Júlia Garcia

Final Reflection Paper

Modern 104 – Fall 2019
Michael Estanich

Modern Final Reflection

This semester was extremely important to “start over” my dance training and get

rid of old habits I created over the years dancing. It was also a semester where I learned

how the next years of training are going to be and how determined I need to be: fast-

paced and detailed. Just like in acting, one thing I realized is that the more specific you

are, the better you can communicate a thought, in this case, through movement.

One idea that I learned this semester is the balance between freedom and control.

This is new for me because I know that my excitement tends to get ahead of me and I

lose my stability and strength, but now I know how to work on it and before I had no

idea. Just by taking Ballet with Joan, now I can really feel my body and place myself in

alignment, and that gives me the strength and control I need to be able to do harder

things. Power and commitment are great things to have but I need strategies to apply

them without rushing, specifically, being ahead of time during combinations. I need to

have confidence to own the event, that being a piece of choreography or a combination in

class.
Another new idea that goes with the last one is precision. The more on the beat, on the

accents and on rhythm I am, and the more emphasis I give to each movement, the more

precise I can be during combinations to be in control. With precision and agility, I can

connect one movement to another, so it doesn’t look like four or five different

movements but just one flowy dance.

The way I see my training now is much clearer, and I can still be myself while dancing

but focusing on getting better technically, because I already have the expressiveness

aspect of dance, now I need to build the “technical” strength and confidence. Finally

having the dance minor was so important and rewarding for me, because having dance

classes everyday helped me cope with stress, but I was also relieved to be able to express

myself doing what I have always loved but in a more professional/career focused setting.

Truly a great gift.

The client/trainer experience was extremely useful to me, first because it is important to

get another opinion of someone outside of your class and especially someone who has

been in your position. Second, the way Anna talked about specific things that we were

learning sometimes made it clearer because she is a student and not a teacher, so it is

easier to see through her eyes and explanations. I learned a lot about what I can do alone

and outside of classes to keep growing, like stretches, constructive rest, core strength

exercises, etc. Because just like in voice lessons and other classes, you can’t just do the

work in class, you must go do the work by yourself to improve. It was nice to see that
 Anna is in a journey just like Hanna and I, and everybody is growing in a different pace,

and I feel good where I am, I don’t feel behind or ahead in my training.

A moment where I felt proud of my work was during Afterimages and getting the news

the piece was selected to go to the ACDA Conference next year. Because I was in a piece

that is very theatrical, that is, it tells a very specific story, I feel like I was able to place

myself in the world the choreographer had created and bring my expressiveness to the

dance in an effective way, which was so fun, but still work on the precision I started

working on this semester. (especially because tap dancing needs to be very tight

otherwise the sounds become messy). I am very happy with this news because our cast

worked very hard and it is an honor to be able to show that our school is strong in tap,

and when I went last year to the conference there was no tap pieces at all, so I am really

excited to represent our school and to just bring tap to the conference.

My 7 dimensions of wellness plan

Intellectual – The way I plan to do and have been doing for this dimension is reading

new plays and looking for articles about what is happening in the theatre and dance world

outside of college.

Spiritual - I pray a lot during the day which makes me less anxious if I have a busy day.

I am involved in Cru, a Christian organization on campus, and I am part of their worship

band. I also go to church every Sunday as a great way to recharge for the week.
Emotional - Emotionally, I plan to be more confident in myself and care less about my

own and others vain opinions. I always support my friends when they need my help and I

really find joy in helping. I am highly sensitive and an empath, so I need to be careful not

to absorb other people’s energy around me and I’m getting better at recognizing when I

do this and the emotions are not mine. My plan is to stay responsible, but take things

easy, which is something my Dance Minor has helped me a lot, to cope with the stress of

my hectic schedule.

Social - I made more friends this semester and I feel like the social dimension is getting

more attention because of that, and before I did not pay much attention to my social life

because I am always very busy, so I just need to be more strategic when conciliating

school and social life. I also really liked that in Modern we had the chance to get together

as a class to dance and get to know each other and our parts in the ensemble which was

great.

Environment - I plan to keep recycling and not taking long showers, but also try to make

less trash by eating less industrial products.

Occupational - I don’t have time to get a job on campus, because I have 18 credits every

semester and I have extra performances too. However, I believe school keeps me

motivated, to learning new things and getting my degree.

Physical – I don’t consume alcohol or any drugs which is good. My plan is to workout

around 4 or 5 times a week. It is hard to accomplish since I have so many classes and I

get physically tired from my dance classes, but I will keep trying.
Client-Trainer Meeting #1 - September 17 Core strength exercises, defined goals,
constructive rest
Client-Trainer Meeting #2 - September 23 Positions of the body, articulating the
bones
Client-Trainer Meeting #3 - September 30 Learned about the anatomy of the body
Client-Trainer Meeting #4 - October 7th Calves and thighs stretches, feeling
vertebrae
Client/Trainer Meeting #5 - October 21 Alyssa Puccio’s combination
Client/Trainer Meeting #6 - November 1 Improvising: floor, flocking, word improv
Client/Trainer Meeting #7 - November 4 Group improv, flocking, head X tail
Client/Trainer Meeting #8 - November 18 Portraying emotions with the body,
stretching
Client/Trainer Meeting #9 - November 22 Extensions and not gripping the legs
Client/ Trainer Meeting #10 - November Final Reflection