Blog 16: Independent Component 2 Approval

 

Examples of videos that other dancers use in their portfolios

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

• For my Independent Component 2, I plan to create a dance portfolio. It would consist of a total of 8 pieces that would vary in dance styles. My 30 hours would go into perfecting and creating these pieces over the course of the next 2 months. 

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

• In order to show the evidence of these 30 hours, I would have a folder made with all of the pieces I make compiled into it. I would also take pictures of me choreographing in the studio.

3.  Explain how this component will help you explore your topic in more depth.

• This component would help me explore my topic in more depth because it requires me to have deadlines. Making 8 pieces in only the course of 2 months is definitely going to be hard so that's why I'm going to need to use time management. It would also help me explore different types of music that I could choreograph more in depth to.

4.  Post a log in your Senior Project Hours link and label it "Independent Component 2" log.

• Will do!

Independent Component 1

Content:   

• LITERAL
  (a) Write: “I, Yuji Karuhaka, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 64 hours of work.”
  (b) No sources were required in making this component.
• (d) Explain what you completed.    
• For this component, I spent a majority of my time choreographing in the studio for the three dance pieces that we were going to film for the movie. I also spent a good amount of time filming with Isaiah Maylad as well as helping him come up with a story and concept. 

• INTERPRETIVE 
  Defend your work and explain its significance to your project and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.   Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work. 

 
This picture was taken on scene while filming the "Let It Go" scene.

This was a shot taken from another one of our dance scenes.

This was a shot taken on-scene of Isaiah Maylad shooting a scene for the movie.

• APPLIED
  How did the component help you understand the foundation of your topic better?  Please include specific examples to illustrate this. 
• This component really helped me understand the pressure of being an industry dancer. i honestly thought this project was going to be a breeze because I had the idea that I just needed to choreograph some dances and perform them in front of a camera. These were things that I had done before but it was very different this time around. The environment, the outfit, and the pressure were all things that I had not been used to. For example, trying to dance at the beach in skinny jeans was definitely something that I had to adapt to. 

Blog 15 - Lesson 2 Reflection

 

1. What are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?

• I am definitely the most proud of my activity. Even though it seemed like a skeptical idea at first, I still went through with it and it went better than I thought. I really felt like it pieced my entire presentation together and it seemed like a good majority of the class was really invested in it as well.

2. a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation (self-assessment)?

•        I would give myself a P.

     b.     Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 2 component contract.

• I would give myself a P due to the fact that I met all the P requirements on the contract but I had also gone through my entire presentation without any technical problems, etc. 

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 2?

• What worked best for me in my Lesson 2 was my hook because it really helped me set the stage for what I was going to be talking about regarding emotion when dancing.

4. What didn't work? If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2?

• If I could go back, I would definitely revise my organization because at the time I thought I had a pretty solid plan but as I was presenting, it seemed like nothing flowed together.

5. What do you think your answer #2 is going to be?

• I believe that my answer #2 is going to be, "The amount of strength/power you put into your movements."

Blog 14: Third Interview Preparation

 


1.  Who do you plan to interview?  What is this person's area of expertise?

• I plan to interview my dance captain, Lauren Alvar. She is a very experienced dancer and is trained in various different dance styles, some of which include contemporary and hip hop.

2.  Verify that you have called your interviewee to schedule an interview.  What is the date and time of the interview? 

• January 24th, 2:30 pm

3.  Phrase an open-ended question that will help you find research resources that would help to answer the EQ.

• As a dancer, what impacts you the most when dancing and why?

4.  Phrase an open-ended question that will help you think about other useful activities you might do to help you answer the EQ (IC2, possible experts to talk to, etc).

• If I'm trying to learn about how to make the perfect dance piece, what do you suggest I do to reach this goal?

5.  Phrase two open-ended questions that help you to understand your interviewee's perspective on an aspect of your EQ. 

• Do you believe that choreography is done through a process that everyone generally follows? and why?
• Can you distinguish one factor that is the most important when making choreography?

Blog 13: 10 Hour Mentorship Check-In

      

1.   Where are you doing your mentorship?

• I am still doing my mentorship hours at Stylz Dance Studio located in West Covina.

