Dogs Can Dance Challenge - Musical Interpretation Division

On our quest for the DCD Challenge Championship, my favorite category, by far, was Musical Interpretation!  In this category, the goal is to showcase the dog's interpretation of three different genre's of music.  This division was made for Speedy, who is truly an artist at heart!

Our very first DCD Challenge submission was in the category of Musical Interpretation.  Speedy and I performed our Waltz from Maskarade routine, which was the first routine I created specifically for the Challenge.

Speedy loved this routine and we had quite a lot of fun with it!




I was thrilled to earn 129 Points for this first submission, and we won the Le-La-Ru Award for the highest scoring performance of the event!

Some of my favorite comments:

"The simplicity of design was perfect for the dog while the music enhanced his strengths"

"Leash work lovely - appeared as part of the waltz itself"

"Looked and felt like a waltz.  Nicely done"

"Looked like a waltzing couple"

Some constructive criticism:

"Some positions unclear"

"Speedy missed, or didn't follow through, on a few cues"

This will always be one of my favorite of our submissions!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our second Musical Interpretation submission was an ode to the Coal Region, where Speedy had spent his puppyhood!  We chose a piece called "Yiddish Polka", which was a Polish Polka.  This fulfilled the requirement for an international genre.

I'll share a secret here.  This wasn't actually a fully choreographed routine.  I had some idea of what I wanted to do, but Speedy and I made four videos, each one more or less improve!  Then we chose the best one to submit!  While I would not do this with Dean or Tessa, Speedy loves to improv and we really had a great time doing the whole series of videos this way!




We earned 122 points for this and it was very well received.

Some of my favorite comments:

"Dog was having fun and moved with energy . . . also has a sense of strength, agility, and humor"

"I was impressed with the smooth transitions"

"It's obvious how much time and work you and Speedy have put in together and it's lovely to watch the two of you work as a team"

And, constructive criticism:

"Would have liked to have seen more axial movements to capture the humor and imagination of the dance"

"The floor patterns were clear, but the downstage left quadrant was hardly ever used"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Musical Interpretation was our first submission, and our final submission.  In the end we needed only 100 points in Musical Interpretation to finish this off!  I decided to have a "contest".  I filmed some more improv with Speedy to a bluegrass piece that he really enjoys dancing to.  And I had a film done of Dean performing his "Bolero" routine.  Dean won!

Bolero had gone through some changes since the original version that we submitted to Audition in our first Challenge event.  We had taken Judy Gamet's From Dream to Dance and had almost completely reworked it!  The performance that Dean and I did for MI was actually slightly shorter than the full routine that we created.

Dean did his performance of a lifetime on this video take!  I am very proud of him for it and I consider this a very worthy "final leg" toward our Championship!




The judges apparently agreed with my assessment of the quality of this routine!  We earned 153 points - the most that I have ever earned for a Challenge performance!

Some of my favorite comments:

"Dean is smoother and smoother in his dancing, so the improvement is quite obvious to this judge"

"I really like the way you do weaves.  It makes the dog look elegant and athletic"

"You do a great job together.  It's years of working together
and your teamwork shows through"

Constructive criticism:

"I would like to see you do something else with your hands besides putting them on your hips so much"

"I felt it needed more sweeping moves"

"Try to find a color scheme that makes Dean stand out"

I look forward to doing more MI work in the future!

Dogs Can Dance Challenge - Entertainment Division

I submitted a total of three routines in the Entertainment Division in our campaign for the Dogs Can Dance Challenge Entertainment title.

The first, submitted into Opening Act, was an actual demo routine that I had done with Maddie and Dean at a fundraiser for canine cancer research.  The performance was not intended to be a Challenge submission and some of the guidelines were not followed.  My use of food, for example, was incorrect.  However, this was the only video of a Maddie performance that I could submit, so in it went!



We scored 76 points, which made me incredibly happy.

A couple of my favorite comments:

"Loved the complexity of one dog moving dynamically on the outside while the other moved in a small controlled inside circle"

"Really pretty pictures in the movement design"

Our Honor performance certificate:

Ribbon Label:

Honor ribbons:  (the two white ones!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since we only needed 26 points to finish this level up, I decided to let my then-extremely-green Freestyle partner, Miss Tessa, take a turn for our team.  Our music is Bond's Scorchio.

Tessa had not had a whole lot of Freestyle training at this point - most of our work had been in Agility.  And you will see a lot of Agility in this performance!  We first performed this routine in a WCFO competition where it won 1st place and our first Beginner leg, and an award for "Most Bonded Team".  This video performance happened several months later.  Back then Tessa lagged a lot and she was rather underwhelmed at performing for just one person behind a video camera, but it is a nice snapshot of our work together at its earliest stages!

