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Arts-Critique Dance

Yacin Cardenas

California State University, Monterey Bay

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Arts Critique- Dance

On march 28th, I attended a formal practice of a folkloric dance groups

names Tonatiuh Danzantes Del Quinto Sol at Alisal High School in Salinas,

CA. Prior or attending the practice I was excited since this type of dance

make same super excited and proud of my culture background. I attended

this with a couple friends which made it even better being that Tania and I

know one of the girls in the group, which also allowed us to see her perform.

My expectation before walking through the doors of their practicing studio

were very high and they definitely met them and went beyond them.

To begin, this was not an actual performance since they dont perform

until next week, instead this was a formal dance practice in which they are

just going through their stage performance. We were able to attend this

without no cost again because it was just a practice and because my friend is

in the group and talked to her instructors to allow me and a couple others

attend their practice to complete our assignment. When barely arriving the

whole group was warming up with stretches, ad after a while the main

instructor started to go through the performance himself practicing both the

mens and womens parts. I did notice that while he went through the

womens part he kept counting his moves and coordinating his movements

with the way he moved the skirt. After this the whole group would join him

and followed through the whole performance. While this happened the

instructor was able to watch every individual and correct any mistakes any of

the dancers made. To me this is a very important and crucial thing to do

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since their performance is next week, allowing the whole group to fix any

little mistakes to perfect their timing and whole performance. One thing I did

notice between the whole group and the instructors is that they hold a great

bond which to me makes the environment more comfortable and exciting.

Being that they hold a strong bond their performance is much stronger

because they are comfortable with one another.

Furthermore, while viewing their lovely run through of the performance

I did notice all the elements of dance being present at all times of the

choreography. For example, I noticed that at the beginning of each dance

they had a cue which was some type of Grito scream, which they used to

position themselves and initiate the dance. Since they did various numbers

they transitioned from one style and theme to another, although the group

divided the numbers amongst one another making the transition easier. I

also want to mention that at the end of each number the dancers freeze in a

certain position meaning their number was done and a new one was about to

begin. In the first part of the practice the women didnt wear their skirts so it

made it hard to see what movements where being made. Although during

the second part the skirts were being used which made the performance

more exciting at colorful. With the skirt the shapes the women were making

were more visible since they did use their skirts to show them, most of these

shapes consisted of mostly circles. Once the women put on their skirts the

space needed was quite a bit to be able to move their skirts freely, also there

space consisted of high level movements since their arms where mostly high
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up and using negative space. I did noticed that during both parts their

wasnt really anything that calculated their time such as a meter, but maybe

because they already have their counts down and use the rhythms of the

music. Although I do believe that one thing that help measure their time is

the heels and rhythms of the music. The heels because they have a

consistent pattern as well as the music changing its rhythm and beat

throughout the song. All in all the whole choreography had all the elements

present are were easy to visualize.

Lastly, although this performance was a formal practice I was able to

get the full experience of a dance performance. Tonatiuh Danzantes Del

Quinto Sol was a great presentation to see and I will definitely watch their

grand performance next week and would recommend and invite friends to go

as well. This was really fun because I got to see the behind the scenes and

see how this group is really united which I believe is what makes their

performances even better. In the bottom of some pictures where the main

instructor Mr. Silva is running through the performance and some of the skirt

work.
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