassed. It helped a little, but I still felt self conscious. In the end, I only made a few seconds of choreo due to "dancer's block." So she told us to finish the choreography at home, and show it next week. So I guess my next project would be on creating the choreography for this class.

Time Logged This Time: 1 hr
Time Logged In Total: 17 hrs
Yesh.

-Austin Gumban

15th Class

Today I learned another piece to a dubstep song. Nothing much was different. Just practiced retaining info, motions, and body awareness. I kept up fairly easily because it was in my area of comfort. Of course I had some problems though. For instance, there was a part in the song where we do a series of quick movements. I had it down fairly easily at first, but it was sloppy. I was told that I could do it fine, but I need to do it sharper, which means that I would need to be a bit faster and more precise. Except it's hard to do that since it would be similar flailing around like a robot. So basically I need to work on being sharp and on point when at the necessary areas of the songs and choreos. I think I'm continuing to make progress as I learn more choreography. I also plan on creating a lyrical choreography, rather than to a choreo that ignores the lyrics that is just to the beats.

Time Logged This Time: 1 hr
Time Logged In Total: 17 hrs
Yesh.

-Austin Gumban

14th Class

Today I learned another hip hop style choreo that wasn't too hard. I believe that I got even better at focusing on myself, rather than looking at other people. Although we learned a lot of choreography, I never fell behind, even though hip hop isn't exactly my forte. Since I was on par with everybody else, I was able to fix small details without worry of losing focus for upcoming new parts of choreo. I think I'm gradually getting better at retaining new info, choreography-wise. It seems like my mentor doesn't need to focus on me as much lately because I have been keeping up for the most part. But every now and then I miss some details that she corrects. For example, sometimes when in a choreo, there might be a part where we would just be standing. She would tell me that I need to have my feet together, and when I would look in the mirror, there would be some space in between my feet. So I need to work more on being aware of what I'm doing with my body.

Time Logged This Time: 1 hr
Time Logged In Total: 16 hrs
Yesh.

-Austin Gumban