- Coming up on "Extra Credit," make a kite with supplies around your house.

Learn about teamwork from the Minecraft team.

Plus a sneak peek at what it's like to work for the NBA.

Stay tuned.

(cheerful upbeat music) Hi, I'm Mrs. Pizzo.

It's so good to see you.

Welcome to "Extra Credit," where we meet interesting people, explore new ideas, and discover fun places together.

Each episode, we'll introduce you to people who use math, science, sports, and writing to make the world an interesting place.

Today's theme is "Sports and Games."

Before we get started, I have a special cohost I want you to meet.

Hi friends, I'm Kelly, nice to meet you.

Are you a sports fan?

Is one of your favorite things playing video games?

I cannot wait to explore them with you this week.

Let's get things started with Michelle Van Duyn as she gets up and moving with a soccer lesson.

Ready, set, go.

(upbeat music) Welcome to "Impact at Home" where we practice interrupting, prolonged sitting with activity.

I'm Michelle Van Dyne and I'm here to help you get moving for the next eight minutes.

You'll be surprised at what these moments of movement can do for you and the rest of your family so that you can stay active and healthy at home.

So go ahead, get up and let's start moving.

For this movement activity, we're going to be working on our soccer skills.

So to start off, you need a ball and you're gonna step over it from side to side.

So this is your modified activity.

If you can jump over it.

So side to side, if you wanna stay on the stepping, that's totally fine too.

I'm gonna choose to stay here for now.

So side to side with both feet.

We're doing this for a total of 30 seconds.

You're doing great in three, two, one.

All right, so we did side to side, we need to go forward and back, vertical.

So step to the front, step to the back, okay.

And again, we can pick this up, right?

We don't need to jump, We can just move our feet quicker.

If you want to jump it, you can.

It's easier for you just to step over it, that's fine too.

You're doing great.

Keep it up.

Get those feet moving for five, four, three, two, and one.

All right, now we're gonna bring in some soccer skills.

To start off, we're just gonna tap the top of the ball, okay.

So the ball doesn't need to move.

It might roll around a little bit, depending on your floor.

If you've got carpet, I'm gonna be honest, this is gonna be a little bit easier for you.

Once you're comfortable with this, pick it up to a little hop in between, okay.

We're not crunching the ball, just gently put the bottom of your foot on top of the ball.

Keep going for three, two, and one.

(feet thudding) All right, the next one, we're gonna combine a little pullback action to this soccer move.

You gonna pull the ball back, put your toe down, push it forward.

Switch feet, pull, push, pull, push.

Just like that.

So you're using both feet.

Very, very light touches on the ball.

If you kick it too hard, you gonna be chasing it across your floor.

Keep it close, keep going for three, two, and one.

Well done.

Next what we're gonna do is called a sole role.

So you need some space this way.

Put your foot on top of the ball, roll it, stop it, pull it and stop it.

Very light on your feet for this, okay.

If you need to stay at this speed, that's fine.

If you wanna pick it up like I just did, that's great.

All depends on how much soccer experience you've had.

If you play soccer, you're gonna be a little bit more comfortable with this.

Keep going for five, four, three, and relax.

Okay, next one's called a tic-tac like a clock.

You're gonna tap the ball back and forth between the inside of your feet, okay?

So starting off nice and easy, back and forth.

It's like you're passing it to yourself.

Once you're feeling more confident, you can pick it up.

If this is too easy, then look up and don't look at your boss so much, okay.

Keep going for five, four, three, two, and one.

Well done.

The next part, I'm gonna use a yoga mat.

If you don't have one, you can use towel or just the ground.

We're going to do a Russian twist with the soccer ball.

So feet out in front of you, knees are bent.

Pick up your ball, tap it side to side, okay, just like this.

Get that ball to touch ground, reached back as far as you are comfortable with.

You gonna pick up your feet and balance, that's even better yet.

If you wanna leave your feet on the ground, that's great too, okay.

Keep doing, going.

You're doing great.

Side to side.

Again, you can pick up your fee and balance if you want for that extra challenge.

Don't forget to breathe.

I don't want you to pass out.

Holding breath is not a good idea.

Take little breaths.

We're almost done with this one.

Keep pushing through it.

Keep going for five, four, don't give up, three, two, and one.

Take a quick breather.

You're gonna move the ball to your feet and you need to squeeze with your legs, okay.

If the ball pops out, that's okay.

What you're gonna do, you can put your hands underneath for balance, lift it up, bring it down.

Up and down.

Using a ton of core for this, also engaging our legs, okay.

