YRSA HEIJKENSKJÖLD

WORKPLAN | 2017 September

 

• Basic understanding of the Piano and note reading

 

• Better understanding of the basics of floor work

 

• Land a single pirouette

 

• Find a warmup that helps my body to become smooth and ready for work

 

• Practicing on giving valuable and constructive critic to others work

 

• Exploring my way of documenting given or explored information, ideas etc.

 

• Practicing on presenting a project idea

 

• Find more ways in how to get up and down from the floor in a secure and safe way

 

• Improve my understanding of contact (To give and take wait)

 

• Explore and play with rhythm

 

• Strengthen my core to improve my position and provide back problems

 

• Strengthen the mussels in my legs and feet, to provide knee problems

 

• Work on my flexibility and smoothness in hip, shoulder and spine

 

• Continue the understanding of movement capacity, in all joints

Lépésről lépésre | 2017 Trafó

https://tanc.org.hu/wp/lepesrol-lepesre-a-bktf-a-trafoban-2017-december-20/

SUMMARY | 2017 December

Basic understanding of the Piano and note reading

  I have some understanding of note reading and feel how I have improved. To play the piano brings me lot of joy and I hope to have more time to rehears next semester.

Better understanding of the basics of floor work 

  I'm defiantly much softer in contact with the floor. Still it's something I will continue working on. 

Land a single pirouette

  Not always but some how achieved

Find a warmup that helps my body to become smooth and ready for work

  With valuable knowledge from Zsuzsa I have got to know my body and it's needs better. I feel I can adapt my warmup depending on the class and my mood. 

Practicing on giving valuable and constructive critic to others work 

  That feels like something I could constantly improve. 

Exploring my way of documenting given or explored information, ideas etc

  I haven't taken to much time for this and are now mostly writing comments but should explore a bit more how to do drawings as a complement to the text as well.

Practicing on presenting a project idea

  This is hard for me though I feel I think in fragments and never come to a fully explained idea of what I would like to do. I hope I can see how others do and learn from them.

Find more ways in how to get up and down from the floor in a safe way

  From classes with Tamás, Maté and from working in Fransiskas project Kocka I got more diverse and secure in this. Although it something I would like to continue work on. 

Improve my understanding of contact (To give and take weight)

  In classes with Tamás and Maté I had have the chance to work on this and are looking forward to continue.

Explore and play with rhythm

  The folk classes with Batuy have been challenging but great for this purpose. The folk dance always has its relation to the music but I also wish to work and bring my own musicality into improvisation and creation. 

Strengthen my core to improve my position and provide back problems

  During the IW I have had time to work on this and do feel the difference and importances to have a strong body to then easier engage in what ever movement material I get introduced to. 

Strengthen the mussels in my legs and feet, to provide knee problems

  Exercises from Szusza and the continuity of Ballet is what have helped me the most. 

During one week of classes with both Joe Aligado and Tijen I also felt that my body got a different understanding of how to plié. To release and support at the same time which felt more healthy for my knees. 

Work on my flexibility and smoothness in hip, shoulder and spine 

  Once more have exercises from Zsuzsa helped me to release and strengthen more consciously which results in a more flexible and available body. 

Continue the understanding of movement capacity, in all joints

  I haven't worked with it as conscious as I did in the workshop with Shai Faran from who this goal is inspired by. Though I haven't had the focus on this I wouldn't say I have achieved what I was aiming for. 

All in all I have had a good experience of my first semester but hope to find more clarity in how I wish to continue developing what.

TEACHERS' EVALUATIONS | 2017 December

Angelus Iván:

Dear Group A members!

In general I can tell you that you – the group as a unit – seem to have built up a good balance of keeping your individual development in the centre and the same time, learning how to know more abut each other and how to accept each other. Sometimes it will be good to be more independent and proactive to encourage each other a bit more to organize, accept and focus on open possibilities, potentials, obligations, time frames, deadlines, etc. If the group is more efficient, everybody's own efforts will be more efficient. (And vice-versa.)

Anyway the time  – four months or more – of assimilation, integration should have been finished. Once you know and understand the local processes, methods you should concentrate on the successful use of them in order to reach your own goals, why you joined BCDA. This process will be complete when you finish the first year, a full study cycle. 

Iván

Dear Yrsa!

Your personality is contradictory (as all ours', that doesn't make us easier). Strong and weak sides are together and they do not compensate each other. Your social competence, learning strategies, precision, persistence seem mostly available, while some blurriness, rootlessness seem to obstacle the development of being more confident and successful. We can not develop our self-confidence without developing the fundaments of that. You yourself can map best what you need. Make your wish list and fulfill – quick or slow as each wish allows to be fulfilled. I will be there to discuss about details and share my experiences.

You are on a very good track and I really thank the cooperation and am sure we will have much fun and success together.

December 2017.

Iván

Szegedy-Maszák Zsuzsanna:

Enthusiastic and curious group, lots of questions, comments and input. Some are very knowledgeable on art, others seem to have some difficulty relating to some of the subject matter (biblical, mythological and historical narratives). Class discussions are sometimes so lively that we run out of time and are unable to finish the material I wanted to cover during the given class period. The atmosphere is mostly upbeat, although I understand that sometimes after several hours of physical workout it is hard to suddenly sit down in a dark room and listen to a lecture. Overall I have the impression that most of the students would rather have more visits to exhibitions. 

Eager to learn, participates in class discussions and has suggested topics for later classes. Prefers contemporary art and gallery visits.

Tijen Lawton:

Unity of the body as a whole, as a personality, that needs to be further investigated and nourished by finding strength though understanding that your body working on the floor and your body standing and moving in space are the same, organising your body as a surface, as a core and in it’s extremities .A lot of the work is in analysis of detail and risk taking.Continue work on connectivity throughout the body, using both the body as a whole as well as in extreme detail to be able to elaborate with further elements and dynamics.

