March 2015 - Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia

M a r c h
Contact information:
Director
Barri DeFrancisci, 703.537.3037 • [email protected]
Dance Coordinator
Brenda Forsley, 703.537.3057 • [email protected]
Student of the Month
Michelle Massarik
Michelle Massarik, a Junior at Lake Braddock, is taking Tap III this
year. She is a student who shows respect to her teacher and her
classmates with a clear desire to learn. Although taking a Tap class
this year was not Michelle’s first choice, the enthusiasm she has
brought with her to each class is infectious! Lesley, our resident
tap teacher, is so happy Michelle is in the class. Michelle pours
herself totally and completely into improving her tap skills. She
is dedicated, really listens, and practices at home. She even
purchased a new pair of rhythm tap shoes without any prompting
to help perfect her tap style! Complaints are not what you hear
from Michelle. She is ready to try new steps, challenge herself, and
improve on what she knows. She deserves the honor and I hope
when she starts applying to college next year she can boast about
this achievement!
What is your favorite style of dance? My favorite style of dance is Tap, but I enjoy all
styles of dance.
What do you find most challenging? The most challenging thing for me is finding the right
song to go along with a dance.
What do you think is the secret to your success? Creativity and enjoying dancing.
What would you like to do with your dance training? Keep my flexibility and keep dancing in
college.
You love to dance because… I love to perform and show what I can do, and I love to dance
to all different types of music.
Observation
Week!
2 0 1 5
Dear Dancers and Families,
What a crazy winter it has been! With all of the snow days last
month, we are working hard to catch up in all of our classes
and prepare for our performances!
This month, Purim falls on Thursday, March 5. We would love
for our j.dance students to celebrate Purim by dressing up in
their favorite costumes in their dance classes during the week
of March 2–6! This month, we will also have Observation
Week for parents, families, and friends to observe their
favorite dancers’ classes the week of March 23–27. Please
support your dancers and congratulate them on all of their
hard work!
I will be in Orlando, Florida attending the JCC Association
National Conference from March 15–18. I am looking forward
to this opportunity to connect with and learn from my
fellow JCCA peers, and hope to return to the J full of new
knowledge and fresh ideas! All of my classes will be covered
by a substitute. There will be no Red Slipper rehearsals at this
time, as indicated on the rehearsal schedule. As a reminder,
there WILL be j.dance classes on Monday, March 16, although
it is a FCPS Teacher’s Work Day.
In this newsletter, our “Spotlight” is on ballet vocabulary. It
is so important for dancers to understand the language of
ballet, in order to fully grasp and execute the movements. As
ballet is the basis for all other forms of dance, it is important
for all dancers to learn this vocabulary!
As always, please feel free to stop
by, email, or call with any questions or
comments!
All my best,
Barri DeFrancisci, j.dance Director
March 23–27, 2015
Come see your favorite dancers in open observation classes during the
week of March 23–27! This is your last chance to see all they have been
working hard on this year, before our spring performances!
Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia
8900 Little River Turnpike • Fairfax, VA 22031
www.jccnv.org • Phone: (703) 323-0880 • Fax: (703) 323-1993
Spotlight On:
Ballet Vocabulary: Why is it Important?
We have had many students ask why they need to know all of these terms in a different language; here is
our answer! Ballet is the most sophisticated way of moving the human body. With that being said, a clear
definition of the movement is necessary. Proper technique includes knowing proper terminology and the
rich history behind the words.
Ballet originated in the Italian courts and made its way to France with the marriage of Catherine De Medici
and King Henry II in the mid–15th century. It is in France where ballet was codified and given a syllabus with
terminology, by King Louis XIV. This was the birth of ballet vocabulary. In our program, we emphasize the
development of “thinking dancers” — dancers who not only know the steps and movements, but who know
about body alignment and musculature, as well as the history and language. ballet, without a doubt, is its
own language, and it is important for the students to become conversational in this language, if not fluent.
