You T(oo)ube Can Do It!

The wonderful thing about the internet today is that it allows for the access of endless information. You can find the lyrics to any song, the best deals on airfare, people you knew in elementary school, even a satellite picture of your own house. Amazing. scary. and sometimes pathetic.

Since being created in 2005, YouTube has been on of the most successful sites in regards to displaying, sharing, and promoting professional and amateur videos. It's a vessel for those with a creative mind to get their talent (or sometimes lack there of) out into the world and become known for it. It's also a site where you can see a lot of crap. Yes, most of us keep our eyes out for the latest Dejan Tubic video or what Lady Gaga is about to affect the world with. But there is so much more within the dance world than just commericalized movement.

I typed the word "dance" into the Youtube search and was disappointed with the initial results.  Evolution of dance. That was from 5 years ago..snore. A flashmob for t-mobile (wish I had found Mberg's first one)..then that wedding dance we all know....
Alright, so then I decided to type in "modern dance".

Well if you're interested in learning about Modazz, press play below.

I certainly hope you enjoyed that. Well along with this interesting video, came several hundred studio/competition dances that many of us have watched from time to time. Some=amazing. Some=mediocre. It really is a matter of opinion, but either way, we're watching, right?

In regards to dance, the most appalling thing I've seen, something many of us dancers know of, is Expert Village. Poor dancing, poor "instruction", lots of false information. I refuse to even put an example of one of their videos on here because I will not advertise such a poor demonstration of movement. Youtube is free and unfortunately that leaves it open for a lot of bad material and promotion of inaccurate information, but with good education, we know what to avoid.

Through some digging, I found some videos that I find to be pretty brilliant. Some you've seen, some you may have not. Yep, there's a Beyonce video in there. What I want is for you to go searching. Look for inspiration. Create your own videos. Put your material out there. Someone will watch it :]

 

Dance, dance, dance!

If you're going to put your name all over it, then you have to own up to everything about it.

I was at my mall job yesterday-what was supposed to be a mid-shift. At a certain point in the day, my other coworker was supposed to come and he was the associate to close the store for the day. Well that point in the day came and passed with no sign of him and it was time for me to find out what the deal was.
me: Are you coming into work today?
him: what are you talking about?
me: you work from 2-6 close.
him: i didn't know. im in ac. i can't get there.
me: well ok then.

He proceeded to ask me to lie to my manager and tell him that he had called early on to let me know he couldn't make his shift and that I was ok with it. He must have been seriously hungover. Or just stupid. It's not my problem that he was irresponsible and did not want to deal with the consequences and it is not in my interest or the  interest of my company to let it go unnoticed.

After I moved on from my little rant, the situation made me think about how we as creating artists need to take responsibility for the art we put out into the world.

Rule #1:

If you have to apologize or make excuses for the work you produce, you have no business putting it out there.

You chose the music, the dancers, the costumes (in most cases), the lighting, the movement, and the issue at hand. If someone doesn't like your choice of accompaniment or what you decided to take a stance on, say thank you and move on. When you begin to doubt or apologize for something you have created or believe in, you let your work slip out of your hands and into the scrutiny of someone who may not really understand what they just witnessed. Take control, defend your work, OWN IT, no matter what someone else thinks...otherwise what the hell are you doing making dance?

Rule #2:

Never make a statement about a topic/situation/person for which you do not know all of the information regarding said topic/situation/person.

If you are going to create a piece revolving around something such as...I don't know, maybe, women's health care ;)...you better know everything about it. Yes my most successful piece has been about women's healthcare and it was because I looked up everything I could find about it. I looked up state and federal laws, youtube links to senator speeches, personal accounts, debates between democrats and republicans, future plans discussed with the president...the list goes on. That way I knew the many opinions on the subject and could make a sound and logical stance that I believed needed to be revealed and explored through movement. I was not only proud of what I created, but I could defend it because I knew all of the information.