(fast-paced upbeat music) Let me just keep that pressure between the ball.

If you feel like it's getting loose, you can also bring it up a little bit higher.

It doesn't seem to be sticking between your feet very well.

Keep it up, you're doing great.

Again, if you want take a little break, you can.

We're almost done, so you got.

I'm gonna readjust mine 'cause I can feel it slipping.

Keep going.

Let's get back to it.

Keep going, you're doing great for five, four, three, two, and one.

Your abs should be on fire.

All right, we're gonna move this yoga mat safely to the side.

We're gonna go back to our first few touches, okay, so to motor through them.

Okay, start off with just taps on top of the ball.

Let's go.

(feet thudding) These ones are going to be nice and quick.

Again, try to look up if you can while you're on your feet.

If you need to go back to this, it's totally fine too.

just get those feet moving as quick as possible so we can get your heart rate up, okay.

Oop, the ball gets away from you, just get it back.

Keep going for five, four, three, two, and one.

All right, going back to those pull pushes.

Go on top of the ball, pull it back, push it forward.

Pull, push, pull, push.

Again, very gentle touches.

I mean, you're still gonna get your exercise if you're chasing the ball across the house, but it's not that fun.

Good job.

Keep it up.

Take with the glances up to make sure you can keep track of that ball.

Doing good.

You can pick it up, pick it up.

You're doing so good.

Make sure you switch your feet.

(ball and feet thudding) Well done, well done.

Keep it up, play more.

You're almost ready.

Keep going for 10, nine, eight, seven, six, final burnout, five, four, three, two, and one.

Great job!

I hope you enjoyed today's movement break.

"Impact at Home" is a chance to apply the skills that you may have learned in your P.E class to improve your health.

To learn more about the health benefits associated with movement, visit impactathome.umich.edu.

Now, don't forget to fill out your daily log.

We will see you again during our next workout.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Ah, the famous electrolyte.

Sports drink commercials love talking about them, but what are they, why do we need them, and what happens if we don't have enough of them?

Electrolytes are salts.

Actually there's salts that we take into our body usually by way of food.

Electrolytes dissolve into positive and negative charges and conduct electricity and water.

The most common one is sodium chloride or plain old table salt.

These are the other common electrolytes found in your body.

Also known as ions, these charges are crucial because they control the flow of water in our cells and nerve impulses in our bodies.

Ion channels and cell membranes regulate the flow of the positive and negative charges through cells.

Water follows each charges and always goes to the side that has the greater number of electrolytes.

Thanks, osmosis.

Without the balancing act between electrolytes and water, our cells would shrivel up and die or burst from being too full.

In nerve cells, a positive ion moving through an ion channel sparks off an electrical impulse, signaling our bodies to function properly.

That's right, electrolytes control the constant impulses in our body to keep our hearts beating, our lungs breathing, and our brains learning.

So yeah, electrolytes are pretty important.

The also make your sweat salty.

When working out our body start to heat up.

Ion channels that our cells dump electrolytes or salts into the sweat gland.

Thanks to osmosis, water follows closely behind.

This increases the pressure in the gland so that salty mix gets pushed out on your skin.

When that water evaporates, it pulls the heat off your body and cools you down, leaving a salty residue behind.

But if you lose too many electrolyze, your nerves won't work properly, which can lead to problems with your heart, blood pressure, breathing, and you'll definitely not be performing your best.

So you better reach for that bright orange sports drink and get those electrolytes back ASAP, right?

Well, maybe not.

There's been controversy on whether sports drinks are even necessary.

People generally get enough electrolytes to replenish the ones lost in workout from their diet.

Also some sports drinks have sugar in them.

So if you're doing a half an hour of cardio, a single bottle of the stuff will give you back all the calories you've just worked off.

If you're breaking out for an hour or so, water will keep you hydrated and you probably don't need those extra electrolytes or sugars.

But if you're someone like this, or this, or maybe running a marathon, feel free to reach for that sports drink now and again, your body will thank you.

(upbeat music) - Hi, helpers.

Did you know that the best way to stay healthy is to wash your hands.

It is important to wash your hands often.

Let's go wash. First, rinse with water, then put soap on your hands.

Next, scrubbed them together while singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."

(water burbling) (soft upbeat music) Then rinse the soap off with water.

(water gushing) And last, dry your hands.

All clean.

- [Narrator] To learn more about "Meet the Helpers," visit meetthehelpers.org.

- Well friends, guess what?

I learned there's more than one Dr. Blotch.

So I guess we shouldn't be surprised to find out there's another family member demanding brilliant writing from us.

Today's challenge involves creating scripts, featuring certain actors for a movie.

Let's check it out.

(cheerful upbeat music) - We're here today, bringing you a- - [Dr. Blotch] Once again Mag, you are wrong.

It is my challenge, Dr. Blotch's writing challenge.

- It's Megan, Dr. Blotch, still Megan, and- - [Dr. Blotch] Whatever, Mag.

I am Dr. Blotch's aunt's, sister's brother-in-law who is also a doctor and also a Blotch, Dr.H Blotch that is.

Did you know that I'm a world renowned filmmaker/actor/director/costume designer?

And I realized that I've been spending all of this time at home when I could be creating my next "Fit" series of short films.

I've got nothing but time, Mag.

Oh, Dr. Blotch, I didn't know you were a filmmaker.

- [Dr. Blotch] Of course I'll make movies, Mag.

Don't you know anything about film?

Anyway, so here I am in my humble mansion in Antarctica when I get this genius idea, I will create a series of short films, which will obviously be a massive success and sell out theaters everywhere once they're open, of course.

So I went ahead and I recruited some of my very well-known acquaintances and even some of my enemies as potential actors for these films.

You can view their professional portraits in the University of Michigan Museum of Art's website.

You got that link I sent you?

- Oh yeah, I was wondering what that was.

I heard that the University of Michigan Museum of Art had a virtual Art Museum online right now.

That's so cool.

I didn't realize that those- - [Dr. Blotch] Right, right, right, right.

So the museum curators put together a collection of my art actors' portraits.

And so what I need is the writers of the 826 Michigan community.

And, uh, yes, even the children to create scripts featuring these actors that I can use for my film series.

- Oh, great.

So we're making movies this week, Dr. Blotch.

How do we get started.

- [Dr. Blotch] Yes, Mag.

Have you not even been paying attention?

That's what I said in the beginning.

Anyway, first, writers should review the University of Michigan Museum of Art gallery potential actors.

They should choose two actors from their portraits gallery who will play characters in the script.

And you know what kind of movies, I don't write boring movies.

There needs to be action.

There needs to be a problem and there needs to be a solution.

- So Dr. Blotch, you're having 826's writers, our writers do the work of writing your short films?

- [Dr. Blotch] No.

Anyway, where were we?

All right, so after the writers still have the dialogue planner, they should begin writing their script.

Now, I don't wanna create films with two characters as having some nonsense, pleasant conversation, "Hello, how are you?

Good, how are you?"

The conversations are dreadful.

We have all been there.

Don't put my viewers in that kind of rubbish situation.

I want drama.

- Dr. Blotch that sounds reasonable.

Is there anything else our readers should keep in mind?

- [Dr. Blotch] Of course there is, I was not done yet.

Right, they should also consider adding any stage directions for their actors, such as how loud to be, what they're doing while they're talking, or if they're using a certain kind of tone.

They can include this writing so my actors can really get into character.

- Okay, sounds good, Dr. Blotch.

Okay, Dr. Blotch, I think we are up for the challenge.

(dramatic lively music) (cheerful upbeat music) - [Narrator 2] Dancers and choreographers to use stands performances to express their ideas and stories.

Schedules for dancers and choreographers vary with where they work.

During tours, they have long work days, rehearsing most of the day and performing at night.

Many dancers began training when they are young and continue to learn throughout their careers.

However, teaching dance in a college, high school, or elementary school requires a college degree.

Dancers audition for a part in a show or for a job within a dance company and study new and emerging types of dance.

Choreographers choose the music that will accompany a dance routine, and teach complex dance movements.

Dancers and choreographers need to have leadership skills, physical stamina, and teamwork skills.

Being a dancer and choreographer is rewarding in so many ways.

- The ability to have my gift that I love to do and inspire someone to feel something, or, you know someone comes to you after the show in tears of joy or maybe they were sad because your performance helped them tap into something that they, you know, forgot about in their life.

I think the ability to touch people and inspire them to action, you know, or to feel more alive, I think that is the most rewarding part.

- When you can get past that point of self-consciousness or thinking that people are going to judge you, it's an amazingly powerful feeling to just say, "This is me, take me for what I am."

And I hope you gained something from that or feel something from that, and hopefully take it home with you by the end of the night.

And I think I've done my job after that.

Even if I can just touch one person.

- The audience's reception during and after the performance is always so rewarding because you've been working for so long and so hard on the work that you're presenting.

