Cotter 1

Olivia Cotter
Professor Suzanne Ingram
UWRT 1101
20 September 2014
The Literacy Behind Dancing
At age three my mother placed me in dance classes in a small local studio. Being in class
everyday of the week constantly hearing and speaking terms repetitively I caught on quickly. As
I grew older more and more styles of dance were subjected to me. Moves and positions were
constantly shown to me that I had to work at to perfect. It all began with my first teacher Mrs.
Ashley, she initially created all the building blocks for me to gain literacy in this field. However,
other influences stepped in to help my understanding and feel more confident and comfortable in
this field. Conventions and competitions were held in which I learned news styles watched other
dancers to increased my diversity in this field. New moves and words were embedded into to my
knowledge of dance from these literacy sponsors. All of them with different styles of dance and
different ways they moved their body. Leaving me to pick out the pieces I liked and alter the way
I danced to create a better dancer out of myself. This created a discourse community between my
team and I, we understood a subject that outsiders could not grasp. Being given words we were
able to create movement through our bodies. A phrase such as tombr pas de bourree glissade
grand jete was more than just uncommon words it was a series of four graceful movements often

Cotter 2

used in ballet. A personal interaction that can be shared that broadened my view on the different
style of dance was at a convention called Dancer Makers.
After a long weekend of performing and taking classes from professional dancers it was
finally time for the last performance of the weekend. As I waited for the doors to open for the
final performance excitement and adrenaline filled within me. When the doors opened hundreds
of girls ran to get a good seat on the floor of a large convention room that we had been dancing
in all day. I was lucky enough to get a seat close to the front and beside a red carpet leading to
the stage. Dancers were sitting side by side cross-legged on the floor, so close everyone was
touching and the atmosphere became muggy and reeked of sweat. Our parents then filed in
behind us filling the room completely. The stage was set up with a black dance floor surrounded
by industrial looking bars above it for scenery. There were purple lights shining on the stage and
lighting up the television screens that projected each dance done on stage. The lights went dim
indicating the final performance from one of our instructors from the weekend convention was
about to perform.
The first thing I noticed was the performer was Seth Zibalese one of my favorite instructors from
the past two years I had been at the convention, Dance Makers. He was dressed in all black with
his chin tucked as he approached the stage. As the room became silent questions filled my mind,
What song will it be?, What kind of dance will it be?, What style will it be? Coming from such a

Cotter 3

talented dancer the possibilities were endless. Surprisingly the music never started, it was an
acapella. However, not a typical acapella such as a tap dance, it was contemporary style, this
struck me as a strange combination. The first movement he made was by placing a cross
necklace one the ground in front of him. I soon came to the realization that the music was the
sound of his feet hitting the floor and the sound of his breathing. He created this music by the
different sounds he could create by controlling his footwork in his jumps. Some landings were
very loud while others were very soft. The same went for his breathing pattern; he would accent
his breath to emphasize a movement. Some of his movements were beautiful and some were
harsh indicating different emotions he was trying to portray to the audience. I remember him
leaping off of the stage on the carpet in which I was sitting behind. You could feel the wind
when he ran through the crowd. Everyone in the room was silent as my eyes followed him to the
back of the room. I observed the dancers faces as they looked at him in awe, some girls jaws
were dropped completed while other just had silent stares with their eyes solely focused on every
step Seth took. You could still hear his breath from the back of the room. As he ran back to the
stage and stopped in front of the stairs and began to create movement with the stairs and the
stage from the floor, I had never seen this been done before. I thought to myself, all dances are
supposed to be done on stage that is the purpose of a stage. Was he breaking the rules of
traditional style dance? I then realized he was creating a form of diversity in his dancing, making

Cotter 4

this dance his own dance by putting his personality into the choreography. The second half of the
dance was filled with beautiful turns and jumps and happiness that filled his appearance. Leaving
the audience with a sense of joy after watching the performance. As he tucked his chin again and
walked off stage the crowd remained silent in awe of his outstanding performance. Then a roar
of approval and praise engulfed the room.
Although these were little observations Seth had a much broader story behind his movement. He
created a story of his faith and portrayed it upon the audience with his movement. Seth used his
necklace to make sure the audience was aware of his purpose in creating this dance. He told his
own personal story of his journey in his religion. His story began with the confusion of what his
religion was to him. He followed this by showing how he had lost his way by falling and running
away from the stage and the objects around him that symbolized his strong faith. Then he
showed strength by showing happiness in his expression and through the beauty of his
movement. He gave the audience a feel for how happy Christ can make you and that you should
share your happiness among others. This dance showed the diversity in the styles of dance and
inspired me to branch out through the choreography and styles of dance I am generally
accustomed to. Seths dance stands out in my memory because it influenced my perspective on
something that I loved in a different way, improving it for the better.

Cotter 5

Literacy in a subject can constantly grow. Personally I feel no one can be completely
literate in a subject. There are always new things to learn or differences in a subject through
another ones perception. Creating a forever evolving and growing field of education through the
subjects in which you are literate. New sponsors come and go recreating your opinion on a
subject or giving you new ideas in which you never knew about. The more time and research you
put into branching out in a subject the more literacy you will find through it.