Even though this school received 1st place, It's important to appreciate originality and skill in routines. When a routine copies another school's moves(John Jay High School) and doesn't execute them well, it can be less impressive. Encouraging them to develop their unique style and work on their execution could lead to a more successful performance.
I think it’s far healthier to think about it like musicians think about playing. When you first pick up your instrument, any good teacher will tell you the first thing to do is find what you like listening to and work towards emulating that. Jazz musicians are expected, as part of their craft, to master the historical standards and gain an appreciation of the masters. Any creative pursuit involves emulating those you respect to gain experience and appreciation of the craft. Heck, even sports coaches will tell young players to find good examples and work towards playing like them. You mentioned John Jay but the truth is there is also quite a bit of Flour Bluff here, too. As the one who choreographed one of the particular sequences emulated here, I think it’s awesome that someone thought enough of that work to include it in their own performance. And being good friends with this team’s coach, and having done this for many years, I can tell you that everyone is always working towards finding their own voice. I’ll leave this quote here because I think it’s hugely relevant: “Start writing now. I tell them to start writing now. It takes a long time to find your own voice. It takes a lot of reading things you love and seeing things you love AND reading things you hate and seeing things you hate. I think the beginning of your work as an artist, I think it begins when you imbibe art and you’re able to critically say why you love something or why you DON’T love something, why something DOESN’T work for you. In doing so, you figure out your own tastes and you figure out the kind of work you want to make. And so I think in the early stages of everyone’s work, you’re chasing your heroes…And in falling short of those, you eventually stumble into what you sound like and the kind of art you create…You chase those and you fall short until you become yourself.” - Lin Manuel Miranda
Even though this school received 1st place, It's important to appreciate originality and skill in routines. When a routine copies another school's moves(John Jay High School) and doesn't execute them well, it can be less impressive. Encouraging them to develop their unique style and work on their execution could lead to a more successful performance.
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I think it’s far healthier to think about it like musicians think about playing. When you first pick up your instrument, any good teacher will tell you the first thing to do is find what you like listening to and work towards emulating that. Jazz musicians are expected, as part of their craft, to master the historical standards and gain an appreciation of the masters. Any creative pursuit involves emulating those you respect to gain experience and appreciation of the craft. Heck, even sports coaches will tell young players to find good examples and work towards playing like them.
You mentioned John Jay but the truth is there is also quite a bit of Flour Bluff here, too. As the one who choreographed one of the particular sequences emulated here, I think it’s awesome that someone thought enough of that work to include it in their own performance. And being good friends with this team’s coach, and having done this for many years, I can tell you that everyone is always working towards finding their own voice.
I’ll leave this quote here because I think it’s hugely relevant:
“Start writing now. I tell them to start writing now. It takes a long time to find your own voice. It takes a lot of reading things you love and seeing things you love AND reading things you hate and seeing things you hate. I think the beginning of your work as an artist, I think it begins when you imbibe art and you’re able to critically say why you love something or why you DON’T love something, why something DOESN’T work for you. In doing so, you figure out your own tastes and you figure out the kind of work you want to make. And so I think in the early stages of everyone’s work, you’re chasing your heroes…And in falling short of those, you eventually stumble into what you sound like and the kind of art you create…You chase those and you fall short until you become yourself.”
- Lin Manuel Miranda