“CONTEMPORARY DANCE is a style of expressive dance that combines elements of several dance genres including modern, jazz, lyrical and classical ballet. CONTEMPORARY DANCERS strive to connect the mind and the body through fluid dance movements.”
It was an honour to have attended a class from one of Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts’ (HKAPA) greatest teachers there ever was.
A bit of background about HKAPA. This is one of the most leading schools in Asia offering courses in Chinese Opera, Dance, Drama, Film and Television, Music and Theatre and Entertainment Arts. In studying these and finishing the assigned requirements of each, diploma and bachelor’s awards degrees and master’s degrees are credited to the successful graduates.
Mr. Jaime Redfern is the Head of Contemporary in HKAPA. (Just click on his name about how loaded his CV is and how many awards and shows and presentations he had done.) During the two hours he had taught us, one thing that I appreciated so much is that he was very organised and he was such a good guide. With the kind of dance that most of us do in my workplace, we are very much into modern type like street dance, funky jazz and hip hop. We do ballet sometimes but contemporary dance is just none like any of these.
Its fluidity depends on the natural contours of the body, with a more confident approach. It’s because it respects the balance that is within and it obeys the natural flow of the body to the music. Here is a sample of a contemporary dance.
Sir Jaime’s class was pretty basic because of his background about us that we are not all contemporary dancers. In fact, many of us were beginners. While he had been the Master of Fine Arts (Dance) in Queensland University of Technology, nominated as a Nijinsky at the Monaco Dance Forum and was hailed the Most Outstanding Dancer and Most Outstanding Choreographer in Australia, it was very humbling that he guided us into exercises and floor exercises as slowly as possible because he was very careful for all of us to have back aches in the morning. His class was conducted in an orderly and organised way. He gave us a proper warm up, the kind that lasts for almost 45 minutes and would make you sweat like a cow right before going to a lot of awareness exercises.
Wait! What? Awareness exercises. Yes, through dance.
There was a drill that the very lesson was about staying fluid and uncomfortable. Both techniques was feeding the technique were developing but at the same time, our psychological skill of understanding life that it has to move on and you may need to step out of the what’s ordinary for you. He noticed during the class that when he asked us to travel and take different spots, he observed that most of us took the same route and position within the dance floor. So, he said, it reflects the life that you embrace. But he reminded us that nothing is constant in this world that you should be able to push yourself into discovering something new for the body to get refreshed even if you’re doing the same thing. And that’s how contemporary dance is different from ballet, jazz and much more.
The class ended with a much-needed cool down because our bodies were stretched at its greatest in the entire 2 hours that he facilitated. It was actually a fusion of contemporary and yoga at some points but that’s just me.
I am just beyond grateful.
Related posts:
- THE TRUTH IN BEING A DANCER – Before you think that the dancing job is as easy as 1-2-3, you may need to know these truths.
- FALANIKO SOLOMONA AT THE 2017 WORLD FIRE KNIFE – find out about this year’s champion.
- PLAYTENT – It’s summer and you’re wondering what is the best educational centre you’re going to bring your child to that is fun, interactive and creative altogether? Here at Playtent, they are encouraged to sing, dance, cook and just be messy! Check it out!