The body sometimes looses its physical energy and dynamic when the mind takes over too much. Do not loose this thinking with the mind, but try and work together with the physical thinking and the trust you can find in the physical intelligence. Work on this connectivity through out the whole body through a form of body consciousness that allows for strength, abandon and control. Bring the floor support to standing work and find a more powerful core, by investigating further your upper/lower body connection. Work with the ground even when you are standing and moving in space to be able to elaborate further with detailed risk. Think about the space you create with your body. Risk the abandon further, find and understand the control through your core and extremities and then deviate. Really looking forward to continue this research together.

Mészáros Máté:

Excellent observation and adaptation on new material that you learn. Keep up this focus.

Marco Torrice:

The group was generally really attentive and communicative, carrying on a light concentration and opening an honest and efficient space of questions and observations.

She had a really mature approach to the work. I encourage her not to go too deep with her proprioception. Proprioception is a fundamental tool for dancers that we need to work on. Nevertheless, the work on proprioception can sometime block us, more then serving the main goal of understanding our  body connection and making our movement more efficient. I encourage her to explore as well a really light and perhaps superficial sensibility. 

Szonda Fanni:

Dear Yrsa, 

I am happy to work with you! It’s hard to write a feedback after a couple of hours, but we all have goals and we are on the right way to get there! You are all enthusiastic and it’s really good. Thank you for your hard work!

Lemesánszky Mónika:

We had a great group this past term, where everyone was motivated and listened to instructions well. I really hope you can keep this up next term as well.

I like how you work in class, very puctual and great use of corrections. You are using all your available abilities, such as turnout and your allegro is great. Try to strengthen your abdominals, especially your pelvic floor. 

Szemessy Kinga:

 In general I found you being a very intrigued group with trust and curiosity towards me and the class content. Keep these good energies and the curious listening to each others.

You are one of the driving forces of the class. You never pass by a topic or question until you don’t understand it fully, and also you’re very attentive to your classmates’ reflections. Keep these vibes ongoing!

Bakó Tamás:

I appreciate a lot the way you work and support the classes. 

You are committed and keen with learning making observations and engaging with the practice. You have great physical skills and as a natural mover a good understanding of the body. One can also see that you have had experiences with Improvisation and Research what gives you confidence and trust. It seems like that you like to be challenged both physically and intellectually. 

Follow your interest and explore the potential of the form.

WORKPLAN | 2018 January

* Try to be more clear in how I formulate the questions in the beginning of a project to have a better focus through out the process

* Rehabilitate and strengthen my left shoulder

* Strengthen my right foot to prevent injury in my right knee and find ways how to dance with its conditions

* Work on how to stay focused in class even when I feel unmotivated

* Continue the practice in how to give constructive critic to others work

* Continue to strengthen my core

* I aim to engage in more then one project and want to observe how I function in different collaborations. How do we create a good working environment and how do we deal with stress and support each other to continue the process with focus

* I want to find a better balance between school and the rest of my life. Last semester school took most of my attention and sometimes it was hard to let go, rest and enjoy other things. I feel there is constantly something to improve and practice on and there for I should schedule time off and try to listen to my body when I tend to overwork.

* I wish to get to know the structure of the piano better to be able to play with others. I will also challenge my self to compose something short and learn how to write it down as notes.

* I wish to learn more about the anatomy as a help to better relate and understand the function of my movement and to know where and what to strengthen and release.

SUMMARY | 2018 June

been pointed out from me from time to times is how I tend to hold my breath when using a lot of effort or when concentrating on something specific. I believe that the relation of strong core and still having a free breath will be something to work on for next semester.

• I aim to engage in more then one project and want to observe how I function in different collaborations. How do we create a good working environment and how do we deal with stress and support each other to continue the process with focus

I did engage in more than one project as I wished. Both project that I was leading and projects where I was a participator working for someone else's vision. I can observe that I can be a difficult partner when working on someones else project. It is hard for me to not question to much and instead give trust and let the process be open to evolve. It's also hard for me to put thoughts and emotion, that can be in the way to be able arrive, be present and engage I the work. I feel good about the collaborations that I was initiating and have got the impression that the work relation have functioned well. Mostly feeling worried before rehearsal but also left rehearsals mostly with new energy from the feedback on what we worked on. I really experienced that each collaboration have been valuable and thought me thing about my self and how I wish to work. Im really thankful for the trust and honest engagement I have perceived from the people working with me.

• I want to find a better balance between school and the rest of my life. Last semester school took most of my attention and sometimes it was hard to let go, rest and enjoy other things. I feel there is constantly something to improve and practice on and there for I should schedule time off and try to listen to my body when I tend to overwork.

I feel I have got a bit better on this point even if it is still hard for me. I often worry about things before getting them done which takes a lot of energy and time which could be spent differently. I decided in the beginning of this semester to not take on to much work in order to be able to feel more free and better engage in the things I decided to work on. I still need to work on allowing my self to say no if something don't seam interesting to me at the moment even if someone else wish to have me there.

• I wish to get to know the structure of the piano better to be able to play with others. I will also challenge my self to compose something short and learn how to write it down as notes.

I got the opportunity to play together with Katalin Bitó and really enjoyed the experience to play music together. The idea of playing with others is something I will continue to have as a part of my music practise. My goal to better understand the note system have not been reached. I did put some effort into it in the beginning but though it is so much more natural for me to listen and memorize the notes I give up reading the notes once I have manage to learn a piece.

• I tend to learn more about the anatomy as a help to better relate and understand the function of my movement and to know where and what to strengthen and release.

I haven't studied the anatomy in more detail outside of school but have got better understanding of it's structure and efficient function in classes with Marco Torrice and Tamás Bakó for example.

First year have been overwhelming with fantastic experiences and really difficult periods. At first I could fallow my development more clearly which was really satisfying. I believe I have continued to develop a lot through out the year in different ways but haven't been present enough to enjoy the process and hope next year will bring challenges in manageable portions to learn and grow from.

TEACHERS' EVALUATIONS | 2018 June

Lemesánszky Mónika: 
General notes to the group: The group worked well together all year and had good energy throughout.
Personal notes: You are always trying to execute the exercises in a precise manner. Even though your improvement is not as spectacular as in the previous term, this does not matter as this is not a linear progression. There were small improvements in some areas, such as balance, back strength, and ylur turns habe improved. Your allegro is also great. Try to improve port de bras, turnout and holding your lower abdominals.

