Senior Project Reflection

Title: Blog 23:  Senior Project Reflection

Label: Presentation
Directions: Please answer the following questions, and submit them to the blog.
Due Date: The day after your block presentation by 8:00 A.M.

(1) Positive Statement
What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?

          What i am most proud of from my senior presentation was that i did 130 hours of mentorship, making my dance future better and it shaped me as a better dancer. As for my presentation i am proud to have use up all the time the block has given me and make people feel happy and see the enjoyment they had with my activity, which was teach choreography. 

(2) Questions to Consider
a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation (self-assessment)?

AE       P          AP       CR       NC

          I would give myself a P+ because of not only reaching the required time, but using up the whole block efficiently.  

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?

AE       P          AP       CR       NC

          I would give myself a solid P- for my overall senior project for completing everything as required and knowing my topic inside and out, but the minus because in the beginning i did not turn things in on time like my extra month blogs. 

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?

          How resourceful my mentors were and how surrounded i am with my topic outside of school. 

(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?

          Just turn in things on time, because i would finish things but forget to turn them in, like leaving things at home or being late on turnitin.com.

(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples.

          I am going to continue dancing when i am in college. That being said, the senior project is a great head start to prepare me to dance with the big teams and events. I am planning to join the Company called GRV when i am in Cal Poly, and later try to audition for the company called Cookies in San Diego if i transfer there after. Since these teams are very hard to join and it takes a lot of experience, the senior project showed me detailed facts on what to focus on when training for these teams in the future. Learning things like different forms of exercising and how to focus on facial expressions when dancing, has helped me be more aware of things when i am dancing, making me a better dancer overall. 

Blog 22: Mentorship

Title:  Blog 22: Mentorship
Label: Mentorship
Due Date:  Thursday, May 14 by 8AM

Content:

LIA Response to blog:

    Literal

·     Log of specific hours with a total and a description of your duties updated on the right hand side of your blog

          You can check my Hour Log Here, as well on the top right of my blog

·     Contact Name and Mentorship Place

          My Mentor, Tawnya Nguyen - (626)-756-5993

          Mentorship Place - Dellos Dance Studio. 

          

   Interpretive

     What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?

          I believe the most important thing i've gained from this experience is knowing what my body is capable of and how hard and exciting it is to work with a team of dancers all striving for the same thing, to get their "voice" heard from moving in rhythm.  The reason i believe this is the most important because it helped me learn what true teamwork is and knowing how hard it is to be a dancer.

   Applied

     How has what you’ve done helped you to answer your EQ?  Please explain.

          My mentorship helped me accomplish all three answers. The first answer was found when practicing every Saturday, the directors would tell us the same thing over and over again, don't forget facial expressions and remember to BREATHE. With that constantly being told, I realized how important these factors are to make a great performance for hip-hop. My second answer was achieved was when a week before the competition, we practiced places other then our studio and it was a total different environment and feeling, but it helped us prepare for the stage itself because the stage is where everyone is uncomfortable and nervous. For my last answer, I was thinking about it for some time when it was under my nose that during practices, we would workout for 30-50 minutes in just our natural strength and stamina, so your body does not have a limit when dancing making you a better dancer overall.

Grading Criteria (May 13^th)

• 50 hours completed (50 from the academic year)

• LIA response (submitted to your blog)

• Essential question connection

Exit Interview

Blog 21: Exit Interview

Title:  Exit Interview

Label:  Exit InterviewDue Date:  Thursday, May 7th by 8AM

(1) What is your essential question, and what are your answers?  What is your best answer and why? 
          What is the most important factor in creating a successful hip-hop dance performance.

Answer 1. Performing with facial expressions and controlled breathing.

Answer 2. Practicing in a non dance environment for different situations before competing. 

Answer 3. Exercising your body for stamina, endurance, and maximizing your natural strength. 

My best Answer is practicing in a non dance environment for different situations before competing, because without being able to practice anywhere other then your studio, you will limit your space and practice time, making a inefficient routine to perform. 

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?
          many hours of mentorship and dance rehearsals from my dance company. Mostly from self experience and advice from other dancers in the community, as well as my mentor. 

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?
          One of the biggest problem i faced during my topic was the retirement of my Director from my company, who was also my mentor. This made the company fall behind a little because we had to figure out the new director and co directors. I solved the problem for my project by getting another mentor who is now the new director of Marvels Dance Company, Tawnya Nyugen.  I had problems with my third answer because at first i did not know what to come of it i just knew you should workout because dance is a physical sport. I solved this problem by asking choreographers from workshops what they focus on when they workout. 

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?
           The biggest source that helped me accomplish my answers was my dance company itself and my mentor. I relied on them when i needed help or had questions because its one on one experience as well as years of knowledge about dance. My mentor has traveled a lot to dance in different states and cities and so she knows the different cultures and forms of hip-hop dancing, thats why i believe she the most significant source. 
          My second source i used quite a lot during my project was Articles involving interviews of choreographers who gave one on one tips and advice. One of the websites who have efficient articles involving dance reviews and interviews as well as different hip-hop dance cultures is New York Times - Dance Art.  

