Reflective Essays
1
How to Express my Ideas
Yuchen Guo
The most significant thing I learned this semester was how to enhance my creativity and expressiveness. What impressed me most in the course was the rehearsal of group choreography and individual choreography. Professor Morejón's teaching style is from easy to difficult and the generalized to specific. In each class, we started from adding several thematic movements to the original dances, eventually forming a complete and coherent story. On the one hand, I discovered how to express my ideas without words by employing the processes and mood shifts. On the other, I was exercising my creativity while choreographing since I was also thinking and brainstorming for myself.
The major feeling I observed, from the initial warm-up to the breathing connection, then to the choreography, was that I discovered how to maintain my calmness and concentration. When I first started doing warm-ups, I was unable to find deep inner calm to the point where I could never maintain balance. Concentrating on the exhale and the inhale helped me concentrate more as I became more proficient at moving my body utilizing the breath connection. As a result of that, I was able to rapidly pick up the routines and become more in sync with my group during later group dances.
First of all, this session let me realize how much I enjoy dancing and how I can utilize it to relax and find true inner peace. As a result, I can use a lot of the concepts we covered in class to keep in better shape for my future employment. Second, this class has helped me become more motivated to complete a task and more concentrated on the work. My major is business analysis, which requires a strong logical approach to statistical computing and code editing. Therefore, having a strong attention enables me to remain rational and finish the necessary duties.
2
Everyone's Thoughts and Expressions are Meaningful
Xiaorun Xue
In this course, I learnt, besides the elements and techniques of modern dance, more about how to express myself and my emotions in dance. Based on some techniques, such as patterns and Wigman's Technique, I can apply these to create my own solo piece. Everyone has their own unique phrases, and all pieces are appreciated, also mine. I can feel more confident because there is no judgment. I actually enjoy the warm-up and stretching part, which makes me focus on my own body. The assemble is my favorite part in this course, everyone has creative movements of different understanding and thoughts about one concept, so I really learn a lot from my team.
The learning process is achieved through interesting and diversified format, like video, and interactions with classmates. The interaction helps me to understand the concepts easily. In my opinion, dance is an expression of emotion, and the interactions with others create a connection that allows us to feel each other. In this class we are completely free, we don't learn dance moves but rely on our own creativity, which I think is great. However, it can be a little confusing for me, there are times when I don't know how to start a movement. But overall, the learning process was positive!
What this course brought to me was more of an impact on my thinking. I realized that not all questions should have a standard and uniform answer, and that everyone's thoughts and expressions are meaningful. I will become more confident and proactive in expressing my ideas in my future workplace. Besides that, stretching will be a good way for me to relax in my busy study and work life in the future, it really makes me focus on myself and forget about stress.
3
Innovative Ways of Increasing Body Movement
Manni Zhang
I learned different aspects of dance during the Modern Dance II course, which enhanced my understanding of dance concepts. Activities learned during the course included movements and techniques. I also learned the role played by Ruth Saint Dennis, Ted Shawn, and Isadora Duncan in shaping modern dance within the dance field. Modern dance has its foundations rooted in traditional dances through innovative ways of increasing body movement. Thus, creativity and innovation enhanced the development of modern dance. Finally, another idea learned in class was one's mental condition and flexibility, which determines the quality of a dance.
On the other hand, I felt involved in the learning process, which enabled me to learn various dance concepts. Practicing different modern dance moves taught me that flexibility is key in every dance. The learning process was effective since it allowed everyone to express their skills and knowledge in movement. The organization of the lessons and the live interactions between the students and the professor made it a more interesting class. Therefore, the class was effective since it involved the successful integration of various teaching concepts.
The skills acquired in Modern Dance II class are essential to my music production and illustration field. I will apply the moves learned in promoting various songs from my production field. Currently, society is flooded with different types of music in the environment. The high number of musicians makes it necessary to apply a unique video production strategy to attract more market attention.