In order for a dancer to develop a strong foundation, every dancer needs to have the common language,
which is used in very dance class. Ballet is the fundamental dance technique by which all other forms are
based. Whether that is jazz technique, which keeps the body properly aligned and uses much of the same
ballet vocabulary, or modern, which uses Ballet’s alignment and positioning as a benchmark to completely
turn these guidelines upside down! Below you will find some of the basic vocabulary:
Plie: to bend
Pique: to prick A terre: on the ground Frappe: to strike
Tendu: to stretch
Rond de jambe: circle of the leg Cambre: arched Releve: to rise Echappe: escaped Temps Lie: connecting movement Grande Battement: large beat of the leg Passe: to pass Pas de chat: step of the cat Glissade: to glide
Saute: to jump
Jete: to throw
Chaine: chained or linked
Pirouette: whirl Soutenu: sustained Degage: to disengage (or to brush)
En l’air: in the air Coupe: to cut
Fondu: to melt
Tombe: to fall
Retire: retiring
Port de bras: carriage of the arms
Chasse: to chase Detourne: pivot Fouette: whipped
Class Summaries
Preschool Dance with Brenda Forsley
Tiny Tutus and Toddler Tales
In February, we planted seeds for Tu B’Shevat and did a tree dance and then
celebrated Chinese New Year’s with musical dragons we made doing a Chinese
dance to Chinese music. We still like doing our “plies” and “releves” in class
like ballerinas. We will continue to practice them for our recital dance as well
as doing “echappess” and “rainbow sweeps.” We will be “Raindrops” in the
performance. We tried our tutus on and loved looking at how beautiful we
were in the dance studio mirrors.
Petite Ballet
We had a lot of snow days for our class so we haven’t had the chance to try
our costumes on. We have already started our recital dance and we will be
“Princesses.” We are practicing ballet walks and pointing our toes in “tendue”
so we look very graceful in our dance. Many of our movements we do in class
now look like we are “frozen.” When we are trees, we have frozen limbs, when
we are flying birds, we fly very slow and stiff. We even do our “free dance”
with scarves to “Frozen.” I think we are all waiting for Spring!
Petite Ballet and Tap
Our costumes have arrived and we spent one of our classes trying them
on, getting fitted, and seeing how we dance in them. We are excited about
getting ready to dance in the recital. We will be “Jinns” (Genies). Already,
we have added an extra mat to our dance space to practice on. We are now
putting all of the ballet and tumbling steps together to make our final dance
to perform. We will be doing skips, echappes, “boogie woogies” and our
selection of mat rolls for our dance. Jammin’ Jazz and Hip Hop
We are going to be the “TREASURES” in the recital. We looked so handsome
in our blue vest and bow tie when we tried on our costumes. The girls have
beautiful blue tutus to wear. We have selected many of the Hip Hop moves we
have already learned and put them together to make our dance. Some of the
moves will be the “Crab Walk”, where we have to walk with our bellies up on
our hands and feet (all fours). We love doing “Tushie Turns” because they are
cool. Since our favorite jump is the “Rocket Jump” we will be doing that in our
dance as well. More important is now we have to know where our place is in
the dance and to remember how all of these moves go together. Time to put
on our “magic” glasses and listening ears to see and hear the instructions. Petite Ballet and Tumbling B with Barri DeFrancisci
We are enjoying getting into our routine in this class, and learning proper
ballet class etiquette. We know our Welcome Song, and ballet steps such as
plies, tendus, releves, chasses, marching, sautes, echappes, and leaps over
the “pond”! In the Tumbling section of class, we have learned frog jumps,
pencil jumps, bear walks, crab walks, pencil rolls, and log rolls. We have
practiced walking on the balance beam with a bean bag on our heads to work
on balance and posture, and we have learned directions such as forward,
backward, and sideways! We always have great fun with the parachute, and
dancing with scarves to any song from “Frozen” at the end of class! We also
enjoyed trying on our “Clown” costumes for the spring performance!
Announcements
.
Important Dates:
March 2–6: Purim Dress up Week!
Saturday, March 7, 6pm: Wine, Cheese and
Swing! Come learn swing dancing, and enjoy
schmoozing with wine and cheese! Adults ages
21+. No partner required.
March 15–18: Miss Barri away for JCCA
conference
March 23–27: Observation Week!
March 28–April 5: Spring Break- no classes
Attendance Reminder:
Please remember that for the safety and health
of our dancers, students are not to miss class
on a regular basis. If it is an excused absence,
please attend a make-up class the same week.
This prevents the student from falling behind and
also helps build the necessary skills and strength
needed to succeed and move to the next level.
Please remember to come to class in proper
attire!
Class Summaries
Tap with Lesley Kowalski
Ballet with Barri DeFrancisci
Tap I/II
Students continue to perfect their tap sounds. A huge improvement on a
clean spank sound by all. The next basic tap step combinations that have been
introduced and will continue to be perfected in March is a Flap ball change,
a shuffle ball change and understanding the shuffle hop step combination
with a specific body alignment becomes a step referred to as “the Irish.” In
addition, this group of students is hard at work learning their performance
piece. They are really doing an excellent job. I am impressed at the level of
technique that they can perform at.