April Blog Post

          For this month i did a few things that helped me for my senior project. I made a few choreographies for different occasions. For one i did choreography for someomes sweet 16, its a bit frustrating due to the fact that a lot of people learning the piece are people who i dont know and never danced before but want to be in the sweet 16. Its ok though because its a good learning experience for me to learn how to teach people like that. Another routine i made was for someones performance for a tv show and thats a great experience for me because it makes me work under stress and pressure which is a good choreographer's skill. And Last but not least i worked with my company and my mentor im doing a last competition before summer starts and its pretty much the same as we did before, like practicing and formations and getting in sync with the team and just getting ready for the pressure and excitement competition gets us.

Independent Component 2

Independent Component 2 

Title:  Independent Component 2
Label:  Independent Component
Due Date:  Monday, 4/27 by 8AM

Content:  

LITERAL

(a) “I, Brandon Salinas, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 45 hours and 50 minutes of work.”

(b) The book "Hip Hop Dance (The American Dance Floor)" by Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar, as well as Urban Dance Camp channel on youtube.com has helped me achieve what i needed to learn for this component. 

(c) My independent Component hours can be found HERE

(d) i choreographed routines and taught the choreography to people who do not know how to dance or never tried, for example the powderpuff routine. I also choreographed a routine for the dance elective for the final pep rally event. My final event i did was choreograph and teach kids for a sweet 16 surprise dance. All these consisted in having to make choreography by myself and later teach people who knew how to dance as well as people who did not learn how to dance and i gained experience from both circumstances. 
  
INTERPRETIVE

          Because my essential question is about choreography and dance performances, doing these events is a great way to get to know a better perspective in teaching and making your own routine. Having to come up and teach three routines made me use all the helpful tools i learned from these past few months. When it came to the Powderpuff routine, i had to make the meetings and choreography but let the guys who joined the team come up with which music they want to dance to. This was a great way to get the team to dance what they wanted to and become more confident with themselves as well as me having to learn how to choreograph something i did not choose to dance to, it was a win win experience. The many hours of practice with the boys made me realize my best answer for this project, which is having to know how to practice in any type of environment, because of having to always move around due to the construction and cal poly events, like archery, to learn the routine. The performance itself was a learning experience as well, because i had to teach the guys how to make facials expressions and learn how to breathe, which falls into my first answer.

These are most of the boys at powderpuff routines, they are doing the different formations i have made for the overall routine.

This is the powderpuff routine the day of the performance, i was proud of all of them for practicing and coming to practice for almost 2 months.

          My other main part of the independent component was to make choreography and teach the guys in the dance elective for the upcoming pep rally. This was different from the powderpuff event because these guys actually have some experience in dancing so my methods of teaching were different. For one, i would teach a lot quicker with them and we would learn half of the choreography in an hour. For two, i would focus more on the little things like feet position and arm posture so all of us can be more in sync and look alike. 

These pictures were taken at one of the dancers houses for practice of the routine i taught. 

APPLIED

          overall, this independent component has helped me strongly agree about my first 2 answers for my essential question, i saw a clear understanding in how its hard to teach and practice choreography in an environment thats not meant to be dancing but having the skill to do so can greatly make your dancing and performance better in both short and long run. Teaching the boys in the dance elective was also a good way to learn about facial expressions and performing with them, because they have experience in dancing, i could focus more on other things like positions and facial expressions to get a better performance out of them. 

March Blog

          For the month of march, i did some very exciting things for my senior topic. The most important and biggest one though was the Powderpuff 2015 cheer routine. I chose this as a independent component because i was teaching people who never danced before a feel of choreography as well as music pick and getting to know how their body moves. I would spend every Tuesday and Thursday and sometimes Wednesday on 4th block going into after school teaching all the guys new choreography and teaching them what formations were and how to apply them to our routine and i taught them counts and steps and etc. What i loved about teaching the powderpuff team was that all the people who joined wanted to voluntary, and were my friends so it was fun showing my friends about dancing. What was also exciting was that it gave them confidence well enough to actually perform our routine in front of the school even when they have no experience in dancing, which that really gave me joy in my heart knowing that i caused that confidence and self respect towards each other.
       
          Other then Powderpuff i did my mentorship hours learning new choreography at the studio. We have new members who joined the team a few weeks ago so we are training them how to hit hard and learn when to danced softly.

This is the Powderpuff team after our performance. I am proud of each one of them for attending practice every week and being patient in my teaching.

Blog 17: Third Answer

1.  What is your EQ?

          What is the best way to impact the public with dance?

2.  What is your third answer? 

          The best way to impact the public with dance is through the benefits of Exercising to keep yourself in mint condition for performance.

 3. List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.

          The first reason i chose exercising is because you need your body to function the way you want it to without having limits. For example if we are doing a set that last 5 minutes, you should be able to dance AND perform for 5 minutes without slowing down or losing performance. 

          The second reason i chose exercising is because it makes your memory better for absorbing the choreography. I read an article to prove my statement by stating the more you exercise, the better you body can function and so you focus more on remembering the choreography instead of getting tired easily.

          The third reason why i chose exercise is for health reasons. Being out of shape and dancing is not a good combo as you can injure yourself during practice and not be able to perform. I had a friend who used to be in the company i dance in and because he did not stretch and exercise the way the director told us to, during competition right before going on stage we did the set and his leg cramped up and would not get better so he couldn't perform.

4.The research source (s) to support your details and answer

          https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201310/why-is-dancing-so-good-your-brain

this source was the one i stated above how is explained to why dancing is good on the brain and how exercising is good for remembering choreography and improving your performance.

5.Concluding Sentence

          To conclude, all my answers link with one another so i believe exercising is the best answer to link up with performing and practice to get the most out of your performance.