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Investigation

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In the midst of a global pandemic, mixing homelife and distance learning has become a stressful and complicated task. For which reasons, I look forward to projects and ideas I can carry out in the future. But, with the CAS Project, I am presented with an opportunity to explore one of these same projects and ideas now. As a result, I've come to the following conclusion: I will carry out a dance project devoted to the creativity and activity aspects of CAS, by crafting choreographies. I arrived to this end having considered two things: (1) my passion for dance and (2) the CAS Coordinator's approval.

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First of all, I've been dancing since the age of nine, and over the past eight years, I've cultivated a strong passion for this sport. More specifically, I've grown a particular interest in freestyling, a type of dance which is best explained according to STEEZY Studio, a company dedicated to online dance classes:

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Freestyle dancing is improvisation. It's when you do moves on the spot that weren't choreographed ahead of time.

 

Midway into middle school, freestyling became a great output for me because of the increasingly reduced time I had to give to dance classes. As a kid who didn't know much about dance, freestyling allowed me to practice it, as I knew I could still accomplish growth in that way.

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Which is why I can challenge myself by practicing the exact opposite: choreography. Choreography is an original design of dance. A person creates choreography by crafting their own dance routine. In which case, it is not improvisation, it is essentially an organized plan. Subsequently, this entails creativity on my part, as well as activity. And by basing my CAS Project on choreography, I will be challenging myself with a task I've almost never tackled before, which covers a significant difficulty behind this project as well.

 

Second of all, with this idea, I've outlined my CAS Project and sent it to the CAS coordinator, Ms. Patiño, for approval. This was achieved and can be recognized considering a key resource I will use over the course of this project: my Google Drive folder.

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Planning

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Following the email I sent to Ms. Patiño, where I outlined my CAS Project and the steps I plan to follow, I continued my project and ultimately found it best to apply some minor adjustments to my plan. As a result, I can conclude that my plan is the following:

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September

I asked various people for songs--particularly any song that came to mind--and numbered them (with a total of 19 songs). Following, I asked many people to give me a number from 1-19, and based on who responded the quickest, I ordered the songs to see in which order I would make choreographies to them.

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Purpose of this step:

Using these randomized methods, I'm forcing myself to leave my comfort zone and work with different songs in an entirely unbiased order.

October - November

I'm going to choreograph to the first five songs in whichever way I'm interested in and record them (as evidence to present on my website). After completing the five choreographies, I will ask at least eight friends and family for feedback on how they can improve.

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Purpose of this step:

This is essentially the first time I'll be practicing and completing choreography by myself. Therefore, I'll be using this time in order to introduce myself to choreography, familiarizing myself with how I like to work with it.

Moreover, with the feedback, I'll be able to gain a better understanding of my strengths and weaknesses within choreography, so that I can apply it in the following step (and generally within my work).

December - January

For the following five songs, I am going to ask people to choose, from a group of words, any random one (they are listed below). One word serves as a particular focus for a dance (ex. if someone chooses the word "smooth" then I would need to choreograph using particular wavy movements and if someone chooses the word "hands" then I would need to choreograph using tutting which focuses on the hands). I would complete the five choreographies based on this and then record them as well.

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Words: hands, smooth, feet, isolation, glitch, connective, illustrate

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Purpose of this step:

Having familiarized myself with choreography for some time, I will be using this time to push my creativity even more. By targeting a particular focus for each choreography, I will need to find ways to implement each one all throughout the dance, in a way that it will also work alongside the music. This will introduce more challenges in my project, along with the feedback I will be implementing throughout the following choreographies.

February

Having essentially carried out my entire CAS Project, I will use this time to document the entire process on this website, whilst also reflecting on what I've learned throughout the past four months.

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Purpose of this step:

During this time, I will be able to take my time appropriately in order to complete, record, and reflect on my CAS project. This way, I will be ready for my final presentation.

Demonstration (Action)

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October - November

#1 - #5 Choreographies

December - January

#6 - #10 Choreographies

Reflection

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My CAS Project has started something for me that I won't ever finish. I started this thinking it was a task I simply wanted to complete, for the purpose of doing something more productive and personal. But that isn't what this project has been for me, it's not a box I've checked off and moved on from. This project may be finished on this website. But it's helped me cultivate habits and practices that I'll only be building and improving until I don't dance anymore (which is hopefully when I'm stuck in a rocking chair at the age of 90).

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Addressing the CAS strands I focused on for this project, I unlocked creative aspects of my being which I've never known before, in any other activity. I began to recognize the moves I rely on and repeat, and then practiced integrating new ones as well as feelings that I had never explored before. In other words, I pinpointed the moves I use often, and then avoided them in order to spark new ones. I was able to do this because, in the moments when I felt like I was short of being creative, when I was repeating the same thinking, I would relax for a few moments and just listen to the music. Sometimes I would do this while closing my eyes, and then I would start over. This habit could break the cycle of fruitless movements and force me to restart, to begin the creative process all over again. These actions gave me creative outcomes, so I practiced them until they became habit. Consequently, I've found a new way to approach my creativity, especially whenever I'm feeling a bit off or dull. And although I've discovered this helpful practice through dance, this could contribute well to any other activity of mine: climbing, writing, studying...

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Moreover, I crafted the following question for myself before requesting feedback from eight of my friends and family.

How did collaborating with others play a part in your project?

With this question in mind, I took time with every piece of feedback and commentary to think about how my choreographies related to what one person said, or to what multiple people said, and how they could impact my next choreography. Very intently, I tried to outline the moments in my first five choreographies when I...

  • was repetitive,

  • got distracted and disconnected (from the mirror, in other words, from myself),

  • had an attitude (a personality which matched the dance and song),

  • was elaborate with my movements,

  • expressed something in particular,

  • and didn't take advantage of certain parts of the song.​

And in outlining these moments, I acknowledged that I can always improve overall (the entire choreography), but I should also identify amendable aspects that keep showing up. Put differently, areas that I should become more familiar with, just as I am with others, in order to find ways to improve upon them. Therefore, I did identify these aspects in order to target them in the following five choreographies. These, in conclusion, I found satisfying to watch, knowing the awareness I accomplished after the first five choreographies along with the feedback.

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Just as this project has helped me now and in the long-term, it has throughout the entire process. For which, I took up creating three more choreographies (over the course of the entire project). These can be watched here.

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