Angelus Iván:
General notes to the group: Group A's cohesion, general level of demand, work intensity is far from an efficient state. Low levels are very low, higher levels are not very high. Differences are big and do not converge. Tasks mostly remain asks: both on individual and on group level are almost never completely fulfilled. The acceptance of mediocrity is a danger. The often tired and depressed atmosphere + the lack of successful initiatives, playfulness, joy doesn't help successful learning.
Talent is still present, strong motivation is there on the level of words, but persistence, diligence, high energy, stability, concentration, health, self demand are missing from daily practice in general.
I have added a short categorization: Excellent, good, weak, failed. All refer to your actual state as a prospective contemporary dance performing artist from my point of view as your teacher. Do not accept, improve.
Personal notes: Yrsa! You are great! The only problem is that you don't believe it. You are somehow weak sometimes. I think because you lose energy while you do things and do not gain. Think about self maintaining processes. Imitate them. Give and get. Invest and profit. Work and enjoy. Waste and gain.
Don't worry. Practice and your nerves will learn if you give them proper input. Like the agricultor labors on the field

Bakó Tamás: 
I appreciate a lot the way you work. You are committed and keen to learn observe and engage. You have great physical skills and as a natural mover a good understanding of the body and its capacities. The material of the class is rather challenging to you but you make a great attempt and from class to class you improve in catching and unfolding the logic, finding clues, working trough the principles, getting the material right. Relationships and directions of the body parts according to the body movement and space are better understood. Trust towards yourself and confidence is growing. Great work!

Szemessy Kinga: 
Your level of concentration drops after 50 minutes, but you handle it well. I found all your comments very interesting and also fruitful for your classmates.

Tijen Lawton: 
Focus on connectivity and awareness…a mindful training of the brain and body.Challenge the physical intelligence, strength and movement capacity.
This is an intense a difficult way of working, it takes time, and the results are rewarding and can create a versatile dancer or performer. Therefore patience ant persistence are essential. Work is needed to continue to find the centre and grounded force through connecting the extremities of the body through the centre and using the floor work to establish a base of strength and support. So using the transfer of weight in the floor work and searching for all possible points of support and resistance…combining fluidity and strength and then incorporate it into standing work and moving in space.Interesting and strong mover, but you can challenge and search for an more intricate way of moving and investigating detail related to how your body, ground and space are connected. Looking forward to our work together.

Joe Alegado és Csasznyi Blanka: 
General notes to the group: We would like to make a general comment concerning the students. We feel that, even though each of them are individuals with different needs and capabilities, as a group, we find them to be very inspiring and supportive of each other. Whenever one person is missing from class or is experiencing a difficult time in life, the others step in to create a support system by helping with movements from class or with words of encouragement. This communal approach is a very positive step in the direction of resolving issues arising from misunderstandings in movement concepts and principles, or life situations. As mentioned before, each student has individual needs and capabilities. In the Alegado Movement Language, there are very basic principles which, when discovered, can determine the quality and focus of every individual’s source of movement. One very basic principle is the acceptance of gravity and its effect on the quality of the movement. The dropping of the head in its forward descent to the basic curve, is one of the principles we have chosen to focus on. As a group, we have seen progress in the students as they have begun to embrace the idea of surrendering their weight to gravity. This action has accomplished several things: 1) the conquering of fear 2) the effect on each student’s plie 3) the student’s ability to use that plie in shifting the pelvis 4) the application of a strong and active core and how all of these elements are applied to translate into a musical and physical expression of the body through movement. This has been a focus in class because, in doing so, it will help resolve the difficulties a dancer has when trying to access their deepest, most organic connection to the earth. When this release of the body’s unnecessary tensions happens and their weight begins to fall without fear, the student’s ability to risk grows, their awareness is heightened, their musicality is awakened and their confidence in moving through space becomes a natural force of energy. We will now continue by using these class objectives as the basis for all comments.
Personal notes: Yrsa has shown moments of clarity in the execution of movement throughout this series of classes we’ve had together. This is why we know she is capable of it. There are moments, though, where this clarity takes on a sense of doubt and hesitance. Being dance teachers, we wish to express our comments regarding how a certain approach to a movement can either enhance or detract from the actual execution. In other words, the acceptance of gravity and the surrender of body weight to the floor, is a reoccurring element in this class process. For Yrsa, it has been a challenge to get to the point of fully embracing this concept. In order for her to discover its potential for redistributing her weight in her connection to the earth, a more conscious decision must be taken.
When she has her good moments of surrender, with regards to her falls to a frontal curve for example, she exhibits courage and a willingness to allow that surrender to happen. This demonstrates her potential for being able to make these conscious decisions of being brave when taking risks. When she allows herself these moments…her beauty comes out shining and alive like the newborn baby we all have deep inside.

Szonda Fanni:
Your creativity and your attitude regarding piano classes was outstanding. I am so happy that you also worked with partners, I think you learned a lot from these collaborations, besides this you enjoyed working together during practising. It was really good to see how you enjoy making music! Thank you for your work!

WORKPLAN | 2018 September

WORKPLAN fall 2018

In order to develop further I first have to agree with my self that this is worth the effort and time.Trust that the long term effort will give result, if I keep the focus on my goals and work until it's achieved. Find confidence in my ideas and see the potential in taking on a challenge. Break down the challenges in smaller pieces to better see the progress happening. Ask for help if needed.

Ballet

Continue to find confidence with the ballet terms and rules. Try to work more efficient and active with the mussels that are needed. Work with the breath and try to find flow through out the exercises and combinations.
Repeat the exercises more regularly during the IW.

Folk

Enjoy Enjoy Enjoy. Try to become a bit more alert and quick. Go with the music and let it inspire the movement. First understand how the weight shifts and then ad on. Keep the focus on the musicality and rhythm that drives the dance. Practise to play with the folk steps and combinations I have learned to different kinds of music.
Practice more regularly during the IW.

Contemporary

First get the directions and weight shifts. Know what is initiating and trust that it will lead on to the next. Think less during the class and take the opportunity to analyse and figure out the details in the IW time..
Try to embody the feeling of the movement more then copy the form. Lock for the principles. Don't play safe.

