Gyu Min’s In-Depth Blog Post #4: Time to get creative!

With the world in a state of worry, struggle, and difficult times, there stands one young boy, watching compilations of hip-hop dancing, eager for the day that he can go out to share his newly found ideas and research to apply to his In-Depth project. It has surely been a tough time for everyone and their personal lives, and me and Indah’s In-Depth project is no different. We had set out at the beginning of the year to learn and practice the skills of hip hop dancing with the goal of performing our own choreographed dance with the aid of our mentor Kailey, but have hit a significant roadblock in our endeavor so far. Due to the current pandemic, I have not been able to meet with Kailey and Indah for a large portion of time, and the progress of our dancing has not been moving as fast as I would hope to. I titled this blog post “Time to get creative” for two reasons. Firstly, the last time Indah, Kailey, and I have collectively met, we were just beginning to choreograph our 90 second hip-hop routine, confident with our skills leading up to then and ready to take on our big goal. This meant that with the foundation we have spent several weeks working on, it was time for us to get creative with the leeway that we have finally reached with creating a dance. Both Indah and I were thrilled to put in some of our own ideas into our dance, and we were excited to see our final project slowly build itself. This, unfortunately, has not yet happened, and we have only begun to very briefly learn the beginning of our dance. Which brings me to my second reason: Spring break is now officially over and it is time for Indah, Kailey, and I to get creative on how we could continue to create and practice our dance even in the space of our own respective homes. This could be through video calls, messaging, or other creatives ways that we will begin to think of and implement in the next coming week. To keep me busy though, I have continued to expose myself to the world of hip-hop. Just recently, I discovered the YouTube channel “1MILLION Dance Studio“, a hip-hop dance studio based in Seoul, South Korea, where thousands of passionate dancers have uploaded dance routines all within the genre of hip-hop. In the past 2 weeks, I have watched several dozen videos from the channel, and have picked up on more and more pieces of knowledge and tips that I can implement into my own dances as well. In addition to my continual exposure to dancing, I have also been keeping my physique and physical well being in check. From doing explosive cardio and core exercises in the comfort of my own home, and maintaining a strong diet, I have ensured that my body is still in a condition to dance in the next coming weeks and months.

1. What has been my most difficult mentoring challenge so far?  Why?

Kailey Huang has been a wonderful mentor in more than one way to assist me in my goal of becoming a dancer. With extremely supportive and adaptive teaching methods, she has continued to push me to keep going and has observed my achievements since the very beginning. The most difficult challenge I have had with Kailey was the unfortunate lack of mentoring sessions in the months of February and March due to both Indah and Kailey being extremely sick for several weeks on end. This is not due to anyone’s fault in particular but has been a difficulty in our mentoring and the progress of our dance.

2. What is working well? Why?

Although the number of meetings that we have had is sparse, the progress and momentum of our learning have been immense every time we have met. This chemistry and strong learning and teaching ethics have easily been the most successful part of our project and has been working extremely well.

3. What could be working better?  How can you make sure this happens?

I hope that within these coming weeks, Kailey could contact both me and Indah as we find alternatives to our mentoring so that we could simply put more mileage on our progress. So far, it has not been a problem of effort or passion, but a concern with time instead. I am very confident in our abilities and am looking forward to how In-Depth will continue forward.

Below is a video of the first few seconds of our final dance, that we learned and recorded in the middle of march, one week before spring break:

Video

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2 thoughts on “Gyu Min’s In-Depth Blog Post #4: Time to get creative!

  1. Great detailed progress report. Thanks for sharing the video. I am sure he three of your will find some creative solutions around not being able to meet in person. Sounds like you are finding some helpful online resources, too. Love your photo. Thanks for hand washing lots while playing music! Effective multi-tasking.
    Mulder

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