March-2012-
This month I figured a decent challenge would be to animate a dance, get some practice working with audio files and making animations compliment them. I still recommend something short (10-15 seconds) unless you find yourself overloaded with free time then go ahead and wow us with your rendition of the Napoleon Dynamite performance.
Inspiration on the topic:
http://www.ted.com/talks/the_lxd_in_the_internet_age_dance_evolves.html
Here are the tiers:
Tier 1 :):
Concept: [i]Animate a character staying in place overall, executing simple moves that coordinate with the rhythm of an audio file.
[/i] Focus: This will help someone new to working with audio files and syncing to match up a beat.
Tier 2 :D:
Concept: Animate a moving character (more creative dancing)
Focus: Try to give purpose to the movements as the character moves from place to place, this assignment will be much easier if you film yourself or someone else dancing.
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[b]Tier 3 
:
[/b]Concept: Advanced dance with acrobatics (add in a flip or some break dancing movements)
Focus: Creating an entertaining routine with some more complicated and challenging movements such as a flip or twirling the body while being supported by a hand.
Please share posts related to this month in this thread, and for suggestions on improving the challenge in the future, thoughts on it like if you think the tier idea is good or bad post those in the general thread here: http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?p=7227540
Lastly try to use your creativity to the fullest, if you are thinking of doing an animation/scene that you have seen in a zillion demo reels try to think of something new instead. This is to improve your creativity and give you a unique clip to expand on or keep as is for your reel if you want along with making your animation skill set stronger.
Good luck, have fun, and learn a thing or two! 