The competitive nature of the music industry makes it a great challenge for various musicians to excel. Therefore, applying dance skills to promote different songs from my production center will enhance the process of having public attention. Again, I can apply the skills obtained in developing new dance styles from modern dance concepts. The skills can develop new movements that can enhance the promotion of different song genres. As a music producer, I will highly benefit from the skills obtained during our modern dance class.
4
Integrating Our Bodies
Haoming Zhang
In this class, I learned how to express feelings through body movements and dancing gestures. Not only did we explore various forms of stretch and relaxation, but also experienced important elements of modern dance. After this class, I believe that I will be more comfortable in expressing myself freely and healthily. What I feel most compatible during the course is that I have been exposed to creative and artistic dance movements that can help express our true selves. I am very glad to have taken this class and known all the wonderful students with whom I have worked.
I find the learning process very natural and interesting. We don't just learn knowledge through pure lectures and materials, but we combine actual experience in practicing dance movements with the concepts taught to us. This method can allow everyone to acquire the clearest idea of what we are doing and better insert it into our lives. To me, this class not only teaches us how to make elegant moves, but also integrate our bodies in a more coherent way through daily body movements. It has been a very fun process to be a part of.
I study sport administration and it may not seem to directly link with what we learn from class, but I think I can still find correlations between the two. I think one can improve one’s confidence through exercises on both physical and mental connectivity practices. I can gain more confidence in demonstrating myself and performing in front of people. I also think meditation and breath connectivity are important for me to take timely breaks when I feel distracted and frustrated. I think this course will have a much positive impact on my physical and mental well-being.
5
More Creative and Less Functional
Naima Shotonwa
This class (Modern Dance II), unlike last semester's (Modern Dance I), is a lot more diverse dance style and experience. It was much more of an intricate and delicate process when choreographing either the ensemble or solo piece. I have realized that there are a lot of different ways to express oneself and one’s feelings. Whether that is through emoting them or showing it physically through movement. It is interesting to see how everyone can connect and explore their body in their own way.
The learning process was a bit difficult for me this semester. I am used to a more traditional way of learning movement where the dance teacher teaches choreography and we can expand our movement based on that or strictly improv. Instead, this was a more creative and less functional way of figuring it out how to move your body. I think as I practice my solo more, I will get used to it. It is so out of my element that it does not make me feel as connected to my piece.
I can use the aspect of incorporating different styles and experiences into my field of psychology. Empathy is a huge piece in dance. With empathy comes accepting a diversity of people, beliefs, upbringings etc. Working with different members in the class definitely encourages me to use that in my real world studies.
6
More Creative and Imginative
Sheamus Yuwen
In this class, I learned more than just dance. I learned things such as how to feel myself, how to express myself and how to find my relationship with my body. Before formally learning dance in this course, I thought modern dance class was just to learn dance moves. But, I actually learned how to connect with my nature. Whenever we learned a new move, we made it part of our own dance. Class inspires me to think about how I can combine my own ideas through movement. It makes me more creative and imaginative.
Every class we do some stretching and a warm up. I actually enjoyed it a lot. It was a moment of peace and relaxation, especially when I was under a lot of pressure with school work. It took my mind off of it. Plus, because I work out a lot and play basketball, it also improved my athletic performance.
There are students from different countries in our class, so when we have group dancing, I feel the influence brought by different cultures. I really enjoyed this cultural diversity. This makes me more patient and tolerant in life, and also improves my communication skills. In my study of this class, I found that emotion is an important point. How we control, use and express our emotions, became an important part of our learning process. I have learned that because emotions and our bodies are closely related, emotions can control our bodies, and our bodies can also affect our emotions.
7
Open to New Perspectives
Lexi Zisselman
Throughout this course, I have become more confident in myself to let go and create different pieces without fear of judgment. All the students in the class bring something unique to the table and I have been able to learn from my peers. Whether it was compiling movements for our solos or group dance, I loved watching everyone work together as a cohesive unit. Once we learned a new technique in class, it was imperative that I applied those movements to my solo as it strengthened the piece and told a compelling story. Additionally, I did not realize the importance of stretching before each class, but after 16 weeks have gone by, I can confidently state that I have become more flexible even by the smallest amount.
