Choreography Inspired by Alicia Langlais’ Slay Your Day: Dance Dragon Workbook

I met Alicia at her Slay Your Dance Dragons workshop hosted by Shawl Anderson Dance Center and was immediately drawn to her work. Slay Your Day is a 21 Day Reflection Journal and Dance Inspiration Workbook. This downloadable journal helps transform your mindset to remove self-doubt and grow in confidence, increase performance excellence, and clarify your professional and personal purpose in dance. 

Note: “Day 1”, “Day 2”, etc refer to sections of the workbook.

PART 1
Dancers fill out Day 1, For the Love of Dance 

• In partners, share your responses.

PART 2
Dancers fill out Day 2, Your Dance Roots and Day 2 Journal: What is a belief about dance that comes from your family, culture, or community? How does it shape the dancer you are today? 

• Share with four dancers.
• Discuss as a group in a circle.

PART 3
Introduce Day 4: Dance Dragons

• Write in Day 4 Journal.
• Discuss your dance Dragons with a partner.
• DANCE TASK: Choose one dance dragon to study

• In partners, one dancer creates a short movement that describes how they feel about their dance dragon. The other dancer will create a movement that becomes the dragon. How does the dragon move around the dancer and how does the dancer respond? Include the dance element, relationship.(in front, behind, to the side, etc.) 
• Change roles and then put them together.

PART 4
Review the dance dragon phrases.

• Students will begin to create a short solo using the guidelines below.

Personal Dance History Solo

1. Choose a topic from your journaling and expand on it. What spoke to you as you reflected on the topics of For the Love of Dance & Your Dance Roots?
2. Create movement inspired by your feelings, a specific story, your reactions, a state that you are in, etc.
3. Use this dance to share something about you.
4. Use your written answers as a guide to develop short phrases and gestures. Circle 8 - 10 words that will help create gestures and short movement phrases.  Are the movements sharp, soft, angled, round?  What is the timing? Think about a moment of stillness. Where are you in space?  How much space do you need?  Is there an entrance/exit?  Why?  What is the energy behind it?
5. Keep in mind the Dance Elements and 16 Ways to Manipulate a Motif to create texture and style. Example: levels, repetition, time changes, stillness, different shapes.
6. Include movements from your dragon dance.
7. 45 seconds in length.

Part 5
Create a dance using the all of the solos, dragon duets, and class warm ups.
Check out a sample here.

Photo by Patrick Albert
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Music Suggestions:
Break My Soul, Beyonce
New Light, Mega
Chariot, Mega
Rise, Dominique Fils Aime
Brighter Days, Emeli Sande
I Am, Beautiful Chorus