Ballet IA (Wednesday)
·
Still working on proper ballet class etiquette such as when it is
appropriate to ask questions or speak, how to properly start and finish
each combination, taking turns across the floor, and how to behave in
between combinations.
·
Introducing 3rd position of the feet and arms.
·
Practicing basic steps across the floor such as ballet walks, chasses, skips,
and leaps.
·
How to turnout properly from the hip, while showing off our “diamonds”
and keeping our “headlights” forward.
·
Maintaining correct posture and alignment while executing dance steps.
Tap III
The review each week of similar steps is important in becoming tap proficient.
The riff sound is really improved and the time step is good! So good is the
time step, that the class was introduced to an alternative time step. Although
repeating steps from week to week is important, it is also important to change
up the movement so that a tapper is not only able to do the steps in one
manner, hence the change up on the time step. This new time step as well as a
Cincinnati time step and new turn will also be introduced in March. In addition,
the recital piece for this class has been very fun to work on as it has become a
group effort. Choreography will need to be billed to “Lesley Kowalski and the
whole class”. By contributing to the dance, the enthusiasm to practice and
perfect has increased tenfold. It is a fun and rewarding experience for both
teacher and student.
Modern with Ronnique Murray
The students have been working really hard! Each class session, we review
some material from the previous class so that the students will be able to
grasp the concepts more, as well as find other ways to interpret it through
their bodies. Once we review, we add on new material. Thus far, the students
have been working on ways to shift their weight to other directions with
the use of the pelvis. The students have also been working on creative
improvisation by spelling their names using movements of their choice.
This month, we will continue to work on improvisation and incorporating
partnering with it.
Jazz with Ronnique Murray
Jazz I
The students are picking up very rapidly and moving along with the previous
knowledge that has been given. We have been working on the basic
fundamentals of jazz, such as chasses, pivot turns, and kick ball changes. The
students are now being challenged by learning the preparation steps for a
pirouette. We also allow the students to play the role of the “teacher,” which
gives them a sense of leadership. For example, each student picks a basic
movement that they remember and show it to the class. The class and Miss
Ronnique will repeat the selected movement. This month we will be working
on Musical Theatre Jazz.
Jazz II
The students are encouraged to push themselves on how to use their
technique to “perform” more in class. The students have been working on
short combinations, which give them the opportunity to heighten muscles
memory, coordination, and speed.
Hip Hop with Ronnique Murray
Hip Hop students have been introduced to isolations, popping, shifting,
and transition of the body. We are now working on using these elements
for combinations across the floor. In both levels, the students are working
on a few b-boy/b-girl tricks. These tricks include sliding to the ground and
handstands. The students are really excited to learn more tricks this month!
Ballet IB (Tuesday)
·
Continuing to work on staying focused and exhibit proper ballet class
etiquette.
·
Continuing to improve alignment and posture.
·
Mastering basic ballet vocabulary.
·
Starting to learn waltz steps such as triplets and balances, which we will
need for our dance in the performance.
Ballet II
·
Mastering new steps such as grand plies, fondus, frappes, rond de jambe
en l’air, and arabesque.
·
Embracing our “inner bird” and learning how to run like ballerinas with
“bird arms” for our performance piece.
Ballet III
As a whole, this class really needs to work on getting to class on time,
focusing when Miss Barri shows combinations so they can do them correctly,
remembering corrections from each week, remembering steps and vocabulary
that has been taught previously, preparing for combinations quicker at the
barre, and not being silly with their friends. Their technique will not improve
by coming to class only once a week, and not working hard during those 45
minutes once a week. I will not be able to begin teaching them their dance for
the performance until I can see these improvements!
Ballet IV/V
·
Continuing to work on proper placement and technique at the barre, and
holding themselves without pulling on the barre for support.
·
Working on maintaining turnout in all positions and throughout entire
combinations.
·
Working on improving balance and coordination.
·
Practicing pirouettes from 4th and 5th positions.
·
Working on improving petite allegro (small jumps), and their reverse
directions.
Zumba® Kids with Barri DeFrancisci
Zumba® Kids recently “traveled” to Panama, where they learned some
fundamentals of Cumbia, such as the Cumbia Basic step, and the “Sleepy
Leg.” We are using these movements in a new dance we are learning to “La
Cachumbalera.” We still review “L.O.V.E” and “S-Cool,” and enjoy follow-along
dances such as a Cupid Shuffle and Monster Mash.