Task two- evaluation of performance of Bollywood dance

        Evaluation of the performance of Bollywood dance 

         

      The evaluation of my performance of Bollywood, reflecting  on both my weaknesses and strengths. 

Strengths 

The first skill that I feel majorly improved during my rehearsals for Bollywood was my musicality.I feel that this skill has certainly improved from previous shows due to this time doing more research and learning more about the dance style and culture behind it. I really wanted to engage the audience by fully showing the characteristics of Bollywood I believe this was evident throughout the final  performance of Bollywood video as you can see I was always  fully engaged in this character from my  facial expression to my body language and movements. my musicality has always been something that I have struggled with in previous shows as I’ve always felt that I’m not perfectly in time with the music and I struggled to link the timing and sound however now after practising over and over I am able to here in the music that more  slower pace and more elegant and slow movements in comparison to the more fast and harsh movements. Allowing myself to fully embrace the characteristics of Bollywood dance and use my musicality skills which  made the dance a lot more polished and accurate, Practicing this ability has improved my overall movement quality and musicality since it helps myself and the audience to see the music clearly and visually.

Another ability that I believe I have improved on during the Bollywood rehearsals is my use of dynamics. When watching back the performance videos,  I felt that my motions were very precise and sharp whereas when watching back videos that we took  after  rehearsals from earlier on in the rehearsal I felt that I didn't fully appreciate the significance of employing dynamics to create texture to the dance and its style . I wanted to fully be able to concentrate on this skill since I knew it would help me in communicating the sharp and upbeat Bollywood style. I made it a point to think about this skill every time I was given new sections to the choreography whilst always looking for opportunities to add dynamics in order  to make the piece more aesthetically appealing and engaging to and audience to create a better atmosphere. I investigated several dynamics such as fast/slow, sudden/gradual, and so on. In Bollywood this skill is majorly needed to make the performance effective as there are an array of contrasting and different paced movements, being able to control these movements and make them precise throughout  made them look a lot more accomplished and visually appealing. This allowed my performance to connect with the music and overall look more polished and accurate. Practicing this ability has improved my overall movement,  quality and musicality since it helps myself and the audience to see the music more clearly and visually.

Another skills that I feel I really improved on during the Bollywood rehearsals would be my confidence from the beginning of the process until the final product. Normally when when I know what I’m doing I tend to stand back abit and go for the safer option to allow myself to gain and build that confidence before I put myself out there as I want to ensure I fully know what I’m doing. However unit 14 dance performance was the unit that I am participating in and because this was the unit that I was being graded on, I was placed right at the front of the dance. This is something that I really struggled with at first as I knew that I had to make sure all of my movements were very on point as I was seen by everyone at all times and If I were to make a mistake it would be very visible to the audience. Knowing this it just made me even more focused as I knew that I had to really improve on skill I wanted to give a really strong  performance. I feel being placed at the front helped me in many ways as it made me come out of my comfort zone and perform to the best of my ability as well as showing all of the stylistic features of Bollywood dance.

Another skill I have made progress in is definitely my performance skills and facial expressions. When I first started the performing arts course, my performance skills were very weak which made my performance less effective. In order to be a well rounded performer. I understand that having good performance skills and facial expressions plays a major part in this which is why when in Bollywood rehearsals, I completely focused myself on doing this in order to give a fully effective performance. Performance skills and facial expressions were  very vital  when performing a dance within this style, as the whole idea was to fully embrace the Bollywood culture. In order to do this, I made sure to watch loads of videos of professional Bollywood dancers so that I could look at their facial expressions and see that the way that they pursue the dance Style. After watching videos of the professional dancers I could see that their facial expressions changed in order to match the music so this is what I done in rehearsals and the final performance as you can see clearly in the video. For example, at the beginning of the video, you could see that my facial expressions were very blank and I had a very serious face where is throughout the middle of the performance you could see that in certain movements that was slow and elegant I had a more sensual and happy look on my face.

I made sure to focus more on my expressions and show the character I was playing once I had fully learnt the choreography to the best of my ability as I knew that if I tried to do this before it would’ve put me off the choreography that I was learning as I would’ve been too focused on my characteristics instead of the dance I was learning. This method really helped me and allowed me to learn new skills 

As well  as my performance  skills majorly improving I can say with confidence that my expressive skills have grown a lot when dancing as this had aided me in becoming a stronger performer, I know this skill has improved as I have gotten positive feedback from peers and teachers surrounding this skill and my overall performance quality when dancing.

Another skill that i demonstrated successfully was my focus. When starting films of the rehearsal process, when rewatching back I could see that my directional focus was often low which made me look unconfident and disconnected me from the audience which I feel didn’t allow me to give as much of an effective performance. As i became more familiar with the style and the movements it allowed me to lift my focus  which made the performance i did more incising for the audience and heightened my performance to another level . After educating myself on the style of Bollywood and what features are essential, I knew that i had to demonstrate these stylistic features in order to be successful in the unit. I knew that there were parts of the dance which required following hands, fingers , arms or legs with my eyes which i found tricky at first. But after polishing off the dance and familiarising myself with the choreography until i was confident, it became easier to do this. The development of this skill meant that i appeared more confident and bold on stage.

