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Dance Your Warmup
Karen Cross
Have you ever been to a dance concert or competition when your attention
kept being pulled toward dancers that had a "certain something"? It was
an intangible magnetism and you were unable to take your eyes off them!
Yes, it's true. We perform what we rehearse. Dancers, actors, singers,
musicians, and athletes with excellence as their goal, practice performance
focus and concentration. Why wait until your performance piece is mastered
to try to "turn on" the performance electricity? There is no special switch.
The most compelling dancers are those that communicate. Whether it is simply
to express that the lines and shapes we create with our bodies are beautiful,
that we are strong, cool, and dynamic, or even that we are having more
fun in three minutes than most people have all year!
Dance becomes an integral part of the dance. Over time, no conscious
effort is needed. Movements become embedded in a dancer's physical memory
and excellence in dance is developed through refinement. For example, the
execution of a fourth position plie' by an experienced dancer looks differently
than the same movement attempted by a beginner. However, technically exquisite
pieces danced without performance skill result in a superficial delivery.
Dance is a language communicated through the body. Why not warm up every
aspect of being a dancer and not just the physical?
One way to create charismatic, compelling performances is to design
fun warm-ups that not only reinforce good technique, but also develop performance
skills. Instructors can teach performance skills as an integral part of
their dancers' training. All too often, performance skills are postponed.
When they become embedded in a dancer, as does the movement vocabulary,
expression becomes far greater than a superimposed smile used to mask an
uncommunicative dancer. Once the dance piece is technically mastered for
an impending performance, this choice is made for lack of an alternative.
No need to postpone developing performance skills exclusively for the time
spent rehearsing the performance routine. Weaving their application into
a choreographed warm-up routine provides the perfect opportunity.
Designing a warm-up with the integration of performance skills is also
a really good time. Begin by determining the technical goals of the warm-up
with the level of your group in mind. Compose various combinations, for
example, to enhance flexibility and turnout, balance and extensions or
strength and endurance. Create an outline that includes the technical elements
to best serve your purpose. Include center floor work, too. A pirouette
progression beginning with the quarter turn, then half turn, then finally,
the full turn can eventually produce double and triple turns. An entire
fifteen to twenty-minute segment devoted to turns can also serve the underlying
objectives of balance, strength, and proper alignment.
There are three keys for transforming a series of warm-up exercises
into a routine that develops performance skills. The first key is to insert
transitions between exercise combinations. Kick-ball-change, pas de bourre',
three-step-turn, pivot, and chasse' are simple examples, easily inserted
and used in performance routines as well.
The second key to enhance this learning experience is through the music.
Music is much more functional than just providing ambiance during the warm-up.
Select music to mesh with and compliment the outline of exercises designed
for the warm-up routine. Music is emotional and emotions inspire movement.
The movement enhances the message and feeling communicated.
It is best to initiate each combination on the first beat of the musical
phrase unless the purpose of the routine is to teach the team how to dance
"off" the musical phrase (as in having three, five, or seven beat dance
phrases set against a 4/4-meter). The dancers will feel natural and more
focused when moving "on " or with the musical phrase. Record the warm-up
music the same way you'd record for a performance. Title the warm-up music
and include notes. You're building a terrific resource.
The third key is golden. It has to do with intention, concentration,
and the concept of dance as a multi-task endeavor. Expression from a dancer
is the by-product of mental activity. Each combination within the warm-up
routine becomes a dance within a dance. Dancers take an idea that the music
and/'or lyrics inspire and individually create a mental mini-drama to match.
Keep them simple: 'You stood me up!'; 'The sun feels so warm'; 'I AM SOMEBODY!';
'Keep me covered. I'm goin' in'; 'I'll always be there for you'; 'Nobody
tells me what to do'; 'We're throwing the biggest party!', etc. There are
endless possibilities.
About five different routines can be taught throughout the school year.
Work with each routine for approximately six or seven weeks. A new warm-up
routine is then introduced during the final week of the previous one. The
length of the routine can vary. Forty-five minutes is good prior to working
on travel patterns or rehearsing performance pieces.
Transitions, music, and intentions: the time and effort invested will
be rewarded with truly charismatic performances!
Karen Cross
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Currently teaches the dance program to youth and adults in Juneau, Alaska
at Juneau Racquet Club
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25 years experience in various aspects of dance including instructor, choreographer,
dancer, singer, and actress
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B.F.A. from Wayne State University in Theatre
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