Alumna Ottania Rosario Returns to Work with Dancers!

Alumni Spotlight: Ottania Rosario

Written By: Jessie & Lisa, B Block Dance

Ottania Rosario graduated from MacDuffie in 2010.  She has just finished her sophomore year at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania where she is a dance minor with a major in Psychology.  Last week she came back to MacDuffie to work with the dance students on some jazz and hip hop choreography.

On Tuesday, May 15th and Friday, May 18th, Ottania Rosario came to teach our B block class a jazz combination. At first the combination seemed intimidating because of the tempo, but after learning the movement it wasn’t as difficult as it seemed. 

The movement seems to resemble a girl who is independent and confident. Ottania’s upbeat attitude made it easier to learn the movement and master it in a short amount of time. She made  learning a jazz combination more exciting than we were expecting. Her version of jazz has a hint of hip-hop which makes it more modern than previous jazz combinations we have learned. The movement featured a lot of hand gestures that told their own story. 

Ottania also worked with the G Block class on a hip hop routine.

We all had a great time and would love to have her come teach us another combination next year! 

Costumes!

Most of the costumes we use for our Winter & Spring concerts are purchased at clothing stores such as Forever 21, Rainbow or TJ MAXX.  Sometimes we use actual dance costumes purchased from dance shops or catalogs.  This year one of our students, Ranka Ren, offered to enhance some of the dresses we bought for the B Block dance class.  Ranka began by sketching a picture (above).

We then purchased fabrics, ribbons, thread, pins and needles and she began bringing her sketch to life on the B Block dancers.

The girls were excited to see the different fabrics and quickly chose the pieces they wanted to enhance their individual dresses.

Ranka helps Jessie test the fabric/finger connection.

Before any sewing began, Ranka started by tying the fabric to the dresses in the style she wanted. 

Eventually the girls got to wear their dresses on stage for our spring performance and, although this photo does not show the detail of the design, we really appreciate all the time and effort Ranka put into this project!

Dance Review of The Envelope by David Parsons written by Faith Lawless

The Envelope

Review 

Written by Faith Lawless, Grade Seven

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nhJ6dO-v5c

This past Tuesday I watched a dance called The Envelope.  The dance only lasted a mere 12 minutes, but seemed to be longer when you were watching it.  This unique dance was made by David Parsons who choreographed it, Judy Wirkula who created the costumes, Howell Binkley who did the lighting and Gioacchino Rossini who was in charge of the music.

The momentum of this dance was constantly changing, but the setting, lighting and costumes stayed the same.  The only other props besides the envelope were metal, silver trees in front of a backdrop that was completely black.  The lights were focused mainly to the middle of the stage and weren't very bright which set sort of an almost ominous feel for the dance, but it was still bright enough to see clearly.  the costumes, much like the backdrop, were all black.  If you are into very bright and vibrant performances, I'm sorry to tell you, but this play would not be for you.

Unlike the setting and lighting, the dance's pace was always changing, but always kept its focus on the one envelope.  In the beginning, it started out slow.  The dancers were moving with hesitant, slow movements as they passed around the envelope.  At one point they were all huddled around the envelope, each dancer moving closer with jerky movements one at a time and quickly backing awe after closely examining it.  Each dancer seemed to respond differently to the envelope.  Some acted as if it caused them great pain as they hunched over and made slow, injured movements.  Others seemed as though it was very important and seemed to be fighting over it.  That was when the momentum increased.  Two dancers were on stage and each one was grabbing the envelope as soon as the other would take it.  They moved in circles, each taking the envelope back from the other, and soon more dancers were on the stage.  When seven dancers were on stage they began hopping and spinning around with quick, strong motions.  That's another thing I picked up about the choreographer throughout the dance, Parsons seemed to be into circular and jumping movements.

My favorite part of the dance was when one of the dancers held the envelope in his mouth and acted like what appeared to be a frog.  He was squatting and had his hands on his ankles so they looked like legs of a frog.  He even hopped back and forth in that pose to add more of an effect to his frog character.  When he stood up on two legs and was gracefully twirling, he reminded me of a frog leaping out of the water and into the air.  I really enjoyed seeing this dance and know that many others would enjoy it as well.

Faith Lawless, Grade 7.

2009 Alumni Jonathan Delgado Returns as Guest Artist

On Monday, February 27, MacDuffie alumni Jonathan Delgado ('09) returned to MacDuffie to spend the day teaching ballet to our upper school dance students.  Jonathan is currently in his junior year at the University of The Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he is a ballet major.  

Here is what our current students thought of their special class...

"I liked that we were introduced to some new dane techniques" - Natalie

" I loved how the music was more modern. It made the technique fun!"

"I really liked how Jonathan used upbeat music for ballet.  It made it a lot of fun and gave the class a good feel!"

"I liked the playful atmosphere Jonathan brought to our ballet class."

"I loved his style.  He used movement that we knew how to do so we could focus on the technical aspects like our arms and heels in the rond de jambe exercises." - Eva

"I enjoyed the music.  It was contemporary and made doing the movements easier and lots of fun!" - Kim

"I loved the whole class in general! I liked the music, the warm up, the across the floor work and Jonathan's personality!  He was great!"- Nikai Fondon

"I loved the Whitney Houston music and the whole class including the warm up and stretch.  I appreciated our charming teacher a lot!"- Dela

"I loved the music he played when we did the stretch.  He combined popular music with classical ballet music.  The across the floor work was difficult but it was fun.  He was so nice!" - Li

"I loved the music and the way he taught us to dance.  He is so fun and I learned a lot yesterday!"- May

"The music was good!" - Evelyn

Hey Grade 7...What do you LOVE about dance?!

In honor of Valentine's Day, the seventh grade dance students were asked what they love about dance.  Here are their answers!

"I like being able to exercise and joke around with my friends.  In dance I feel I have the freedom to imagine whatever I want."  - Connor

"Tableaux because we have fun and we do funny poses.  We always have a great time!" - Maya

"Ballroom dancing because I LOVE Dancing with the Stars!" - Hannah

"I love tableaux because it is fun and educational!" - Dan

"Tableaux because it constantly changes but it is fun because we have a creative class." - Mary

"I like having the freedom of being able to move however you want." - Matt

"I like tableaux because our class is able to work together and form many settings as a whole." - Faith

"I like all different types of dance, it's so hard to pick! I like everything we do in dance class, too.  Ballet is fun because it is beautiful, dramatic and graceful.  We're learning a lot about cool choreographers, but tableaux is really fun too.  We break out into awesome poses.  Everything is awesome!" - Alexis

"The costumes because they are fun and pretty."- Hannah

"I like being given the chance to express myself through dancing because it is an opportunity to put my emotions into movement." - Mary

"Tableaux.  I like tableaux because it makes us think in a creative way." - Meghan

"Tableaux because it is fun and I like improv and that kind of stuff." - Hannah

"I like the freedom to do things from your own imagination." - Dan

"Watching different choreographers to see how others present or tell stories through movement." - Mary

Spring Concert Update!

All of our upper school dance classes have been hard at work learning new choreography for our Spring Concert which is coming up in late April.  Here is a sneak peak at what some of our dancers are doing!

Dance Team Celebrates First Performance

On Wednesday, February 6, The Dance Team celebrated their first performance at one of the home basketball games.  Great job girls!