The learning process incorporated a variety of methods including videos, readings and activities. By using multiple methods, it aids the learning process since some people are visual learners and others are auditory learners. I think it was crucial to apply each lesson immediately into our solo and group dances because it was fresh in our minds. Since the movements from the lesson did not have to be identical, students could alter the movements to make it more personal. No class was the same as our professor strived to engage the students and bring joy to the studio.
As a public relations major and marketing minor, I can apply the ideas of collaboration and team building to my field of study. The creation of my group dance, has enabled me to become open to new perspectives and listen to various opinions. Establishing partnerships with your co-workers will boost morale and spark friendships, which has been demonstrated in class this semester for myself. I think it would be interesting to have a 20-minute gap during my day at work to have all employees engage in stretching to encourage movement and release any stressors. Although this may seem unlikely, I believe it is a great way to disconnect from the world for a short period of time.
8
Relaxed and Meditative
Chikun Chen
In this class, I learned how to keep doing each movement to make the movement more fluid. I learned how to calm down and do each warm-up. As I choreographed each dance-move with my group members, I learned to be patient with the coordination of the movements. Plus, it taught me that dancing requires creativity and imagination. For example, I imagined myself as a butterfly, a worker or a sad person in order to create movement ideas. Each emotional expression could become a dance move or theme.
There are lots of feelings I have gained during my dance lessons. In the warm-up session at the beginning of each class, you need to control your breathing for every movement. When I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and exhaled, I felt relaxed and meditative. The dance moves and solo movements of each group are imaginary, which enriches my imagination and creativity. I think the interactive sessions have given me a light-hearted feeling.
I think in my research area, when I'm stressed, I can take a deep breath to calm myself down and focus on my research and work. As I learn to create movement and imagine movement metaphors better in this class, I may be able to express more of the ideas I create and imagine. It will also allow me to study more patiently. No matter what one does, imagination and patience are inseparable. One can only excel in all fields if one learns how to meditate and be imaginative through dance.
9
Modern Dance Can Embrace Everything
Yibing Yang
In modern dance class I learned how to use every part of my body to feel the space, to feel everything the world brings me. I can express my thoughts，feelings and my inner world as I want, from the big stuff like national politics and feminism to the small things that the experience I had , which help me to have a deeper understanding of myself. In a sense, I think I learned to establish a connection with the ground, not afraid of the ground is not afraid to fall and not afraid of pain. After establishing a good connection with the ground, everything can be naturally beautiful and powerful. Each part of the class was meaningful. The stretching and warm-up sessions taught me persistence and focus. Even if I failed in the middle, I could succeed if I continued to persist and focus.
I was actually very nervous at the beginning of the class, and I was shy about performing in front of everyone. But later in the class, we worked together as a team and combined each person's ideas to create new sparks in the exchange, and I really enjoyed this feeling. I gradually went from not daring to present to enjoying every part of the class, and it was a great experience to enjoy the free play and improvisation. Creating in class also made me feel new and interesting, and aroused my interest to continue learning. The most impressive part of the class was when we were all in a square together and each of us superimposed our movements, that was the first time I really felt the charm of art, the charm of storytelling through the body.
In this modern dance course I think we are using the creative thinking of modern dance to gain modern dance skills and knowledge. I think this approach can be applied to studying economics, instead of rushing to memorize theories of economics, we should first build our thinking about economics and keep acquiring knowledge and skills as we build our thinking. When we want to use modern dance to express a story or when we want to enjoy a modern dance piece, we have to find the problems in the story and analyze them, think about them and solve them. The same step is taken when we are dealing with economic cases.
In the study of modern dance, we should first develop the habit of thinking to investigate the laws of modern dance and body movement. Then gradually develop the ability to explore the skills of modern dance as we continue to develop the way of thinking of modern dance philosophy and the attitude of exploring modern dance. The same is true for economic learning. We must first establish economic thinking habits because many economic thinking moral consciousness is very shallow if looked at simply from the perspective of economic interests. So it is important to form economic thinking habits. With the formation of habits we establish the economic way of thinking at this point. The attitude of continuous exploration is particularly important to urge us to continue to specialize until we have the necessary skills and abilities. I think the mindset of learning modern dance can be applied to any field. I think modern dance can embrace everything.
