Ms. Represent (who got engaged this past Saturday! Congrats!) nailed down the formations last night for our opening number, which involved pairing us up. Because the routine involves sliding between someone’s legs, she had to partner us according to height. To do this she made everyone stand in a row, shortest to tallest, and naturally I was first in line yet again just like in elementary school (and high school and college and during the fire drills at work, etc., etc). But wouldn’t you know it, the next two shortest ladies in the line were also Filipinas! Represent indeed!
I was paired up with Nicole, a young girl who couldn’t have been more than sixteen. Her mom is an excellent ballet dancer whom I’ve taken class with on occasion. Nicole herself is an aspiring dancer and she recently completed her RAD exams and was cast as the Snow Queen in our studio’s Nut production. So she’s good. Really good. In ballet, that is.
In hip hop, she’s having a bit of a difficult time. Her movement is light and fluid and high, but hip hop demands that a dancer be grounded, slouched and sharp. We have one move where we jerk our elbows back, and she can’t seem to get the hang of really popping her arms with more intensity. After class we were talking about hip hop and she freely admitted that it wasn’t her comfort zone and the only dance where she feels a bit fish-out-of-water. I told her I felt the same thing about ballet although I think I can fake it half the time.
When I teach hip hop, I can always tell which of my students are the ballerinas. They’re the ones with the perfect posture, feet turned out ever so slightly, and who can’t seem to twitch and jerk their bodies when I ask them to, but they’re also the ones who can master the choreography after only two go-rounds.
I have complete and total respect for the demands of both disciplines and I love that I’m doing both ends of the dance spectrum. In ballet, even though I don’t do much “dancing,” I do love learning the technique. In hip hop, there’s way more dancing, not as much technique. So I get the best of both worlds.
