Student performance groups

Hiya all,

Anyone has any experience with student performance groups? They seem to be the new vogue in Toronto nowdays. What are the pros and cons of participating in such a group? Was it an enjoyable experience overall?

Some people I've talked with mentioned that it helps improve aspects of your dancing such as connecting with the crowd, lines, musicality, etc. that you just won't get from a turn patterns class. But other have complained that only one person's lack of commitment can pull the group down, as well as all the good and bad things that come from group dynamics.

My first (and only) such experience was about 14 years ago, when my dance partner "El Washing Machine" & I first got paired up. We were both newbies & we both sucked, in retrospect .

Students get SOOOOOO excited when they are involved in a performance group. It can be both a positive and negative thing, IMHO.

Positive: Increased confindence & dedication level. Very motivating. Techniques are sharpened. Invauable experience in presentation skills which can be applied to other aspects of your life.

Nagative: Performance routines are 'drilled' into their heads, so it has a potential to churn out pattern dancers (especially at the early, impressionable stage), not to mention inflated ego as part of the side effects :roll: in some students.

*If there is one thing I've learnt over the years, I've realised that the more you learn, the less you know . Being humble. Stay true. Learn more.*

I have been involved in show groups now for the last year or so. In fact it takes up more than 95% of my Salsa life.

There is naturally always a mixture of people, skill and enthusiasm.
This causes friction within the group.

It is important to have a good group leader who takes control, and keeps the presure on. Especially to develop good koreography (which takes a huge amount of time) and for ensuring that there is a certain quality in the group. I.e. you dont miss two of every three training sessions and if you cant do a double turn then you need to practice.

However they are really great fun to do, and very satisfying when done right.

Personally I do them bcause of the sheer lack of good Salsa clubs in my area.

BTW I have a show tommorow night, Rumba, Son, and Salsa at the Helsingborgs Salsa Congress. Wish me luck !

If I wasnt here I would go to the Dublin Salsa Congress this weekend, and see "Salsation", pity they clash.

:bandit:

From my experience, group performaces are very much enjoyed by the participants... I used to enjoy them myself... It was fun to do the steps in line with others... it didn't matter you sucked...
Also, it's kind of good practice for spins and stepping for beginners...
Of course, it's bad because they teach you a certain pattern and it's difficult to get out of it... but in the end, when you improve, you will...
So, I usually enclourage my students to join such performances

I'm in a training group right now, and I feel it's been a positive experience for me. Yes, we are drilling choreography, but we are also learning technique and styling in order to execute it all nicely. It's also nice to get to know other salseros y salseras that are around the same skill level...and besides, after practicing for so long, everyone typically becomes good friends

If I get over to the States (I have never been there :? ) it will probably be Boston, so " if if if " I will come and see your guys practice.....

Some thing I have been thinking about .......

Taking Coregraphy from other routines that others have done, how do you all feel about it ????

So you have two extremes,

one, just copy somone elses routine, its easy enough to learn it and dance it within a month or so,

two, go through the hassle of creating something completely origional( or as origional as possible) with moves that you make up along the way, takes ages but at the end you have something you are proud of.

I have done(or doing) both. How do you all feel about it.

Is there copyright of moves ??

What about taking core ideas from other routines, for example someone has a vampire theme to there routine, and someone else copies it ??

Just want to know your opinions of this.

There are many examples of it.

:bandit:

I have done 2 performances, one I was in charge of(a smaller group), one I wasn't(a larger group). I will share my experiences.
In both cases the group created the choreagraphy, this is much better with a larger group because in a smaller group it is easy to stay in your comfort zone. If you are in a large group more people have things to contribute to the choreagraphy with the small group we did not learn any new style or anything.
In both cases the most time was spent working out the choreagraphy. With amateurs, even good amateurs, I expect that it will take about two weeks to work out the choreagraphy for every 3 minutes
of music if you want everyone to do and remember the routine as you go.
That means for one 4.5 minute song it will take about 3-4 weeks plus an extra week to polish it up. This is why if you have a performance group already it is better, this way you can always be improving your dancing and the time it takes to learn new routines will be shorter.
I definitely think that you should create your own routines, this gives a greater sense of accomplishment to the group, makes it more feasable that everyone will be able to learn the routine. My favorite thing about creating your own routine is the creativity that can come of it. I was part of a swing routine and there were four beats unaccounted for, they were about to change the whole routine but since we were making it up we came up with a new move. It was the type of move that fit the music perfectly, was easier than what we had planned, and best of all, no one had ever seen anything like it before. You can't get that from a learned routine.

I was in a student performance group doing a segued Smooth number for an Alison-in-Wonderland themed show. It was a wonderful experience, our teacher was a very creative choreographer and she knew how to soothe the overwhelmed and motivate the lazy. We all really enjoyed it and spontaneously added extra practices because we wanted to get together and work on the number for the show.

I would say do it if you enjoy performing and want to be in a group. There's a lot to be said for the group dynamics of working hard on something and then achieving it. If you go into it expecting to learn useful new steps or to improve your technique you might be disappointed, but if you do it for the chance to be on stage and learn an interesting and cool number, then it's great fun.

I'd do it again but the timing hasn't been right. Someday, though!