10
Dance is for Everyone
Addison Whitney
I’ve taken away a new perspective from this class. I’ve grown up doing ballet and moms all with so much structure. So coming to this class we completely got rid of that to create movement from nothing but what is within us. No music, no expectations, no technique. I want to take the feeling of moving completely free away with me.
At first the learning process was new to me. Creating movement with no music or story at first was difficult. I liked that we moved though each important era of modern dance and to incorporate a piece of it within our dances. I think I have learned to let go through this class. I had to let go of what I already know about dance and reconstruct that with what I learned in this class to get the most out of it.
I think everyone needs dance and music. I am studying to be a nurse and I want to carry the feelings I have felt with me. Feeling strong and confident are both qualities I want to take into nursing. I hope to continue to share my passion for dance to future patients. Dance is for everyone and it has made me who I am and I will always continue to move and create through my life.
11
Ability to Control My Breath
Shinyi Wang
I’ve never learned anything about dance before this class. This Modern Dance course enabled me to learn the process of how I can control my own body and extend my flexibility. Rather than learning the technique of dance, I would like to say the most important thing I’ve learned is expressing by movements. No matter the speed or weight will affect the expression of my movements. One more thing I have learned from this class is the ability to control my breath; during the warm-up time, every time I practice how to breathe, I will know much more about my inner body and reach my inner peace.
I really enjoyed this class as a newcomer to the dance field. The process of learning was easy for everyone as long as we got up and practice. This course taught us everything from smaller pieces to whole. At the beginning, I struggled with the stretches; every time I stretched, it felt more easier than before. Additionally, whichever our solo or group dance turned out to be, we created them, phrase by phrase, as we practiced in classes. We broke down a difficult thing like dance, into small pieces and that enabled us to do better.
This semester, I was also taking one of my major course called Stress Management. I realized that this class contained many techniques I’ve learned from my major course. For instance, the technique of breathing. I learned the theory in my field course, but I practiced it by dancing. This class definitely taught me how to release my stressors during warm-up and practice.
12
Whole-hearted Devotion
Artemis Yang
In this class, my most significant gain was how to express my emotions and communicate with others through my body language. The former is easy to understand. Language is the most direct tool we use to express ourselves. We let others know what we think and ask for through straightforward expressions, but body language is a more intense way of expression. The body language we learned in this class seems to me to be a very soft but intense form of expression.
We can express our anger, happiness, sadness, and other emotions through actions. It seems simple, but it is challenging because the physical movement learned in this class is not only the change of facial expressions but the whole-hearted devotion to making others feel with your heart. Secondly, when communicating with people, talking sometimes does not get all the attention and respect of the listener. Still, the expression of the body cannot be ignored. The students in the class are very attentive and devoted to witness other people's performance, and use their brain and heart to feel what each person wants to express from the action. This kind of communication is something extremely scarce in today's world.
In the process of learning, my most incredible feeling was happiness and relaxation. The charm of this class is that it does not require me to learn anything but express my emotions through the process. I remember very clearly that everyone felt the space by walking in the first class. At first, everyone could not understand it but found it fun. I also found this process very strange and exciting. It wasn't until the end of the first class that the professor mentioned that he wanted us to experience simple joys in this class, like the joy of playing with friends as children, and it dawned on me. The professor said that as we age and increase stress, we have forgotten how to feel and express happiness in the simplest way, which is true. So in the later learning process, whether it was a personal (solo performance practice) or a cooperative performance practice, I felt this happiness, and I could also see this happiness on the faces of my classmates.
As a Journalism major, what I've learned is how to convey information through words. Before taking this class, I paid more attention to expressing information directly and concisely, no matter how intense the words were. After taking this class, I think I will use more energy to think about how to reach people's hearts through a movement oriented softness manifested in the way I express. Although people cannot directly see the shock brought by physical expressions from the news, this direct feeling can be described in words, which is what I am about to do.