Strength

*Combine strengthening exercises with physical movement to also rise the pulls.

*Strengthening the centre and especially the lower abdominals/ pelvic floor and clarify connections that keeps the hole body in relation to it's extremity's.

*Try to swim once a week to improve the strength and flexibility of my shoulders.

*Find a small program of exercises to strength back, shoulders and arms

*Work on handstands, cartwheel and more complex acrobatic actions

*Keep the same exercises for some time to notice the development. Ad on the amount or change exercises if needed.

Creation and creativity

Come up with an own creative project at least once during this semester.
Try to narrow it down, experiment and go deeper.
Participate in others projects and try to embrace the process. Give in and question the work to get further together.

Inspiration and Motivation

Gather an archive of dance videos
Make playlists of music
Read novels, poetry, articles etc. make notes
Go to performances, make notes
Go to the club and dance
Go to jams and dance
Go to exhibitions and concerts
Create small dance videos through out the semester to have something to look back on
Play samba to keep joy and as a contrast to all the musts

Research the possibility to go for Erasmus in the last year
 

SUMMARY | 2018 December

All in all I’m very pleased with my work this semester. I have kept up the motivation throughout and I can feel how things start to fall in place. I can notice how i’m much more able to take in others materials and to engage in it more deeper than before where I was more running to catch and remember the sequence. I believe I start to trust my body more and it let me focus better in class.

Ballet

I have been able to enjoy ballet much more since we started to have classes with Tibor and Kristof. My understanding of ballet becomes much richer by learn from both of them. My biggest problem is to keep focus on the explanation of the sequences which also results in a less efficient work.I first need to work on this to give me the chance to develop. Attila’s class made me finally find how to work with my core. Tibor’s class have helped to realize the piruett and Kristof have opened up a new way to relate to ballet which makes me more relaxed, quick, fluent and more efficient.

Folk

Folk have also been a different experience this last semester and the knowledge from earlier classes have start to become a part of my vocabulary. I keep the focus on the relation to the music and then the dance comes more natural as Batyu also tries to teach the folk.

Contemporary ( and other classes)

It not as hard as before to catch new material and to remember it which means that im now able to go more deeper in reshears of the movement. My plie have got much more available and soft and that from Dora’s and Joes classes. Tamas classes is a great challenge for my coordination and confusion to shift from right to left. Even though I can experience frustration not being able to catch the sequins in first class I try to be patient with myself and my difficulties and to let me arrive to clarity with in my own timing. I really enjoy Kristof classes where we get introduce to such a variety of material and sometimes work in pairs which I really wish to do more.

Strength

My strengthening work in IW have have developed throughout the semester and I have kept my focus on core and arms/shoulders mainly. I still need to develop my program and to feel I have a complete workout where I more work with the connections of the hole rather than specific muscle groups.
I have developed my hand and headstand which feels like it’s enriching my all in all work. I kept a set part in my IW for this and it’s been a great feedback to see how it developed over time. Consistency gives result.
I haven’t swimmed once since I set this goal which I believe would be great for my all in all training but in the end I don’t priorities to this on top of everything else for now.

Creation and creativity

The process I had together with Myrtille and the project Try try territory gave me confidence and opportunity to explore the way of coming to something more concrete. Our showing In Open HB got great feedback and confirmation that we got somewhere with our project and were able to perform it in a way that engage the audience. Of course this showing was for a sirten audience and therefore it would be interesting to see how this would work outside of school. I’m also pleased to have had the opportunity to work in two other really different projects that introduce me to different ways of doing.

Inspiration and Motivation

I still haven’t found my routine of complementing work outside of the studio. Isabel was very inspiring and encouraging to realize the importance of having our music archive in relation to our dance practise. This is an on going work that I need incoparet to my weekly “to do”. I also wish to take time to read and knowledge myself. Performances I have more a routine to attend to which i will keep up doing.
Looking forward to upcoming semester and realization of new goals and maybe a period of erasmus in the third year to widen my relation to the work of dance and performance.

TEACHERS' EVALUATIONS | 2018 December

Bakó Tamás:

You are motivated and active in the classes. Keen to learn observe and engage.
The material of the class is less and less unfamiliar to you but there's still some struggle with the order of the steps and directions inside and outside of the body. Sometimes confidence is lost to. But you are also able to challenge yourself and make great attempt to grasp and find clues work trough the information and piece it together. Keep up the good work!

Angelus Iván:
General notes to the group: 
In this semester I had the chance to meet all of you in the three main territories of our school: 1. sharing new information, 2. developing your creativity, 3. developing your social skills. I feel myself and you successful in point one and two, and I have hard time at point 3. with all of you. This is because of the social environment surrounding us. Solving this difficulty is the task itself. The level of cooperation and sincereness is that makes difference in the common success.

My short evaluations will be strict and related to your development related to school requirements:
I will tick Excellent box at who are developing well, basically in harmony with school guidelines, hopefully will reach their goal to become a professional contemporary dancer.
I will sign Satisfactory/Good at those who could make (much) more in their own sake.
I will sign Failed at those who do not live with their possibilities and should change their attitude in order to become more successful or to those who are on the right way to find their own direction that may be out of the school's profile. It can be considered a success too. Failed may mean you have to work on your trajectory out of school or it may mean to stay in school but work on a higher level.

Personal notes:
Dear Yrsa!
I try to write you and fail again and again. I do not understand you. You are so contradictory. So wonderful social skills, so beautiful, so interesting person. You look hardworking also, but may be you are not? You seem to understand and accept things but may be you don't? You seem to be much more stabile recently – that is very good. I still see you milling around the swimming pool, and you do not jump in, and when you jump in, you still do not get wet somehow. May be I am wrong.
Accept what you can, accept what you can not. Go ahead with what you are good in.
Wish you much success to get rid of your reins – if they are still there at all.

