I can't believe I was away from technique classes for so long (about a year, maybe a little more), except for tap, which I took last semester. I have a crazy schedule this semester. Mondays, I have Dance Production 1, Ballet II/III/IV (we just call it Ballet II), and Modern II. Tuesdays and Thursdays, Dance Production II (it's from 4pm-8:45pm so that's enough, lol). Wednesdays, Dance Production 1 It's 9:30am-11am, but 9:30-1 on Fridays...yeesh), Jazz II, and Women's Choir. Fridays, after Dance Production 1, I have a few hours before I teach my two Friday classes. It's insane and I must be insane for doing this voluntarily. But would I give it up? Not a chance.
On Monday, in ballet, class was relatively easy, as it's the start of the semester and N slows it down a bit for those transitioning from Ballet I. We had a few things facing the barre, for instance. Because I jacked up my knee in December, I am having trouble with doing things involving plies on JUST the right knee. I'm fine with the plie sequences, but when it comes to things such as piques or jumps, I have some sharp pain and that's not fun.
Wednesday, I had Jazz II. I haven't had an advanced Jazz class since the teacher that used to be there teaching it retired around maybe 2007/2008. My technique is muuuuch better than it was back then so everything's easier and I understand combinations/terminology much better. I was not, however, prepared for like 45 minutes of stretching. Holy balls. I was so sore the next day. There is also an entire song of ab work, which I loved. I've never before held my foot to second (while my back is on the floor) and rolled INTO the splits from there. That's going to take some work! After stretching and ab work and MORE stretching, we did plies, tendus, and degages at center, which wasn't too bad. Then we did across the floor. After doing jazz walks on both sides, we then did a combination where we did four jazz walks, prepped and then did a pirouette en dehors. These went mostly well, but I need to work on speed for my doubles. K was asking for whatever we could do and I can do a double on one side, but they're so. slow. The last thing we did across the floor was piques. The combo was single, single, single, double. I got doubles every other time or so but again...so.slow.
So far in Dance Production 1, N has us learning a modern dance I did before so I'm in the front (yay), a Lyrical number (front again...double yay), and a ballet number (second row so far). In Dance Production 2, we've got a modern number where there are couples doing the tango in between. I'm doing the modern part and I did this dance before so will probably be in front...I hope. Then, another modern number that I'm not in love with and has lots of jumps that hurt my right knee (when landing). Then we are learning an advanced modern piece that I absolutely love and will be an auditioned piece so I'm crossing my fingers I can nail it (it's got a 11/2 revolution attitude turn into a layout...technique, please be with me!). Then a waltz I'm dancing with Boyfriend. There is a lift we are trying to get but it's his bad shoulder and so far, it's rough. Thursday, we began learning a salsa. I'm hoping I get to stay dancing with Boyfriend. I'm a plus-size dancer so I feel like I have to fight for any chance I get to do partner work, as L loves lifts.
.....
Friday is one of my teaching days and the only day I currently have students, it seems. Go figure, the little ones have flaky parents, so Mondays, I'm never sure if I'll have anyone to teach! Fridays start with Adult Ballet. My student in there right now is Jenny and she is wonderful. We met when in Hairspray together in 2011, when she was a teenager. We always have so much fun together. We still don't have center barres and the only one is on the wall, and you can only see the mirror when the right hand is on the barre, and then we're facing it. Not ideal, but we are working with what we've got. This week was "Bring a Friend to Class Week" so she brought her fourteen year old sister. We started with abs (I did an entire ab sequence to Uptown Funk...my current obsession) and then floor stretches. Then we moved on to the barre. I showed JS (Jenny's sister) how to do each move/step (the word is failing me) and then combo before we did them. I stood away from the barre in JS's sight so she could watch and copy. We then did chasses, bourrees, degage walks, and chaines across the floor before moving on to the dance. I didn't give new choreography this week since we had JS, so we got up to the part where we do the emboites, and then JS sat down so me and Jenny could finish to where I stopped choreographing last week. Jenny is coming so far so fast. I could not be more proud. She is so dedicated and her sister seemed to really enjoy class, and that made me happy!
This was the second week for my Lyrical class. I finally got a student last week. She is thirteen and so adorable! I didn't know they were so little at that age. lol. Bella has never danced before and just naturally turns out and wings her feet without me ever having to say anything. It's great. We did plies, tendus (turned out and then parallel), degages, and then battements at the barre. During the plie refresher (reminding her of what they were) before barre, I noticed her leaning forward to I had us go to the mirror and showed her how you can pretend you're sliding down a wall, so to keep correct posture. At the barre a few minutes later, I saw her correcting herself. This was only her second class. This is going to be a great season. She's such a treat to teach, just like Jenny. I won't bore you with details of the rest of the class, but her mom is just as sweet, and we were all laughing quite a bit, because I tend to joke a lot. I like to be funny, lol. Randomly draw a bat scribble on the mirror after Bella says "Batman" after I say Battements were next? Yep.
2015 is shaping up to be pretty awesome.
No comments:
Post a Comment