Technology and Musical Accompaniment

             I was taking a class last week in Manhattan and I was pleasantly surprised by the musical instruments that the musician brought to class. Usually in a dance class the musician will have a djembe drum, or play the piano. However this musician brought out a medium size rectangular object that resembled a switch board, an amplifier, and three small tambourine objects with wires attaching all objects. After a minute or two, the musician starting playing wonderful music and the room really came to life. The music had all of the original drum sounds that a normal dance class would have, however his instruments also had other sounds ampliphied by synthesizers and other technological instruments. Not to mention how accommodating these technological instruments are for the entire classroom. They are easy to transport for the musician, ideal for smaller sized classrooms which leaves more room for dancers, also sound is able to adjusted much easier. From a student's perspective, I really enjoy when my teachers put their own musical tastes into the musical accompaniment as well. I took a class where my teacher had a DJ'ing program on his laptop which allowed him to make some pretty wonderful music that made the class very exciting.

           I felt that this inclusion of technology in the classroom would make an immense  impact on the students. The students would most likely be able to connect with the music even more because younger generations are becoming more in touch with technology as time progresses. Also I will make the music played in class available for the students to open on their smartphones therefore they will be able to listen to the music played in class. It is known that a dancer's musicality is one of the most important aspects of their profession, that being said the more opportunities that the students have to listen and connect to the music that they have danced to during the exercises in class will allow them to improve their musicality, and improve their artistic connection music. One day in the future I can see all musicians coming to dance classes carrying an ipad or other tablet devices with all of their musical needs in the palm of their hand. 

Choreography/Improvisation Lesson Plan

By the end of this assignment I was very pleased with the lesson and excited to actually teach it! I never thought that I would be able to make such an interesting lesson in such a short amount of time. Hopefully others will find it just as interesting as I do, but more importantly hopefully my future students will find it even more interesting. I looked on the pbs website that was provided and chose a lesson on the Bill T Jones company. This lesson spoke about African American pride and demonstrated how black dancers and choreographers had to overcome so much not only in the dance world but in their private lives as well! Bill T Jones is a revolutionary dancer/choreographer that has recieved world renown fame and assisted on making monumental changes in the modern dance world. I would introduce Jones' work during Black History Month because not only does he produce great dance works he also was in a bi-racial relationship for many years which also promotes the idea of acceptance of all ethnicities. One of Jones' work is an improvisation that takes place based off of 45 shapes. I would introduce these shapes on the smart board because they can be shown to scale and will help with accurateness. Students will be able to use the smart board to visualize the shapes and then translate them onto their own bodies. After meeting Bill T Jones and performing his work multiple times, I would share his beliefs on the importance of strictness of a specific shape and then the freeness and intelligence required for successful improvisation.


https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AnNK2baFHVzHdFpPMFFuemRlejdlU2J4b2NIRUt2WGc&usp=sharing

Dance and Technology

 Due to Dance Education being such a physical nature, I found that educating students about the technological demands of the professional dance world would be an excellent way to incorporate technology into the classroom. Dance has grown from being completely separated from technology and computers to becoming an art from that relies on computers from day to day tasks as well as performances. When most people think of computers being a part of dance, the first genre that comes to mind is commercial dance. Some examples of commercial dance that are known to the average person that is not heavily involved in the arts would be Half time performances at professional sporting events, films such as Step Up,

well known television shows such as Dancing with the Stars , and Broadway Musicals. I could inform my students on the technological advancements made for the actual performance. Therefore if a student is more aware of the current uses of technology in performance, then they would be more comfortable dancing under those circumstances. One popular use of technology in dance performance is projections on the stage. The most common method is front projection which is defined as “the use of a source to bounce an image off a surface and back to the viewer. In this case, the surface should be highly reflective, in order for the audience to get the brightest image possible." (dictionary.com) Some advantages are
very clear images that can be seen from all different angles of the theater, vibrant colors that hold their color while projected on the stage. Some disadvantages are that lights can be seen from the back of the theater and can be considered distracting because the audience should be focusing on the stage not the lights that are coming from a projector in the back of the theater. Also directors find it difficult to light other aspects of the stage when working with front projected images. Teaching dance students who would like to become a professional dancer need to be aware of other aspects of the theater. Therefore having a lesson that revolved around sound design would be an ideal way to incorporate technology into Dance Education. 

Blog 3: Technology in the Classroom: Dance Education

              Incorperating technology in the classroom is an essential part of the education system. However, dance still after thousands of years remains a physically driven content area that has very little dependency on education in the classroom. It still remains a very untouched art form and that is one of the reasons of why it is so special and sought upon for entertainment. Just look at the fact that when classical dance was being developed in King Louis the 14ths court, most of those positions and shapes are still used every day in the dance classroom. No amount of technology will ever help explain the concept of technique, other than the kinesthetic lessons that occur when a dancer physicalizes the movement and the teacher physically corrects them. 

                 The easiest way for me to help portray this idea to non-dancers would be for me to take you through the daily routine of a standard dance class.  The supplies needed for a dance class are, a teacher, a student, and a musician for an accompaniment throughout the class. These supplies have not changed for thousands of years and I honestly do not see them being changed any time soon because this formula seems to be somewhat of a success. The teacher explains and demonstrates the movements, the students perform them, and the teacher corrects them on their alignment and other technical issues. That being said, dance classes could one hundred percent thrive in a technology free world. 

           However I do not want this blog post to come across as me hating technology in the dance world. I believe that there are uses for technology in some aspects of dance, such as choreography and stage design. But when it comes to an every day lesson, technology is not the vital key instrument in the physically dominant subject matter. I feel that using some aspects of technology for research that the students can do on their own is useful however students will simply be wasting their time and will be cheated out of essential technical growth in development if they spend their days playing on the computer as opposed to working on their technique. 

History of Technology is Dance Education

Radio: The inclusion of the Radio in the classroom allowed students to study the importance of musicality within movement, as well as inspired choreography for decades.