Movement with Ingrid

The first time I heard that we were going to dance for the program, the thought that came through my mind was “Oh great. We are going to get some random teacher that has NO experience and we are going to come out looking like idiots on stage”. Later, when we got into detail about that part of the program, Bo talked to us about Ingrid. Ingrid Schatz is a professional dancer that is coming every Monday to help us with our dance piece for our performance. Ingrid has travelled all over the world. She has been dancing for over 30 years and has been teaching dance for about 20 years. Today, Ingrid came in and taught us some basic elements and movements that we will use. She taught us the difference between actions like slash, punch, flick, float, and more. Ingrid also taught us the difference between light weight movements and heavy movements and the effects that the tempo of the movement has on the dance piece or on the feelings that you demonstrate through the piece. While she taught us about all those things, I felt like I knew what I was doing. She made you seem like it was ok to mess up, because it added a new movement to the piece or exercise. It would add a new line or image to the overall drawing. I felt I was creating a picture or that I was in the picture and I am a piece of it. We did a couple of exercises to learn the differences and to learn what is what, like learning the difference between the vertical, horizontal, and the sagital planes in dance. We would move from one side of the plane to the other to work on what the planes are and how we incorporate them not in only dance, but in the world around us. For example, the sagital plane is the plane that is the front and back of your body. You walk forward or backward, you’re in the sagital plane. Ingrid made it fun and exciting to learn all of those things and has now opened my eyes to the dance world. I am now using the stuff that she taught me and am thinking of ways that we can incorporate it into the piece. Ingrid’s visit was very fun and I learned so many things about her and about dance in that period of time. I can’t wait for all the Mondays after today.

-Yari