Rule 3#

If something does not turn out the way you envisioned, do not blame outside factors.

As hard as we may try, not all of our work will be successful. (This still does not allow for excuses or apologies, see #1). Sometimes we run out of time or cannot figure out the best way to get our point of view across. It happens. This does not signify failure but rather demonstrates that there is always a way to improve upon a piece or the work that you do. Again, do not apologize for what you produce or make the excuse that you ran out of time-instead acknowledge that it is still a work in progress..and probably always will be. Also, never blame your dancers. You are the choreographer, it is your job to make sure you tell your dancers what they should be doing, when to do it, and why they are doing it. And if they're defiant or unable to do what you want, then you replace them. Remember, this is your creation. Take control.


And finally,

Rule #4:

As much as you think you have been the first to "create a step," chances are you're definitely NOT the first.

It's 2012. That fall to the knee thing? Yeah, been done for years. But it's ok!!! It's all about your intent (yep...see below)

But if you put in movement that you like or feels good-whatever-just make sure that your point of view/intent is made clear through that movement. Your dance might have a side leap and someone else's dance might have a side leap, but you must take responsibility of what that side leap means. That is how you make it yours. Don't get offended when someone does that weird thing with their hand just the way you've done it in a past piece. It has a whole different meaning behind it than yours did (hopefully). But remember if you see something you like and want to use it in your work, make sure you have your own intent...that is how you take responsibility of your work.

and just a life rule...show up on time and respect others. :]

Life isn't about finding yourself, it's about creating yourself.

December 31st. Otherwise known as New Year's Eve. And I could not be more ready to start a new year.

A lot of people say they go to college to find themselves, which I believe to be very true. But unfortunately the real world can alter these "selves" that we so want to be. This is not a bad thing; it just forces us to adapt to our surroundings and become the best "whatever" we can be in the given circumstances.

But there are times when we lose sense of our true self because we are trying to thrive in a place that may not be able to foster what we want to do or be. Again, this is not a bad thing because it makes our creative brain figure out how we can both do what we need to do and what we want to do.

                  

10 Rules I plan to live by from this day forward (I will not say New Year's resolutions because these are for a  lifetime and the term "resolution" is associated with failure in my opinion):

1. I will stop letting others determine my level of happiness.

2. Always remember that family will be there for eternity.

3. Dance every day. Even if it means flailing around like a crazy person.

4. I will eat food that makes me feel good and IS good for my body. And use it as a way to connect to other people.

5. Read. Read about what's going on in the world, not which Kardashian just bought some weird new-breed dog that's called a labra-snoodle-shihtz-on-a-boxerweiler.

6. Choreograph. Apply to festivals. Remind myself that I create relevant stuff.

7. Do not judge new people on what others have done to me. Yes, people will disappoint me continuously (cough, cough..men..cough). But in order to love and make new friends, I must be willing to let the past be in the past and to be open to those who want to be open with me. Getting hurt is part of the process, but then it becomes the past and you move on.

8. Keep in contact with people I went to school with. Even if it's just a hi, how are you.

9. ALWAYS look fierce. make people want to get to know me.

10. Never put all of your eggs in one basket. This goes for job applications, men, etc., until they or it can prove to ME that it's worth my time to invest everything I have in what or who I'm dealing with.


10 things I will constantly remind myself:

1. I am beautiful.
2. I am important.
3. So are other people.
4. I am lucky for my talents.
5. I am intelligent.
6. So are other people.
7. I have great friends and a wonderful family.
8. I am strong.
9. And so are other people.
10. But most importantly, I must love myself first if I am to truly and unconditionally love others.


Happy New Year :]

Time is only governed by the clocks we choose to follow

I understand. Graduating is not what we thought it would be. Or at least not all we thought it would be. Graduate, find a decent first job, look for a place to live, or someone to live with...and work our way up from there. Well graduate: check. Find a decent first job: well, check, if you counts jobs 2, 3, and 4. Look for a place to live or someone to live with. HA. I know some people were able to, but if you're like me and can't afford to pay rent AND your out-of-control student loans, it's not happening right now.