- I encourage girls to go into the field of entertainment because it's open with possibilities and in a way where you can carve out your own creative path, and you can also choose to be amused for someone else.

People in entertainment have passion.

There's a lot of space to grow, you know, and never stops.

And you're always being connected with amazing people who are talented and they give you this kind of fuel for your creativity.

- You should consider a career in dance because of passion.

And because there's something that you need to express to the world that cannot be told in any other way by any other person.

(cheerful upbeat music) - Hello and welcome to "Detroit Performs" I'm your host, DJ Oliver, and I'm at the Art of Custom Framing in Troy where a first artist, Doug West show some of his work.

We caught up with Doug, as he transitions from professional athlete paintings to a new venture.

(bright upbeat music) - There are great sports cities.

But when it comes to Detroit, probably the greatest.

In 1980, I had a chance meeting with Muhammad Ali at a sports show.

And that sort of began my art career.

I was the only guy in line with a painting.

And when he came to me, he stopped and he said, "What is this?"

And I said, "It's a painting."

He said, "Who's the artists?"

And I said, "I'm the artist."

He said, "You're the greatest."

And when he said that, that was my measuring bar.

Then I thought my work better be the greatest.

I love the human form.

So when you see the motion and movement, the expression, the excitement, and the highs and lows of sports, and you wanna paint that or draw that, there's nothing like it because in that moment, that's captured, if you can get that on a canvas, you have literally a masterpiece.

It began with baseball.

And baseball is it's almost a quiet sport.

Football has that rush of excitement and the noise of the crowd.

Tennis again, is a different sport.

Each sport is so different.

And golf being very quiet.

So as far as a favorite sport goes, it really depends on the mood I'm in.

If I'm in a quiet mood, I might paint a golfer or a tennis player.

If I'm in an excited mood, then I might do a football.

In the late 1990s, I had an agent, he calls me maestro.

He said, "Maestro, what's your dream?"

I said, "I have several dreams.

I'd like to paint for the Baseball Hall of Fame."

I was a baseball fan growing up.

And so through his connections, before I knew we were in Cooperstown at the Baseball Hall of Fame and they selected me as their artists.

From there, a lot of things happened.

I was in Canada with a group of guys.

I became the artist for the Hockey Hall of Fame.

From there a different hall of fames happen.

What I like to do is I go through old magazines and I'll look at the photographs, covers, pictures.

I'll listen to people, and take it in.

I'm not aware of it, but when I go back, I'll paint them.

Somehow the essence comes out and people say you really captured him, and I've never watched them on film.

You have to capture the essence of a person.

I think if you can do that and do it with dignity that your work will, it will shine every time.

Capturing the expression of a player is interesting.

And capturing the light in her eyes.

What happened for me is I wanted to have a deeper understanding of myself.

But what came with that was so interesting because it put light in the subjects that I painted.

And I noticed too, that the expressions, as I was more honest with myself and freer, that the expressions in the work just almost dripped with expressions.

You can feel it, almost feel their sweat in the poses.

So that all transferred into my work.

So what I like to do is I'll work right side up to lay the image out.

Once everything's in place, then what I do is I flip the canvas and I paint everything upside down.

They're not faces, they're not shapes, they're what I call lines of motion.

Barry Sanders is a great example.

Barry Sanders, when he runs, he runs actually in two directions.

His movement is a forward movement, but there is a backward bend.

And if I were to paint that, lean it too much to the left or too much to right, he doesn't look right.

So Barry Sanders is a great example here in Detroit.

I've done many Barry Sanders and he's always the same thing.

The trick is upside down, get his motion and then paint his face.

I did a piece on Michael Jordan that was really unique.

I wanted to take art to a different level.

So I thought what I'll do is I'll paint the Bulls uniform color on the background and then put the Jordan on top of that, which is really unheard of, red on red.

And then I thought, what if I didn't paint the lines and I let the viewer finish the piece by looking at the paint?

Their eyes could finish the lines.

I really wanna make this Miguel Cabrera special piece.

I want to kind of capture his career.

So today I'm gonna be painting Miguel Cabrera upside down and right side up.

You can follow some of my brushstrokes and see a little of my technique in doing the piece.

Now, this little thing, this is called glazing.

What this does, it's a thin coat of paint like Kool-Aid.

When you put it on here, it transforms the color.

And if you do layer after layer of glazing, the piece's beautiful.

In the areas where the light hits, if you add yellow and a little red, it just makes it jump with glazing.

I think with a great piece of art, you let it speak to you.

It will move.

You often, I'll see the piece before it exists.

