Dance Anthropology

Dance Anthropology
I came to the Center Stage dance studio (800 North 1200 West in Orem, Utah) on May, 17. I usually take classes of jazz dance there. This time I was the audience of teenage girls, who were not older than fifteen. Unfortunately, I didn’t see a single boy in the class. Most of them were children from middle class average American families. One of the girls was Italian-American with a beautiful last name Fellini, all others had very typical last names, such as Smith, Wilson, etc. This particular room had one glass wall so everybody who walked by the building could see the dancers. It was a class full of light and fresh air because of the open door and windows. There were mirrors on three other walls.
It was a beginners’ class. The playlist is full of the top-40 hits of winter-spring 2010. Fast “Soldier” by Britney Spears played twice for a fast warm up. They started with their feet shoulder-width apart. Girls were holding their arms slightly out to the sides with their palms facing forward. After doing simple exercises for the neck and shoulders they worked out on the abs. The teacher stood in demi-plie, then pushed into a forced arch deeping her plie and bringing the arms straight out to the front putting palms down. Stretching took them about ten minutes. Fifteen minutes later the class started working on jazz routine. I heard very familiar music, it was “And all that jazz” that I’m sure was in “Chicago” musical. They did lots of cross over with their hands, kicking, jete-battements, split jumps.
They started with a jazz square, which is a smooth step in which a dancer completes a square with four steps. After a moment I understood that Fellini was the main dancer of the routine. Later a chair appeared on the “stage”. Standing in a second position she slightly bent her knees, moved her hips to the right and to the left not moving shoulders. Her hands were hanging relaxed. Soon she was joined by other girls slithering across the floor. Fellini sat on a chair moving only her hands and fingers, which pushed and pulled the air around her; she looked like a musical puppeteer. The whole dance made me feel like it was late thirties outside. I could imagine these girls in shiny sparkling short dresses with short hair and nice little hats. It felt like these girls were feeling free and more independent who enjoyed themselves. They looked like flexible cats that finally went out for a walk on the roof.
The energy was very strong as for the beginners. The power from Fellini’s kick extended beyond her body impacting the other girl far away whose head and torso laid back and created a 90 degrees corner.
The audience understood that the leader of the group showed her strength scaring others, showing off her skills and power.
Later they started working on the second part of the dance; it has not been finished yet.
If that dance was geometry, I would say that was full of squares, it was horizontal – girls were bending their knees not jumping too high or falling too low as in contemporary dance or ballet.
Fellini danced like a professional, maybe she should go to the advanced class. Her moves were following the rhythm. Her finger flips were loud and precise. In comparison to a short girl on the background, who did not know all the moves and was definitely new in the class. Her movement was not consistent from left side to right side. For her, arm placement got very inaccurate at times; her main focus seemed to be leg placement. She was trying to count all the time and didn’t feel the rhythm which was the main reason she had to stop several times. The girl also was too occupied by watching others dance and not looking in the mirror to watch her own moves.
Fellini was the one who made the performance.
Beautiful moves changed from slow and flowing into sharp and fast were a pleasure to watch.
This class helped me realize how important it is to think less and enjoy a dance more. It is important to follow the bit not just count. I enjoyed watching their dance and feel the passion some of the dancers were able to express.