KAREN: Do you know how to wiggle?
Do you have emotions?
Great!
You have everything YOU need to start learning Contemporary Dance!
Hey, my name is Karen Chuang
and I've been dancing for 25 years,
studied and taught Contemporary Dance for 15 years,
and traveled ALL over the world to share my artistry
through performance and education.
Today, I'm gonna share with you what Contemporary Dance is
and how to get started with learning it!
Don't forget, if you enjoy this video
and wanna see more fun, educational dance content,
to LIKE this video and subscribe!
Contemporary is a dance style that pulls techniques
from traditional, codified styles like Ballet or Jazz.
But- it breaks away from their strict constructs.
The style is more about how YOU tap into your personal expression,
rather than how perfect your form is!
There is no right OR wrong!
"But if that's the case, how am I supposed to learn something"
"that has no right or wrong??"
Well let's have a little bit of a history for context, shall we?
The style is a CONTINUATION of what many of us know as Modern Dance.
At the turn of the century,
Ballet and Vaudeville were the prevailing concepts of dance in America.
Ballet is a style that focuses on precise, RIGID forms and storytelling.
and Vaudevilles were light, musical dramas,
mostly comedic in nature.
However...
Modern Dance wasn't.
Most dance forms at the time were performed for entertainment value,
mainly by way of AMAZING technique or show-stopping moves.
The goal of Modern WASN'T entertainment.
It was a REBELLION against the rules and rigidness of Ballet,
and the pursuit of artistic freedom.
It helped lay a foundation for personal expression
to be widely accepted as art within dance,
which at the time,
was virtually unheard of in the Western world.
Contemporary Dance originally combined techniques
from forms like Modern, Ballet and Jazz INTO one form.
But now you can even find techniques
and other movement practices inspired by Hip Hop
AND other street dance styles.
Because of the ever-evolving and adaptive nature of Contemporary,
it is a uniquely interpretive genre of dance.
Think of Contemporary Dance like the chocolate aisle at a grocery store.
Even if all the chocolates have a similar base and foundation,
there are still a VAST variety of flavors that come from different balances of
milk, sugar, cocoa, and miscellaneous add-ins.
In parallel, because there's SO much room for interpretation in Contemporary Dance,
what each teacher chooses to emphasize through the movement
can be REALLY different.
You can find styles of Contemporary that are
really focused on acrobatics and athleticism.
And other styles of Contemporary that really focus on textures and emotions.
Now that you understand a brief summary of what Contemporary dance is,
let's go over a bit of what YOU need to get started.
Wear clothing that doesn't restrict your range of motion
like comfortable pants or a t-shirt.
You can wear socks if the bottoms of your feet are really sensitive or,
you can be barefoot to avoid slipping.
Also avoid body-con dresses or super short shorts,
especially on days that we're doing floor work.
Also avoid clothing that makes you feel TOO comfortable, like your PJ's.
We're still gonna be working hard and sweating!
Try to create enough space
so that you have your body's length distance in radius around you.
Tuck away any sharp edges or corners,
and make sure to sweep and wipe down your floor.
We're gonna get REAL connected with the ground!
It's great to start off with music that has a clear, melodic pattern.
This will help you get used to listening to musicality.
Think.. Adele or Jason Mraz.
But beyond that,
choose music that IGNITES your imagination and emotions.
DON'T skip warm-up
OR cool down!
Some great warm-ups to do include cardio,
lunges,
Pliés in parallel (and turned out),
ankle rolls,
and forward folds!
You can go to a local dance studio,
or, you can learn through the magic of
STEEZY Studio online dance classes.
And only there, will you have me as your instructor
in a 10-days' Intro to Contemporary program.
We'll provide some exercises rooted in Ballet AND Jazz technique,
that'll help YOU build coordination
and shape your body to be more mobile and stable.
We'll also go over how to connect your emotion with movement.
There will even be some new ways to learn Contemporary outside of choreography,
like with the guided improv classes
that take away the fear of improvisation.
Keep a journal on hand so that you can jot down
any initial reactions you might have as you learn.
KENT: And when that instrumental kind of–
flooded in it made me feel SUSTAINED-
like I was in space,
like there were multiple options for this character to
go in whatever direction that they needed to go.
KAREN: This way, you can acknowledge your emotional reactions,
negative or positive,
let it out,
and then refocus your attention.
And that's it!
If you enjoyed this video,
please give us a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel.
And if you wanna begin YOUR Contemporary Dance journey,
make sure to visit STEEZY.CO
to sign up for your 7-day FREE trial to start dancing!
Buh-bye~!