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NFL Cheerleader Pay

What would happen if the NFL told the football players they were lucky enough to be televised and play in a superbowl? Does the spectacle of football detract so much from the backstage corruption that exists within the pay scale? Because there are many cogs that must be at work in order to run a successful and enormous operation that is the NFL, it makes sense why the twenty or so girls on the field get over looked. That doesn’t mean it’s okay. Because these women have their voice stolen from them during the time they are employed by the NFL, how are they expected to know how to speak up against this issue?

           In addition to overlooking the women on the field, how are the cheerleaders assumed to be left out of the money-making equation? In high school, my dance team always received less funding for events such as state competitions and camps over the summer. This was always justified to us because we were not a ‘sport’ that made money. This same thinking is applied within the cheerleaders of the NFL. Just because spectators are going to a football game doesn’t mean they’re going for the pure enjoyment of the game. Although professional football varies greatly from high school football, I always had a handful of people in the stands that showed up for the dance team. Parents, friends, parents of friends and significant others, as well as extended family comprised the audience to support and watch football but the dance team and cheerleaders as well. Assuming that NFL cheerleaders are separate from the money making operation is an invalid argument.

 1.     How different is the pay of a first year company member in a small modern company? Are the wages equivalent and how do we decide that one is better than the other?

2.     How are ‘football skills’ placed above dance technique? Why do we do this? In the same way some of the NFL cheerleaders are brainwashed into accepting their job is fun, how do we brainwash society to value throwing a ball around a field with white lines on it?

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Insane Handbook

More than anything I don’t understand why or how hourly paid cheerleaders need to abide by such rules such as when or how they should take their makeup off or whether or not they should use a loufa. Also, who’s going to know if the cheerleaders wash their vaginas according to the handbook or only leave a tampon in for more than four hours at a time? The Buffalo Jills handbook reads like that of someone who is trying to seek power and control in their own life by controlling the actions of others. I am also in shock that this handbook was written only four years ago. It sounds like the person writing it wouldn’t approve of the scantily clad Jills. Yet on the other hand, sounds like a high-class pimp trying to maintain the quality of their ‘product.’

           Regarding the appearance requirements, how are these women expected to pay hundreds of dollars every month to maintain their bodily hair, the color of their roots, and a ‘fully curled or slightly bent free flowing’ hair style at minimum wage? It all sounds like an attempt for the Jills to pump out their own version of a Barbie doll. It makes me sad to hear about these ridiculous standards. By taking away the Jills ability to think for themselves, their artistry and craft is taken away. I think this is part of the reason these professions are looked down upon within the arts community therefore leading to less support outside of the NFL for equality within the NY Buffalo Bills organization.

 1.     How does power come into play in regards to the handbook for the Buffalo Bills cheerleaders? Regardless of the more common knowledge points made, why was this handbook deemed necessary? Can cheerleaders sue if they get a yeast infection?

2.     By limiting the Jills agency to have an opinion or talk about themselves too much, how are they turning into commodities? Where does commodification come in once someone’s voice is taken away? Could this be considerqed another form of slavery?

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What is the NEA

1.     How can we as artists demonstrate and educate the public on why the arts are important?

2.     With more and more research on the benefit of arts in schools, why does funding continue to be cut?

           Reading about the NEA made me so sad to realize that Trump’s budgetary cuts could take away so much funding to the dance community. It is stated in the chapter that there aren’t the same kind of prominent dance makers that were present during the ‘dance boom’ of the 1960s to the 1980s. These dance makers include Martha Graham, Helen Tamiris, Merce Cunningham, among other modern and revolutionary dance makers of the mid to late 20th century. The stasis in dance is largely related to the stasis we are reaching within technology. Over the last six years cell phones alone have changed greatly yet now it feels as if there aren’t any major improvements that can be made. The same thing is represented within dance today. Everyone is seeking to push the boundaries yet when everyone is trying to be different, aren’t we all the same? There are the codified dance techniques yet with ballet, tap, jazz, and modern, how can another one be created in the same way Martha Graham and Isadora Duncan blew the lid off of ballet? There is room for innovation but how do we create it when so much has already been established?

           I am so proud to be a part of a field such as dance and this article makes me question what exactly I need to do in order to demonstrate the importance of funds such as the NEA, Arts Endowment, and New England Foundation for the Arts. I am so glad I had the opportunity in New York to learn, if only on the surface, about how much dance companies and arts organizations need the NEA. The information was overwhelming at APAP yet I feel like this unit will help me to better understand all the information we were given in the APAP seminars. Even though I don’t plan to start a company or be a dancemaker, it is so important that all artist fight for these sort of funds.

