Follow Your Dreams
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An artist looks at a blank canvas and sees a space for them to create. The canvas
is a place where they can let their imaginations run wild. The blank space will soon be a home for their creation and vision; a place where their art can come alive. The artist can see what they imagined and have created on the canvas allowing for their visions to come alive in front of their face. A dancer sees the stage the same way the artist sees the canvas. The stage serves as their blank canvas they are free to paint with their own style. Dancers are able to create their vision to come alive on the stage using their vision, technique, knowledge, and able to give direction to other dancers to create a work of art. Being a dance instructor and choreographer, Lauren Angelo is an artist of her trade. She finds comfort in the art of expression through dance as well as seeing it as a physical sport. To be a great dancer, it takes years to master and acquire the right skills and techniques to allow for your body to move the right way. First glance when seeing Lauren standing at 5 feet, 6 inches she has the appearance of what others may think when they see a ballerina. In ballet certain bodies will form to dance. “At first glance I might look like a ballerina, but I also tap.” While having “the look” Lauren also thought she was a ballerina until she started college and “realized my body was not made for it, I can’t improve on it except try harder.” Lauren finds it hard to maintain the ballerina posture. When “I first started dancing I heard a girl talking about me saying I was made to be a ballerina, not to dance hip-hop. I don’t fit the mold of the hip-hop society because I’m Caucasian they think I am a ballet or jazz dancer because of my overall appearance. Lauren’s techniques mainly consist of “maintaining core strengths and alignment of the body. Because I have scoliosis it is harder for me to maintain this but I work hard and keep it as best as I can.” While she holds a strong appreciation for ballet and her style is hip-hop, she is able to incorporate all elements of dance in her work. She has created a piece titled “girls run the world,” which is a hip-hop/all styles piece for a benefit concert that raised awareness for AIDS. She enjoys performing at charitable events and has performed in numerous places around the east coast.
Lauren began dancing at a young age and instantly created a love and passion for dance. She became interested in teaching when she saw the older girls at her dance studio participating in assistant teaching positions. In order for her to have that opportunity she had to enroll in ballet, tap, and jazz and continue the dance training in those classes to be qualified to teach. From there she has been inspired by dance and continued taking more classes over the years to become an assistant teacher. Through her hard work and dedication she was able to become a dance instructor and choreographer. Through her love of dance Lauren has learned that “you can make anything happen, you really can.”
Lauren’s passion for dance and reached her goal of becoming an instruction, both have been able to inspire her in many ways. Sandra’s School of Dance in Saugus, Massachusetts has become a place where she can let her creativity flow as a competition instructor, dance teacher and choreographer. Lauren sees dance as “art form and that’s really huge, but it doesn’t have to be just an outlet. Athletic dance is classified as a sport.” Dance is a way for Lauren to express herself through creativity, movement and choreography. “The one thing that is so important to dance is that your body is your instrument and you have to make your body do it and allow the technique to take over. Once you figure out the anatomy, it becomes real. Your body is engaged in motion and you know how to articulate different movements. For me it has a lot to do with discovering your body and I really learned how to discover my body through dance beyond technique.
Lauren finds the most enjoyable part of her training being a choreographer and being able to “watch the development of your piece literally come alive right in front of you! “It is your dream, and your imagination is dancing and coming to life right in front of you; that’s the most important. If your dream isn’t pictured in front of you have nothing to show.” When she sees her students or other dancers performing a routine she has choreographed she is ecstatic as she cries tears of joy because that is the result of her hard work and dedication to the dancers being shown through their dancing. Dance gives off different feelings and emotions. If you don’t feel it when you see a performance, it is not appealing to the eye or soul. At auditions for the competition team, I was stern with the students. They had to perform a routine I choreographed and their performance looked awful! They had no freestyle skills, no facials, and showed no emotion while dancing. I wanted to give up because of their lack of energy and passion. “They didn’t try and it made me want to give up.” The students had bad habits they picked up from former teachers and they lacked energy and passion in their dancing. The students admitted the choreography was challenging for them. Since the auditions, I teach the students with praise and reinforcement that makes them go above and beyond what they are capable of doing. Lauren is supportive of seeing her dream become real on the stage and always encourages her students to do better. “Even when they mess up I smile, clap, and cheer” as she finds a great comfort in seeing her dream and creation happening on the stage. She is always supportive for her students and dancers, no matter the outcome of the art. Being able to see her work on stage is such a blessing. She loves seeing growth and watching students’ dance their way to the final moment when they go on stage and “kill it!”