2.   Who is your contact?  What makes this person an expert?

• My mentor/contact is my dance director, Elizabeth Amber Woods. She is qualified as a professional because she is not only my dance director but is also an instructor at Stylz. She has been hired for numerous industry jobs and has performed with several teams ranging from Academy of Villains to 3-23. She has been in the dance community for a majority of her life and continues to inspire many dancers in the area.

3.   How many  hours have you done during the school year? (Summer Mentorship Hours and Mentorship Hours should be reflected separately in your Senior Project Hours log located on the right hand side of your blog).

• During the school year I have completed a total of 26 mentorship hours. 

4.   Succinctly summarize what you did, how well you and your mentor worked together, and how you plan to complete the remaining hours.

• My mentor and I are pretty close considering the amount of time we've spent together these past few months. She sees a lot of potential in me that most people would just overlook. I spend a majority of my hours learning how to better understand how my body works. She explained to me that the only way to enter the industry is to understand your body in ways that you would only be able to understand. Only then would I be able to develop my own style and become more known. She teaches me choreography pieces she makes but also brings in other choreography to teach me different routines. With each new piece I learn, my mentor encourages to push me to my limits in order to better myself in execution but also performance. With all of this being said, in the future I hope to focus more on my choreography rather than learning other people's dances. For later mentorship days we plan to actually make choreography together in order to expand my dance in a more creative aspect, but also work on new things to generally better myself as a dancer.

Blog 12: Holiday Project Update

                            


1.  It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school.  What did you do over the break with your senior project?

• Over the course of winter break, I participated in numerous activities revolving my senior topic. I spent a majority of my time at the studio training in both my choreography and my ability to learn choreography from other people. I also choreographed one of the pieces Isaiah Maylad and I are going to use for our independent component. That means I just have two more pieces to go! Finally, I joined a second team known as HoneyBadgerz and we have recently started rehearsals for a performance later this month.

2.  What was the most important thing you learned from what you did, and why?  What was the source of what you learned?

• The most important thing that I learned over break is that the key to being a good dancer is to practice. I believe this is very important considering I was never really practicing as much as I wanted to during the year because of having to deal with school and working part time. However, over break, since I had no school to worry about, I used that opportunity to practice as much as I can. With this being said, I can already feel the improvement I've made in just these two weeks alone because of how much I've trained. The source of this finding was due to me going through my old dance videos before break and looking at what I've been creating after the break. The side by side comparison is very substantial. 

3.  Your third interview will be a 10 question interview related to possible answers for your EQ. Who do you plan to talk to and why?

• I plan to interview my current dance captain, Lauren Alvar. She has experience in several technical dance styles as well as extensive experience in hip hop. She has been dancing for several years and is more knowledgeable about the dance industry than most people out there. She was head choreographer for a team known as Barkada and is currently dancing with the HoneyBadgerz, OTG, and Nu Era. Although she is new to the industry, she is very qualified to be the third person I interview for my senior project.

Blog 11: Lesson 1 Reflection

1. What are you most proud of in your lesson, and why?

• The one thing that I am the most proud of in my lesson is the fact that I got more passionate about my topic than I thought I would. Right before my presentation I was so nervous that I kept forgetting everything I was going to say but as soon as I started, all the words just came to me. I knew exactly what to say without even thinking about it. 

2. What assessment would you give yourself on your lesson? Explain why you earned that grade using evidence from the component contract.

• I do believe that I should receive at least a P. I not only made the time requirement but everything I said was in a way related to my topic. I used no "filler" information, and I also went really in depth as to how dance is so much more than what people think of it as. Hopefully after my presentation, a new found appreciation for dance among my peers would've sparked.

3. If you could go back, what would you change about your lesson?  How can you use that knowledge to give a better Lesson 2?

• If I were to go back, I would definitely change the amount of confidence I gave off when I presented. It was evident that I was nervous but even though I had known my information and had prepared everything I was going to say beforehand, I still ended up stuttering a lot during the presentation. This is going to help me in my next presentation because it shows me that I'm going to need to rehearse a lot more so that my words could come out more naturally and therefore solving my stuttering problem.