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America First, Art Last

Trump’s desire to knockout the NEA in exchange for more money to go into the defense budget sounds like an arms race. Andrea Scott outlines that Trump’s budget would increase the spending on defense by 54 billion dollars. Why? I don’t understand what the purpose of having more missiles or guns makes our country any more defended. When has violence every resulted in peace? I was also astounded to find out that Ronald Reagan’s son was dancing in the corps for Joffrey when Reagan himself tried to defund the NEA.

           Scott also relates the elimination of this fund as an extermination of culture as a form of propaganda. She relates it to the defacement of art in Iraq by militants in the Mosul Museum. Fear and hate mongering are the same regardless of a countries ‘first worldly-ness.’ We like to think that our demonstrations of this couldn’t be as bad because we again put the United States on a pedestal and assume our country is superior to those in the Middle East. It’s time to make art instead of war. Art breeds conversation. Peace grows out of conversation; peace never came from having an $54 billion worth of guns and ammunition.

 1.     How do we unite with Trump supporting artists to demonstrate the worth of the NEA?

2.     How do we demonstrate as artists that our ‘defense supplies’ aren’t offering much defense to those who are in favor?

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I was most drawn to Tommy the Clown in this article because of two reasons, the masking trend he created for clowning and his presence on America’s Next Top Model eleven years ago. Upon reading about Tommy’s masking, it reminded me of working with Sidra in New York. Tommy’s origination of clowning and the use of masks was used as a way release inhibitions therefore finding a deeper spiritual connection to the movement. Sidra commented on our need to unmask, to take off the face we wear in a classroom, performative, or contemporary dance setting. Sidra’s commentary seems similar to me as the point of masking up to clown yet she is stating the opposite. In order to find the truest state of either of these forms, it is necessary to release inhibitions to explore the form to its fullest extent. The largest divide for me exists in how serious we take ourselves in either one of these forms. In contemporary dance we take ourselves to seriously which is why we need to mask, in krumping there is a certain amount of seriousness to take into account before you need to mask up in a way to release that seriousness.

           I have attached two sources showing Tommy the Clown’s cameo on America’s Next Top Model. These tall, thin women represent what Devin and Alyssa were talking about in regards to hip-hop culture, it cannot be taught. These images, as well as the episode itself, demonstrate the way “a revolt against the mainstream quickly became mainstream itself” as quoted from the article.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp9W-kN1j_M

 http://www.justjared.com/2006/04/13/antm-krumping/

(scroll down toward the bottom of the page to see a gallery of the images)

 1.     How has police response to krumping shifted nowadays? Could this be a predecessor to the current police brutality toward black men today?

2.     How do other forms of dance such as modern, ballet, and jazz have their own culture surrounding them? Does this influence the way these forms are taught in the same way that hip-hop culture cannot be taught through the movement and technique of it?

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Masculinity in Hip-Hop

1.     How does the machismo in hip-hop play into why people say ‘boys will be boys’? How does hip-hop culture spread rape culture?

2.     Did hip-hop benefit from media attention? How is this a form of appropriation?

             Upon reading this article I kept asking myself, where are all the women? Obviously there is a larger female presence now than there once was but how does this male machismo inhibit women from rising up in hip-hop culture. In addition to this, I think hip-hop is related to some of the questions I had been asking during the ballet unit. How does gender define hip-hop as a dance form? Does the male presence make hip-hop what it is? In the same vein that ballet wasn’t produced or choreographed by females. Some people make the argument that it was due the nature of the era. I’m tired of hearing that as an excuse for the lack of females within the current realm of ballet and hip-hop. I don’t think that even in the 1970s the excuse that it is the nature of the times is relevant anymore. Even though there is a larger representation of women now, women in hip-hop aren’t regarded the same as men. Women are still the trophy of rap music videos and the lure of hip-hop culture. Which brings me back, how are women recognized differently within in the form so much so that it is no longer recognizable or acknowledged as being the same form men practice?

           Contrasting my above paragraph, because my parents have always worked in helping people within highly diverse, low-income situations, I appreciate the form for granting those hopeless, hope. I think that a basic desire for humans is to seek power and control in their lives to whatever degree it satisfies them. For hip-hop to be a way for that need to be satisfied over the use of violence, it’s a beautiful thing. Dance is magic in that regard.

