“Talent Is So Overrated”

Often times we hear the quote, “Practice Makes Perfect” which is true if one spends a lot of time in something they want to get better at. On the other hand, some believe that if one has talent, they are capable in achieving their passion. Although there is no right or wrong in what you believe, I feel that ‘talent’ comes from practice.

            In the article I was reading from Freakonomics, it stated how although everyone does not have equal potential to everything, it is practice that makes perfect more than the influences of talent, that talent is overrated. It explained how if one is very passionate about something and would practice it many times, it would get them closer to perfection regardless the talent within. The article used an example of an essay by Jacques d’Amboise, who was the main dancer in George Balanchine’s New York City Ballet, and explained how he had practiced over and over again which lead him to become a excellent performer on stage.

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/01/08/practice-makes-perfect-revisited/

            On the other hand, in another article called “Natural Talent of Practice Makes Perfect?” Caitlin McCabe identifies the difference between the two ideas. She states herself as having a natural talent as a strong reader. She described how she has been reading since she was little and feels proud of having read so many books that she can identify with other readers around her. The reason she brought up the practice makes perfect was because she has attempted to try something new and attended a hip hop class for the first time. Sadly, she performed very poorly in class and could not keep up. She felt shameful and mentioned one must have talent for things like dancing. She referred to a phrase from a writer, Malcolm Gladwell who said it takes 10,000 hours of practice to be good at something. If someone practiced 10,000 hours of something, I feel that talented or not, one would be able to perform well in it.

http://modite.com/blog/2009/10/14/turn-here-natural-talent-or-practice-makes-perfect/

            The two articles have different perspectives toward talent and practice makes perfect. Positively thinking, if we are very passionate about something and practice to make perfect, I believe we would be able to achieve it. Therefore we should go for what we love and be passionate about it! Perhaps I would be very good at dancing if I spent more time to practice?

Dance Bloggers!

Contemporary Dance is a type of dance that was originated from both Europe and North America. It is a combination of different forms of dance including modern dance, ballet, and post modern dance. Contemporary dance can be choreographed into any kind of music and the forms of dance range widely. I feel that contemporary dance is choreographed onto the music, and each dance is original to its music it is being choreographed to. There are several dancers that have made contemporary dance the new form of dance including Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, and Lester Horton. Contemporary dance is all about the improvisation and the non choreographed movements that flow onto the music.

I was surfing on the net and found a blog site for dancers called dancebloggers.com. This website is inspired to bring people who blog about dance together. I thought this site was interesting where anyone who has an interest in dance could join and write about dance. The bloggers include dance teachers, choreographers, dance students, dance observers, anyone who has an interest in dance. Any blogger can add their dance blog simply by clicking on the add your blog button and fill out some required information. The submitted blogs are reviewed and posted if no violations are regulated. There are also ways in which you can “friend” people that also share blogs on this page. This website allows dance bloggers to connect and share ideas, as well as discover new things they never knew about dance. I feel this is a great way in sharing common interest on the web.

In one of the articles, there is a post about how a ballerina appeared to be too fat for her to be on stage. The post linked to an article titled, “Dance Critic Thinks Ballerina Is Too Fat”. It explained about a former ballerina hitting stage again after a birth to a child and some weight gain. On all the comments below, it talks about how the standards of the ballerina body are unhealthy. Some shared thoughts on their own anorexic and bulimic experiences of when they used to dance ballet. I feel it is unhealthy for girls to stress themselves over how much they weigh and how skinny they must look, and it scares me to how much ballerinas are striving in order to achieve their skinny body.

Here is the website:

http://www.dancebloggers.com/

Hip Hop Finale

As we get closer to the end of this semester, we have started preparing for our final performance for our hip hop class. For the last two classes, we have combined all of our raps together and our professor has assigned us in different choreographies through the performance. The show is going to be a combination of the hip hop choreography we have been working on and the nursery rhymes that each of us had turned into a rap. Although this is our final performance, we have only gotten a total of two practices to get this together. We will practice it one more time before the final show case. I am nervous for this performance in which I have not performed on stage every since high school for my IB dance performance. I will post the details of the showcase as soon as I get them!

Luam's posts

As I was reading some blog posts off of Luam's (My favorite choreographer) website, I came across a post about Stephen Wiltshire, a young man who creates pieces of art work through his extensive techniques and memory. One of his featured art work was the work of a Manhattan view from the skyline. Since I have been interested in art ever since I was small and even thought of attending an art school before I came to Temple, this article interested me a lot. Stephen Wilshire went on a 20 minutes helicopter ride above New York City. After seven days and twelve pens, he completed a 18ft depiction of the city which was drawn all from his memory of the short helicopter ride, not to mention it being very accurate. They say that artists are a genius of its own, but this young man is more than that.

Here is a link to Laum's blog:
http://www.luam.net/luamnet/blog/blog.html

Zumba

So it seems like I am attending Zumba class twice a week every week. I introduced my roommates to the class and they said they enjoyed it as well. Because my roommates and I don't often get a chance to mingle, I feel it is a great idea to go every week and exercise together. I like how dance brings people together. It's also good exercise and I'm glad I'm getting my exercise here because I am definitely eating more compared to when I was in Tokyo. I found out that the instructor for the Zumba class is taking the same Hip Hop class the class right after mine. She said she is a communication major just like I am as well. I'm glad to know I have something in common with the instructor. Speaking of hip hop, our professor has started preparing us for the final performance. Apparently we are performing the dance routine along with some of our original rap included. I need to practice the dance so I don't forget the choreography...

Philly's Best Dance Crew

Last night I attended the event Philly's Best Dance crew to see some performances of dancers in Philly. It took place in the Student Center where more than 100 people showed up to watch the show. There were about 5 different groups of dancers ranging from 10-20 people in each group. They performed three sets of 5 minute performances and were voted by the judges of who had the best performance and choreography. The group nominated to be the best dance crew was handed a $1000 check as a prize. Throughout the event there were also prizes for the audience who have purchase the raffle tickets. The prizes consisted of ipods and gift cards. At the end there was a dance off to win an ipod and people stepped up on the stage to have a dance battle and show off their moves. It was a very energetic event and I enjoyed it very much.

On a different night I attended a dance workshop provided by the Temple Fitness Center called Zumba. Zumba is a kind of exercise and dance that originated in Colombia which consists of Latin movement on modern music. It was a 60 minute workout of non stop music and movement. There were more than 50 participants in the class and everybody seemed to be enjoying the workout. My plan is to go twice a week after my hip hop class to get my exercise.