Please help, y’all! I’m applying early to a VERY SELECTIVE school, and I’ve decided to send in a videotape of myself dancing in costume. The problem, is, though, that the costume I generally wear for this type of dance bares my midriff, exposing about 3-4" of skin. Do you think that it would be too risque to send in such a tape? Should I do the dance in a different costume even though it wouldn’t create the same effect? I don’t want the adcom to raise their eyebrows at seeing it, but at the same time, it’s definitely a unique type of dance, and I doubt that many, if any, other people will be able to showcase a similar talent.
<p>Are you applying to a dance program? If so, the costume should be whatever is suited to the dance. I'm not sure if a dance video is appropriate as supplemental information - even if you have won a national award or something for the dancing, I would just list it in your extracurriculars or awards.</p>
<p>Is it Middle Eastern dancing? In any case, I think these schools would be happy to see your tape. Many of them have ethnic dance companies looking for dancers. Find out whether there is a dance person who will see the tape. My d found that Yale wasn't interested in receiving a video, but the school where she did end up applying ED was happy to see a video with performance and classwork, along with a dance resume.</p>
<p>It should be fine to send the tape as is. In most schools it will be probably forwarded to the appropriate department for evaluation. Many schools have a special form you have to fill out if you are submitting a tape or any fine arts materials, so check on that.</p>
<p>Ok, here's the deal. I am not applying to a dance program and do not plan to major or minor in dance...only do it as an extracurricular activity. The supplement for the application says that the school would like to receive a tape, etc of demonstrated talent...I haven't won any national or even local awards. It's not Middle Eastern dancing, but it's Indian dancing...Bollywood. I live in a small community, and there's no dance teacher locally, so I have taught myself. Please reply again if any of that information helps. Thanks so much to everyone!</p>
<p>Your costume sounds appropriate for your dance. No one is going to blanch over a few inches of stomach showing. Years ago, I saw Mark Morris dance a solo clad only in his white Hanes briefs. Now that was a weird costume choice......</p>
<p>I would be more concerned over the "self-taught" aspect of the dance. Please have a knowledgeable person evaluate your tape before you send it. If it shows your enthusiasm and originality, fine. But it is hard to be objective about our own performances; try to get another opinion or two on the quality of your dancing.</p>
<p>I have performed a couple of times at school, and everyone loved the dance. But these people are the same teachers who have perceived me as shy for the last three years. I have also performed at Indian gatherings, and the audience loved it. But I'm the only one who dances there. I'm not sure who to ask to evaluate because no one has seen me or anyone else dance like that before, so they're all in complete awe. And again, there's no qualified professional I can reach who could evaluate where I am on the spectrum of excellence. However, everyone who has seen me dance in a group says that I definitely have the most personality of the people on stage. Do you think that's worth anything? Also, I know that one of my recommenders has mentioned that I am part of a local dance troupe and my extracurricular short answer on the common app is about dancing.</p>
<p>anyone else? please help!</p>
<p>An enraptured audience is not a good way to gauge the level of your talent. You really do need some kind of professional to evaluate your skills; if you had posted a month earlier I'd say enter the NFAA ARTS scholarship contest (<a href="http://www.artsawards.org/%5B/url%5D">http://www.artsawards.org/</a>) under Dance and see how you fared there; a few of the ARTS Dance winners were Indian dancers (last year, one of them won under Indian Bharatanatyam, but she was trained by teachers and excelled in ballet, tap, and jazz.)</p>
<p>Oh my God! So what do I do now?</p>
<p>I think you're fine because it's ethnic dancing, it's not like you're trying to seduce the adcoms! However, if you really feel unsure, why don't you call the school?</p>
<p>Hey I'm a self-taught photographer and I'm sending in a portfolio...</p>
<p>oh... wait... -_- no, I'm not. I took 3 years of photography class. Well the class is in analogue, the self-taught is digital photography, but I guess that's not that huge of a difference...</p>
<p>I had my photography teacher evaluate my work before sending it in... you may want to try and find someone of that caliber to analyze the technical aspects of your dancing. </p>
<p>What may seem awesome to an un-trained audience may seem routine and un-impressive to a professional. And you definitely don't want to "waste" their time with something boring and technically flawed.</p>
<p>good call, celebrian...what should i say, though? Would it be weird to be like "I have an intense passion for Indian dancing, but I live in a small community in Louisiana so there's no professionals or teachers to instruct me. I have therefore taught myself over the last few years. I would like to send in a video of my dance, but I don't how to judge whether or not it's truly exceptional, and I have no one to ask. What would happen to the video if I sent it in? Who would see it? Who would judge it?" Or is that a bad move to admit that you don't know about the quality of your own work? Thanks so much for responding...I don't know what I would do without y'all!</p>
<p>that's my problem, though, pebbles...i don't have a professional to analyze the caliber of my dancing and i'm afraid of exactly what you said...wasting "their time with something boring and technically flawed"</p>
<p>hmmm, that's a tough one. admitting you don't know the caliber of your own work could set off red flags. Is there anywhere you can travel to that's close where you could have it evaluated?</p>
<p>oh god! i'm so confused! actually, no place to get it evaluated...what if i called the school and asked how they would look at the video if i sent it in? like would the adcoms look at it? or would the ec group that does indian dancing look at it? what do you guys think?</p>
<p>that would be a good question to ask, that way you get your information</p>
<p>thank you so much!</p>
<p>There may not be a dance teacher that knows the style of dance, but I would be surprised if there wasn't a dance studio of some kine even in your small community. Have the most experienced teacher from that studio look at your dance. Some have been trained in ethnic dance, but even if they haven't, they can tell you if your performance is of suitable quality.</p>