The classes I took this semester a lot had connections to each other. The classes that I chose to analyze this semester were two academic courses: English Composition and Digital Media for the Artist (DMA); while the other two courses were dance related: Dance Perspectives, and Dance Composition. The New Media theme was a prevalent theme between all of my four classes. I found that even though the connections were all circular, without taking DMA I would not have known about the New Media that helped me with assignments in other classes. The way I conducted the connections between each classes were by analyzing and reviewing what I had conquered in each class separately.

            My two academic classes, English Composition and DMA were similar in the way that I researched assignments and wrote a lot of reflections about themes. In both of these classes I found a connection through New Media. In my Composition class I read a book called But Is It Art  by Cynthia Freeland. In Freeland’s book, there are a lot of references about art that I was able to connect to DMA. One big connection that I learned about was Running Fences. It was mentioned in Freeland’s book and I watched the excerpt on Blackboard provided by the DMA course.

            Next DMA also provided a connection between my Dance Composition. In dance composition I learned more about myself as a dancer and I learned about free range in movement that I could create myself. In DMA I created my own projects based of off themes and posted them in Facebook for my class to see. While in Dance Composition I choreographed a piece to a theme and at the end of the course there was a big comp showing where the whole class presented for everyone to watch.

            Dance Composition related to my other dance class Dance Composition. In Dance Perspectives the dance faculty talked about themselves as a dancer growing up and their careers. I was able to ask questions and learn valuable advice and knowledge from my teachers. The questions I asked and my classmates asked were questions we face every day as growing dancers and artists. Both of these classes related because I learned and had freedom to explore myself as a growing artist.

            Dance Perspectives and DMA associated in the way that I learned and analyzed the both the dance world and the technological world. I was also able to infuse my knowledge of New Media into one of my Dance Perspectives class assignments. For the last assignment I had to create a family tree and show how the dance world is all interconnected. The way that I executed this assignment was that I created my tree on the computer through Microsoft Word with the application called SmartArt. Therefore, I was able to appropriately incorporated both the dance world and technological world into my life.

            My Dance Perspectives and English Composition class were also related through New Media. In English Composition I read the book A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan and in her second to last chapter she communicates the story through a PowerPoint. In both classes I had assignments that used the PowerPoint media which makes a connection through using new media.

            Lastly, my English Composition class and Dance Composition class are connected in the way that I both composed and recorded art through assignments. I was able to express myself through dancing and through writing on paper. Sometimes the process of creating or choreographing a dance can be improved through writing ideas down on paper.

            In conclusion, through all of my classes dance related and academic wise, I learned about myself as a growing artist and as an improving dancer. Without the guidance and assignments from my teachers I would not have improved or come thus far. Reflecting back on all my classes this semester, it was beneficial to me that they all were connected in some way and I look forward to next semester to see the connections between my future courses.

I researched the topic of the popular arts in contemporary Islamic culture: the role of graffiti and/or street-art during the 2010-2012 Arab uprisings and ongoing. From the research I conducted I chose my theme to be self-expression. The Arab uprisings influenced the explosion of street art and human expression. The graffiti that was produced was a symbol that represented the citizen’s freedom of speech. In the revolution, the Arab graffiti was also a way of self expression and a means for the youth to be heard. Self expression is a universal human need and everybody does it but it can be demonstrated in different ways. Many different countries such as Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Tunisia, Syria, and Libya all have used graffiti as a means of communication as well as compensating for their anger by painting and painting all over the walls. The citizen’s vision for the present and future are plastered for all to see. Different countries with people speaking different languages are all trying to communicate the same message and somehow they are united by doing the same thing and using graffiti. My piece represents this by a mixture of all different graffiti art from different countries but they are unified by coming and blending together on one page. I am satisfied by the way my project came out and I learned a lot in the process especially the researching aspect. Enjoy!

Unit 4: Service Week 3

1.) From this new unit-of-study I have learned about how new media is affecting international countries and bringing people together for a common cause; such as what happened in the Tunisian Revolution. The social media had prevented chaos by connecting the citizens together. I have also learned and thought about empowerment more deeply and that the internet supplies empowerment to an extent. Social media can allow the Tunisian’s to grow and develop as a country which is empowering for the citizens. Also, the internet gives society many opportunities to learn and gain knowledge which is also empowering the way people take advantage of it. In addition, I have learned about the Arab uprisings and how the citizens expressed themselves and communicated through graffiti. In Egypt the internet and mobile connections were shut off so the confrontation of rage exploded through graffiti. Through the Islamic graffiti, it transformed and unified cities and also empowered citizens through their artistic self-expression.