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Breaking

           Sally Banes’ article, Breaking, opened my eyes to some of the deeper roots of break dance, surprisingly enough helped me understand a concept of Spanish grammar, and evaluate graffiti in today’s context. Right off the bat Banes introduces that break dance originates in black and Hispanic cultures. I was surprised to find out about the Hispanic presence within break dance. I often find within Musical Theater dance history the Hispanic dance presence is only credited with traditional Latin dance forms that have been watered down within American culture. It was refreshing to see the Hispanic presence within hip-hop and break dance and I look forward to learning more about how not only African and black dance influence hip-hop but Hispanic culture as well. Banes describes subjunctive as “things are not as they are but as they should be.” Within Spanish grammar, the subjunctive is a specific type of verb tense. Although I could tell you when and how to conjugate within the subjunctive, I did not understand what the subjunctive tense ‘means.’ Banes’ explanation within a dance context not only helped me to understand the concept within break dance culture but Spanish grammar. As represented in the Netflix show The Get Down, graffiti had a stigma around it. Within the world of hip-hop graffiti was a way of proving yourself, but within the regular world, graffiti was a way of getting into trouble. An apartment building located near Ball State in the village has graffiti all over the walls of the parking garage. It makes me wonder if we have once again taken a sacred part of the hip-hop puzzle for our own enjoyment. Or does the use of graffiti in a positive way reduce the negative stigma around it.  

 1.     How will the history of break/hip-hop dance be influenced by all of the ways of notating dance in current day? Will this benefit the field?

2.     How does the emergence of hip hop dance increase or decrease awareness of the importance and presence of African dance in all dance forms?

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Stripping the Emperor

1.     Why were black dancing bodies used as they were wanted but weren’t integrated into the company fully? How does this negate the idea of what a company is?

2.     How has the stigma around black dancing bodies in ballet changed? How has this translated into the athletic demands of non-black dancers?

             The pattern continues, the codified dance forms of ballet, jazz, modern have all stemmed from some sort of social dance form. Jazz isn’t the only form that contains a history of roots and branches. Vladimir has made it known that character dance is often included in traditional ballet schools and training. The most confusing aspect of the social dance/codified dance relationship is what separates ballet as being a high form above its roots of social and folk dance. Ultimately either one was performed or carried out by those in power in historic Europe. So what makes ballet different?

           BDG states that using the term jazz dance and music is just a cover up for its Africanist influences. In addition to this, the black dancing body was not present in ballet dance because of the justified racism that black bodies were unfit for ballet. If black dancing bodies are unfit, what kinds of bodies are fit enough for ballet? The original ballet dancers were royalty, ultimately common people who had bodies like the rest of the world, eventually they turned into female dominated casts that were considered ‘pleasantly plump’ into the sickly thin Balanchine aesthetic. There has never been any one determination in ballet’s history of what it means to have a body fit for ballet.

           Because black dancers were not considered fit in their ballet bodies, white choreographers assumed that the reasons black dancers could dance was because of inherent ability. This assumption is equivalent to the white choreographers deny that black dancing bodies did not need the training they were unwilling to offer in the first place and that they did not work hard to get to where they are. In contrast to this, how does reliance on dancer’s material relate to the work that Sidra does?

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Forward to Petipa

Something that stood out to me in this article is the body expectations of a Balanchine dancer. Although this is not new information, it makes me examine the Balanchine expectation and the way double standards continue to be upheld in society. The aesthetic of a long limbed, short torso, slim dancer pervades the dance world today. No longer are dancers considered ‘pleasantly plump.’ What bothers me most is the dichotomy that exists around body types. Women dancers are expected to be thin but not too thin while maintaining a voluptuous figure. This body standard is highly unreasonable while it remains to be sold to the American public through unrealistic dancerliness via popular media. In addition to this, the physical growth of young female ballet dancers is stunted by virtue of these expectations. What is most frustrating is that men dominate the ballet world; men that make decisions that hinder the health and vital growth of young female dancers.

           Aside from my issues with the body standards of Balanchine ballet, I can appreciate the variety of tones in which he expressed himself through ballet dance. At first I questioned whether Balanchine was one of the first white explorers of syncopation in dance. As the articles states, “dissonance allows us to know consonance.” I appreciate his work through musicality as I can identify with needing music in order to best inform movement. I also enjoyed the image of his ‘space-aged Wilis’ as they reminded me of A Chorus Line.