Kováts Tibor:

Nagyon meg vagyok elégedve a munkáddal! Nagyon okosan, szépen dolgozol, mindent megpróbálsz megvalósítani, amit kérek! Igazán öröm veled dolgozni és szerintem sokat is tanultál fejlődtél! Persze még rengeteg munka van hátra, de csak így tovább!!! Néha a kar pozíció pontatlan, mert máshova figyelsz, de ez normális. Te fejlődtél az egyik legtöbbet, magadhoz képest! Gratulálok! Köszönöm a munkádat!

Várnagy Kristóf:
General notes to the group: 
It is my general note, not only to group A-B, or C but for the whole of the students, that it is a heartwarming how you grew into a good and functioning community. It is great to see you supporting each other.

Personal notes:
I really enjoy seeing your processes. Focused, good, attentive work, carry on!

Urvi Vora:
General notes to the group: 
After my brief, intensive interaction with everyone, I have very much enjoyed reading the diverse essays from all of you – very different approaches, levels and processes. My feedback is focussed on your essay and I hope it helps you think of how to push it forward from here as there is always much more to do.
Good luck with all your future plans and upcoming work in the school! It was wonderful to see all your thoughts turn into something on paper!

Personal notes:
You must write your name! I had to guess that this is your paper.

Structured and organised essay with a good understanding of the different definitions of these contested words. I am happy to see that it changed how you feel about them as that should be the final goal of this exercise.

I would’ve liked to see a bit more clarity as you seem to be answering two questions together – 1. is dance universal? 2. is dance a language? And both have to be answered quite separately as they are, in themselves, very complex and have different problems associated with them. You move between them so it would be good to categorise your essay in a more specific way.

Further, instead of concluding by taking yourself away from the decisions, it would be good to engage with them and go in more details. What can argue with? What can’t you argue with? Where do you place your view in this field? Having picked a complex issue and found an understanding of it, you can take more risks.
 

MENTOR'S SUMMARY | 2018 December

 

WORKPLAN | 2019 January

I really want to make an effort to be on time. Especially in the mornings but to all meetings and for all deadlines. Organized calendar and clear morning routine could help to realize the wish.

Find a routine on documenting my experiences and understandings from classes as well as making my process, of my own projects, visual in my notebook. I want to play more with collage, moodboards, quotations, drawings ect. as a part of my creative work in relation the time spend in the studio. As an other way to document the process and a way of realizing my projects when words are not available or enough concrete.

See my dance practise as one work where the knowledge from the different classes feeds one and other and together build a common knowledge to acess when needed.

Take time to build a music archive and performance archive

Find a routine for reading and writing

I wish to let my curiosity drive my way of learning. To not get satisfied to fast and leave it at that but then ask another question that challenges me to go deeper in the topic/research/ect.

In the one week in MU i aim to engage and learn more about light and stage. To reflect on relation to audience, spacing of the dance depending of each theater, sound and so on

Explore meditation
 

SUMMARY | 2019 June

I did set a goal to really try to be on time in the mornings and managing deadlines. I think it have worked in periods with coming on time in the mornings. I almost never come really late but I do arrive to school when it’s time to start the warmup. I feel I got better with deadlines of queries and applications even though I have missed it also some times. This is clearly a work for a life time to keep up with my own schedule.

I feel I got better in planing in advance for IW and rehearsals. I haven’t find the timing on when to make my notes of the classes and I haven’t developed my way of making notes as I hoped I would. yThe daly diary has a great intention but I wish to do it in my notebook for next semester though I feel my thoughts gets lost in an email when they should be captured in my notebook to be accessed easily when I need it.

I could still work on how to stay more focused in class to gain most out of each practise. I feel that I have developed physical with the different information I got form the classes and feel confident in my ability to learn even though I may take longer time then others depending on the the material. I wish to learn more about creation and should als teach myself by doing, trying and gaining experience.

I do slowly collect and create a music archive to have access to for rehearsals and to select from if needed for a performance. Isabel Duarte workshop was relay inspiring for me. Understanding the importens of music in relation to dance. To be open to all kinds of music and see it as a part of my work as I would need it for rehearsals or potential creations.
I have hope I would sit down and watched more works from others both in the theatre and online to have relation to both the history and the dance of today.
I haven’t achieved my goal in reading more but I still feel it is something I want to improve.

I don’t feel satisfied with my intention to create this semester. I do have the wish to actually make a creation and work with it until it is ready for the stage. For now I feel I have had more Ideas that goes along with research projects which is also something to value but I hope to challenge myself next year to finish and commit to my ideas and not just start up and get lost on the way.

Mu week got dedicated to lightning and it became a stressful, great experience. I felt it was a good way to engage when I didn’t have any projects to present on stage.

Meditation haven’t become a part of my life fully although I have taken small steps trying it out in periods.

All in all I feel ok with this semester. I believe I could have done more to achieve my goals especially when it comes to creation. Next year I have the aim to work as a dancer in at least one of the school projects. Create at least one performance that get’s to be shown publicly somewhere. I look forward to write my thesis though it will mean I have to take time to read, reflect and write more which I hope will enrich my relation to dance.

TEACHERS' EVALUATIONS | 2019 June

Thimai Nguyen

General notes to the group:

WHILE DANCING
1-Don’t forget to include the head and the sternum in your dancing.
2-Use the momentum of each part of the body to go from one movement to the other.
3-NO NOISE on the floor: The body should melt while going to the floor, and when you run
the weight should be in the front of the foot.
4-Hands, arms long, alive always, reaching out.
5-Legs, ankles and pelvis release fully. FOR REAL!
6-Take care of every transition in what ever you do.
7-TAKE YOUR TIME- ENJOY- PLAY!! Challenge the public and yourself, tease or choose an
angle to approach the public but it should not be mental. You have to jump in the swimming
pool and warm up the water yourself.
8- STOP THINKING. FEEL.
9- Be connected with the other dancer in the room, use and play with there body rhythm, an
intelligent dancer is someone that feels and sees everything. Let go your instinct.
10-RUNING: Never on your heels, the body should be in a diagonal, and the leg behind HAS
TO BE far away and long. NO SHORT LEGS.

