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4. The Style Shop
13 Plays11 months ago
Liana Gonzalez, from UH, and Jacora, the Near Peer for Workshop Houstons' Dance Shop, chat about the Dance Shop, the curriculum, and issues specific to the Dance Shop.
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Transcript
Introduction and Setting the Stage
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, I'm Liana Gonzalez. I'm here today with another, the final, the best for last, the Dance Shop interview for Workshop Houston, where we're going to discuss all things Dance Shop and Workshop Houston. So I have here today with me, Jocora. So why don't you go ahead and ask yourself and give us a little intro about the Dance Shop.
00:00:24
Speaker
Well, my name is Jacora. I'm a near peer here at Worship and I am in the 9th grade and I'm 14 years old. The dance shop for me is really like a place where I've
00:00:39
Speaker
since seventh grade to really like express myself through dancing. I've always loved, loved, loved to dance since I started off praise dancing in church.
Dance Styles and Curriculum Overview
00:00:51
Speaker
And then like, I came here and did it just like, I just continually just kept coming to workshop and I just loved dancing. And then my teacher, like, he just expressed me to like multiple different genres, like contemporary dancing, like what we do mostly.
00:01:06
Speaker
ballet, hip-hop, all different sorts of genres of dancing. And then when it comes down to me making my own kind of dances or expressing what I learned, I'd be equipped and ready. Like, I learned this before. So yeah. I want to actually dive into, like, first, what are the different types of dance that you learn in the dance shop?
00:01:28
Speaker
So in the dance shop, we learn multiple different dances. Like we learn like hip hop.
00:01:37
Speaker
ballet, jazz, contemporary, social, modern, like all different kinds of dancing. Like it's just like we've performed at many showcases here at Workshop where like we present everything that we've learned. We've like since I've been here, I think I'm the longest like student who has been in the dance shop and I've been here for. So I started off in September of 2020.
00:02:08
Speaker
7th grade, 7th grade is in Tipper. So either 2020 or 2021. So it's been like 2021, 2021. It's been two years. Can you explain to me what the curriculum looks like in the dance shop? Because I know every shop kind of had a different curriculum.
00:02:27
Speaker
So curriculum, like, can you elaborate more on that? So yeah, like, what, like, you come in your first, like, the intro to dance versus the intermediate versus the advanced, kind of like, what is each of those sections? Oh, okay. All right, well, mostly the curriculum is when you first kind of attend a workshop and you want to get in the dance shop and kind of experience what it is, he first starts you off with my dance teacher who is kind of over this as well.
00:03:00
Speaker
you off with like, um, learning like the positions and first you learn like the different vocabulary for dancing like plie and the different kind of, um, what's it like vocabulary when it comes down to dancing. So, you know, like when you dance and he gives you words, you know, and understand what he's talking about or what the movements are.
00:03:20
Speaker
First you come in and you learn that he gives instructions on what to learn. He starts you off with a small dance to see like where you kind of are in dancing or what you know or you can express yourself in like an eight count or a dance and just to see what kind of genres you like, what you like doing.
Student Performances and Skill Development
00:03:39
Speaker
He starts off with that and once he kind of see what you like to do, he gives you the option to kind of make your own kind of dance. You can make your own kind of dance or he can help you do whatever you want to accomplish and you write a goal before you start all of this. Like you write a goal for what you want to do or what you want to accomplish and stop. He tries to accompany that goal by
00:04:04
Speaker
on helping us achieve that. So that's the beginning. The intermediate is when you really kind of dig deep, like you're actually starting to dance and do your own kind of choreography.
