Activity and Goal:
Activity: Preparing myself for the dance competition and performing the routine prepared at the dance competition(huge audience)
Goal: To win the competition, to successfully choreograph and execute the entire 3-minute dance performance by myself; (lightings, costume designing, costume rehearsals all my responsibility)
LO1
Did you identify your strengths and weaknesses?
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
| Quick at choreography | Struggle to push my stretching limitations by myself |
| Great musicality and rhythm when preparing the performance | Costuming is not an area of interest |
| Great flexibility | Core strength sometimes not make the move clean enough |
| Variety of tricks that help add wow factors to the dance |
How do you feel now that you’re aware of it?
I feel like I must work on each of my weaknesses by devising an action plan to help me grow as an advanced dancer. I feel like I have a lot to work on, which makes me a bit stressed, but it is like positive stress; that will push me to do better.
Why is it important for us to know our strengths? Or weaknesses?
It is important to know both of them, for us to know where we truly stand. If we know our weaknesses, we know the areas we need to put in the extra effort to achieve perfection and if we know our strengths, we can make sure we use all of them to put our best foot forward.
Did you work/ or would like to on your weakness
I did work on my weaknesses. For stretching limitations, I started stretching once a day for 15 min, where with either wall support or theraband assistance, every day, I would push 1% more than I did yesterday. To enhance my core strength to clean my moves, I started doing 2 min plank holds after the entire dance practice, to increase my strength for better clarity in the tricks. For the lack of interest in costuming, I reached out to my mother, a fashion designer, to help me out and choose the most appropriate costume as per the dance style. Through these steps, I worked on my weaknesses.
Relate one area where overcoming this weakness would have benefited you
Overcoming the stretching limitation acts as an asset to my contemporary dancing. I am very passionate about dance and I have even performed on the reality television show ‘entertainment ke liye kuch bhi Karega. Thus, if it helps me grow as a dancer and acts as an asset to my skill, adding the wow factors to my overall dance, it helps benefit me.
LO2
What was so challenging and why?
The most challenging part was pushing myself when stretching past my limitations. When someone else pushes, they do it ruthlessly without getting affected by the pain, but when you do it yourself, you are likely to push less, since the process is painful. That would constantly work as a drawback and not let me reach my workout potential, so I had to fight against it and learn to bear the pain for the greater good.
Have you done anything similar before?
Usually, I would have my parents give me a stretch since they are able to push better, I have never done the self-initiated stretch before to become more flexible.
How did you overcome this challenge?
I overcame this challenge by reminding myself of what I could achieve out of it. So I continued pushing myself till I got it as a habit and now, being able to follow it with ease.
How do you feel about having undertaken this challenge? Why is it important for you to undertake new challenges?
I feel relieved and happy having undertaken this challenge since it helped me become relatively independent. One can not always rely on teachers or parents to give them a stretch for their flexibility, it is one’s responsibility. I never knew the pain resistance I had, so I feel grateful to have undertaken this challenge. It is important to undertake new challenges as being in the comfort zone wouldn’t enhance my growth and since I love improving myself; working on myself, this challenge works in my favor.
Did you discover any skills you hadn’t known or learned yet? How could this skill be useful to you in the future? How does having this new skill make you feel about yourself? Why is it important to learn new skills?
I learned the skill of organizing personal time to carry out responsibilities. Stretching every day is a very self-driven task and if I don’t organize my personal time, I would normally not have the time to stretch. Thus, I had to organize my responsibilities accordingly, to properly accommodate the time for stretching every day. This skill makes me proud of myself since I am not giving up on things just because I couldn’t find the time for them. It is important to learn new skills like this, to keep on increasing one’s productivity and efficiency.
LO3
How did you organize yourself?
By making a plan for the overall week before the dance competition which was on 16 th september.
Monday-practice
Tuesday- Add new choreo
Wednesday-practicing or exploring new tricks and skills to add to the dance
Thursday-adding the skills/tricks discovered yesterday to the overall dance
Friday-perform the entire dance in front of the family and ask for their overall feedback
Saturday-stretching, (entire hour dedicated just to stretching)
Sunday-rest day in terms of dance, think of costuming
Are you usually an organized person?
Not really, I just make a to-do list for every single day, since long-term goals sometimes scare me. So I break it down into an everyday list, to end up achieving the long-term goal.
What was difficult? Planning or the initiating? Why?
In this case initiating, since planning my schedule for each day seemed easier than having to execute it. Initiating required a lot of dedication, motivation, and hard work, since it was out of my comfort zone.
Did you discover any skills you hadn’t known or learned yet that you had to use for the planning and initiating of this activity?
Establishing how to measure results and milestones for myself is the skill I enhanced when I was initiating my activity. As for the stretching weakness, I would keep weekly milestones to attain, for instance, by the end of the week I should be able to touch my head on my leg when doing the toe touch.
Do you think planning or initiating anything in the future will be easier now?