- He seems to just be able to capture the essence of that athlete in his painting.

And he was realistic, but also I could see that emerging expressionists feel.

Now he has just a new freedom.

He introduced his new body of work, and he actually had me shut my eyes to bring in his new work.

And when I opened my eyes, I saw a newly emerging expressionistic painter.

So I was pretty amazed at that.

- I had to free myself.

So I found an old canvas and I began to splash colors on the canvas.

And I felt that release and freedom.

And suddenly I began swirling colors and I did a Jimmy Hendrix piece.

So it became this expressions painter, bringing realism into expressionism with color.

And so I've recently been in contact with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

And they've agreed to put one of my pieces in the Hall of Fame, a tribute to Prince.

There's an interesting quality to my Rock & Roll pieces.

It was never thought out, but it has happened.

The pieces have sort of a haunting quality.

My sister-in-law says that I've painted them as they are now that many are deceased.

She said it's as if you've placed their soul on the canvas.

And there is a dimension in the work.

One of the pieces, the "Ghost of Imagine," which is a John Lennon piece, began with these swirls of color and the image falls away, and yet it's there, and yet it's not.

And the other thing that I love about these pieces is you have to sort of look into the piece to discover them.

It's as if you're seeing a different dimension, but that's what's outstanding.

I think that these pieces, it's a buildup of colors.

And colors that almost shouldn't go together, and somehow it works.

- Doug is taking it to a more of a passionate level, I guess I would say.

He's trying to get his emotions.

You're seeing that coming through in these portraits.

I said, "Doug paint big."

And he pulled up with his car and an Obama strip to the top.

And I said, "You did it."

And it's stunning, and I just love that piece.

You're just drawn to that piece, and I'm very excited for him.

I had a client walk in and fall in love with Michael.

She said, "This was my idol growing up.

I love Michael."

When they're looking at an icon, they're just lighting up.

- There are a lot of great artists that came from Detroit.

Detroit is such a rich heritage in music and sports.

It's like I've fallen into the right field.

- Are you ready for your daily math challenge with Diane?

Today we'll use our brains to sort out quadrilaterals.

You know, I'm not really sure if I know all the different types of quadrilateral myself.

So I'll join you to find out more.

(cheerful upbeat music) - Hey, everyone, Diane here.

Today, we are going to be using our wonderful brains to sort some different quadrilaterals.

Before we jump in, let's talk about what is a quadrilateral.

When we are looking at the word, there are two things I noticed.

The first is quad, and I know that that means four.

The next is lateral, and I know that means side.

A quadrilateral is a four-sided figure.

We are going to be looking at sides and angles to classify these different shapes.

So before we jump in, let's talk about some different words that we will be using throughout the sort.

Congruent, meaning equal, parallel meaning that they are never going to cross.

Then we've got right angles, like an L, acute angles, smaller than a right angle, and obtuse angles, larger than right angles.

So here are a bunch of four-sided figures.

Let's take a look and see how we could sort them to figure out what some of them have in common.

Go ahead and take a look.

What do you notice about the different side lengths?

Do you notice anything about the angles?

I asked some of my students about this sort and here's what they came up with.

Does their sorting look similar to what you were thinking?

What do you notice about these?

Exactly, all of these have right angles, but some of the side lengths are different.

With that, let's talk about the types of shapes that have only right angles.

For now, we're gonna focus on rectangles.

So what makes a rectangle, a rectangle.

Tell someone around you what you know about rectangles and tell me too.

Yeah, definitely has four right angles, opposite sides are congruent, and opposite sides are parallel.

So let's shift these into a group where all of these traits are included.

Hmm, I'm starting to see another trait that some of these quadrilaterals have.

What do you notice about them?

Would you whisper it to me?

Exactly, these all look like they have four congruent sides.

Even though they fulfill all the requirements of a rectangle, they also can be called a square.

So all of these could be called a rectangle, but only some of them could be called a square.

So now let's flip over to this group.

I noticed that these do not have all four angles being right angles.

Do you notice anything about the sides of some of them?

What do you notice about these quadrilaterals?

Hmm, very nice.

Someone said some of these quadrilaterals have two sets of parallel lines and others have one set.

I definitely noticed that too.

Two sets of parallel lines would be a parallelogram.

Do you see any other figures that have two sets of parallel lines?

Isn't it cool that squares and rectangles meet the requirements of the parallelogram too.

Now, let's transition to talking about those shapes over here that have one set of parallel lines.

Do you know what we would call those?

Would you tell me?

Yes, they could definitely be called a quadrilateral.

Yes, exactly, exactly.

These would be called a trapezoid.

Trapezoids have exactly one set of parallel lines.

It's funny though, the angles are so different on these and the others seem to be very similar.

So thinking about that, would a square or rectangle be able to be counted as a trapezoid as well?

Do you whisper your thinking to me?

No?

But a square has been counted as everything so far.

How could it not be a trapezoid?

Those parallel lines, that's what did it.

That's some really good noticing for you.

All right, now let's talk about one more group that I have of these quadrilaterals.

These seem fairly unique.

I noticed that all sides are congruent.

And I also see that opposite angles are equal.

These figures are called rhombuses.

Do you notice any other shape that has the traits of a rhombus?

So just a reminder, a rhombus has four equal sides, and opposite angles are equal.

Nice noticing.

A square does have four equal sides and opposite angles are equal.

How interesting is it that a square is included in a lot of these different categories of quadrilaterals, did I almost say triangles, hoof.

Here are some other quadrilaterals that I want you to try to sort in another way.

Take a look while I start sorting them and thinking.

I noticed that these all have right angles up here.

Kind of like in our other categories when we talked about squares and rectangles.

So I'm gonna keep those up there.

Next, I really notice these.

And if I turn them, one thing that I see is that they have two sets of parallel sides.

Those will be called parallelograms.

So if I put those together, notice they can go one way or another, it's pretty nice.

You can be flexible with it, they could be vertical.

Next, I saw this one.

This is something that we see a lot.

It's got one set of parallel sides.

Do you remember what those are called?

Exactly, trapezoids.

One thing that we didn't talk a lot about is this type of trapezoid right here that has a right angle.

This would be called a right trapezoid.

It still fulfills the requirement of one set of parallel sides, but it's a little fancy with this right angle here.

Lastly, I've got this little guy and looks almost like it would be a parallelogram.

It could probably fit there.

But the thing that I really noticed about it, mostly because it was situated vertically, is that it looks like the opposite angles are equal.

That would be like the rhombus that we talked about.

So I kind of had this dude chilling over here on the side because look just a little bit different than I didn't at first, think that it would be a parallelogram.

Now, what I want us to look at are these yellow quadrilaterals.

They look a little different and I'm not really sure where to place them.

Do you have any ideas or can you think of a category that they might go into?

Hmm, maybe if I turn it, maybe that'll help.

Look at that.

Maybe if I turn my head, maybe that'll help, turn my head a little to see.

Hmm, no, I don't really see a category that these could go in.

They look very different from what I expected.

So when I make this category of all these yellow shapes, I would call these irregular quadrilaterals mostly because they don't necessarily have one set name.

They would be in that big category of quadrilateral.

It's pretty cool, right?

Today, we talked about different types of quadrilaterals and how they can have qualities of multiple figures, like this rhombus here could kinda look like this parallelogram.

We know that squares are very specific in their characteristics and meet the requirements to be called a rectangle, a parallelogram, and a rhombus.

I wonder what other kinds of things would have groups like that?

See, y'all later.

(cheerful upbeat music) - I am a professional dancer.

I have danced with the L.A.

Contemporary Dance Company for the past 10 years.

I am also a filmmaker.

I direct and I write my own content.

And filmmaking, figuring out what stories to tell it's an interesting process.

I have an observation journal.

I'll use that as a source.

So I write down quotes in there, I'll write down little thoughts I have.

I write down people what people are wearing when I see them walking in the street.

The best stories come from real life.

I perform in a lot of intimate environments.

So I'm seeing eyes, it's not just lights in my face.

And so you can see people sitting like this.

You're doing something right when you have people's attention.

And that positive feedback is exhilarating.

My tips on becoming a professional dancer, train, train, and more training.

I don't have as much training as I would've liked to have had because of my trajectory in life.

I was in dance and I was out of dance, and I was in dance.

I tried to train as much as I could, but the more that you train and training in different styles, meaning if you're a ballerina and you know, that's all you wanna do, I would still say train in hip hop, train in jazz, train in swing, train in Bollywood, salsa dancing, because it's all gonna make you better.

It's all going to make you better.

Even if you don't end up working in those genres, you'll still have a little bit extra in comparison to everyone else because you have the experience of training in a different art form.

I would also say consistency.

So not only training, but training with consistency and just trying your best to stay in class, attend workshops, summer workshops, and summer intensives with dance companies that you might be interested in, or dance companies that you might want to train with, that will give you some exposure to dance on a professional level, beyond your dance studio.