00:04:21
Speaker
You dance with others and you perform off in real crowds. Like when you first beginning, like you kind of make your own stuff working on it, but now you're actually performing in front of people of the stuff that you've learned. So yeah, and it's, I feel like it's very important to perform in front of people because you gain not only like confidence, but you gain a lot of beneficial
00:04:44
Speaker
You gain constructive criticism sometimes, you gain confidence, you gain a lot of things. It just overall bettors you as a person. When I first came here, I was kind of like a bubbly person, but I was still kind of shy to a certain extent. But coming here, it just made me like, you know,
00:05:02
Speaker
I feel myself, I was able to be confident in front of people. I just became so much better. Like it just really opened me up out of my shell. So yeah, that's kind of the intermediate. And once you get up here, like to, like where I am, you could just, he give you the dance one time, you start performing, adding on to it, helping the people around you. Like it just, like you're comfortable here. Like you got everything. You can make your own dances, perform, all of that. So those are kind of like the curriculums once you get here. So
00:05:36
Speaker
That was a great explanation because I think it helps to see kind of like the flow.
00:05:44
Speaker
day and dance all like when they walk in the door they choose dance do they really stick to it or do they do like the beginning and dance and then they go off and do something else and come back like kind of um what's the retention like like does everyone always complete all three or so recently
00:06:04
Speaker
I feel like a lot of girls come and it depends. I honestly think that it depends on the mindset that they show up and dance with like, oh, do I want to try this or do I actually like dancing and I want to dance? I feel like a lot of girls, they come in and they're just like, oh, what is this about? Let me get in this to see what it's about.
00:06:25
Speaker
And they, they have to see that you actually have to like, you know, do dances and work hard and actually do stuff. And they may be kind of my drift off like, I don't know, but a lot of girls have stayed here.
00:06:38
Speaker
There are multiple times and then they've gone to different schools and then they didn't come back. But I've gone to every school and I've looked, I was like, I got to get to work show somehow because I love dancing.
Dance Shop Growth and Facilities
00:06:50
Speaker
It's been that way. And we've had more students just come like the group that we have now and dance like.
00:06:56
Speaker
It's been so, so, so, so successful. They are fast learners. We've done a whole dance together. We performed it. And it just equipped a whole bunch of different genres as well. So we are expanding as of now. And I love it for us because I remember being the only student who was faithful to this. And now it's just growing more and more. So I love it.
00:07:22
Speaker
Yeah, that's really nice. I mean, there's something about dancing with other people, too, that's like part of the magic of dance. Okay, very good. So can you, so I've been in the shop, and it's basically like kind of one, y'all are in your kind of your own building a little further out, and then inside you'll have mirrors, and you'll have ballet bars, kind of equipment, and what does this space look like? And how does it function for you? Can you kind of talk about the space and equipment inside?
00:07:51
Speaker
Um for us we do have a like a long mirror that kind of stretches like from like both sides but just kind of like in the middle so that when we are dancing we can see like you know sometimes when you're dancing you think you're doing the correct thing? Yes.
00:08:11
Speaker
But you can't see yourself. But looking in the mirror, we can actually identify what we're doing or how we're dancing. So if we need to fix something, we can actually see what we need to do or how we may look to others. We do also have a ballet bar. So when it comes down to having our feet in correct postures and doing certain postures the correct way,
00:08:34
Speaker
ballet bar. We're starting to use that quite often now because we're learning different techniques now. So we are using our, I think that's called a ballet bar or either a balance bar. It's good if I said it wrong. We do have
00:08:51
Speaker
Tables in here. So some days we do have like group talks where we talk about the things that we want to learn or how we're feeling or do we want to express ourselves or like anything. We just have tables in here for that purpose. What else do we have in here? We have chairs. We have like little stools. We actually did a dance with the stools and stood on the stools and did a whole lot of stuff. We did that as well.
00:09:21
Speaker
And we have a TV in here for sound so we can do music and play music on there as well. So I love this environment. I love, sometimes I just love being in the space where, you know, I just have my own dance shop. So if I ever just want my own time or, you know, I just want to work on something that's just important to me, I just can come in here and work on it, see myself and practice on things that I love.
00:09:46
Speaker
The equipment in here is very, when we first started off, we just had our mirror, but now we got like a projector, a TV, a flat screen TV, a balance bar, tables, chairs out. Ooh, okay, we expanded. But yes. Okay, very good. Can you maybe walk me through what's the biggest challenge you guys have in the dance shop, like kind of in your opinion?