Some of the most difficult decision to make when choreographing a routine is whether or not to challenge the dancers. When she’s in school she knows the capability of her peers, but when she is teaching her classes it is difficult for her because some are interested and some are not. Knowing your dancers and their individual capability in the sport is essential for their training and safety. For example, “if a girl landed a wrong way in a jump it shows me she is not ready for that type of movement.” Since dance requires training and technique it is important that every move a dancer makes is crisp because a wrong movement can result in an injury. This can pose a great challenge of working with students without motivation. At competition team auditions, there was a girl who didn’t have ‘it’ as much as others. She had no passion and didn’t give a real effort. Being able to address motivation as whole to the group motivates stronger dancers become stronger. It is difficult because you have to be honest and give reality checks as a mentor. No negativity or else you don’t get results. You have to stay positive and provide suggestions for improvement by following up with good and bad comments.
Great dancers also need stamina. They have to be able to go six hours straight in the studio. It doesn’t matter your size, build, or height, your stamina will determine how you can dance in a long period of time. In a recent rehearsal for a piece for the senior performance rehearsal was from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. That may not seem like a huge chunk of time, but time was going by slow. The studio floor was not that great for dancing in barefoot. My feet were sore and I was exhausted from being out the night before. The rehearsal was physically exhausting but water was keeping me hydrated as well as, resting for a few minutes allowed for me to renew energy. Though I was exhausted, being there on stage gave me the drive to get through it. You have to always think of something that will get you through it; to think that at the end of the day this will make me better as a person.
Technique is essential to dance, but is not a top priority; building as you grow it will come to you. The use of upper
body, how you present yourself, actions and behaviors reflect who you are and your attitudes towards dance. If you come to class early to warm up and take care of your body, try to be healthy and eat healthy are some qualities that help dancers stay physically fit. As a dancer it is important to “make sure you understand body and what it is doing. If you injury yourself you should know what happened and be able to assess own injuries. Appreciate dance as a sport and art form, you are an artist but also put in hard work, most important is positive attitude towards it. You can’t be miserable, you must be excited. You should be happy to be on your feet dancing.” As a dancer herself, she believes students “need to have some type of drive or passion.” From the teacher perspective technique matters to an extent, but the passion shows how far you are willing to go. When it comes to dancing, “just do it!” The greatest obstacle of dance performance is going out on stage and taking a chance. As a dancer you must be selfish and find the confidence in yourself to be successful because you love dance so much. “You will question why you here and what you doing but WHY NOT, it will always be challenging, find your own path. Don’t worry about where you want to go because you will find your outlet. You have to do stuff you don’t like or enjoy in the industry, but you do it for the love of dance.” In dance you take risks and try something different to be creative.
Dance is about taking risks and stepping out of your comfort zone. Lauren appreciates ballet and jazz and is open to trying new styles but hip hop is her favorite “because so much you can do with it for me it’s more uncomfortable in body with it, don’t have to suck it in or hold body.” The training is essential but when it comes to ballet vs. hip-hop, hip-hop has more freedom. Ballet helps you to become a better dancer, but hip-hop is technique. It was originated on streets-yes- but it has to come from somewhere. When people think about hip-hop, they think of club dancing, but it is culture that came together to create different styles and levels. People should be well rounded and know the terms, but hip-hop isn’t treated any differently from ballet, it has techniques of its own.
By majoring in dance “it gave me a reality check for my future and without being educated in dance I would not have grown as much as I did.” Her work as a dance instructor has allowed for other teaching opportunities. She is a teacher assistant for an extended learning program at the pre-kindergarten level. The program gives her an opportunity to work closely with student with special needs and teaching them creative movement while working closely with occupational and physical therapists. She loves working with kids especially ones with different qualities of a typical kid. She enjoys to watching them grow as students. Through dance instruction she was able to get a three year old student with Down syndrome who is non-verbal to say a word. “Dance can be taught to all, it is a lifelong sport, for anyone. Being a teacher’s assistant has helped her decide to become a teacher. Being able to work with students and help them to accomplish something and make progress is an experience Lauren loves. Being able to work with people directly allows her to be more forgiving and dance allows her to be patient with the students as well as with herself.