To a certain extent, yes, since I have polished these skills at the moment.
Why is it important to know how to plan and initiate activities?
Planning ensures a framework and helps you stay in check with the deadlines. Initiating the plan helps you in the execution towards the goal in mind.
LO4
What made this activity difficult where perseverance or commitment was necessary? How did that make you feel?
Sticking to pushing myself by 1% every day seemed difficult and getting used to the body ache and soreness after stretching, despite continuing to push me in training the other day; was the tough part. That part tested my commitment towards the goal. Somedays I felt angry, tired, and frustrated.
What commitment was required to complete this activity?
Commitment towards the goal in mind. The goal towards the end was to successfully execute my performance and win the competition, for which I had to overlook the drawbacks and the pain, concentrate on the goal, and work honestly, committedly, to achieve the same.
Is it easy for you to commit to things? To be persistent? Why or why not? Why is showing perseverance and commitment important?
Being humans, it is not easy for us to commit to things and be persistent all the time. We lose energy, or sometimes out of stress, we tend to lose interest and lose our commitment. But at those points of time, it is important to show our perseverance and commitment, since we must push ourselves to achieve something we truly passionately want.
LO5
Is working with others generally easy or difficult for you? Why?
It is moderate as it totally depends on the person/people I am working with. When the people I work with procrastinate a lot, sometimes it is a bit difficult and annoying, since I have to give them the push and keep motivating them. If the person is active and interested in the task, then it is relatively easy. As such I don’t mind working with other people since usually, the burden is distributed equally and results in relatively productive output.
So, based on your answer to the above question, during this particular activity, was it easy or difficult for you to work with others? Did you have to work with anyone difficult? How did you handle it?
For the majority part, it was easy for me to work with my mother; since we would plan and discuss the costume requirements together. However, it was difficult sometimes, when despite my denying, she wouldn’t listen and push a little too far, cause she could as she is my mother. I handled it by reminding her to treat me professionally as she would do with another client.
Why is it important to be able to work collaboratively with others?
It helps improve productivity, helps take off the burden, and with more brains working, produces a better output/product/
What was the importance of teamwork or leadership in your activity?
It was important for me to work as a team with my mother, to be able to produce the best possible outcome, for the costuming of my dance.
LO6
What were the issues?
Obesity is a global issue prevalent in the 21st century because of lack of fitness.
Why are they important globally? How? Where? How did you know?
Globally obesity is important as even in the developed countries, such as the USA, stats for obesity continue to rise. With fast food items available, such as McD, the younger generation leans towards obesity, inviting more diseases and lethargicness; thus indirectly affecting the entire future population of the country. I know this because of the news I read and a few documentaries I have watched on the obesity issues caused by the fast food the industry offers.
How does knowing about global issues contribute to your personal growth? How does it make you feel now that you are aware of this global issue? How does your work in this CAS activity make you feel about that global issue?
It contributes to my personal growth as I ponder about it and take action on the same, in the mode most appropriate for me. I post my fitness and dance videos on Instagram, where majorly people of my age follow me(it is a public account). It makes me feel motivated, to make a change, in a manner that supports my voice and personality, and by posting my videos, I feel like I am reminding others of my age to start taking action on this global issue for themselves. like even pursuing their hobbies, but maintaining their overall fitness. My work makes me feel proud since by playing the subconscious minds of the viewers, I was able to address global issues.
LO7
What ethical issues were involved in this activity? Explain.
Since the goal was to do everything by myself, including the execution, to take input from my mother in terms of help is to some extent unethical, considering the goal.
How did the issue make you feel? Did the ethical issues affect you directly or indirectly?
It affected me indirectly since I counted all of it as my work product whereas, in reality, her contribution was there in the dressing up part; which is significant when marking a performance in a dance competition.
What was your opinion on this issue before this activity? Has it changed or stayed the same after this activity?
My opinion on this was for credit to be given to each and everyone, despite their scale of contribution. It is unethical to take credit for someone else’s work, even if how little or insignificant their work might appear to be.
In conclusion,
I was able to demonstrate these LP’s when:
Balanced: when determining the overall schedule, had to make sure that I was not overtraining myself
Reflective: when I got feedback from my family; I had to make sure I was reflective of the mistakes pointed out, to be able to make the necessary adjustments in my routine
The highlight of this experience was the final outcome, how the overall performance turned out on stage. It was a success and I got first prize; which was the cherry on top. I learned that as long as one can organize their schedule, time can be made out for the passion-orientated activities as I would usually make excuses to satisfy the part of me which felt it was wrong. I would not change anything from this activity as I think it as a wholesome, even with its flaws taught me a lot. I wish to contribute to society by this activity, by teaching dance to the underprivileged. They have those dreams too and they could use an hour of fun and enjoyment, which is why as a part of service, I wish to teach the underprivileged dance on weekends.
MY DANCE JOURNEY EVIDENCE: