SOTA DancersGet To Work!
 
SOTA Choreography class enjoying the "Trolley Dances" and San Francisco in October (2006)!

Dance Department students are currently in rehearsal for the annual Spring Concert:
"unfolding light"
May 16-17-18
Cowell Theater, Fort Mason

COMP SHOP
Want to work on a piece of choreography but need an outside eye?
Have an idea, but don’t know where to start?
Comp shop meets for 30-60 minutes after each class to review new material, dissect phrases, discuss composition and assist student choreographers at all stages of development.
Questions? contact Brittany:
brittanbrown@hotmail.com



Fridays 1:30-3:30


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Under the direction of Elvia Marta, students train in modern/jazz/blues, ballet, and choreography, and also attend a variety of master classes and workshops. These classes offer students solid training in dance technique and help them experience, understand and communicate the beauty, joy, and challenge of dance. This training is at a pre-professional level and prepares students to enter the professional dance world.

 


Goals of the Performing Arts Classroom: Brittany Brown Ceres

       -to abandon surface, subjective judgments in order to instill trust and safety while pursuing an honest environment. This open environment provides a stable foundation from which the student is encouraged to take risks in order to gain knowledge of themselves as a multi-leveled individual.

        -to respect art as a discipline, with the definition that art is a celebration and therefore the appreciation of life and  its lessons.

        -to strive to understand the history of the chosen art form, as well as complimentary disciplines to view each intersection as a potential for collaboration. Knowledge of the history of dance, music, visual art, film, stage/prop craft all add to deepen the journey to the stage and the stage experience itself. This knowledge also assists and supports choices that the artist makes within each discipline.

        -to find the satisfaction that comes with accepting the process of learning as a journey without demanding or expecting a definitive final product. Maintaining humility is essential; knowing that acquiring skill in any field requires time, interest, focus and energy.

        -building character should be a part of every lesson (again- encourages risk taking) and therefore laughter and failure should be present every day to experience. Awareness of spontaneity and flexibility are of key importance.

        -to awaken all the senses through a thorough awareness of the body, in communication with the mind. Neither is shut off, nor should either carry more daily weight, instilling the idea of a whole functioning being: Alive and Passionate.


SOTA veiwing KUNST-STOFF


 
 

FOR your written critique: QUESTIONS to be think about while watching the performance—or making dances. These should be answered or discussed within your writing —or thought about when you are putting movement together.

Answer the first question in regards the rest of the questions.


1. What did you see?
2. Depth of the dance- the dimensional space, Did I see everything clearly?
3. Emotional Content and the dancers' relationship to eachother?
4. Spacing and facing?
5. Dynamic quality and flexibility
6. Musicality
7. Pedestrian vs. Technique
8. The Build or relax of intensity
9. Motivation behind the movement
10. Transitions-why the next section happens next?
11. Repetition? Too much- not enough
12. Reference to the theme, art, structure, emotion
13. Variation / A-B-A / Asymmetry
14. Did it move? Cover space?
15. Beginning / Middle/ End
16. Gestures
17. Syncopation/ Counterpoint and Canon

QUESTIONS to ask the Choreographer

1. What were you trying to accomplish through your choreography?
2. Did you succeed?
3. How did the music serve your choreographic intent?
4. How do you assess your communication with your dancers regarding your choreographic intentions and movement?
5. During a restaging, what would you change?

 


Going to Trolley Dances