13
Free as a Bird
Emilia Ramirez
Compared to all the courses that I have taken before, this course was the most beneficial for my personal growth. The course was not a 100% conceptual -which my brain appreciated due to the fact that I was taking four other academically-challenging classes simultaneously- but rather composed of a more practical approach. This, opened up my eyes into understanding and benefiting from a whole new style of learning that I unfortunately didn't experience before. Among the few concepts that we learnt in class, Laban's Kinesphere was by far my favorite because there is never a restriction of movement; which makes me feel free as a bird can be.
At the beginning of this course, I felt tense and angry with the learning process because I could not memorize any steps. In one class, the professor advised the students to record themselves and practice. Thankfully; this did the trick for me, as I could memorize my steps more efficiently. I felt at ease with the conceptual component of the course because -although there were questions than in my opinion were difficult to answer- they were never wrong answers with this style of learning. Overall, my learning process for this class, was a positive experience that I would want to repeat.
I can see a very strong relationship between dance and psychology. It is a very well-known fact that dance is beneficial for our health, as we release feel-good chemicals like seratonin and endorphins (among others) when we dance. Almost everyone that sees a psychologist or other mental-health professional does it because they want to feel good about themselves and their environment. Dance can help them with that, by facilitating the stress-reducing chemicals in their lives. When I become a psychologist, I will prescribe dance therapy as I see fit because it has immense benefits.
14
My Own Movements Without any Limitation
Jenny Tu
Before this class, I had been exposed to jazz and K-pop dance, but I have never studied modern dance. In this course, I learned not only elements and techniques of modern dance but also the way to express emotions using body language. I am now able to combine breath with dance and create my own phrase. I also feel more and more confident about expressing and showing myself through dance since there is no judgement in class. I really love the warm-up part of the class as it allows me to stretch my body as it made me more and more flexible, and I felt very comfortable after every warm-up.
The learning process was new but interesting to me. I was used to learning pieces of dance by following others or videos, so it was difficult at first to create my own movements without any limitation and music. The class is structured well. Each class we learned a new concept and practiced it, and we combined what we had learned together in the end. In this way, we kept developing our phrases and improving our skills.
The biggest takeaway from this class is that it makes me more confident in showing myself. In many cases, there is no fixed answer, and we don't need to compare ourselves to others. I am what I am, and I can see my progress during the process, which is important. This applies to all aspects of life and work. Another meaningful takeaway is that stretching is great for our body and for relaxing. Since I enjoy the stretching process, I can try to stretch every day to release pressure and have fun.
15
Believe in Yourself to be Confident
Judy Tang
To be honest, I am not an athletic person at all. I was literally staying in my bed every day from the start of the pandemic. This course is a brand-new experience for me since the only dance I’ve ever done was in my freshmen year in high school. It was even just a sign language movement. In conclusion, I did learn a lot from this course about how to hear the voice inside me and my body. I’m surely a lazy person so I cannot say that I enjoy the course all the time. However, when there were times that I concentrated and put everything together, I really gain the pleasure and knowledge from the stretching, the exercising and the lectures.
I am an awkward person. Therefore, at the beginning of the course I felt uncomfortable showing my body language and doing all these motions that look kind of funny. Nevertheless, I love how professor was always there encouraging us to focus on ourselves, not to listen to the noise, and believe in yourself to be confident. I suppose I am not the only person that feels this because I saw other classmates like me also opening themselves up eventually. One highlight I’d like to mention is that class when we sit in a square and people get into the square to pose one by one. It was so interesting to see how all the poses combined and made stories. And stories can be so different from different perspectives.
I am majoring in Finance, but I don’t want to talk about just my major. I want to apply what I learnt to my daily life. First, I always like the warmup, the stretching, which helps so much relaxing my body and nerves. I want to keep doing it twice a week (maybe adding yoga), just to keep me away from the busy brain. Yes, I am so lazy, but I will try my best. Meanwhile, I really developed self-confidence from this course. I want to keep trying everything that I am not good at. And I want to show people more about me, instead of being shy and self-contemptuous, believing that I am a better person than I think I am.
