Last night I started back to class at the new studio. It's amazing what you can forget in two weeks.
This was the first week of classes for the studio for all levels and age groups, and it was night-and-day different from the summer. Rather than walking in to an almost empty building, there were four full classes in progress with parents milling around in the open lobby. The change of classes was accompanied by the sounds I remember from grade school, with kids moving in clumps and chattering away. Rumor is that a nearby dance school imploded, and this place has been inundated with refugees.
But on with the adult beginner class...
The teacher, Joy, was well-known to some of the students, and she knew some of them by name. As this was the first class of the semester, she said she wants to figure out what people know and don't know, so she'd put together little combinations and see who recognized names and who could execute the steps. Joy is also hugely pregnant, which made for some interesting teaching techniques. She'd find a student she knew by name and ask her to demonstrate a step. This mostly happened with jumps, which she said she simply could not do.
Speaking of jumps, we did quite a few, mixed in with other steps. And relevés. The rond de jambes were interleaved with passé relevés, which I'm not sure I like: switching back and forth prevented me form focusing on either technique. It also left me aching, but that's my own fault for not keeping up during the two-week break.
The end of the class was a simple sequence starting in first en face, then tendu a la seconde with arms in high fifth, pivot on the standing foot to tendu derrière, then lift to first arabesque and hold. And hold. And try not to fall over. Damn... how did my balance get so bad so quickly? At least by the time we switched sides I felt a bit more stable, more of that "hanging by a string" feeling.
Tonight I have class at the old place. I decided to play show-and-tell with Merrill Ashley's book and pointes. Caitlin won't be there tonight, which I'm a bit disappointed about, but Candice is subbing and she might even be more appreciative of these things.
We'll see if I need a walker to get out of bed in the morning.
This was the first week of classes for the studio for all levels and age groups, and it was night-and-day different from the summer. Rather than walking in to an almost empty building, there were four full classes in progress with parents milling around in the open lobby. The change of classes was accompanied by the sounds I remember from grade school, with kids moving in clumps and chattering away. Rumor is that a nearby dance school imploded, and this place has been inundated with refugees.
But on with the adult beginner class...
The teacher, Joy, was well-known to some of the students, and she knew some of them by name. As this was the first class of the semester, she said she wants to figure out what people know and don't know, so she'd put together little combinations and see who recognized names and who could execute the steps. Joy is also hugely pregnant, which made for some interesting teaching techniques. She'd find a student she knew by name and ask her to demonstrate a step. This mostly happened with jumps, which she said she simply could not do.
Speaking of jumps, we did quite a few, mixed in with other steps. And relevés. The rond de jambes were interleaved with passé relevés, which I'm not sure I like: switching back and forth prevented me form focusing on either technique. It also left me aching, but that's my own fault for not keeping up during the two-week break.
The end of the class was a simple sequence starting in first en face, then tendu a la seconde with arms in high fifth, pivot on the standing foot to tendu derrière, then lift to first arabesque and hold. And hold. And try not to fall over. Damn... how did my balance get so bad so quickly? At least by the time we switched sides I felt a bit more stable, more of that "hanging by a string" feeling.
Tonight I have class at the old place. I decided to play show-and-tell with Merrill Ashley's book and pointes. Caitlin won't be there tonight, which I'm a bit disappointed about, but Candice is subbing and she might even be more appreciative of these things.
We'll see if I need a walker to get out of bed in the morning.
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