And well, you'll get a glimpse of what it might be like once you become a professional.

Let's see, I would say watch.

Who do you like as a professional dancer?

Follow them and just see how they are.

I mean, I was a fan of and I'm, I am a fan of Alvin Ailey and I watched those dancers all the time.

And I think there's a little part of me that emulates their strength and their, you know, their composure and just their essence.

And I think if there's a dancer that you admire, then there's always something to learn from not only the professional dancer that you admire, but also maybe the person in your dance class that, you know, has, oh, they can do high kicks really nice.

Maybe I should take a little of what they're doing, you know.

I'm always learning from my peers.

So I'm watching in rehearsals, in performances, and I respect my peers so much that I will say, "You know what?

I wanna do a little bit more of what she does when she's performing, because I like her, the dramatic element that she's giving, or she's really funny.

I wish that I could be funnier," you know.

And that's how you get better if you're constantly trying to improve yourself.

So training is the biggest thing, but if you don't have the money to train, there's always YouTube.

You can find so many dance classes on YouTube or when I was in college, I used to watch music videos over and over and over again and try to learn the choreography.

I'm sure people do that nowadays too.

So that's a way of teaching yourself 'cause in actuality, when you go on an audition for commercial dance, for a music video, you're gonna have to learn it like that.

So if you can learn a choreography off of a music video, and you're learning it, you know, backwards 'cause you know, they're not doing it the same way, that means that you're pretty good.

So that's a skill set.

I would say try to have as many skills as possible.

If you have the opportunity to learn how to tumble, do it.

If you have the opportunity to learn aerial work, do it, hip hop, everything.

If you have the opportunity to learn how to break dance, do it, just look at the people that are working now.

Look at what Katy Perry did at the Super Bowl.

Look at, you know, the kind of work Beyonce is putting out.

Look at, you know, what's on Glee.

And that will tell you what you need to aspire to.

Look at you know, what the kind of work Alvin Ailey's doing.

And that can kind of inform where you should go.

(cheerful upbeat music) - Well, we are working on, I think, the coolest product ever.

We make a version of Minecraft that people use in classrooms.

- All right, three, two, one.

(clap) so hi, my name is Haro and I'm a tech lead for Minecraft Education Edition.

- My name's Cole, and I'm a Minecraft designer.

- I make mobs, I make blocks, I make different tools for content creators.

- I make sure kids can play Minecraft at school.

- By yourself?

- I couldn't do all of this stuff alone.

- Everything that we create, we always create as a team.

- If you want to make something cool, you really can't do it by yourself.

You're gonna have to work with other people.

And so it's an important skill to learn now.

(bright upbeat music) - You're gonna wanna make a plan with your team that explains all of your team goals and how you're gonna work together to make that happen.

You wanna write that plan down so that you can take a look at it later - Give everyone a special way to contribute to the team.

If you notice someone does not have anything to do, or is not sharing as many ideas, invite them in and make sure you're listening to what they have to say.

- Last one's important.

You wanna celebrate the successes of your team and teammates.

Anytime your teammates do something awesome, make sure to tell them.

- High five.

(laughing) - Having all the right ingredients is important for a team.

People are the ingredients here.

- A good team is one that has fun.

Everything that you work on, I think should be fun, and there should be energy and passion, and also just open communications.

- Something that you can do is ask everybody if there's something they'd like to work on or something that they're really good at.

And so when you figure out kind of everybody's strengths that can help you divide the project into parts.

- We all listen eagerly and earnestly to hear the ideas that everyone has.

And we all understand that everyone brings something different to the table.

- Every idea contributes to the final product.

And your idea is really important.

So share your idea, be confident.

(cheerful upbeat music) (lively upbeat music) - Today, we'll be making a simple kite from materials you might have at home.

We'll mostly be using home office and gift wrapping supplies.

You will need a manila envelope, a piece of notebook paper, scissors, some thick ribbon, some thin ribbon, ways to decorate, and some tape.

Let's start by cutting the envelope into a rectangle.

First, let's cut off the top.

(scissors whirring) Then we're going to cut along the side and along the bottom.

You can put your scissors on the inside, or you can cut right along the outside.

Next, fold each side of the envelope diagonally, and then crease.

It's easiest to decorate the kite at this point rather than skip to the end.

Go ahead and pause it, decorate it, and then come back.

Next, we're gonna tape it together.

This is the basic shape of your kite.

Next, we'll add a horizontal spar that helps the kite to keep its shape in the air.