So with all of this, how do we remember to do what we love most? There's never time to dance when you need to be working from 8:30-4 at the mall and then 5-10 at a restaurant. That's the common excuse. The excuse I use all of the time. I'm tired. But really, we're all just procrastinating which in turn will force us to lose everything our body knows.

You can dance anywhere. anytime. Living room 11:00pm. Kitchen 10:30am. Sunglass hut with people staring: 9:30am-3:30pm.

You're not in school. Put on music that you like and just move...3 minutes is all it takes to feel alive again..and your body will thank you. Trust me, it will.

There is a difference between what we want and what is right. However in this case, wanting to dance will always be right because it does only good for us. It refreshes the soul, wakes us up, keeps the body in check, and allows us to express any and all emotions. So if anything, before you head to bed at night, get up and stretch or move those limbs. You'll wake up happier :]

Everyone has their drug..fortunately mine is dancing.

So Friday would not have been complete without a drive up to the berg to take a class with the well-known and much-admired Charles O. Anderson as well as seeing many of my favorite people perform in SMT's The Music Man.

I know people think I'm crazy. Taking off work to go take a class and see a few people. But it's totally worth it. Even when you only make the last half hour of a class.

After having my car worked on (thanks dad) I showed up 90 minutes late to what appeared to be a very vigorous class after getting stuck on 287 due to an accident that everyone had to slow down and look at, as well as getting locked outside of Brown because Campus Safety sucks.

Normally it would be extremely rude to just interrupt a class this late, but because of the setting and the people, showing up late is better than not showing up at all.

I'm sure some people think I'm crazy. I drove an hour and a half just to take 30 minutes of a class. I didn't really care, I jumped right in and got as much as I could out of that small amount of time. It's like crack. You can't get enough. Everyone is sweaty, disgusting, and having the absolute time of their lives...all while cheering everyone else on.

Instead of a "how dare you walk in so late reaction" I got instead the "omg you made it, what the heck took you so long" reaction. And that is why I enjoy it so much. It's the passion inside everyone and the love for the collective group that makes classes like these worth the extra time.

I can dance anywhere and be happy, but the problem at home is that I don't know anyone (my age at least) that has as much joy and love for something as I do for dance and taking class. And that's why people don't get my strong ambition to continue with it and do what I do. Not only that...most people around here don't even know how I perform, create, choreograph etc. If you're in Woodbridge, you tend to "stay" in Woodbridge, not only physically, but oh so mentally. Small-town state of mind in a not so small township. The notion of dance around here is revolved around recitals, high-school theater choreography and whatever is on sytycd along with commercialized movement. They don't know what else is out there so the excitement that I recieve from other forms of dance and taking classes like those at Muhlenberg aren't necessarily understood or appreciated. It's kind of isolating in one way, frustrating in another, and yet drives me to try and expand people's perceptions of the huge world of physical art.

Muhlenberg is a bubble. Was a bubble. But there are bubbles everywhere. Woodbridge is a bubble...one that I left for four years and then came back to, just to find the same people, with the same issues,  the same relationships, and the same mentality. A mentality that I used to have (didn't think I had...but I definitely had) but don't anymore. My family had a leg up on that one, spending a large portion of their lives growing up and living in Brooklyn, but of course I didn't want to believe them...I had to fit in here growing up. Going away to college opened my eyes to what my family already knew, and in a way it kind of sucks. But in another way it pushes me to go beyond this place, do bigger and better things than those who are "stuck" here. I have my family to thank for that as well as my own dreams of becoming someone different.
So I don't connect with as many people around here anymore. So what? I didn't come back home in order to revert to my high school days and times, but rather to get my life in order, plan things out, and prepare to start my own life.

As I've said before, it's not going to be easy, but at least I'm ready to face the challenge.

There really is a difference between being ambitious...and just trying too hard.

