CHAPTER 2

CHEER DANCE OR CHEERLEADING

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of the chapter, the students are expected to:

1. Define cheer dancing and its benefits;
2. Distinguish the elements of a choreographed cheer dance;
3. Classify the cheer dance positions and its techniques;
4. Integrate safety practices in a cheer dance performance; and
5. Perform the basic positions of cheer dancing.
INTRODUCTION
Cheer dancing or cheerleading, elements of dancing, shouting slogans,
stunting, and tumbling solely dedicated to entertaining and motivating the crowd
during sports events, including to motivate the players. In cheerleading, there will
be a leader called a cheerleader who typically shakes pom- poms, loudly shouting
at the top of her lungs and cheering for the team in the hopes of winning the
game not competing against an opponent, thus, not considered a sport (Darnell,
2012). Further, Greenspan (2020) & Darnell (2012) do not officially recognized
cheerleading as a sport - neither by the NCAA nor by U.S. federal Title IX
guidelines.

Cheer dance requires flexibility', strength, agility, and other components of

fitness, including courage and trust among the members and spotters in
performing various difficult stunts. When performing stunts, it is risky to fall,
which can lead to other untoward injuries. Hence, cheerleaders must be careful,
should observe safety measures, and must follow the phases of exercise, i.e.,
warm-up, workout, and cooling down, to avoid undue fatigue because it carries
an inherent risk of injury. Safety and security are every cheerleader's primary
priorities. The rate of catastrophic injuries in cheering has significantly _
decreased in recent years. Nevertheless, throughout time, cheering has had a
greater injury rate than 23 of the 24 sports that the National Collegiate Athletic
Association recognizes (NCAA) (Greenspan, 2020).

Cheerleading Positions
There are three cheerleading positions we should learn to avoid from
injuries, which are base, spotter, and flyer. As a member of the cheerleading
team, you need to know which role is best suited for you.

1. BASE
2. SPOTTER
3. FLYER
Techniques in Cheer Dancing
You can BEAT some flaws and mistakes in performing cheer dance. Here are
some appropriate tips, techniques, and practices that can ensure your stunt goes
smoothly and help you stay as stiff as you can for maximum impact.
1. BALANCE
2. EYE CONTACT
3. ARMS
4. TIGHT

Cheerleading Stunts
1. Individual Stunts
2. Dual Stunts
3. Group Stunts

Here are the simple yet equally important basic cheerleading stunts you need
to learn.
Motion is the very basic move in cheer dance through simple arm movements.
It is necessary to perform the correct actions and techniques. Arm motions are
the foundation of all cheerleading moves. These can be noticed in stunts, dance,
jumps, and tumbling, which are the foundations of cheerleading. Whether you are
a novice or a professional cheerleader, you must have strong arm motions to be
effective.

Clasp
Cheerleaders perform the clasp as they clap. Begin with your arms along
your sides with an elbow bent, hands together, and clap. It is necessary to keep in
mind that, from the side, the arms are raised directly in front of the body. Ensure
that your clasp is in front of your face and that your elbows are close together.
Overhead clasp is done with arms straight, above the head in a clasp and slightly
in front of the face.
High-V
A high "V" is executed by lifting the arms up to mimic the letter "V".
Straight arms should be held out in front of the body a little bit with the fingers
facing away from the body, and hands should be tightly curled up.

Cone
The cone action is similar to the touchdown motion, except at the peak of
the motion, the hands are clasped together. It is applied in the transition to
cheerleading jumps and is a vital component of the pole vaulting and acrobatic
routines of the sport.

Touchdown
In a touchdown motion, your arms should be straight up above one head
and the biceps should touch the ears. The hands should be in tight fists with the
tips of the fingers facing each other.
T-Motion
Raising arms towards the side of the body to resemble the letter "T." Arms
must be straight and slightly in front of the body. The hands should be formed
into tight fists with the fingertips facing the ground.

Jump
In straddle jump, it is performed with both hands in fists or blades, knees
should be pointing up and backward, and legs should be straight and parallel to
the ground.

Handstand
A well-executed handstand forms vertically inverted standing body, and the
hands are placed on the floor to support the body's stability. The arms are
shoulder-width apart, and the head is tucked inward, with the chin positioned
close to the chest.
Pike
Do a pike position by sitting with both legs extended straight out forward.
Bend your hips and lean forward. Pikes can be made to varying degrees based on
the extent to which the performer folds himself in half at the hips.

Split
A split is a body position in which the legs are extended in a line. Mastery of
doing splits will help you perform other skills such as split leaps, jumps, and
switch leaps. The more expert you are at performing splits on the ground, the
more you can easily execute splits in between tumbling or stunts. You can
develop split skills by practicing sitting and reaching or spreading your legs every
day for flexibility enhancement.

Types of Split
1. Half Split - Lower your right or left knee and release or stretch the other leg
on the ground in performing a half

2. Straddle Split - Also known as a side split, is performed by extending your

legs on the floor and facing forward.

