Arts Special in out school is totally Skill base program. This program is offered from Grade 3 onwards. We need to choose an art form of our area of interest from various options provided like Visual Art, Drama, Dance, Bharatanatyam, Vocals, Keyboard, Percussion (Drum and Tabla), Guitar. We are expected to learn that particular skill for the whole year, and at the end of the year, we will perform in Arts Festival organized in our school showcasing our learning to our parents.
I have always enjoyed dancing since my childhood as it somewhere gives me peace and it helps me to showcase my emotions in a better way. I had already been a continuous learner of dance, learning different dance forms including folk dances. To deepen my experience in dance forms, I had selected DEP ( Dance Educational Programme) in which freestyle form was selected as the form to be taught to grade 11 and 12 in the year of 2017-18.
Learning outcome 1 – Identify own strength and develop areas of growth
As I said, I had always loved dancing and being doing it for quite a few years has made me good at it and thus doing basic steps of dance has always been an easy task for me. However, to actually improve your performance you need to learn some sort of necessary things needed for that particular dance performance or style. For example, if doing hip-hop, you should showcase the required energy or aggression demanded by the performance or the song. Thus, getting an opportunity to learn all of this and improve my performance was truly mesmerizing.
But with knowing dancing since years and practicing it as well didn’t let me overcome my weakness of being able to showcase or inculcate the style and expressions that are needed while doing the hip-hop style – which was included in our freestyle dance. I am a person, who is more comfortable while doing more of a freestyle which includes contemporary and normal dancing, a dance which doesn’t need much of a style, a dance which needs grace and is on songs which I completely enjoying singing. Thus, this is all a reason why I chose DEP in my AS so as to overcome my weakness or so as strength my strengths.
This year in DEP, we were allowed to do it on Bollywood song out of which we chose ” GALTI SE MISTAKE ” song, in which I enjoyed very much as it was more of a fun song rather than a proper step-step or intense performance.
Knowing your strengths and weaknesses is something that is crucial in your life. Identifying them may seem like a difficult exercise but it’s really as easy as opening up, thinking about it a little, and (most importantly) listening to those around you. Also identifying “weaknesses” is a little bit tougher. I actually don’t love that word – because it feels so negative. Therefore, let’s assume “weakness” actually mean “the things you are not naturally as great at” so as to be easily able to motivate yourself and work on it.
Thus, I feel satisfied that I was able to work on my weakness because this somewhere has made me more confident about my dance skills and also made me fulfill my goal of learning new dance form and being able to portray its style to a certain extent.
Learning outcome 2 – Demonstrating that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.
The challenges that I faced while performing this activity were :
- Getting the same energy and style required by the dance.
- Remembering the steps.
- Lack of confidence.
First, inculcating the style and energy needed for our 2nd song – ” uptown funk” was a bit of difficult task. As I had said that I was not good at the hip-hop style or the whacking style which made it challenging for me to learn it. To overcome this challenge I actually watched some videos suggested by JAY sir and practiced at home for the same so as to get a hang of it and do better than the last time. Having undertaken this challenge was fun, as I was able to learn a new style and also I enjoyed the practice session of it.
The second challenge of remembering the steps was a hurdle because we had one class of an hour every 8th day due to which it was difficult to remember the steps and the tips to improve the steps given by sir. Therefore, to over this challenge, I made sure that I actually revise my steps thrice in the eight days so as to remember them. Again, having undertaken this challenge was fun, because somewhere while practicing it helped me to decrease my stress level and calm down my tensions and worries of the deadlines of IA’s.
Third, maybe the most difficult challenge for me was my lack of confidence while performing, because of which I was not able to showcase my learning in a better way and also with the audience watching, I actually used to forget my steps and stand still, embarrassed. Thus, to overcome this challenge I used to practice at home whenever I used to get time or when I needed some change in my schedule. Also while performing, I used to look at myself in the mirror and try to think that no one is watching so that I can give my best and perform all my learning, which I did successfully. Having undertaken this challenge has helped me to increase my confidence level and showcase my learning in an efficient way.
Lastly, performing this activity and undertaking this challenges has made me overcome my stage fear to a certain extent which will be very helpful for me in my future.
Learning outcome 4 – Show commitment and determination
This activity required a commitment in order to remember the dance steps which we learn once in 8 days. We had to be dedicated to working because we already had many assignments lined up and also the final performance was near. Also, I had taken leaves in between due to ill health and others also had been absent on few days which altogether made it difficult to learn steps and coordinate with the positions.
However, showing commitment helped me to learn how to balance your time and focus what is necessary, which would also help me in my future.
For me, it is easy to commit to things in which I can contribute. But the most important thing which kept me intact in this activity was my love towards dancing. Commitment is crucial because in future to achieve any goal there would be many obstacles lined up. And when those obstacles appear, it is very easy to lose belief and step down, and that is where our dedication and perseverance keep us motivated to continue the path and attain our goal.
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So in all, this activity was fun which made me achieve the above learning outcomes that would help me in my future. However, I was not able to perform on the final day because I had got myself a minor leg injury (Ankle twist), but I was happy that we had taken up a small video of our dance before the final performance which could be kept as a memory of my participation in DEP.