Personal notes:

Nice personality, nice dancer, working well.
You should disconnect the thinking and just be in the pleasure of moving.
Open a playful light inside you. Keep releasing ankles, knees, pelvis, sternum and head but without forgetting the huge lines of the body you let us read!!!!
Never give up on that, it should be always very big or small.
Experiment real momentum while improvising.

Isabel Duarte

General notes to the group:

Group A & B were very receptive to everything I bring to class and every task I proposed for them to do. everybody dedicated and worked hard for the workshop. wonderful to see such enthusiasm.

Personale notes:

Great progress since september and great progress during the week.

Várnagy Kristóf

General notes to the group:

Dear ppl,

This term, due to holidays, and other scheduling reasons I have had considerably less time with you than during the first semester, so I have less material to work with. However, I wish to reflect on your progress from the first term to the second.

Also, I would like to be transparent about my grading system, and hereby give you an explanation, what means what. So as your teacher I have to grade your work on the following scale: Fail, Satisfactory, Excellent
-fail: you can fail by not attending enough classes, or by not achieving adequate progress
-satisfactory: you are being present, however not sufficiently consistent in your work, or not fully embodying yet the concept of the class
-excellent: you can score excellent if your process is clearly seen in your work

Personale notes:

I feel you have all the information. You have gathered, summarised, and organized them well, it is now time to trust your knowledge and risk more. The next level of information will only be available from going bigger, and failing harder. You will only truly know something if you can correct it when everything goes wrong. Give yourself the chance.

Kováts Tibor

General notes to the group:

Mindenkinek nagyon köszönöm a munkáját! Köszönöm a sok fontos és hasznos feed back-et, amit írtatok nekem! Igyekszem ezekre figyelni és beépíteni a mindennapokba és biztos vagyok benne, hogy jobb tanárrá válok ez által! Azoknak, akik maradnak az iskolában, további jó tanulást a következő tanévre! Azoknak, akik befejezik a tanulmányaikat, nagyon sok sikert és kitartást kívánok, alkotóművész és előadóművész pályájukhoz.Mindenkinek nagyon köszönöm a munkáját! Köszönöm a sok fontos és hasznos feed back-et, amit írtatok nekem! Igyekszem ezekre figyelni és beépíteni a mindennapokba és biztos vagyok benne, hogy jobb tanárrá válok ez által! Azoknak, akik maradnak az iskolában, további jó tanulást a következő tanévre! Azoknak, akik befejezik a tanulmányaikat, nagyon sok sikert és kitartást kívánok, alkotóművész és előadóművész pályájukhoz.

Personale notes:

Drága Yrsa! A második félévben is hasonló figyelemmel és kíváncsisággal vettél részt az órákon, mint az első félévben, ezért szépen és folyamatosan fejlődsz, bár ez a fejlődés lehetne dinamikusabb is. A forgásaid egyre jobbak, ha a fejkapást jól elkapod egészen ígéretesek a tour-jaid. A karnak a munkája is javult, pontosabbak a port de bras-id. A gyakorlatok sorrendjének a megjegyzésén, még sokat kell dolgoznod, mert ez is befolyásolja, hogy mit milyen minőségben tudsz megvalósítani. Az ugrás készséged egész jó. Kicsit több szabadság a mozgásodban, az jót tenne az összképnek. Pontosan, de szabadon táncolni, ez lenne a cél! Köszönöm a munkádat!

Angelus Iván

Your presence, achievements are still very contradictory. I see you as a still video frame: You seem to be in motion without real progression. Do not worry about when the results would come, but meanwhile put much-much more effort into developing your muscular and neuronal systems in order to give a healthy balance to your dominating mental, ethical, moral, control that blocks you, and you can not practice the instinctive, spontaneous side of your personality. We all need to keep them in balance. Without that, it's difficult to be happy and successful even as a bus driver or accountant, but definitely impossible as a professional dancer. Start and the results will show up soon, you know a lot, just do not use that knowledge.
 

WORKPLAN | 2019 September

Technical work plan:

I would like to work on:

How to translate a set movement material from one side to the other. I will practise this with material that I've learned from teachers and with short phrase I create for my selfe.

How to navigate set movement material from the direction of my body into space, rather than to a specific place in space which can change. Change of spacing can cause me loosing orientation of the hole movement material. I can improve this by practise set material learned from teachers and short phrases I create my self. By changing starting position I challenge my self to relate more from my body moving into the space rather than relating to specific points in the room. So it becomes a physical experience/ memory rather than a visual.

How to separate and work with different dynamics of movement with different body parts at the same time. I will work with both set material and improvisation tasks with this focus in mind. I believe images/ words as wind, popcorn, lizard etc. can help me find different qualities of movement as well as imagined sound being expressed in movement. I will also play with the speed of the movement to realise different qualities and use of momentum.

The relation to the floor when dancing barefoot. I will practise weights shift into sliding movements and work on how to turn in different ways. Learning by doing and consciously observing what is working and not.

The relation to the floor in contact wit the rest of my body. I will work with it as a focus when doing set material or during improvisation to become softer and more efficient in the way I move.

The Kinetic chains. I want to become more aware of their path and how to use this knowledge in my dance practise. To work with waves through the body from one end to the other following a kinetic line. As well as doing spiralling movements with awareness of one of the lines.

Creative work plan:

I would like to be host of a project working as the choreographer together with one or more dancers. I would like this project to go through all the stages. From idea and working plan, rehearsal period, feedback and evolvement, costume, light, find opportunity to show it to an audience.

I also wish to participate in someone else’s project as a dancer. Then I get to challenge my self as a performer and work on how to embody someone else ideas. Work on how to keep the focus on purely the movement and physicality or if encourage emphasis personal characteristics depending on the wish of the choreograph.

SUMMARY | 2019 December

What I value the most from this semester is the process we had with “Mr Set and Mrs Free” and “The Wound” where I got to fully face my difficulties in learning choreography and that I need much more time practising in relation to my colleagues. I see that this experience will help as a reference and guide me for future projects.

