Soul TIme Talent Show this Thursday

It's almost time for Stylez's next show. Soul Time Talent Show is this Thursday. We just finished teaching new choreography last week. For our practices this week, we're going to focus on cleaning up choreography and blocking (meaning where everyone stands) and also thinking of things to do for the mystery round.

For the mystery round (the final round), the judging committee will give us a song to dance to. The options they have decided to choose from are Chris Brown's "Kiss Kiss," Akon's "Get Buck," and "Whatisit" by BabyDash.

We're planning on using old choreography from the Midwest Mix Up or from previous quarters for round 3. The problem is that not everyone remembers the old choreography and we also picked up some new members at the end of last quarter who do not know old choreography from fall and the beginning of winter quarter.

This is what we're going to have to focus on this week.

Your First Lesson: Ballet Basic Positions

Thorough History of Ballet and Modern Dance

The video is kinda long, but if you're interested, this is a very good thorough history of Ballet and Modern Dance.

Watch This Video for History of Hip Hop from Documentary "The Freshest Kids"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbaGPwTW6OY

Brief History of Tap Dance

Change in Plans About Blog

Hey, sorry for the change in plans, but I've decided instead of giving my own instructional videos, I will be posting videos I have found online which I think are good instructional videos. Right now, I think it is unrealistic for me to provide instructional videos frequently enough for this blog. I am taking about 20 credit hours, I work, and I am also involved in extracurriculars like my dance team. I wouldn't be able to dedicate the appropriate time on filming and editing good dance videos.

Sorry for the disappointment. But I think that you will enjoy the videos I choose to put in my blog.

I will also find videos about the history for certain dances as well as famous dancers in each category.

Here's a very good clip about the History of Hip Hop from the documentary "The Freshest Kids." This video could not be embedded but here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbaGPwTW6OY
I highly recommend everyone to watch this movie.

Sorry for Delay in Posting

Hey So You Wanna Dancers.  Sorry for the delay in  posting.  I went home to Cleveland this weekend to get my firewire cable and external hard drives so I can upload your dance videos online.  My firewire was not at home.  So I flipped out a majority of the weekend.

It turns out that my firewire and harddrives were here in Columbus...at the foot of my bed under piles of blankets and clothes.  :(  Shame on me right?

But the good news!  I have taped the intro video and your first instructional video.  Once I get to the lab, they will be posted.  

Stay tuned!

Some Pics from Midwest Mix Up

Round 1: Looking Tough for "Throw Back"

From Left to Right: Tamara Jolly, Donte Smith, Ashley Jamison, Katie Welland, Erina Hirai, Jinny Na, Henrick Sawczak, Hayley Leventhal, Kendel Woods, Anne Hu (me!), Ashley Carnes, Anastasia Glogowski

Bottom: Moet Setoyama and Latoya Blakey

Round 1: Looking Tough for "Throw Back"

Foreground: Anne Hu (me!) and Ashley Jamison

Background: Kendel Woods, Katie Welland, Latoya Blakey, Jinny Na, former member of Stylez Charita Ray

Round 2: Sexy Executive Committee Picture

From Left to Right: Ashley Jamison, Anne Hu, Latoya Blakey, Hayley Leventhal

Round 3: Looking Classy for "Stylez" round

From Left to Right: Henrick Sawczak, Ashley Carnes, Donte Smith, Anastasia Glogowski, Ashley Jamison, Latoya Blakey, Katie Welland, Kendel Woods, Tamara Jolly, Hayley Leventhal, Moet Setoyama, Anne Hu

Front: Erina Hirai and Jinny Na

What? Another competition?

Stylez Dance Group just found out that we have another dance competition coming up in 2 weeks (May 1st).  Oi.  It's time to get workin' again.

The event is called Soul Time.  It's a talent show competition for African American Heritage Fest Month.  There are 3 rounds.  The 1st round is 5 minutes long.  The 2nd is 3 minutes.  And the 3rd round is 3 minutes but you cannot prepare for it.  The 3rd round is called a "mystery round."  They panel of judges will randomly select a song for us to dance to.

