Excavating the Archives – Don’t Miss These Posts!

I hereby declare Fridays links day on Dance Advantage!

One of my goals at Dance Advantage is to connect readers to other places and spaces online so that you don’t have to search high and low for great resources yourself! Generally Fridays will be a day to point you elsewhere in this world wide web. However, because it is the nature of blogs to feature the latest posts and entries, older posts can get buried. So, I thought I’d kick things off by “kinecting” you to some older posts within Dance Advantage that you may have missed!

(Bonus! All of these posts contain links to other sites! — Talk about Kinected!)

1. Costume Crisis – What to do when dance costume companies fail you at recital time
2. Fostering Artistry in Young or Beginning Dancers - First steps: Ask a child to be creative.
   
3. DanceMom.com – A forum for dance parents
   
4. Dancing With Conscience – Dancers and dance organizations that are making a difference
   
5. Art or Not? Musings on Dance, Art, and Entertainment
6. Eye of the Beholder – This one is just for fun! Do you know which way the dancer is spinning?
7. Two Heads Are Better Than One - More wonderful online resources! Deb Vogel and Lisa Howell join forces.
8. Reflection and Journaling for Dancers – Types of journals and the usefulness of keeping a “dance diary”
9. Classic Confusion – Sorting out labels in dance like classical, modern, and contemporary.
   
10. Bullying in Dance Class - Do girls bully? You bet! Don’t miss the resources and info in this one!

Guest Post: Am I Pretty? Exploring How Costumes Can Make The Dancer

The following is a guest post by Halyma [aka Tracey, designer, TAV Creations]. She is a belly dancer and costumer, however, she offers pointers and considerations on costuming, color, and expressing oneself through their own creations which can be applied to all other dance styles. She is encouraging even for those hopeless with a needle and thread (like me!). Hopefully her ideas will inspire you to try budget-friendly homemade (or hand-decorated) costumes for your next dance performance.

A Bit About My Background

I have been sewing since I was about 12 years old. With a mom who taught me, and a grandmother who had been making me fun stuff since I was really young, I loved the entire concept of making things. I was into every craft I could get my hands on, often the only child in the class who was allowed to use the real scissors when working on school projects! I was also taller than everyone else, and that extra physical capability served me well, as my hands would have been a bit bigger too!

Budget conscious, and creative, I made a lot of my own clothes in high school. I was so used to our good sewing machine at home, that I actually refused to use the cheaper machines at the school, only cutting my home-ec projects out there, and taking them home to sew them. I had a note…!

From early on, I loved making costumes. I also wanted to be a dancer, but never really pushed for any kind of lessons as a child, so i suspect that is what has allowed me a happier approach to dance as an adult. The costumes I would make were, in general, either sci-fi related [older brother got me hooked on Sunday morning Star Trek] or pretty. Togas with beautiful draping, 50′s poodle skirts, and one shouldered dresses were some of my favorite teen creations.

Then I Fell For Belly Dancing…

Moving on to post-design school and many years of bridal couture working with another designer, while serving my own clients on my own time… I began to take belly dance classes. I had already explored ballroom, and loved it, but having no partner limits your adventures there, so belly dance caught me in its sparkly web and there I remain!

Talk about your pretty costumes! What can be more feminine than draping of chiffon, sequins and beads glittering over you, and every asset accented with form and color?

I love hand beading, and there is something wonderful about adding your own embellishments to a plain piece to make it your own. Much time is spent taking “found pieces” and making them into something new – upcycling might be the term these days! I have worked with sequined dresses from a second hand store, jewelry from decades past or that discount shop, and some purchased coin belts or fringe to make elegant and flattering pieces for clients.

What if you don’t sew? There are some seriously capable dancers out there who have such skill with a glue gun that a sewing needle has never touched their delicate fingers. I have been amazed at how beautiful their costumes look on stage, seen from a distance. Up close, they may be a bit rough for my taste, but since a dancer is usually moving and mesmerizing her audience, imperfections usually go unnoticed.

Visual First Impressions

Your costume is the first expression of your dance, before you even start to move. Color and texture are very important to costumes – this should go without saying, but an interesting journey is taken by many belly dance students when they choose their first pieces. Black.