I like detail. I also really like knowing what I'm supposed to be doing, what I need, and where I should be at during a normal day. I'm extremely time-conscious (always, and by always i mean always, early) and prepared for what I have to do. but sometimes, I learn to go with the flow. and sometimes, that turns out to be for the better....

i had my interview at the Adelaide L. Sanford Charter school in Newark yesterday to be their substitute dance teacher for the next school year. I was up against this other girl who had just graduated from NYU's masters program for dance education....which, while impressive, made me wonder why this girl with her full certification was applying for a part-time job so far from home when she should be applying to be a regular teacher. well, the job market is competitve it seems...

this growing school has a committed, open, and honest staff with equally respectful students. we were shown around the building and classrooms, and as we entered each, the students rose, said welcome and good morning, and went back to their studies. amazing.
after getting some info and taking a tour, we each had to show solo dance material.

Now let me just say, I came across this job via NJhire, a very resourceful site for teachers, and the description said that the school was looking for a sub dance teacher who could show some knowledge of african dance. With that being said, it would probably be a good idea to show african-based or influenced movement. right?

Well at first I thought this other girl was intimidating. Got into NYU, has her certification, listing off these names of teachers that she has worked with, blah.blah.blah. She whips out a whole portfolio with lesson plans, dvds of choreography, and has 2 pieces of music with the same choreography to show how the intent of the movement can change. damn. 

why hadn't i prepared more? when the woman called me for the interview, she told me to just have two, 3-minute pieces ready to perform.

well, they told me that, because that's all they wanted to see. they didn't want to see what i could choreograph, or any of that extra stuff-just if i,could move! they didn't want to see a lesson plan...just me. and that's where the lack of over-planning worked.

after we each presented our movement, there was feedback and a random question-type interview.
all i will say is that the material presented by this other "contender" did not convince me that NYU was the "best school in the country for dance ed." as quoted by the girl herself. because what came next seemed to prove it even more...

ok so, no, i have not student taught yet. remember, fake it til ya make it, and I've taught enough in private studios as well as studied enough to know the basics of subbing in a school and how to work with children and the tougher issues that may come along with them.

The principal asked us each a few questions after we had danced, and they were not the kind of questions one would necessarily prepare for...and unfortunately for this one girl I was up against, something she had ever even considered....

Of course we were both asked the standard question: why should we hire you? Easy. Then there was: what is your teaching style and how do you make it work in different settings? Easy, but required thought.

but then came the question that miss-over-prepared completely stumbled on and couldn't even fathom an answer for: What do you do when a student and/or their parent has a problem with you and will not listen because you are a Caucasian woman?

yeah. she was asked to answer first. and it seemed to completely blow her mind that she would encounter such a situation. Her first response was that she would ignore it, not acknowledge it, and not allow it to happen in her classroom.
In a way I felt bad for her and the response, but only because she didn't realize everything that she represented in society.

You can't ignore what is real. The students are 98% african american, and the other 2% are a mix of other ethnicities-definitely not caucasian. The faculty is primarily african american, so someone who is different and is considered the minority is not going to be seen the same way as those that make up the majority. It's the same in any setting unfortunately. It made it very clear that this woman who I was up against, although older, was still naive and unexposed to the realities of diverse cultures. You're in freakin Newark. What did she expect?

Overall I think that my answers, my poise, my relaxed attitude and collected self did very well and I hope to hear back from this school with a positive outcome.