We're thinking we have a limited amount of time, for the first round we can pick out a few dances from the Midwest Mix Up routines and redo them to different songs.  For the 2nd round, we will do new dances.  Hayley and I will have to come up with new choreography by Monday.  The third round, we will most likely freestyle.

Just when we thought we had a break?  I'm a bit frustrated.  We auditioned for Soul Time 3 weeks ago, and they didn't tell us whether we made it or not until yesterday, when I had to email them about it.  We forgot to email them earlier because all of our energy was focused on the Midwest Mix Up, and Soul Time said they would get back to us anyway.

Don't get me wrong, I love new opportunities to perform.  The more performances the better!  It's just crunch time all over again!  :)

Dance Lessons Coming Soon!

With the Midwest Mix Up Dance Competition out of the way, I will be uploading instructional dance videos soon and also a video on the history of Hip Hop and how I hate today's "hip hop music."  :)

STYLEZ DANCE GROUP 2ND PLACE IN MIDWEST MIX UP DANCE COMPETITION!

WOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO!

SDG PLACED 2ND OUT OF 9 AT THE MIDWEST MIX UP DANCE COMPETITION!

OMGOODNESS!  OMGOODNESS!  YES!  YES!  YES!  

I can't believe it!  I had no idea that we'd make it this far!  Last year, we were a complete disaster.  We were kicked out after the 1st round.  This year, I was hoping we would just make it into the 2nd round.  WE MADE IT TO THE 2ND AND 3RD ROUND AND PLACED 2ND WINNING $250 FOR THE TEAM!  PEOPLE LOVED US!  IT WAS AMAZING!

All of our hard work finally paid off!  After 3 months of preparation, we really nailed this one!  I feel so ecstatic!  The competition was yesterday and I still have my head in the clouds!

Enough talking.  See for yourself!  

Our first round dance theme was Throw Back.

Chororeography credits for this round: 

"Up Jumps the Boogie" Stepping by Toya Blakey, Tapping by Anne Hu

"Jump Jump" by Toya Blakey

"What About Your Friends" by Ashley Jamison

"Vivrant Thing" by Hayley Levanthal

"I Wish" by Ashley Jamison, Hayley Levanthal, Anne Hu, and Donte Smith

"Put Your Hands" by Anne Hu and Ashley Jamison

"No Diggity" by Ashley Jamison, Hayley Levanthal, and Anne Hu

"Knock You Out" by Toya Blakey, Hayley Levanthal, Anne Hu, and Ashley Jamison

Our second round dance theme was Sexy.

Choreography credits for this round:

"Church" by Kendel Woods, Donte Smith, Henrick Sawczak

"Rock the Boat" by Anastasia Glogowski, Ashley Carnes, Yoojin Na, Erina Hirai

"Poppin'" by Kendel Woods, Henrick Sawczak, Donte Smith

"Oops" by Anne Hu

"Feedback" by Toya Blakey, Hayley Levanthal, Anne Hu, Ashley Jamison

Our third round dance theme was Stylez.  This round truly reflects our diversity in dance and personality.

Choreography credits for this round:

"Windowlicker" by Anne Hu

"Paper Planes" by Hayley Levanthal

"Flashing Lights" by Moet Setoyama and SDG collaborative effort

"Piece of Me Remix" by Toya Blakey

"Pom Pom" by Ashley Jamison

Freestyle in order of apperance: Henrick Sawczak, Kendel Woods, Donte Smith, Katie Welland, Hayley Levanthal, Toya Blakey, Tamara Jolly, Erina Hirai, Moet Setoyama, Ashley Jamison, Ashley Carnes, Yoojin Na, Anne Hu, Anastasia Glogowski

Midwest Mix Up Tomorrow! EEEE!