I was also a victim of this mysterious myth: Black makes you look slimmer in regular clothes, so it should work the same way in belly dance pieces right? Well, not always.

If you are at all on the paler shade of flesh tones, and are planning a bare midriff, the covered parts will look smaller, but everything else, belly, arms, head stands out in sharp contrast, and will actually look a bit larger in comparison.

When dancing in a dark club or on a stage with a black backdrop, from a distance, this contrast can have the effect of disembodied parts…kind of funky, but maybe not. You are hoping to show off your skill of hip movements, but no one can really see them clearly since they are the same color as the back drop. Using black mesh as  a midriff  cover can be helpful in the slimming area, but flesh tone can work just as well.

Costuming Based on Dance Style

Costume Crisis

I recently read a post at Citystreams about a color guard uniform order gone wrong. It was an all-too-familiar account that I know many dance studios face year after year as recitals approach. Costume companies are a hot topic on dance message boards each spring.

Humans all make mistakes. However, if a costume company has made a mistake and customer service has failed to recognize or meet your needs when time is of the essence, it is hard to know what to do. Interestingly enough, a reader at Citystreams (who also happens to be a Customer Relations Manager) posted some great advice for dealing with problems of this kind.

Please read her entire response here. Below is my paraphrasing of her advice.

1. Call the company and demand to speak with the manager (or higher). Do not hang up until your request is granted or, if you must end the call, be persistent and continue to call back.
2. Write a letter that clearly states your problem and overnight it to the attention of the company president (be sure to keep a copy). Add photos of your students wearing the costumes if they don’t fit. You could probably also include photos of poorly constructed or damaged costumes if this suits your case.
3. Keep all documentation of the order, shipping details, and keep a record of each interaction with company representatives (don’t forget to get names).
4. Suggest that the company take care of your problem by the performance date or you will take legal action. Make sure you follow through on any threats, however.
5. Do what you have to make sure your dancers are costumed for their performance. If you need to have the costumes altered or if you’ve had to find replacements in a hurry, keep all receipts.
6. Spread the word that you’ve had problems with this company, particularly if your issue is not resolved. Report them to the Better Business Bureau.

I think some key points here are that studio owners must stay organized when dealing with costume companies. Most studios order from multiple companies. It is easy to make mistakes or misread catalogs and information can get lost in the shuffle. It can be very confusing when you’re also preparing other aspects of a performance so keep excellent records for each costume ordered. Don’t wait until something goes wrong to make sure you have all the documentation needed to support your case.

Do any of you have suggestions to add that may help others when facing a costume crisis?

Using Photographs as Inspiration for Choreography

Whether you are a teacher looking for new recital dance ideas, or a budding student choreographer, we could all use a little inspiration from time to time.  Photographs are a great way to get the creative juices flowing. Here is how one choreographer tied his existing dance to photographs, making both come alive.  This is certainly one way to give your choreography new dimension. However, as I read the article, I began contemplating ways one could use photography as a starting point.  These could also be great exercises for those participating in or instructing a composition/choroegraphy workshop.

• Compile a series or grouping of photographs and put them in order (randomly or deliberately) and re-create the photo with dancers in a tableaux.  Then decide how to move between them.
• Choose personal photographs (from childhood or a special time in your life) and use them to bring you back to that time period, set the mood for the dance, or become characters in your narrative/story.
• Choose a single photograph that speaks to you.  The colors and style of the photograph can inspire lighting or costuming.  Even if there are no people in the photograph, your dancers and their movement can evoke the emotions or feeling of the image.  You can even project the photo on your backdrop.
• Here’s another unique idea, using photographers as the subject of choreography.

There are lots of possibilities. Perhaps old Hollywood glamour photos will inspire black and white costuming and lighting effects to simulate flashbulbs.  Perhaps a wide landscape photo will inspire large, open movement with broad and sweeping music.  Historical photos could help re-enact moments from our nation’s past. An entire program or your next recital could be filled with dances that are inspired by photographs/photography.  Remember, there are no limits other than your imagination and no wrong way of using the photograph(s) as a jumping off point.

What are some of your ideas for using photography as a starting point for choreography?