is a place where they can let their imaginations run wild. The blank space will soon be a home for their creation and vision; a place where their art can come alive. The artist can see what they imagined and have created on the canvas allowing for their visions to come alive in front of their face. A dancer sees the stage the same way the artist sees the canvas. The stage serves as their blank canvas they are free to paint with their own style. Dancers are able to create their vision to come alive on the stage using their vision, technique, knowledge, and able to give direction to other dancers to create a work of art. Being a dance instructor and choreographer, Lauren Angelo is an artist of her trade. She finds comfort in the art of expression through dance as well as seeing it as a physical sport. To be a great dancer, it takes years to master and acquire the right skills and techniques to allow for your body to move the right way. First glance when seeing Lauren standing at 5 feet, 6 inches she has the appearance of what others may think when they see a ballerina. In ballet certain bodies will form to dance. “At first glance I might look like a ballerina, but I also tap.” While having “the look” Lauren also thought she was a ballerina until she started college and “realized my body was not made for it, I can’t improve on it except try harder.” Lauren finds it hard to maintain the ballerina posture. When “I first started dancing I heard a girl talking about me saying I was made to be a ballerina, not to dance hip-hop. I don’t fit the mold of the hip-hop society because I’m Caucasian they think I am a ballet or jazz dancer because of my overall appearance. Lauren’s techniques mainly consist of “maintaining core strengths and alignment of the body. Because I have scoliosis it is harder for me to maintain this but I work hard and keep it as best as I can.” While she holds a strong appreciation for ballet and her style is hip-hop, she is able to incorporate all elements of dance in her work. She has created a piece titled “girls run the world,” which is a hip-hop/all styles piece for a benefit concert that raised awareness for AIDS. She enjoys performing at charitable events and has performed in numerous places around the east coast.
Lauren began dancing at a young age and instantly created a love and passion for dance. She became interested in teaching when she saw the older girls at her dance studio participating in assistant teaching positions. In order for her to have that opportunity she had to enroll in ballet, tap, and jazz and continue the dance training in those classes to be qualified to teach. From there she has been inspired by dance and continued taking more classes over the years to become an assistant teacher. Through her hard work and dedication she was able to become a dance instructor and choreographer. Through her love of dance Lauren has learned that “you can make anything happen, you really can.”
Lauren’s passion for dance and reached her goal of becoming an instruction, both have been able to inspire her in many ways. Sandra’s School of Dance in Saugus, Massachusetts has become a place where she can let her creativity flow as a competition instructor, dance teacher and choreographer. Lauren sees dance as “art form and that’s really huge, but it doesn’t have to be just an outlet. Athletic dance is classified as a sport.” Dance is a way for Lauren to express herself through creativity, movement and choreography. “The one thing that is so important to dance is that your body is your instrument and you have to make your body do it and allow the technique to take over. Once you figure out the anatomy, it becomes real. Your body is engaged in motion and you know how to articulate different movements. For me it has a lot to do with discovering your body and I really learned how to discover my body through dance beyond technique.
Lauren finds the most enjoyable part of her training being a choreographer and being able to “watch the development of your piece literally come alive right in front of you! “It is your dream, and your imagination is dancing and coming to life right in front of you; that’s the most important. If your dream isn’t pictured in front of you have nothing to show.” When she sees her students or other dancers performing a routine she has choreographed she is ecstatic as she cries tears of joy because that is the result of her hard work and dedication to the dancers being shown through their dancing. Dance gives off different feelings and emotions. If you don’t feel it when you see a performance, it is not appealing to the eye or soul. At auditions for the competition team, I was stern with the students. They had to perform a routine I choreographed and their performance looked awful! They had no freestyle skills, no facials, and showed no emotion while dancing. I wanted to give up because of their lack of energy and passion. “They didn’t try and it made me want to give up.” The students had bad habits they picked up from former teachers and they lacked energy and passion in their dancing. The students admitted the choreography was challenging for them. Since the auditions, I teach the students with praise and reinforcement that makes them go above and beyond what they are capable of doing. Lauren is supportive of seeing her dream become real on the stage and always encourages her students to do better. “Even when they mess up I smile, clap, and cheer” as she finds a great comfort in seeing her dream and creation happening on the stage. She is always supportive for her students and dancers, no matter the outcome of the art. Being able to see her work on stage is such a blessing. She loves seeing growth and watching students’ dance their way to the final moment when they go on stage and “kill it!”