The routine was later modified to include a pivot platform, which added a bit of pizzazz to it!  We retired the routine after earning our Novice WCFO title with it in that version.




This routine was awarded 78 points, which finished the Level for us!  Not a spectacular score, but one that I was very happy with, considering our performance level at that time.

Some of my favorite comments:

"I liked both the opening and closing pictures, especially the strong closing picture with all eyes on Tessa"

"When Kristine moved around Tessa, the paw was very sweet"

"Kristine and Tessa are definitely a team, evidenced in Tessa's relaxed wagging tail"

And constructive criticism, of which there was no lack!!  (Like I said above, we were a very, very, very, very, very green team at this point!):

"Tessa could use more drive"

"Tessa was frequently lagging, but still showed that she was capable of achieving all three positions"

"The choreography design was excellent.  It was too powerful for Tessa"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For Entertainment Feature Presentation, I decided to have some fun!  Back in his WCFO days, Speedy had performed a routine to the Beatle's Here Comes the Sun for his Novice level.  The routine was very well received.  To this day, people ask me if I was the one who had the dog with the sunshine collar!

Although the routine had been long retired, I had a hankering to do something new with it, so we met with our videographer and Speedy and I enjoyed the absolute most fun Challenge filming ever!

Speedy was delighted to hear this music again, overjoyed to work with props again, and it was fun for both of us to revisit portions of this routine again!

Because we were filming for the Entertainment Division, where editing is encouraged at the higher level, we filmed it in pieces.  Then I went home and edited them together.  My first attempt at editing and it didn't go too badly!

Our final performance of "Here Comes the Sun":



I honestly had no idea how this would be received by the Challenge judges, but it went over very well.  We earned a very, very high score of 142 points, and we once again won the Le La Ru Award for the highest scoring routine of the event!!

Well deserved, Mr. Speedy!!

Some of my favorite comments (of which there were plenty for this performance!):

"This routine included very good teamwork throughout.  The dog was definitely a willing partner and was very engaged with the handler.   The handler was very supportive of the dog and they worked very nicely as a team.  Good work!!"

"This was a fun dance, could almost see the sun rising. The dog and handler were having a good time and so would an audience"

"As always, you are sensitive to Speedy's abilities and showcase him well.  I must say again, he doesn't move like an older dog"

"The routine was enjoyable to watch and left the viewer with good, positive feelings.  Very honoring to the dog!  It was a pleasure to watch a routine that really showcased the dog's love for dancing!"

My sweet Speedy Barishnacov, you will forever and for always be my "best dog"!  So glad we got to make this part of our Challenge!

There was very little criticism for this performance, and most of it was about the editing.  So, I'll skip that on this one!

DCD-Ent was extra special because all four dogs got to contribute a piece of it!

Dogs Can Dance Challenge - Audition Performance Submissions

When we entered the very first ever Dogs Can Dance Challenge event - Summer Fun 2011 - I submitted this version of Dean's Bolero routine (a very early version) as an Audition submission in the Beginner Classical Freestyle Division.



Back at this time, Dean could not perform in front of a camera unless I had food in my hands!  He has come a long, long way!

My favorite of the judge's comments on this routine:

"Dog was absolutely focused and precise.  Connection between dog and handler was visible"

"The movements selected for this routine definitely demonstrate impressive strengths.  I liked this music choice for Dean; it suits him well (he seems to be a very serious guy!).  Your choreography is simple and deliberate, which makes it very powerful."

And some useful critique:

"Need more work on closing picture"

"I don't understand your use of the 'paws up' moves in this routine; they don't add anything of value"

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fast forward to Dance into Spring 2013!  I submitted Maddie's only existing practice video of the routine that we were creating to Bond's "Victory".  This piece really let her elegant and powerful movement shine forth!



I will always wish that Maddie and I would have had the opportunity to perform this "for real", but I was glad to be able to share Maddie's work in the Challenge through Audition.

A couple of my favorite comments:

"Maddie had a style of precision all her own.  Her moves and positioning were very clear while still showing her personality through it all."

"The routine that you created for her showed her enthusiasm and power.  Such a great way to honor her and to involve her in your DCD team.  Her personality and joy really shined in the video.  It was a pleasure to watch."

"This was on its way to being a nice routine.  Maddie has very nice axial movement."

"The dog was very happy to work with the handler. She was working hard to understand what the handler was asking for the dance steps. The handler was very encouraging and sensitive to the dog's needs. They were on the right path to develop their trust in each other and to form an excellent team."

I won't share any critique.  There just isn't any point.

I am very glad that I had this pretty good sample of Maddie's dancing to share as an Audition routine!