The two pieces involved different ways of working with choreography which was challenging in different ways. With “Mr and Mrs” it was first of all a challenge to remember all the movements and directions of the choreography before finding the flow of the dance. Mentally there was many processes in action at the same time which in the beginning was to overwhelming for me, but through practise I could feel more free to play with the structure. I never arrived to the point of fully mastering the choreography. It was very interesting to experience total confusion in the beginning and through out the process acknowledge my personal development handling this way of working. To trust in the common work of the group had a big importance for me I letting go of the stress and start to play with the structure together with the other dancers.

The creation of “The Wound” demanded a more emotional engagement to find the right expression of the movements. I’m thankful to have been a part of both these creations and performances.

As I look back on my work plan one of my goals was to become better at translating movement material from right to left side. It have been a useful task as a part of my IW. I accept that it is something that I need to continue work on and improve. When I rehearsed “Mr and Mrs” I challenge myself changing front to different sides in the room and eventually I developed a new inner perception where I could visualise the directions of the choreography independently from what direction I took in the room.

I still need to work on how to deepen the contact with the floor to be softer and more grounded in my movement. After the week with Tijen Lawton I experienced changes in my body as we focused a lot on the back space and the sensation of grounding and growing at the same time. Kristófs Varnágy is giving similar instructions in his ballet based technique class, but it was first at that point that the instructions became a bodily experience for me. Through the meeting with Simon-Hatala Boglárka I got to know that my muscles on the inside of the thighs was reacting to slow causing trouble for my knees as I made a plié. With this new knowledge I could work in a different way in the ballet class especially and start to build muscles making it possible to do a more functional plié.

I have improved my understanding of the hungarian folk dance and can enjoy playing with the rhythms and variations we have learned so far. My way of performing the steps are not in style with the tradition of Hungarian folk dance but the training have challenged me in how to listen and relate to the music, as well as managing the weight shifts needed for the quick foot work.

My creative goals wasn’t realised this semester as my first project stayed as a solo work and remained as a research of movement material for a piece. After the autumn break I didn’t have a new idea for a project and wanted to focus on the Trafó performance which I knew would be a big challenge for me anyhow.

This semester I have seen a ballet performance live for the first time and it was fascinating to see the aesthetics of a tradition that is one of the base techniques in our dance education.

Working with the thesis have lead me to search and read more literature which feels like a great and necessary part in relation to the practical training. It has been difficult for me to manage the level expected but I find the work educational and interesting.

TEACHERS' EVALUATIONS | 2019 December

Angelus Iván

General notes to the group:

Dear Students!

The goal of the regular written feed back is to help both teachers and students to get a different perspective on your daily work, to get a wider time frame on your development including where you come from and where you go to. The feed back has three parts: general notes to the group, individual feed back and assessment.

You may not know the table that compares and explains different assessment systems we have shared with your teachers as well:
https://tanc.org.hu/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/grading-system-BCDA.pdf

Concerning the work we have realized together this semester I think that it was efficient by it's regularity, discipline, sincerity. You know yourself how deeply, but I can tell in general you seemed to follow the values and guidelines offered by the school. Some of you were more active others less but nobody ignored and went against these possibilities.
This fact was reflected in your successful presence you performed in the three pieces presented in Trafó, where ALL the participants of each dance could show their maximum, and it's level was pretty high in general.

Congratulations to You, and thanks to your teachers!
Iván

Personale notes:

Dear Yrsa! This year you seem to have invested more concentration and perseverance in your daily work, that brought you some new qualities. Go to the maximum and find your limits and find the ways where you are not limited. Iván

Várnagy Kristóf

General notes to the group:

I am delighted with the work of the class, both on the individual and on the group level. This first half of the year has been characterized by focused, intelligent work. You all had different struggles. Some, on the physical, some on the mental&spiritual plane. But I appreciate your hard work and resilience, how you faced your problems and insisted on solving them. Therefore, I am going to award the whole class with excellent grades. Each one of you deserved it, but for different reasons: some for better technique, some for the systematic, consistent, persistence work. I am giving you all the trust, that it will be a stepping stone into the second half of the year, and that you keep up the spirit for the second part of the season. Stay focused on your goals, stay sharp.

Personale notes:

You are still very good at implementing information. However, I would invite you to a less literal and maybe a bit more poetic approach. Don`t copy, but interpret. Try your own voice. Don`t be the slave of the technique; start to adapt it to your body. As we talked about the class of Anna Grip, it is upside down; she talks about dropping where everybody else is highlighting a lift.

Bakó Tamás

The ongoing effort you make brings more and more efficiency and new discoveries. The bodily pathways are more connected and alignment is changing. Coordinations like where what and when works much much better. Spatial coordination and orientation are getting clearer. I see the work.I would encourage you to find out more about details and connections, explore the differentiation of sides and the act of memorising steps. Give yourself time! Grow confidence! Understand and observe movement from your own physical reality. 
Keep on going!
 

WORKPLAN | 2020 January

It is my last semester at BCDA which means last chance to take part in all what this school can offer.

The Hungarian folk classes are unique for this contemporary school and is one of the things that I feel have enriched my vocabulary as a dancer. Last semester I build a new relation to the folk material and want to continue in this direction. This means to practise the folk material on regular basis in IW to make it a part of my practise and not just a class I attend. I will play with the material to different kinds of music to experiment how to use this knowledge in different ways and to also practice it with metronome to make sure Im precise with the rhythm.

I need to keep on working on transfer material from one side to the other as I did last semester. The consistency of this practise started to give results which is motivating. Together with this comes the practise of how to orientate in space and be aware of directions.

I look forward to work more with contact dancing and I want to work with that as a focus in my project for upcoming periods.

Inspired by Kristóf Várnagy feedback I will work on finding my own way of relating to the ballet language and how I can use the technique as a knowledge rather than a from to fit into. I don’t have any aim to dance ballet but want to learn from the principles of the technique and work more on clarity.

I have to focus on strengthening the Gluteus and muscles on the back around the shoulder blades especially and will have it as a daily routine of my IW.

I will spread out the work of the thesis over the weeks but I will also use the holidays where I can take time to focus on it more intensely.

I have good experience from last semester where I established meditation as a daily routine which I intend to continue. I can see how it helped me to focus much better in class and helped me to approach my frustration caused in different situations with more calmness and tolerance.