Muhlenberg, you taught me, and prepared (but not over-prepared) me well.

sometimes...you really just have to believe in yourself

Unfortunately, we will all come across many people who will try to push us down. make us believe that we cannot make it. that we have no true talent or don't know the "right" people. and sometimes we will believe them. but sometimes, it's better to believe in ourselves.

it took me a long time to be able to do that. in middle-into-high school, i was never the popular girl at the dance studio, so of course i wasn't considered the good one. forced to wait to go on pointe after all the others in my class, be one of the few not asked to go dance with the Knicks, and finally humiliated in front of the other families when i was publicly asked to leave the school for expressing my honest (and damn right) opinions about the attitudes running the studio. of course at that time, i felt defeated and hated, and believed the comments that I was going to go nowhere in my dance career. well...

in public high school i was also very involved (and also switched to a more positive dance studio in which i finally thrived *see previous blog entry =)*) and became very involved with the plays and choirs etc. However, again I was not considered the popular one, so I was always the dance captain, the ensemble member...never really a front runner because i wasn't "good enough". Good enough to be the help and get others more towards the top. But did I fight it? No...I believed that those people were better. strike numero dos.

Then I got to college. Little fish big pond. And I wanted to dance? What the hell was I thinking? Didn't I learn from middle school and high school that I was just a background person or the one that would make sure everyone else looked good? Apparently being knocked down a few rungs wouldn't stop me from the thing that I loved....

but first semester was a bit rough. I showed up to every audition...faculty...student..informal....lists went up..and my name wasn't on a single list. ouch. nearly every other freshmen got into at least ONE informal piece. Maybe I really was kidding myself here. NO. I'm going to try out for MINT*, Perks-anything!...I was going to dance in some way this first semester. Yeah, well, try again. Nothing. no one wanted me to dance for them. So of course this had to be it...cry a little..feel bad for myself...I wasn't going to be a dancer here. I was lucky enough to get in to this school, right? Three strikes and you're out.

Ok. so at this point, those of you who know me are like...really Maggie? I'm supposed to believe that? You've done so much at Muhlenberg...why are you complaining about the past?

Doesn't mean I didn't have to prove myself and work to get where I am.

It's proof that we will all hear a lot of "no's" before hearing a bunch of "yes'". And becoming familiar with people in power or influence helps. But when you are talented, willing to work and adapt, and are open to everything and anything, you will become something. I was discouraged for so many years because I was timid, a total pushover, and waited for the opportunity to take me by the hand. That's not how it works. When someone says "no", you have to say "screw you" and go find something else to do or someone else to work with. I have interned with an established and brilliant company, worked with some of the finest artists and creators in the dance world, produced student concerts, choreographed works, performed at dance and academic conferences, taught for multiple studios....and still got denied from Rutgers' Masters Dance Ed.M program for not having "good enough" technique. So I said thanks, but no thanks (and a big screw you), got over my self-pity after about an hour and instead got my work accepted to a festival in NY and got a few summer jobs. BAM.

Not good enough? No, I don't really believe in that anymore...and probably never really did.

Coming back home I often think about my journey to where I am now. all those people who were "good enough" back in the day are doing....what? With.....who? and are....where?

That's right. They're back where they started. Home. No job, no plans, just waiting. but waiting...doesn't really cut it.

I have an interview at a charter school in Newark, NJ tomorrow to be a substitute dance teacher for their elementary school students. I never even expected to hear back because I don't have my standard certificate for teaching. Yes, I have a sub license, but this opportunity could be big if I play my cards right. This could lead me into a full-time teaching position. Who knew? I went out on a limb and look where it took me.

I have to perform movement tomorrow so that they know I can dance. Can I dance? Yeah, there's no question anymore. At first when I found out I had to prepare 6 minutes of movement, I freaked out thinking...oh no? do they need to see movement that I could teach K-5th grade? What style should it be? What's the appropriate musice..what do I wear....do I need a title?

Then they tell me all they want to see is if I can dance. that's it? ohhh...get ready.

Good enough. no one else has the right to judge if your being, your existence is good enough because who are they to decide? those people who were judging me all of those years ago had no idea what they were dealing with and who they might have to deal with in the future. Focus, dedication, passion, communication, contacts, openness-it will lead you to what you want. I don't have a million bucks, 1200 facebook friends, 180-degree turnout, or the answers to all the questions.

but I'm proud, grateful and extremely open to all possibilities.

and i make it work.