Take you notebook paper, roll it up tightly on a diagonal.

Tape it closed.

Alternatively, you can use a thin piece of cardboard.

Now, let's tape it just like this.

Now let's add the tails.

You'll need two pieces of ribbon, each about the length of your kite or longer.

(objects thudding) The tails help the kite fly more stable by adding weight and drag in the air.

Next is the bridle.

You'll thin piece of ribbon or fishing line about the same length as the previous ribbon.

We're gonna attach it in three places, here, here, and eventually one's going to go here.

We'll be attaching a string in the center making this a one, two, three-legged bridle.

We're using a thin ribbon, but again, fishing line works well or even yarn.

Next, for our purposes, the center of the bridle is also gonna be the line that we use to fly the kite.

Find the center of the first ribbon and then we're going to tie a knot right here, leaving enough room to attach the rest of the ribbon to the center of the kite.

We can tie it with simple knot.

Next, hold it up on an angle so that the first two parts of the ribbon are taut, then make sure that the third center line is taut, and then you'll know exactly where you need to tape it.

Now you have a simple kite.

(cheerful upbeat music) - I'm the Game Operations Manager for the Golden State Warriors.

When you walk into a game, to when you walk out of the game, I am managing that experience.

I'm a really tall individual.

I'm 6'6", which is definitely tall for a woman.

And I love it, but when growing up as a child, it was really rough.

I got teased at every corner.

Not only was I teased for being tall, but in the town that I grew up in, which was a little small town in Oregon, I was also teased for being black.

But I will say this, it has shaped me into the person that I am today and I'm so much stronger.

Without that experience, I would not be where I am today.

Do not let anyone tell you who you are.

You know who you are.

You're an amazing person, and they're just trying to put a box around your amazing.

Do not let anyone do that.

A typical game day for me there really isn't anything typical about it.

I mean, we have something different every game, but I'll just give you a little bit of what we would do, a little bit of every game and that would be, go to the arena.

So we get there about 1 o'clock.

So after we have worked in the office for a couple hours, we go over and we set everything up.

And I mean, from the contest to going through all the videos on the video board, to make sure that they work, to having run-throughs with the warrior girls.

I mean, we are doing something nonstop until those doors open.

And I also, I am the producer and the director for the pregame show.

So I put together all those scripts and everything that you see during that time before the game actually starts.

So I'm putting all that together and that's a task in itself.

So I'm meeting with the talent, we have to in-arena MC's.

I meet with them, we go over everything and then we execute it.

I stand in the visiting players tunnel, all game, with a headset on, and I communicate with 50, 60 people in the arena at one point in time.

So we are definitely all communicating at once from the spotlights to the control room, where all the lights, the video boards, the music, everything is played from there.

I talked to my director, who's at the score board table and we just put the game on, we put the show on for everybody, and it's great.

Our game operations team selects all of the singers that perform the national anthems at all of the games.

And it could be anyone who submits to us.

You know, people send in tapes all the time or it could be someone that we want, so we go out and we get them.

And it's really fun to see all the talent that comes in, and we get all types of anthems, which is really great.

And people love the Anthem.

It's something, you know, that starts the game off.

So it's really important that we make it right.

So one of my favorite Anthem singers is a girl who's nine years old and her name is Nayah Dameson.

And she is amazing.

She blew the roof off of that arena.

And this year she actually became kind of like our go-to Anthem singer for the playoffs.

So like everybody was waiting for her to sing the Anthem.

So she sang quite a few times during our playoff runs, and it just set the tone and it was amazing.

The most challenging thing about being the game operations manager is that you never really know what you're gonna get.

The game is so fast-paced.

There's points where you might have to go do something really quickly.

And you know, it's actually something that I like about it but it's also something that's challenging 'cause you never really know what you're gonna get.

The thing that I find the most rewarding about the work that I do is working with all types of people, whether it be the fans, our fans are amazing.

They're the best fans in the NBA, hands down, to all the entertainment groups that we have, to even the players, the coaches, everybody.

It's just working with them, creating those relationships and creating a great experience for everybody.

- Wow, what a show?

I really enjoyed learning how our new friend, Alicia, organizes fun activities for all the fans at NBA games.

See you next time on "Extra Credit."

- On the next episode of "Extra Credit," we learn about careers in sports, even if you aren't an athlete, plus tips for being a good teammate.

Get your "Extra Credit" on the Michigan Learning Channel.

- [Announcer 2] This program is made possible in part by Michigan Department of Education, the State of Michigan, and by viewers like you.

(fast-pace upbeat music)