Ok!  If we don't make it past the first round, I'm going to hurt someone.  We have been working far too hard to be shot down a 2nd year in a row.  Each of the captains and I made about 4 dances each and the team has made a few dances too.  If we don't move on, I WILL take it personally.  Is that terrible?  It's not that I need to justify how good we are with what the crowd thinks, but I know we rock and if they just keep an open mind, we should rock this shit like no other.

I think thanks to certain artists (such as Janet Jackson) and TV shows (such as America's Best Dance Crew), choreographed dances are getting more popular again.  

We'll see how it goes.  I'm just saying, we didn't practice for 11 hours a week for nothing I hope.

Our picture finally came in!

The Stylez picture with the faculty of Monsters of Hip Hop finally came in!

Back row: Jamal

Middle row: Marty, Napoleon, Flo Master, Tabitha, Lisette

Front: me, Hayley, Ashley

Toya was out with her family and Donte was passed out in the hotel room from a long day of practice!  

YAY STYLEZ!

Stylez Dance Group is preparing for the Midwest Mix Up Competition

Stylez Dance Group, which I help lead, is preparing for a huge dance competition.  The Midwest Mix Up Competition is Saturday April 12th, 2008 at 6PM at The Ohio State University in Weigel Hall.  It will feature 10-11 hip hop dance teams from the Midwest, competing for cash prizes.

There are three rounds.  Each round, the judges eliminate about 3-4 teams.  The performances will be judged on creativity of music and dance, formation changes, skills, entertainment value, and costumes.

Stylez has been preparing for this competition since November.  The captains have choreographed over 12 dances since then.  They and another fellow dancer have also attended the Monsters of Hip Hop Dance Convention in Washington, D.C. to get inspiration.  The dancers on the team have choreographed 2 small dances as well.

We have put in a lot of work into preparing for this competition.  Last year, due to poor leadership, the team did not prepare for this competition until a month before.  Our performance clearly showed how unprepared we were.  If we do not make it past the first round again, I will truly be devastated.  The team and I have poured ourselves into creating these dances.  We have worked endless hours on our routines, mixes, formations, etc.

I believe we will kick ass.  There's no question about that.  We are all very talented dancers.  I simply concerned that the crowd or judges will not like what we bring.  Last year, a lot of the other teams had freestyle battles.  Our dance team has more music video-esque elements.  We have actual choreography and difficult moves.

*shrug*  It's crunch time for Stylez, but we are fully prepared this year.  I will post the videos of our dances once the show is taped.  Wish us good luck!

Videos of Monsters of Hip Hop

I forgot to mention, Jabbawockeez from America's Best Dance Crew works with Monsters of Hip Hop.

Just to give you an idea of what Monsters of Hip Hop was like when Stylez was in D.C.:

We also learned choreography from Nappytabs.  There is no video of them in D.C. but this is their work in Chicago:

So You Wanna Dance

What's up?!  So you wanna dance?  I'll teach you the right stuff to get you movin' and groovin', poppin' and lockin', flowin' and krumpin' in the clubs.  I'll also teach you some traditional forms of dance such as ballet, tap, and jazz.

Can't dance?  Bull.  Anyone can dance.  Honestly, ANYONE CAN dance.  It just takes confidence.  You can have the worst dance moves, the worst rhythm, who cares?  So long as you're having fun, that's all that matters.  People will love your energy!  Dancing's about having fun. 

Just to give you a bit of background, I am a junior at The Ohio State University.  I have been dancing since I was 5.  I took ballet, tap, and jazz for 14 years and have been doing hip hop for 4 years.  I also know the basics of breakdancing.

I am one of 4 dance captains for an OSU hip hop dance team, Stylez Dance Group.  We were founded in 2005 and perform about 10 times throughout the school year.  We also attended the Monsters of Hip Hop Dance Convention in D.C. this year where we learned choreography from the sickest dancers around: Flomaster, Jamal, Dave Scott, Nappytabs, Lisette, Marty, etc.  1/2 of those choreographers made the moves you see in the movie Step Up 2!  

Check out our Stylez videos, website, and pictures!  

So you wanna dance?!