2.) Basic academic learning centered on real world problems is a very practical idea, especially for college and higher education such as college and professional degrees. This concept would not work very well for elementary school learning, but high school students may benefit from an introduction.

‘Experience is a great teacher’ is an old cliché that applies well to this concept. I would imagine that many students have known someone who was “book smart” but could not apply their intelligence to real-world situations. Those students who were trained with practical skills have a fund of knowledge that can be applied to everyday tasks. I believe it is good to learn theory and some history by reading from books, however business, arts, health care and many other disciplines learn best by facing real world problems.   

Ballet Careers and New Media

For this week’s project I teamed up with Alayna Acosta and Lisa Meek to create a video demonstrating through new media the three ways to audition for a ballet company. The first way is to audition live where all the dancers stand at the barre and take class doing exercises that the instructor gives. The school or company that you are auditioning for will evaluate you and chose to accept you or not during that live audition. The second way to audition for a company is to send a video of yourself doing barre and center combinations. This way is helpful if you are unable to attend the live audition and is still an excellent way for the ballet instructors to see you as a dancer. A third way to audition is to record yourself dancing a classical variation that in order to show your strengths to ballet companies. Either way of auditioning is acceptable, and through new media dancers have advantages to get into their chose of company.

Overall, collaborating with Alayna and Lisa worked nicely and smoothly. We planned earlier in the week how to create the video and when would be a good time for all of us. In the middle of the week we all met and recorded the audition video. We developed combinations together to dance in the video and talked about who would do which parts of the video. We recorded our dancing on a laptop with music playing and then edited the video to add descriptions throughout the video. Throughout the process of this project I learned more about audition videos and it will help me better prepare for a future audition video I will have to make when I audition for companies.

Here is the link to the video. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyOTnheVPPY&feature=plcp

New Media Career Project Plan

New media is practical and can be used to beneficially help advance someone’s career in dance. For my project I would like to create a promotional video of my dancing with two of my ballet friends, Lisa Meek and Alayna Acosta to share on the internet. By creating this video, it will help promote ourselves as dancers so there is a likely chance that someone will see it and hire us for a job or like us to join their company. Through new media we are promoting our careers by allowing people on the internet to see our dancing.

Timeline:

In the beginning of next week Lisa, Alayna, and I will plan what we want to show in the video such as what barre and center exercises we wil do. We will talk about our strengths and weaknesses and what we would like to show as what is required from companies to show. We will talk about where we want to stand in the video and which studio we should record. In addition, we will review how we would like to properly and professionally introduce ourselves as dancers on camera. We will also need to ask someone to help record us and hold the video camera. After recording the video of us dancing we will talk about the best place on the internet to display our audition promotional dance video for directors of companies or other professional hiring people to see us.

I anticipate encountering some problems with recording the video and deciding whether which shot is better for one of the three girls dancing. We will address this problem by warming up before shooting the video and practicing what we will show in the video to make it look perfect.

I have recorded an audition video before so I already know how to properly introduce yourself before dancing. However, what I do not have much knowledge is what dance exercises to include in a promotional audition video so I hope to learn more about creating a dance video through research as well as talking with Lisa and Alayna.

I enjoyed making adjustments to my blog and google site and I found it rewarding. The colors and formats now successfully display more personality that I would like to convey to viewers. I am learning more about navigating new media as I did not know how to change the format on blogger or the google site however, with help I found enjoyment in playing around with the different templates and figuring out which one I liked the most. Enjoy!

DMA New and Traditional Media Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m176IQbtaJE&feature=context-cha

Originally my goal was to create a new media from a spontaneous flash mob mixed with visual art and music. However, my plans slightly changed for my video as the final product is a dance party. As originally planned, the dance party video still includes spontaneous fun mixed with different lighting, visual effects and music. The dancing happened in a casual dorm room setting with fun music and familiar popular tunes in order to create excitement.

My new media that I used was Camtasia. I have never heard of or worked with this program before so it was challenging as I had to watch many tutorials. However, the process was very rewarding because I was able to play with and add many effects to create a video that I initially envisioned. In Camtasia I was able to change the color of the video’s background to purple and green which I think adds an exciting dimension to the video. I was also able to change the lightness and darkness of the colors while also zooming and panning in different ways to add to the excitement of the spontaneous dancing. With Camtasia I was able to follow the new media’s principle of Automation where I could take media elements such as images, sounds, shapes, or behaviors to manipulate the video and automate the operations involved in media creation.