3. Side split - The performer extends his legs sideways at a 180-degree angle.

4. Front Split - This is performed by extending one leg in front and the other
in back. In front split, the legs are in line; one leg extends towards the front,
the other leg is towards the back, The hips are in a neutral position. The key
to performing split relies on stretching more often than stretching for a
long time.
 CHAPTER 3
CONTEMPORARY DANCES
(MODERN, JAZZ, LYRICAL, BALLET)

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of the chapter, the students are expected to:
1. Define contemporary dance;
2. Determine the historical background of contemporary dance, and the people who
contributed to its development;
3. Classify the different genres of contemporary dance;
4. Deliberate further the development of ballet, modern, jazz and lyrical from the
time these dances started up to now;
5. Express an appreciation of the origin of the dances and the roles the play 1 in
one's culture;
6. Produce, and accomplish a choreographed contemporary dances based from the
different dance steps; and
7. Perform correctly the different steps of the dances with ease and smoothness.
 Lesson 1
Contemporary Dance

Introduction

What is Contemporary Dance?

Contemporary Dance is a combination of several dance genres. It is a style of
expressive dance that combines elements of several dance genres including modern,
jazz, lyrical and classical ballet. Contemporary dancers strive to connect the mind and
the body through fluid dance movements. The term "contemporary" is somewhat
misleading: it describes a genre that developed during the mid-20th century and is still
very popular today.

Modern, jazz, lyrical, and classical ballet are just a few of the dance genres that
are combined in contemporary dance, an expressive dance form. Through fluid dance
movements, contemporary dancers aim to unite the body and the intellect.

Lesson 1.2
Overview of Contemporary Dance
In contrast to ballet's rigid, organized style, contemporary dance emphasizes
flexibility and spontaneity. Dancers in contemporary styles concentrate on floor work
and let gravity drag them to the ground. In this type of dance, bare feet are frequently
worn. Various musical genres can be used to accompany contemporary dance
performances. The dancers in contemporary dance explore freedom of movement,
enabling their bodies to freely express their deepest emotions and convey tales.
Contemporary dance is an organic, expressive form. The movements are performed to a
variety of songs and span from quick and sharp to sloppy and smooth.

How To Start Contemporary Dance?

Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, and Merce Cunningham were

pioneers of modern dance because they disobeyed the rigid
restrictions of ballet. All of these dancer/choreographers held the view
that dancers should be able to move freely, expressing their innermost
thoughts with their body. It's crucial to remember, though, that
Cunningham is frequently referred to as the founder of contemporary
dance, whereas Graham pioneered what is now known as modern
dance and Duncan's style was distinctly her own.
 Lesson 1.3
Historical Background of Contemporary Dance

There are many features that both modern and contemporary dance share; they
are, in a sense, branches coming from the same roots. Ballet was a term used to
describe theatrical dance performances in the 19th century. With Catherine de' Medici's
assistance, court dancing throughout the Italian Renaissance evolved into ballet, a
formal discipline that gained popularity.

Ballet conventions started to be broken by a few dancers around the tail end of
the 19th century. Francois Delsarte, Loe Fuller, and Isadora Duncan were a few of these
people who created distinctive movement genres based on their own philosophies. All
of them put greater emphasis on emotional and physical expressiveness than on formal
procedures.

Contrary to ballet or Duncan's "Isadorables," a new dance style known as

"modern dance" arose between about 1900 and 1950. Modern dance is a codified
dance technique with a particular aesthetic. Modern dance, which was created by
trailblazers like Martha Graham, is based on breathing, movement, muscle contraction,
and muscle release.

Martha Graham had Alvin Ailey as one of her students. e was the first to
incorporate African American aesthetics and concepts into contemporary dance,
although maintaining a closer link to previous approaches.

Merce Cunningham, a different Graham student, started experimenting with his

own kind of dance in the middle of the 1940s. John Cage's utterly original music served
as Cunningham's inspiration for creating an abstract. dancing style. Dance was liberated
by Cunningham from the traditional theatrical setting and from the necessity to convey
particular stories or ideas. Cunningham popularized the idea that dance steps may be
arbitrary and that every performance could be distinctive. Cunningham is frequently
considered to as the father of contemporary dance because of his full abandonment of
traditional dance practices.
Contemporary Dance in the Philippines

There has been a lot written on the country in relation to other humanities
disciplines, particularly literature. Dance's unusual positioning inside and in relation to
the national discourse has always interested me. Dance is an ephemeral art form that
has inspired a range of opinions, oftentimes ones that are diametrically opposed. But
there is no denying that dance has shaped and informed our conceptions of the nation
and nationhood.

