Even though I’ve found this style of technique really challenging since the beginning of the year, overall, I felt like I did my best during this assessment, as its a contemporary technique that I’ve never done before, and learning something new has been challenging, but rewarding at the same time.
One of the techniques that I’ve struggled with the most in Graham id called ‘Exercise of 6’, which is when we’re on our knees and we were required to contract, then lean back with the contraction, without touching the heels of you’re feet with you’re bottom, release upwards, then contract back down, then release, and contract and release. This was the technique that I was most nervous about, as this was the one that I’ve been struggling with in the eight weeks that we’ve been learning all of the exercises. Not being allowed to touch you’re feet was quite a challenge, as I haven’t got a strong core at all, so I did find this section rather difficult, and it has been my aim throughout the term to work on my core strength. When it came to the exam however, somehow I managed not to touch the heels of my feet with my bottom, as I was so determined to get it right, and I also wasn’t thinking about the pain in my thighs.
One of the things that I thought that I did rather well was the exercise that involved tendus, glisses and grand battements. This was one of the exercises that I was struggling with the most at the beginning of the year, as I always had a habit of not having my feet turned out.
Also, having to learn a new exercise on the day for the assessment, and it was a triplet exercise, I did find quite challenging, as I haven’t got great muscle memory when it comes to learning a completely new exercise on an assessment day. Furthermore, I often panic about being taught something new. When it came to performing it however, I was quite shocked at how well I remembered it, so I was relatively happy about this.
Overall, if I was ever going to be assessed on this style of technique again, my main priority would be to work on my contraction, as I don’t feel like I’ve got a strong core yet, and work on turning my feet out.
Cunningham:
Overall, I thought I did fairly well on this as well, as this was the technique that I was more confident about performing.
Firstly, the exercise that I felt I did well at was Cunningham’s version of ‘bounces’, as I was confident with the timing for this and, unlike Graham, the bounces consisted of you standing up in parallel and second position, rather than being on the floor like Graham.
Along with Graham, I also found learning a new exercise difficult, especially this one, as it was an adage position, which involved you balancing on one leg, with you’re leg in an ‘attitude’ position (that involves you’re lifted leg bent with you’re feet coming towards you’re body). This was the position that I struggled with the most, as I’m not that confident at balance, and I also tend to worry about this. When it came to performing the new exercise, I felt like I didn’t do that great, as I kept forgetting about which direction my feet and arms were supposed to go, and I also kept losing balance throughout the exercise.
I did also struggle with another exercise; ‘running leaps’, as these involved to jumping in an almost split position, but you’re performing it twice as fast. The first time I got taught this exercise I didn’t do particularly well in it, as my leaps weren’t that clean and precise. Throughout the weeks, I’ve been trying to master this specific exercise and on the day of the assessment, I think I did an ok job at them, but I feel I could’ve done better.
Finally, if I ever get assessed on Cunningham again, I will make sure that I improve my balance and work on how to master an adage.
Devised Project 