In this project, I was challenged with decisions of filming the dance party such as: whether I should be in the video or be the camera-man, which angle of filming is best for optimum viewing, room and mood lighting, and lastly which songs should be played for spontaneous fun. In the end, I chose to be in the film and dance so I had another person film. However afterwards, watching the video I realized that if I had control of the video camera I could have added another dimension to the dance party by zooming in and out or moving around the room to shoot from different angles. For the lighting in the room, I chose to turn off the overhead light and leave a lamp light on. I was pleased with this decision when transforming the video in Camtasia because the lamp light added an extra brightness and effect to the film. Furthermore, I chose familiar upbeat songs that my friends and I enjoy listening to and know the lyrics of in order to have a good time dancing with each other. Overall, I had a good experience working on this project as it represents the combination of new and traditional media. I am pleased how the visual effects and music blend together to compliment the dancers’ dancing. Whether my video produces aesthetically pleasing results is in the eye of the beholder, although I hope that my viewers enjoy watching. 

Combining New and Traditional Media

New Media Flash mob

Framing and Gathering: To create new media from a spontaneous flash mob mixed with visual art and music.

I plan to organize a flash mob in the school grounds with classmates using minimal choreography. After a few minutes of dancing, bystanders will be encouraged to join the mob to create an atmosphere of spontaneity and fun. I will use a mix of popular tunes that everyone will be familiar with to create excitement as everyone joins the mob.

Create and Reflect: I will have help from others in the technology aspect experience, as well as help from other dancers to create the flash mob. Next week’s blog post will include my interactions and experiences with all my plans and whether anything had to change. Although I will need a lot of help from fellow students that have technology experience, I would like to mix the filmed flash mob occurrence with visual lighting effects, music and voice-over to create a spontaneous new media experience.

Aaron Koblin artfully visualizes humanity and I think his work will be similar to my ultimate product. As Koblin specializes in data and data-visualization, I specialize in dance and movement so I will gear my visualization part of the project towards art and light.

I will be using Automation as my Principle of new media. In automation a modular structure (media elements such as images, sounds, shapes, behaviors) of a media object allows to automate the operations involved in media creation, manipulation, and access. I am unsure of which new media I will be using whether it is Windows Media Player, Camtasia, or Moviemaker. All of these programs are new to me, so any that I chose I will learn about and experiment with. In the learning and planning process of this project I have already learned about Camtasia and the interesting aspects of it as new media.

I like the excitement of a large group of people dancing in the fun of an impulsive moment. The energy served by a large group of people and others watching and joining in with the dancers. I want to create flashes of light in different colors to influence and symbolize all kinds of moods. The lighting effects will be increasing the energy through the new media just as the observers joining the flash mob will increase energy.

Talk: I will share my project on the Facebook group for others to view and discuss any comments.

DMA Week 4

My theme is truth in social media connections. Connections offline and online can work when the truth is upheld. It all comes down to being true to yourself which will reflect on Facebook posts. This theme still pertains to relationships: Veritas Vas Liberatum (the truth shall set you free).

My poem is to the tune of “On Top of Old Smokey”

A freshman in college

It would all be so new,

I needed a roommate

But didn’t know who.

I filled out a survey

And hoped for the best,

They mailed me a contact

Now this was the test.

We first met on Facebook

We typed back and forth,

She came from the South

And I from the North.

The chats were so friendly

We found out so much,

This online bonanza

Was a personal touch.

It was orientation

They day we first met,

Our online connection

Seemed like a sure bet.

We now room together

Each day has been great,

A Facebooking frenzy

As if it was fate.

I guess we were once young

An innocent view,

But now techno savvy

We all must stay true.

DMA Week 4

Continuing this week's topic about Facebook use and how people feel whether it is changing society, I was lucky enough to have my friend Cameron voice his opinions on Facebook. This week I posted my opinion in the DMA's Facebook group. I believe that Facebook is great for communicating with friends and I think it is interesting how everyone in the world is able to stay connected with each other. I also like how Facebook updates friends’ on people’s birthdays and special events. However, I think it is good to impose rules on Facebook; such as limiting friend requests and also where I don’t friend any parents to create some privacy in a public environment. Furthermore, although I think Facebook is great for communicating and keeping in contact with people, there are times where I have other priorities instead of spending time online. I try to set limits but sometimes Facebook procrastination gets the better of me.

Finding someone to interview was exceptionally difficult for this project. No one was willing to voice their opinions in front of a camera. In a way, I think that people can use this opportunity as a chance to talk about what they believe in regarding Facebook, and how society is changing positively or negatively because of it.