1.     Why is NYCB credited as looking American when the pioneers of the institution come from various ethnic makeups? Or is that exactly what makes something ‘American,’ the melting pot effect?

2.     If Balanchine’s ballets could resemble the work of Merce Cunningham, why were they still considered ballet? What is the true determination between the styles? Does the difference lie in the sex that dominates the field?

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Balletic Astonishments

Reading this article prior to reading Searching for Nijinsky’s Sacre would have helped my understanding and how that article related back to the work we are doing in dance history. Diaghilev reminds me of Donald Trump, especially considering the political climate of our country in the sense that he has power and control over the things and people he likes. I can appreciate his role in launching artists such as Fokine, Nijinsky, and Pavlova into their careers. It also makes me question what the patronage climate is like today and how company owner’s backgrounds influence that. From my work in NYC, it appears as if there is not a large amount of funding for the arts and I am supposed to be poor my whole life. How would this life as in artist change if a non-dancer with money were to step in and support you?

           I have such an attraction to Najinsky’s Le Sacre, which I explained in my blog post about Searching for Nijinsky’s Sacre. I thoroughly enjoy reading about his work and felt connected to it on a deeper level through further explanation about his process as a choreographer. Nijinsky is described as being meticulous and spending large amounts of time on his work. I have a very similar process and sometimes struggle to move at a faster rate due to spending too much time paying attention to detail. He liked angular shapes and working with turned in feet. Yet again I have my attraction to his work explained to me in words I would not have been able to find myself.

 1.     Would you cant to have a “non-artist” in control of your career? What it they had money and big money to pay you? Would you relinquish your artistic integrity?

2.     What is possible as a working artist to change the patronage climate of the arts? What do you see as being a driving force to keep the dance world ‘in check’?

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1.     How would you define the descriptor ‘primitive’ of Le Sacre?

2.     Would Nijinsky’s Le Sacre be considered a form of appropriation?

3.     Le Sacre is mentioned as having an irregular structure, could this be an early form of syncopation?

I struggled finding the relevance of this article as it relates to our class work. What I found most interesting were the different ways the author, Millicent Hodson, went about finding different modes of dance notation in regards to Nijinsky’s work, Le Sacre. The most obvious being a dance journal or diary which choreography notes could be easily recorded though she was unable to find one specifically in regards to Le Sacre. In order for her to get a true sense of the work, she explored various avenues in differing mediums. One of the most obvious would be talking an original performer from the production. Hodson was able to find one but the question arose as to how beneficial speaking to an original performer from a piece that is 90 years old would actually be. There are not many people that have a purely objective and photographic memory that could recall dance to the purest form from the first time it was in their bodies. I know I certainly couldn’t. Is this a good form of dance notation, word of mouth and body, or does it demonstrate the importance of a more objective form such as video and our duty as artists today to record dance in this way? In addition to this, Hodson’s colleague was able to find the original costumes. Although this does not seem like the most effective tool for recreating Nijinsky’s movement, it would help to set the scene. In addition to this, I wonder if the costuming could bring back a sense memory for the original group of dancers in recalling the first work of Le Sacre.

           Nijinsky’s Le Sacre is personally one of my favorite ballets largely in fact that it does not look like stuffy, codified ballet. Something that resonated with me on a deeper level was when Hodson mentioned how the movement patterns simulate energy from the earth into the human body. In addition to this, Hodson relates Nijinsky’s movement to the mood altering affects yoga postures have on the body. These are thoughts I would have not been able to articulate myself but I believe that Hodson has been able to further explain to me why I enjoy Le Sacre so much.

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In the Royal Image - Lisa Schreck

As I acknowledged during the jazz unit, dance history has helped me to uncover and explore, and hopefully decrese, my own ignorance about dance. I was thoroughly surprised when I read about how flimsy pointe shoes were. No wonder women were not on pointe for extended periods of time.  Also in comparing the two images within the article of Carlotta Brianza and Susan Jaffe it was evident the difference between the two women’s feet. Jaffe is clearly much stronger on top of her box whereas Brianza looks like me during ballet class, trying to hold it together. The author points out that it was all about equilibrium, stacking headdress over jewels over the tip of a flimsy pointe shoe. Upon reading this, it made me think back to our conversation with Raja Kelly. After learning about his work and never ending list of projects, Jaddyn asked how he maintains balance. His response was that dance has taught him that it is much more interesting to be off balance than to be on top of it. I think this relates to the ever changing nature of dance as well as the emergence of modern dance as a new form in the mid twentieth century. True equilibrium is not attainable in my opinion that it’s no wonder the pointe shoe needed to change but I don’t think the greatest dancers in this world can truly find equilibrium. The native roots of ballet lend itself to the precarious nature of this early pointe shoe as when change comes, it shakes up the entire art form.

