Love on the Brain (Original)
Paige Z.
-
Last summer, I attended a national dance competition in which I was qualified to compete for a chance to become an assistant and tour with the faculty of the dance competition the following year. We were required to compete one solo at the event, so I had to decide a song to choreograph my solo to. I had recently seen one of my dance studio’s alumni perform a piece to “Love On The Brain” by Rihanna on Instagram, and that’s when I knew I had to choreograph to the song as well. As I was choreographing in my garage, I really wanted to bring out the hard-hitting beats in the song to express the anger and frustration evident in the song’s message. I hit a creative block multiple times, so I often had to look on Instagram and scroll through my explore page to find inspiration for my piece. It took a lot of creativity and imagination as I was confined to the limited space in my garage, so I would constantly have to envision steps and traveling patterns and hope that they would work out once I got the opportunity to practice in a real studio space. When I was able to work with one of my dance teachers to refine my piece at my studio, I could actually practice my dance full out and realize which steps worked and which ones did not, ultimately helping me figure out what to revise and how to improve my overall performance quality. Considering the limited space that I had, I would say that my vision was translated very well onto the stage, and although it was challenging to choreograph an entire piece on my own, it definitely served as a great learning opportunity that helped me grow and better understand myself as a dancer.
-
I view dance as a therapeutic outlet in which I can push out any negative feelings I may experiencing. By training vigorously and being able to explore the different movement pathways, I can effectively manage my stress while also improving as both and dancer and a person.