SUMMARY | 2020 June

My three years at BCDA have been a challenge and learning experience of taking responsibility of my own decisions and approach of how I engage with what I’m offered and create. I have become better on taking care of and managing my IW work as I remember during my first year, I couldn’t really stay focused on my tasks for long and couldn’t remember fully the exercises form the classes to be able to practise them by myself. This I have definitely become better at but need to practise and repeat it many times before I can let go of the mind a bit and trust in the body knowing the movements. The IW have given me the opportunity to catch up with the things I don’t manage during the classes and have cultivated a mentality and knowledge on how to manage my own practice which I’m very thankful for. This education has definitely had a big impact on me but I think I will need some perspective before I can realize more precisely what I bring with me. Related to my work plan written in the beginning of the semester I reflect on my work. The Hungarian folkdance have continued to be a challenge but has also been one of the things I enjoyed to practise and therefor can see and feel the progress I have made. During the period of self-scheduled studies I have practisefrequently. I have been able to practise it within my own timing repeating things a lot and worked on finding my own dance inspired by the rhythm and structure of the Legényes. I feel more grounded in the dance and freer in the rotation of my hips to manage the quick movements. Although I may not live up to the skills expected after three years of regular classes in folk I appreciate to have had it as a part of the regular practise I wanted to work more with contact dancing and partnering during this semester and got to work on it together with Katalin in my project about dependence. I could provide instructions that led to interesting improvisations but not to create a set material with the same movement flow and sensitivity. In the group partnering class with Tamás I enjoyed to work together with the others. I know since before and still feel that contact dance and partnering is something I wish to work more with and will look for and create opportunities to do so in the future. I experience it as I was developing slowly in ballet and not so significantly this semester. I was focusing mostly on how to find the feeling of dancing and manage a better relation between the work of the leg and upper body with arms and head which became more connected and efficient. The thesis writing was another challenge for me but that I enjoyed to work with. I’m thankful it was a longer process spread over the two semesters. The thesis has thought me how to search for information and to incorporate the development of my theoretical knowledge in relation to the practical dance practice. I’m proud of myself for finalising something and hope it has lived up to the requirements necessary. The change due to the pandemic gave me opportunity to give more time to the work which otherwise was set to happen on evenings and holidays. As I read it again, I can see things that could have been corrected and developed although I also know that I gave it my full capacity until the deadline and have to accept that that’s what I could achieve with in the given timeframe. My meditation routine from last semester has been expanded with practises as the CR introduced by Eva Karczag. Overall, I have become better in handling my frustration and keeping my focus and see that it is an ongoing practise I need to keep up. The practice of Tai Chi especially but also the Chi gong and 8 brocades I will bring with me as practises for mind and body. As a result of Pandemic almost 3 months of my studies were performed as self-scheduled studies. To begin with I could give focus to theoretical work, writing of the thesis but also to read philosophical texts and about history of dance as practise and performance. I experience a lack of basic knowledge about the people and concepts that have influenced the practices I got to learn at BCDA and do enjoy to get a better connection to the profession I aim to work within. During these months I have established a routine of morning yoga that warms up, strengthen and makes my body smooth to continue the workday. The one-minute video task was inspiring for me to try out different ideas and get into the doing. To play with images and editing is a different way of working, presenting dance but I enjoyed that I could control the frame and elaborate with the medium. The changed circumstance meant that I missed out on classes, performances and the experience of working together. Instead it became a slow transfer from the school environment to independent freelance life. I’m looking forward to see how I get to use what I have learn in relation to different work-situations I engage with in the future.

TEACHERS' EVALUATIONS | 2020 June

Farkas Zoltán

General notes to the group:

Minden egyes tanulónál a fegyelem, az akarás, odaadás, odafigyelés van. Ezzel nem kellett foglalkozni. Ennek eredményeképpen a tanult táncok ritmusában, stílusában, egységében, tánc típusában érthetőek, helyén vannak és stílusosan vannak eltáncolva. Mindenki a saját szintjének megfelelően teljesít (maximálisan). Mindenki tisztában van a korlátaival, de ezeket folyamatosan javítja, foglalkozik vele. Ezért ez egy nagyon inspiratív közösség, szívesen mentem hozzájuk tanítani. Olyan közös élményt hoztunk létre (kör legényes és az abból készített legényesek), ami egész életükre elkíséri őket. Ez az élményfaktor kell, ilyen helyzetet kell létrehozni. Ehhez ők is kellettek. Azért nem írok egyesével véleményt, mert látom, hogy mindenki tisztában van a teendőjével.

Bakó Tamás

 

Dear Yrsa! After reading all the evaluations I wrote to you in the past years I would like to highlight some of the thoughts that appear relevant for the now and may relate to your professional future. In these years you were largely supportive, committed and engaged in my classes. You were working hard, many times facing struggles with learning movement, being challenged by issues of confidence but kept moving forward and made progress steadily. You came with great physical skills, athletic stature, agility and strength. What was a potential and ground to build your physical development on it. As well your openness and interest about art and art making fuelled your studies and kept you curious, exploring and questioning. You had the drive to experiment and research, and a strong interest about improvisation. From the beginning on it felt like that you like to be challenged both physically and intellectually. As a natural mover you have innate understanding of your body. But learning movement was a challenge in many ways. Still the ongoing effort you made brought more and more skills, tools and comprehension. These years, the regular and focused work made it possible to relearn what you know about your body and start a change in depth, incorporate new logics and recalibrate your capacities. I could see a great amount of individual work behind your achievements. The material and logics of both of my classes started to work out for you with time and became more and more fitting and integrated. Skill, logic, material, availability, coordination, alignment, awareness, articulation comes together.  Last time I wrote this: Give yourself time! Grow confidence! Understand and observe movement from your own physical reality.  Your studies are finishing here but learning and working goes on. New doors are opening. Give yourself time, change comes with time, and asking the body to change or letting the change happen is big part of the work. Trust the practise, it will always get you somewhere, keep confidence. And our body is where we can meet with our own physical reality and learn about availability, limitations, capacities and change. I'd like to say thank you for the work we've done in the past years and congratulate to you! And wish you a successful professional life and future!  Bakó Tamás