Anthony LoCascio’s Blog

Recent General Competition Notes

What a great few days this has been. Teaching at a NADAA event is always a treat and I get to see so many people I enjoy. I love working with the students and the teacher’s dedication to reach positive goals for their dancers is fantastic.

Classes were great and everyone was wonderfully attentive. Competition was excellent and for the first time Bethany and I were inspired to create a new scholarship because of Leah Woodward’s excellent performance and consistance over a two day Competition. Congrats Leah, we wish you nothing but success.

Every competition I make general notes that seem to pop up more than once during the event.four or five things stuck in my head….work on these and always give great attention to detail…….

1) (tap) press into the ball of the feet and dace in “pop”

2) (jazz, lyrical, contemporary) elongate and connect transitions. Treat every transition with equal importance and as if they were an individual step.

3) (all styles) careful on flashy entrances and exits. You are the major focus at that point, there is no other distractions. We SEE & HEAR everything. If you are going to dance on or off the stage w/o music for an entrance, you better make sure it is perfect!!!!!

4) No matter how many dances you do in one day, you can NOT look tired on stage when you are performing…Fight for every step, detail and movement!

5) Though most were pretty good at this, remember. It is called a QUICK change because you need to be FAST. However, breath, don’t rush, and keep calm. Breaking those general rules will actually make your change into a longer process….Also, be sure to utilize pre-sets.

6) (jazz, lyrical, ballet, modern, contemporary) When you do any type of leap or jete - lift and float!!! I do NOT want to hear you land!!!! Period!!!

O.K. hope this helps everyone out there in competition land….Break a leg. As always…..

Tap w/u Soon,

Anthony

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Lyrical Report for Lyrical Dances

Let talk about lyrical at competition…As a performer you need to express the lyrics of the artist you are dancing to with you face, body and movement. Your job is to connect the audience to the emotion of the song. Be aware of musical changes and DO A LYRICAL REPORT.

A lyrical report is a book report for a song….You should listen to the words and the way the artist’s voice changes during the song. What emotions are expressed? How do I express them properly? What are the right moments to express them? and so on….This will help you perform on stage rather than just “spit dance steps back” at your audience…..It is hard to put yourself out on the line emotionally in front of a wide variety of people BUT that is what we should do when performing a lyrical dance.

Age - I know lyrical is very enticing to all ages BUT remember a few things. For younger students I tend to introduce them to expression on stage with Theatre and Character dances. This teaches students that it is O.K. to dance with different expression and emotions on stage and to perform as a character and NOT dance like themselves….Plus it is hard to judge a lyrical dance when the student is 10 and she is smiling through a whole dance about being a battered wife…I see things like this every weekend when I judge and it happens ALL DAY, NOT JUST ONCE OR TWICE!

If you have younger students who really want to become great lyrical dancers, start with the theatre dance and easier character stuff when they are younger so they can get used to expressing themselves in front of an audience - This will make it easier to transition into heavier, deeper, and more mature emotions when they get older and tackle lyrical pieces.

O.K. - That is all for this topic at the moment…Hope this is helpful…..It seems like teachers really fine my lyrical report system useful and I hope you do to…

Tap w/u Soon,

Anthony

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