Weaknesses- room for improvement in future performances

Another skill that I would like to improve and will improve is my timing, whilst doing Bollywood recently I realised that as it’s a very fast dance i can’t keep up with the timings at some points. I will improve this by trying to connect my body more with the movements and keeping in time with the beats throughout the music. I will improve this by continuously going over a piece that I am learning so that whilst learning and making my timing precise I can also build up my stamina. I feel that building up my stamina which  is another skill that I want to improve it I’ll help me develop my skill in my timing as if I’m getting out of breathe it will make my movements slow and sloppy, improving this will allow me to dance more effectively and give a better performance.

One skill that I feel I need to improve on for the future is my use of Balance. Throughout the duration of the Bollywood rehearsals and dance as a whole I have heavily noted my lack of a strong balance when it comes to certain movements. Especially because this dance choreography had a lot of fast and sharp movements. It was really hard to keep up as well as maintaining my balance throughout. I understand that in order to make the dance look, very neat and precise. I needed my balance to be on point continuously in order to make the performance as affective as possible. For example one specific piece of the Bollywood dance where I struggled with my balance was when we had our legs bent in a plié whilst of feet were turned out, and we were on our tiptoes  which we had to hold while flowing our arms in and out in a slow pace into a fast pace, I struggled to distribute my weight in a way that allows me to be steady during transitions and holding postures which made me wobbly I also struggled with this because the position was very uncomfortable and wasn’t something that I was used to. However after doing it multiple times I got used to it , it just wasn’t as precise as I wanted it to be in the final performance. Another section where I lost my balance multiple times was when we were in a small groups and I had to lean back with one leg up into Kayleigh’s  arms for a trust fall , I absolutely love this movement as it allowed me to be more fun with the style however, doing this after doing a fast and upbeat dance can be really hard to maintain that balance. in order to improve this stylistic feature for the future I intend to enhance this skill by doing core strengthening exercises because I know that a strong core is vital for finding stability while balancing , I will also watch videos on how to improve my balance as well as going over and over the move until I know I have nailed it.

Another skill that i need to build on in order to be more successful in the future is my use of space and knowledge of placement . The Bollywood dance that we were performing required a great level of symmetry and spacial awareness in order to make the dance look more visually appealing to the audience. At times i found myself breaking the symmetry due to becoming unaware of the space i was taking up/ moving into. I noticed that after transitions such as turns and shunts, i was too focused on the movement that i was often landing in the wrong place which meant that i had to move slightly throughout the rest of the dance In order to be visible to the audience throughout. Being unaware of my space and where i’m supposed to be can affect the overall look of the dance as symmetry is key in Bollywood. To insure that i’m spatially aware in future dances , i will engage my peripheral vision to insure i’m correctly placed compared to other people around me . I will also look back and study previous films which will help me with self placement.

Another weakness that I picked up on previous videos from the Bollywood rehearsals was my posture. I could see that I wasn’t fully giving my all as my body was slouched and I wasn’t upright throughout. I understand that at the beginning of the Bollywood choreography, I needed to be is upright and strong as possible as well as creating a mudra in an effective way I knew that my hands and fingers needed to be extended and as long as possible,  I knew that if it hurt I was doing it correctly. after doing my research I knew that posture was very important in this style of dance as the whole idea is for it to look as clean and powerful as possible. After watching back the final performance video of Bollywood I can see that I still need to improve on my posture. I could see that they were still certain parts of the dance where my posture wasn’t as strong, this is something that I really need to improve on for the future, as it will allow me to give a more effective performance, improving my posture will also allow me to look more confident as if I am slouched. It will look like I don’t know what I am doing and I am not confident in what I’m doing however if I am upright and standing strong it will show the audience that I know what I’m doing and I am enjoying the dance.

Another quality I believe that I need to work on and improve for the future is my stamina and breathe control, particularly during the dance aspects. I frequently find it challenging to dance and complete the choreography with the same level of stamina throughout especially because sections in the dance are very fast and upbeat and use up a-lot of energy as all movements need to be fast, sharp and precise. Stamina has been a weakness of mine in previous shows, when rehearsing i struggled and found it tough because I began with a high level of energy but by the middle of the choreography, I felt worn out making my moves look unfinished and lethargic. I see that this will have an impact on my dancing and prevent me from reaching my maximum potential. This is something that I really want to improve on for the future, as I know that it will help me to become a better performer. I want to become more fit and active person on a daily basis which I know will help to build my stamina overtime. In order to do this, I will go to the gym on a regular basis and keep active in my day-to-day life, building my stamina and improving my breath control.