DISCOVER YOUR REAL POTENTIAL
The new Ringling show, “Out of This World,” produced by Alana Feld, 36, will have its premiere on Thursday in Los Angeles. But it first stopped in this dusty Central Valley city for a test run. Would new elements — an ice floor, an elaborate narrative, a smartphone app — make audiences forget to miss the elephants? Or would the Greatest Show on Earth prove a little less grand without its prancing pachyderms?
The show, which requires 56 railroad cars to transport, incorporates technology in new ways. A free app has features like push notifications designed to engage the audience before the show and during intermission. Toy swords, telescopes and blasters sold in the arena aisles and corridors before show time change colors during the performance, based on the story line. (Everything turns green, for instance, when Queen Tatiana emerges.)
Sensors that create computerized spotlight effects are sewn into costumes, in particular those worn by stunt skaters from China, who zoom across the ice on stilts. “Nothing can replace the elephants,” Ms. Feld said. “This wasn’t about trying. This was about creating a new genre of circus, with acts seamlessly transitioning from floor to air to ice.”
And if anyone misses the elephants, which first joined the circus in 1882 when P. T. Barnum added one named Jumbo to his lineup, there is always the concession stand. Feld sells $16 snow cones in plastic cups shaped like elephants. They sit on yellow, red and blue drums with their trunks and front feet held gamely in the air. The hinged head tilts back to reveal pineapple, cherry and raspberry-flavored ice.
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The first and biggest mistake artists make is not understanding their MOTIVE. In other words, I mean DO IT FOR THE MUSIC!
A lot of times our motive changes and then we put our first love on the back burner. Sooner or later the actual sound of our music takes a hit. Not being passionate about the music we create shows and sticks out like a sore thumb.
Since technology has put the power of reaching audiences at the fingertips of any individual, it is important to understand that you are in the same ocean with every other artist in the industry.
The quality of your music is imperative and may just be the one key to your success or failure. We are now in the era of DIY and home studios.
If we cannot create the music quality we desire ourselves then we should look to work with other musicians, engineers ,and producers. The Internet has also made it possible to work with online engineers and producers if you cannot find one locally that suits your style of music.
This is a very broad topic, but I want to touch base on the issues I see a lot. First, the website! Think of your online presence like a physical mall — and your website is a store. If you are in the same mall as one of your favorite artists, your store would have to look presentable and be able to compete with the other store. Well the same goes for online branding. Too many artists just use the links to a music site (Bandcamp, SoundCloud, etc.) or their social networks to represent their brand.
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The most effective way I have found to turn negative corrections into active instructions is by referencing the dancer’s anatomy. For example, a common correction at the barre is “don’t roll (the foot) in.” However, the action of simply pulling the arch of the foot off of the floor may have an unintended consequence of shifting the weight too far into the outer edge of the foot.
What I am really asking the dancer to do is keep all five toes on the ground, thereby centering the weight in the foot. When I change the wording of this correction from “don’t roll in” to “(do) keep all five toes on the floor,” I notice that more students seem to understand, and are able to apply it to their dancing. Other common negative corrections that I have since re-written include:
- Don’t slouch -> (do) elongate your spine
- Don’t sit in your hips -> (do) distribute your pelvic girdle evenly into your femur heads
- Don’t stick your chest out -> (do) ‘close’ your rib cage
By changing from negative corrections to active instructions, I notice a greater understanding and retention among the students. Additionally, the dancers begin to cultivate a greater awareness of their body on a skeletal and muscular level.
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