16
Increase my Efficiency / Keep my Balance
Anthony Tao
I acted very shy in the first five classes. We didn't know each other and it was very hard for me to dance in front of strangers. But my teammates were very nice to me when we did group works. My teammates always helped me memorize when I forgot my movements. It really gave me confidence.
In the beginning, I felt I could not keep balance when we were doing inhale and exhale exercises. Then you told us to focus on the movements. I started to try focus on my breath. I found that things got easier than if you keep your mind empty and only focus on one thing. But I still could not stay balanced for very long time. Sorry about that. I will keep training myself during the winter holiday.
As I said in the second paragraph, things get easier when you keep your mind clean and focus on one thing. I major in BA, which is a major that needs me to do a lot of excels. As we know, Excel is a tedious work. I often cannot focus on it for a long time. I believe I could increase my efficiency if I could keep my balance for longer time.
17
Moving with Purpose
Hector Montoto
The class Modern Dance Two with professor Jorge Morejon was a great experience, because of what I learned from modern dance pioneers like, Rudolff Laban and Mary Wigman. There are takeaways that were very significant when learning from them. Laban’s practice on choreutics taught me how to see dance in a more physical form by understanding visual aides like the kinesphere and trace-forms. Breath connectivity was another take away, which is very important. Knowing when to breathe and how to use your breath as part of the dance helps with the overall flow of the movement. Mary Wigman takeaways were more about how to lead your dance through emotion and not music. Her dances were improvisational, uninhibited, and provocative. It really demonstrated the freedom that she had when she has performing.
The learning process that we had this semester was very enjoyable. Our professor made sure that we had a very fun learning experience. For example, when we were learning about trace forms, he would start the class with an exercise. Afterwords, he will show us a video covering the intricacies of that specific form of dance. The exercise that we started with really helped us understand the video that came afterwards. Finally, he will allow us the time to create our own dance moves based on that specific form. The structure that our professor used really helped us understand what we were doing when it was time to create.
I would definitely apply what I’ve learned in this course to my own field of study. As an actor, movement is very important, especially when combined with dialogue. Having a visual idea of why you are moving this specific way helps you move with purpose. An actor cannot move just for the sake of moving. We also learned on how to properly use our space. Young actors tend to be a little stiff at times. This class helped me understand the importance of the space that’s around me which I can definitely apply to my acting. Overall, this was a great learning experience, and I’m sad that it’s over. But, I will continue to use these practices in my own field of study for the rest of my life.
18
Creative and Emotional Dance
Junjia Liang
In dance211, I learned a variety of different types of dance concepts, a lot of professional technical movements, dances of different styles, places and times, just like entering a museum. I was very impressed by Isadora Duncan. I was exposed to creative and emotional dance, as well as different kinds of stretches and modern dance influences. I met many new people and enjoyed the class.
This class made my restless heart calm down and immersed me in the dance. The impromptu choreography allowed us to express our feelings freely. Another aspect I enjoyed was our creativity. We had to improvise the choreography and use the dance knowledge we had learned, which was a challenge and fun for us.
My major is Business Technology, which may be too rigid and rational. I want to find a bridge between rationality and sensibility, and give play to the passion of dance in computer or code. Dance is also a way to express emotions. After rational work, you can make up a dance to express your feelings, or use the stretching you have learned to relax your body and mood.
19
Dance is Like the Soul of a Person
Haoyu Jiang
I am a lover of movement, and this is not my first dance class at UM. For me dance is a vehicle for life; we can change emotions, celebration, and remembrance into dance. Dance is like the soul of a person, many things that cannot be expressed in words can be expressed through dance. I personally do not have a strong foundation in dance, but I love to watch dance, from street dance to classical dance. I love to watch dancers express their emotions through dance, writing their own words with each movement and different strengths.
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