           With the restructured pointe shoe and the necessity of a male partner, the three dimensionality of the art form began to truly shine. In turn, three dimensionality is ever present in modern dance today as well as in ballet in dissimilar ways. Even though these two forms differ greatly, the shared characteristics are similar to that of DNA. Most human beings share great deal of their DNA yet on the surface appear much different.

 1.     How is the art of dance making political statements as compared to ballet in Russia in 1950s? How has this changed? How has the relationship between political power and dance changed?

2.     Men and women danced at these academies i.e. The Imperial Ballet school, why are men the only ballet choreographers to primarily female casts? How does this relationship between male and female shift the storyline of a ballet?

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Lisa Schreck-African Origins

While observing more of the African traditions relating to dance, I couldn’t help but wonder think about the various stages and levels of appropriation that have created American mainstream culture. Has there been a time when another culture has stolen from American culture? Would it still be considered cultural appropriation? It seems as if the American culture has become what it is by appropriating to other cultures. The author states that jazz dance is a uniquely American dance form, which is the same for modern dance. Had cultural appropriation not occurred, could these art forms have come about? By what standard is something deemed American when its roots are traced to another continent altogether. Is it right for it to be considered American? Did we earn the right to blend cultures in such a way that we get to claim the new combination as our own?

 The author mentions some aspects of traditional African dance that were common between the varying styles of dance between countries within the actual continent of Africa. One that primarily stuck out to me was the imitation African dance used to demonstrate living things in the natural world. Often time African dance is associated with being ‘primitive’ or ‘primal.’ At some point these once effective descriptions became negative, as African people were assumed more related to animals than to humans. Knowing this offers a different perspective as to why African dance made a choice to represent their connection to their environment rather than the assumption that the dance was a product of an inherent beast-like nature. This description was effective for me in my learning because I was able to come to a deeper understanding as to why African dance existed in the way that it did. When looking at African dance, I find myself wanting to use words like, primal or primitive but have a new lens to view African dance, and other dances reflecting similar qualities through. Would communication barriers have stood in the way of white American understanding African culture or was the white man too much of a supremacist to stop and try to understand?

Why have African-Americans lived and worked in the United States of America but have yet to receive the title of being ‘Americans’?

If there were no Africans brought to American through the slave trade, would jazz flourish in America? Would it still be an American art form or belong to another country?

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Lisa Schreck

An idea from the text that particularly stood out to me was a metaphor of jazz dancing resembling a tree. The African origins of jazz dance comprise the roots of a tree, the vernacular of jazz dance comprises the trunk, and all variations from that make up the branches that are ever intertwining. When thinking about what exactly jazz dance was to me, I immediately form a connection to the trick based, isolation heavy, expresive style I was taught in high school. Although I have studied more classical forms at Ball State and through summer study, this form of, as the author puts it, jazz-derived movement was geared toward showing off the best of all dancers on stage so that it had the potential to place well in a competition setting. Within the first few pages of the text I immediately set my perception of jazz aside as not being truly ‘jazz.’ I felt as though I was done a disservice through my jazz upbringing. Why weren’t my so-called, “educated” dance instructors informing their students of the basis from which jazz was formed? In the last few pages of the text the author makes it clear, jazz truly is a continuum. The door has been opened for all forms of what each individual interprets as being ‘jazz’ because of the way the roots of the style are so well established to allow for growth.

 After coming to terms with my lack of traditional jazz training, I feel embarrassed to have studied this art form for so long and been so unaware until the age of twenty. I don’t understand why African American culture has been steeped in mainstream media and dance for so many years yet lacks accolades. Reading The Black Dancing Body has changed my perception of the dance world that I live in. Brenda Dixon Gottschild makes it clear the lack of recognition African culture receives for its contributions to dance. Although we have the opportunity to learn about these roots, it feels like a significant amount of digging has to go into finding out about African influence of any art form.

Should dance teachers be considered qualified to teach high school and younger students if they are not able to talk about dance history?

Why is it that our African American heritage is overlooked in the mainstream dance world?

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(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtJzqfWOhCE)

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Brenda Bufalino Taps For Charles "Honi" Coles from The Dance Enthusiast on Vimeo.