Some of the most difficult decision to make when choreographing a routine is whether or not to challenge the dancers. When she’s in school she knows the capability of her peers, but when she is teaching her classes it is difficult for her because some are interested and some are not. Knowing your dancers and their individual capability in the sport is essential for their training and safety. For example, “if a girl landed a wrong way in a jump it shows me she is not ready for that type of movement.” Since dance requires training and technique it is important that every move a dancer makes is crisp because a wrong movement can result in an injury. This can pose a great challenge of working with students without motivation. At competition team auditions, there was a girl who didn’t have ‘it’ as much as others. She had no passion and didn’t give a real effort. Being able to address motivation as whole to the group motivates stronger dancers become stronger. It is difficult because you have to be honest and give reality checks as a mentor. No negativity or else you don’t get results. You have to stay positive and provide suggestions for improvement by following up with good and bad comments.
Great dancers also need stamina. They have to be able to go six hours straight in the studio. It doesn’t matter your size, build, or height, your stamina will determine how you can dance in a long period of time. In a recent rehearsal for a piece for the senior performance rehearsal was from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. That may not seem like a huge chunk of time, but time was going by slow. The studio floor was not that great for dancing in barefoot. My feet were sore and I was exhausted from being out the night before. The rehearsal was physically exhausting but water was keeping me hydrated as well as, resting for a few minutes allowed for me to renew energy. Though I was exhausted, being there on stage gave me the drive to get through it. You have to always think of something that will get you through it; to think that at the end of the day this will make me better as a person.
Technique is essential to dance, but is not a top priority; building as you grow it will come to you. The use of upper
body, how you present yourself, actions and behaviors reflect who you are and your attitudes towards dance. If you come to class early to warm up and take care of your body, try to be healthy and eat healthy are some qualities that help dancers stay physically fit. As a dancer it is important to “make sure you understand body and what it is doing. If you injury yourself you should know what happened and be able to assess own injuries. Appreciate dance as a sport and art form, you are an artist but also put in hard work, most important is positive attitude towards it. You can’t be miserable, you must be excited. You should be happy to be on your feet dancing.” As a dancer herself, she believes students “need to have some type of drive or passion.” From the teacher perspective technique matters to an extent, but the passion shows how far you are willing to go. When it comes to dancing, “just do it!” The greatest obstacle of dance performance is going out on stage and taking a chance. As a dancer you must be selfish and find the confidence in yourself to be successful because you love dance so much. “You will question why you here and what you doing but WHY NOT, it will always be challenging, find your own path. Don’t worry about where you want to go because you will find your outlet. You have to do stuff you don’t like or enjoy in the industry, but you do it for the love of dance.” In dance you take risks and try something different to be creative.
Dance is about taking risks and stepping out of your comfort zone. Lauren appreciates ballet and jazz and is open to trying new styles but hip hop is her favorite “because so much you can do with it for me it’s more uncomfortable in body with it, don’t have to suck it in or hold body.” The training is essential but when it comes to ballet vs. hip-hop, hip-hop has more freedom. Ballet helps you to become a better dancer, but hip-hop is technique. It was originated on streets-yes- but it has to come from somewhere. When people think about hip-hop, they think of club dancing, but it is culture that came together to create different styles and levels. People should be well rounded and know the terms, but hip-hop isn’t treated any differently from ballet, it has techniques of its own.
By majoring in dance “it gave me a reality check for my future and without being educated in dance I would not have grown as much as I did.” Her work as a dance instructor has allowed for other teaching opportunities. She is a teacher assistant for an extended learning program at the pre-kindergarten level. The program gives her an opportunity to work closely with student with special needs and teaching them creative movement while working closely with occupational and physical therapists. She loves working with kids especially ones with different qualities of a typical kid. She enjoys to watching them grow as students. Through dance instruction she was able to get a three year old student with Down syndrome who is non-verbal to say a word. “Dance can be taught to all, it is a lifelong sport, for anyone. Being a teacher’s assistant has helped her decide to become a teacher. Being able to work with students and help them to accomplish something and make progress is an experience Lauren loves. Being able to work with people directly allows her to be more forgiving and dance allows her to be patient with the students as well as with herself.