Also, I am not too savvy with my computer, so just figuring out how to record a video on my camera was a learning experience. Let alone, after recording the interview video I was challenged to upload it onto YouTube, something I have never done before. After asking around for help and figuring things out on my own, I successfully downloaded the interview and uploaded my video. I am satisfied and proud of what I learned and my overall experience with this project.

DMA Week 3

DMA Week 3

For this week’s theme of boundary-dissolution I wanted to pick two songs that were in the same key but represented opposition like classical and contemporary music. It took me awhile to figure out what classical piece I wanted to work with because I had so many options from all the ballets I know. Also, by choosing a classical song from a ballet I would be going along with my ballet alignment theme from the first week. After deciding on a classical piece which is a Waltz from the ballet Swan Lake I was able to chose a contemporary song called Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics. However, looking for the right contemporary song I experienced many tried and failed attempts. Through many attempts to figuring out which songs would sound the best I realized that the songs needed to have greater “drops” or silences. This way, with the contrasting songs I could make transitions sound more exciting and surprising to the listener. Before I started to fiddle with and mash up both the classical and contemporary songs, I wanted to listen to both songs fully through so I could get a sense of how the rhythm went and figure out which sections of the songs I enjoyed listening to more. After a few times of listening to both songs I knew what and where I wanted to mix up the different parts of both songs. In the process of figuring out where to mix and add the two songs together I saw similarities in the sounds lines on Audacity which was a weird coincidence but in the end it worked out well and in my favor.

My piece is a mash-up between a classical waltz in Swan Lake by Tychovski and the contemporary song Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics. My piece symbolizes the major reduction of personal space and boundaries in new-media. My piece is combined with sections of each song playing alone and then a mash-up if the two songs playing at the same time. Normally, when two songs play at the same time they clash and do not create a pleasant sound for the listener to enjoy. However, I have carefully selected the two songs, Swan Lake and Sweet Dreams to be in the same key and additionally I have analyzed on Audacity where the pieces sound best together. Furthermore, boundary-dissolution and the new- media era allow people to instantly share ideas or personal information with friends and people around the world. My piece represents this idea for since I was so proud of my finished work on Audacity I was able to send the sound cloud link to all my friends and family through Facebook chats. This was a pleasant example of boundary-dissolution because I could share my creation and let other people listen to it. Technology continues to amaze me as I and many others are still learning and struggling with computers, phones, and new programs everyday; however, the dissolution of boundaries is a helpful and great advance to stay connected and share ideas.

DMA Remix WK 2

I decided to create a remix composition using a little bit of everyone's compositions from last week. I felt that I had endless possibilities of what I could create from morphing everyone's compositions into what I wanted. I was inspired by all last week's posts and was very excited when I could create a collage of all the compositions. In my earlier post on remixing and whether it is considered stealing, I expressed that when you create something original you should essentially own it. Consequently, I felt guiltily powerful being able to cut and paste someone's artwork and then crop and rearrange it into a new piece of artwork that I can call my own. Therefore, I would like to give credit to everyone in the group for using their original compositions. At first I had trouble contending with so many works but once I got started mixing and matching I couldn't stop. I enjoyed the creative process of editing, shifting, and rearranging the pictures that I had to work with. However, I did face challenges with creating my remix where I contended with "creative blocks" because I did not know how to fill up the page. In addition, without help I would not have known how to take a screenshot with my laptop so I could use an image from some of the group member's videos. Overall, I had a positive experience composing a remix as well as viewing other's remixes as well as one that was created from my original project. I am very pleased with my project's outcome and look forward to hear comments or responses about it.

DMA WK 1

My theme is alignment and as a ballet dancer I constantly think about my body's proper alignment in class and how I can improve my technique. I have been dancing my entire life so ballet is very meaningful to me. My piece represents the structure and alignment that I have to think about daily. My teacher is always telling me how to improve my turnout and correcting me on my technique.

My ballet teacher also tells me to look up ballerinas on Youtube and watch their arm movements, form, etc. I have come to conclusion that Svetlana Zakharova is one of my favorite ballerinas and she inspires me to become a better dancer and to work harder everyday. The video that is posted is a video of her when she was young and training at the Vaganova Academy in Russia. In the video the class demonstrates alignment as all the dancers have great technique. In addition, the class is very disciplined and is structured where all the dancers are in line at the barre and in the center. Dancers strive for perfect alignment because it is pleasing to the audience and a great form of entertainment. However, the audience does not realize how many years and hours in a day it takes for a dancer to perfect her technique. Without alignment, there would be chaos therefore it is extremely important and it also makes a great performance for audience.