This month’s winner is a lyrical piece to “Wounded Animal” by Mary Lambert, performed at the Turn It Up Dance Challenge. Before setting the movement, Ashley Zelano, choreographer and artistic director at the Fierce Dance Academy in New Castle, Delaware, took a cautious approach with the 11 teenage dancers. The song describes the despair felt in a relationship where one party can’t fully commit. But she understood that her teenage students might not relate to what inspires her as an adult.
Zelano felt it imperative to sit the dancers down to discuss the meaning of the song. She wanted them to listen and dissect the lyrics so they could create their own story and message. “It’s important for me to allow my dancers to figure out something that they can connect the lyrics and their emotions to,” she says. “That way they can deliver a genuine performance.”
Watch below! To enter next month’s, tag your videos on Instagram or Facebook with @danceteachermagazine.
