Stage Presence with Lauren Zehara

Great practical exercises to get comfortable on stage
“If you’re thinking about yourself, you’re dancing from the wrong place.” That’s what Lauren Zehara tells her dance students – and she’s so right. Whether your stage is a real one with an audience of several hundred watching you or whether it’s a square of space in a living room with your friends around, you need to own it and be in complete command. Easier said than done? That’s why Lauren makes you try out her advice as you watch her teach her students the basics of stage presence.
This DVD is essentially no-frills and home-made. The camera work isn’t the best and the sound fluctuates, being too loud or suddenly dipped. And for its production quality, it should be less expensive. This is specially so when it doesn’t have too much replay value. You can watch it a few times, but you won’t needit after that.
That said, the advice on this DVD is sound and presented in a most practical manner. I’ve...

Must-see for teachers, great for new performers!
Pro's: Great content, Lauren and students very likeable, noticable results
Con's: In-house production, sound somewhat muffled in spots

The setting is a cozy classroom space, very casual. First Lauren's students help her define the characteristics outside of technique that lend to great beginner shows and to truly stellar pro performances. I loved the fly-by text highlights used in this section.

The DVD content covers two primary aspects of stage presence: Physical, and Mental. There are excellent examples of posture and great visualizations as the group delves into the physical attributes that contribute to great presence. Laruen gives a combination sequence to music to practice a few times (and the viewer is encouraged to jump in), then builds on the exercise to add emotion and a dramatic pause.

There is great advice on making a connection with the audience and learning how to really engage your viewers. You can then watch the transformation in...

Is it worth it?
Lauren Zehara did an amazing job with did a good job with this one.I won't go into too much detail as previous reviewers already did a concise job of it.

EXTRA THINGS COVERED:
How to use posture to appear confident.
Posture,relaxing and extending seated practice
Where in the body does emotion show?
Learn a simple combination that,while she is doing the combination a screen comes up that tells you the count breakdown,then she goes into adding emotion into the movement.She goes over a couple of different emotions with the combination.
Combination with frame movement
Adding a pause and working the combo
Compare version-where she divides her students into groups and then lets you see the difference in the emotion within the combo
A side by side screen shot of the performances for the first group then the second.
Part is all about the mental aspect of performing,How not to look like you are counting on stage.
The four levels of...

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