Challenges and Proposed Improvements
00:10:15
Speaker
Um the biggest challenge let me think the biggest challenge isn't like whoa like so I'm like the other ones that we've heard is the aesthetic of the room is like
00:10:31
Speaker
not conducive, it feels like a classroom, like retention, that they have a lot of capacity, flow. Those are, I'm trying to think some of the other ones, but those are kind of like the biggest thing. If there's anything specific to the dance track.
00:10:53
Speaker
The dance shop, I do believe that some of the things that we made kind of be a challenge, especially when it comes down to this shop. I feel like we do need more lighting, if that makes sense. Some of the lights are different colors, like some is whites. I'm like, okay, we need one kind of lighting, more lighting in here.
00:11:19
Speaker
And also, like, our own dancewear, like, for a long time, like, every time a showcase came up or we had to perform somewhere, we've always had to, like, kind of struggle to see, like, what we all want to wear or what we're going to order to wear. But I feel like if we just have our own kind of dancewear uniform, like, it would be more better. Like, we can just slip this on and we're ready to go. But I kind of feel like we do, like, me, our own, like,
00:11:50
Speaker
own uniforms and also the flooring sometimes make it be slippery so you know I think we may need some kind of like marley flooring or something like that something like where we can actually like you know dance instead of you know sliding and moving around like that but I feel like those are some of the challenges and also
00:12:11
Speaker
What else? What are other challenges? I think those are some of the challenges with the building, some of the challenges that we may have here. I don't know. I think that's about it. I just feel like we just need to add more onto the building, kind of getting more unified if that makes sense. Yeah, make it feel more like a studio because it was the only like shop, correct?
00:12:39
Speaker
Yes, it was. And the wooden floors kind of, you know, need a little repair. Okay, is there anything like that you would change about the shop beyond like these kind of these changes that we've talked or problems and stuff we've talked about? I think I would want the shop to be a little bit
00:13:05
Speaker
but like modernized, if that makes sense. Like I actually like the kind of stuff that we have now, but like, like the ceiling, you know, we could have like more, I don't know. Cause right now we have like wooden kind of ceilings. Wait, I don't know if I can show you. Oh, like you can see, uh-oh, the audio cut out. Straight, like, you know how houses are? Like, wait, can you pause? Hold up.
00:13:33
Speaker
I want to make sure I got a clean cut on that. Okay, can tell me about the ceilings again. Okay, so the ceilings, it's just like you can.
00:13:48
Speaker
Be like the wooden, you can see like the lights, like the actual lights that are like inside of the woods and like the pipes and stuff like that. I feel like I don't want to, I'm trying to say hide, but not hide it, but like make it look like when it comes, like, you know how you come in somebody home? Like if you come in somebody home, you would want to see all of these. I love it. Yeah. I understand. Yeah. Yeah. I can see like a little bit more professional looking maybe. Yeah.
00:14:18
Speaker
Yeah, we do have like a door right here that is like, it's kind of like the handle is kind of broke, so we can't really use that side of the door. So when you do, we come out this way and come back out, come in and come out that way. So I feel like those are really only the challenges and also like our bathroom, the lighting as well, because
00:14:41
Speaker
that, that part of the restaurant lost lighting. But honestly, I feel like the dance shop has been a really like space, a comfortable space for me. I've kind of adapted to the environment, but yeah, that's about it. I kind of love the dance shop. Um, it does need a few, it needs some repairing, you know, some refurbishing, make it like new, nice, maybe a paint job or something new, but yeah.
00:15:08
Speaker
OK.
Conclusion and Closing Remarks
00:15:10
Speaker
All right. Well, thank you so much for chatting with us, Jacora, and letting us hear all about the dance shop. And it was so lovely to meet you every time. And have a lovely evening. Thank you. It was lovely speaking to you, Miss Lyanna. Lyanna nailed it. OK, there we go. Thank you. Have a blessed day.