It cannot be denied that nations have constantly had to strike a balance between
upholding their identities and meeting the demands of the ever-changing socio-political,
economic, and cultural re-alignments around the world. This is especially true in the age
of intense globalization in contemporary Southeast Asia, where national borders have
ostensibly given way to the fluid movement of economic goods, peoples, and cultural
practices. As a result, cultural practices are constantly entangled in larger cultural and
political networks and become embroiled in disputes that are expressions of the
nation's continuing power, despite or precisely because of the contentious nature of the
globalization debate. In fact, the reorganization of international power dynamics has led
to the reassertion of national boundaries rather than the "transcending of nations." As a
result, numerous cultural, historical, sociopolitical, religious, economic, gender, racial,
and sexual discourses continue to be forged in the nation as a discursive practice.

In the Philippines, dance has made a significant cultural contribution. There is no

denying that dance in the Philippine context has integrated itself in society over many
years and is deeply ingrained in culture, from one of the oldest dated dances called the
tinkling to other folkloric dances like the pandanggo, cariñosa, and subli, and even to
more contemporary dances like the ballet. These dances demonstrate the variety of
contemporary Philippine dances by each having a distinctive origin and purpose. Filipino
dancing has always been in the spotlight as a result of numerous honors and
recognitions bestowed upon different dance ensembles. There are groups like the
Bayanihan Dance Troupe and the Ramon Obusan Dance Troupe, both of which have
toured the globe to advertise the nation's varied dances.

Of course, there are Filipino organizations like Ballet Philippines, Philippine All Stars, and
Jabbawockeez that have won prizes in jazz, hip-hop, and ballet. However, five women who
created and promoted Filipino folk and modern dance came before these ensembles were well-
known locally and internationally. The names to keep in mind are Francisca Reyes-Aquino,
Leonor Orosa-Goquingco, Lucrecia Reyes-Urtula, Alice Reyes and Ligaya Fernando Amilbangsa.
(For the details and contributions of these famous Filipino pioneering dancers please visit
this link: https:// www.rappler.com/life-and-style/226660-women-of-filipino-dance/).
 Lesson 1.4
Common Contemporary Dance Terminology

1. Alignment
This refers to how your limbs, torso, and head are placed in relation to
each other. It’s like posture, but for poses and movement. Correct alignment not
only helps the dancer complete the movements with the correct visual style, but
helps prevent injury.

2. Dynamics
This is how a dancer utilizes aspects of motion like low, space, time,
texture, and weight to create movement.. One will immediately see that there are
an enormous number of combinations and variations in the dynamics dance if an
individual tries to picture each of those elements next to a control knob that
permits different gradients of effort.

3. Breath
In the strictest Sense breathing relates to your use f oxygen while dancing,
but breath more specifically refers to the use of inhalation and exhalation as
theatrical tools to add to a performance.

4. Canon
Dance frequently uses the same vocabulary as music, which is also true of
canon. The difference is that this is a segment of choreography where a certain
style of movement is repeated either in rhythm with or out of sync with other
dancers, as opposed to a recurring musical pattern structured around a single focal
movement.

5. Choreography
The dance steps and movements are mapped out in this manner. Consider
it similar to the notation and arrangements n music or the director and script in
theater and movies.

6. Gesture
A gesture is a movement that expresses emotion or direction without
shifting the body's weight, and it is a component of the theatricality of
contemporary dance. A wave, a smile, S head nod, and jazz hands are a few
examples of gestures. A g great jeté, a ballet-inspired forward j Jump, is not,
7. Flow
This is a characteristic of movement like when someone is trying to pour
the water from the hose and ‘let the water pours out continuously and turn it oft
from the Source. The flow becomes confined or constrained and move in forced,
controlled manner.

8. Intention
Intention is the driving force behind a dancer's action and determines how
that action fits into the overall choreography. Intention plays acrucial role in the
relationship between the artist and the audience, just like "inspiration" does for
stage actors.

9. Isolation
The dancer's capacity to separate a movement from the other action or to
produce inactivity ith a certain body part while movement is present elsewhere. It
is a crucial method of control.

10. Motif
A motif is a r piece. This word also originates from the musical language.
Consider it to be a visfocal movement or group of movements that serve as the
foundation for a biggeual motif.

11. Space
This describes the space that the dancer resides in and controls,
Additionally, space is a quality that a dancer can depict through their movements,
such Inequal space, space that is plagued by external pressures, space that protects
the dancer from external influences, space that is expanding or shrinking, and so
on.

12. Texture
Textures describe how a movement *feels to the dancer as well as how
the dancer is presenting that feeling. In order to convey the mood of the score,
textures frequently collaborate closely with the music.

13. Time
This can refer to the tempo or speed of a piece of music, much as it does
in spoken language. However, whether a movement is rapid and cut off or
continuous c and slow, time, can also relate to that quality of movement in dance.
Consider how the piano's pedals correspond to the notes in musical phrases.
14. Weight
Weight is interpreted in contemporary dance in two different ways: A
dancer has weight (clearly), but a dancer's actions and movements also have
weight. For instance, the spectator vould perčeive a light action as being virtually
effortless, like a flick of the wrist, A heavyweight motion calls for the dancer to
appear more exhausted and labored.