Through The Eyes of a Child

It is less than a week away until dance classes start.  During the time that I’m not at my other job or trying to enjoy my last few days of freedom, you can find me at my computer putting together lesson plans and searching for music.  One of the things I begin to think about is teaching in general.  Most years I think about what worked last year, what didn’t, what I experienced from other teachers over the summer, and what material I may have read over the past few months.  I put all that together and create what I think will equal out to be my best teaching yet.

For recreational classes one of the biggest tools I use is putting myself in the place of the child.  I teach multiple ages.  For the older kids, it’s not too hard to imagine what they want out of a class.  If they are in high school and in dance class, they’re there because they want to be.  So teaching a full out class is easy.  Middle school is a little more difficult.  These are important years because usually this is the time that they begin to branch out to school activities, and many times, they leave dance behind.  You want to make the class mature so that they feel like the older kids, but at the same time, they need to be nurtured like their younger counterparts. 

Elementary school age is probably the easiest for me to teach.  I am 28 years old, but I swear I’m a 10 year old at heart.  I love being silly, even if I do have to hold a sense of authority within the classroom.  Often times I come up with fun imagery.  For example- this past summer I had my little ones imagine that they had diamond necklaces around their necks so that they would “show it off”.  This pulled them up, and showed off their collar bones.  Some of the kids became so attached to the idea that in the last few days of their dance camp, they were bringing in various sparkly necklaces to make the imagery come to life.  It was a fun way for both them and me to see the excitement of something working.

I love seeing the world through the eyes of a child.  As we all grow older we think about the seriousness of dance, and the maturity needed for it, and the complicated world of technique and choreography.  Often times, I find it wonderful to just step back from it all and watch as the children dance.  It’s a reminder that dancing isn’t just about the technique.  It’s not about the steps.  It’s the love and passion that the kids have for it.  It’s a good reminder about life, too.  Adults like to think about the steps- what is the next step in my life?  What do I have to do to get from point a to point b?  Where will point b take me?  We don’t step back often enough to look at the sunset on our way home from work, or watch as our friends and family grow into people we enjoy even more on a daily basis.  We become competitive and narrow-minded.  Children don’t think that way. 

Children live their lives in the moment.  They go to dance classes to learn, and they are learning something that they enjoy.  They have fun doing something that is enriching their minds, bodies, and souls.  They are becoming well-rounded people.  To watch children grow is amazing enough, but to watch them blossom as the result of dance classes is something that I am honored to do.  It is wonderful for me to know that my career is letting me go back to being a child.  I learn as much from them as they learn from me, and that is one of the most amazing aspects of being a teacher.

For just a second today, I ask that you stop and watch a young child in the street.  Watch their curiosity, their happiness.  Watch how they don’t think much about what they are doing, but how much fun they are having while doing it.  Watch the smiles on their faces, and then try to remember what it was like when you were that young.  Put yourself in the shoes of that child, and prepare to be amazed at what will come of it.

Imagery

“Imagine that you have a diamond necklace on and you’re trying to show it off to the world!”  “Imagine your legs have candy cane stripes on them, and that you’re trying to make them rotate  from your hips alllll the way down to your ankles!”  “Imagine that there is a string at the tippy top of your head and that someone is pulling it up!” 

Each of these phrases, and many more of my Miss J-isms, can be heard in my classes on a regular basis.  From an outside perspective it could make me sound a little crazy.  If you happen to be a dance teacher yourself, you understand these.  It’s imagery at its finest, and  it’s an important tool for teaching.

I’ve had many teachers tell me that dance is 60% mental, and only 40% physical.  I fully believe in this.  A dancer is not just a drone that copies movement.  There is nuance and style, but not everyone is born with that.  I try to explain to my dancers all the time that we have to be intelligent dancers.  It’s easy to fall into a rut and be a mechanical dancer.  You want to be both a mechanical and artistic dancer.  Much of this comes from the thought process of dance.  Not only should you put your hand there this way, or place your foot down on this exact count, but it’s the way in which put your hand this way or your foot goes down.  Imagining certain things, and using a diverse and colorful vocabulary can aide your dancers in figuring out how. 

What I find most important in imagery is understanding the mechanics of what you are trying to get across.  For example, with the image of the diamond necklace on your chest, the idea is to have my students project their chests up and out to the audience, so that their collar bones are exposed, their necks are long, their shoulders are back, and they are lifted.  In order to show off a big diamond on a necklace, those are the details of what they must do.  Breaking down the technical aspect of what one is teaching can help to create the more creative image.  Knowing the minute details can assist in the process, and even inspire the image in an instant. 

I’ve had multiple instances in the classroom where I have been explaining each part of a step, and suddenly realized that what I was saying described something else.  I have then gone on to explain how what I was describing related to the image I had in my mind.  Most of the time this works.  In a rare occasion, my students stare at me as though I have six heads and what just came out of my mouth was a foreign language.  It’s best to have pre-determined images that are guaranteed to stick in a students’ mind. 

Depictions in a dancer’s mind is so important.  Imagining what you are doing truly helps in the application of movement.  If you can see it in your mind’s eye, then it is easier to embody that action.  Seeing yourself being able to battement your leg to your ear is a lot easier than just thinking about technically executing it.  Both aspects must be in practice during the execution, but if both are, achievement will be easier.  Your leg will technically get closer to you ear if you think about it getting there. 

I love imagery in classes.  I have even taken whole dances and created full stories for every section just so that my dancers would understand what they were trying to convey.  It has always worked for them, and I have always appreciated their effort in understanding my explanations.  From emotional understanding, to technical understanding, imagery has always been an asset to my teaching.

Coming Out of My Dance Shell

So I have been very absent from this blog lately. I have been absent from my Twitter page as well. This is due to some major changes in my personal life over the past few weeks, and I am sad to say that these were the first few things to go the wayside. However, I am slowly building back up to something along the lines of normalcy in my personal life, and I thought, what a wonderful way to bring it back through a blog!

So not to divulge too much about my situation, but let’s just say that I have released something in my life that was holding me down for too long, and it has rocked many of the foundations that I have built over the past few years of my life. However, with this rocking of foundations has come with certain realizations of myself. One of those realizations is that as a dancer, it is not just what I do, but part of who I am.

When this release happened, the first thing that I wanted to do was DANCE. I wanted to choreograph. I wanted to channel all those emotions and conflicts inside my head into bodily movement to tell my story. And you know what? I did. I took the time to go into a dance studio recently and just dance my heart out. I haven’t taken a dance class since the summer, and I was scared to know what I looked like. I had no mirrors in front of me to see how I was doing and I was barely awake with only half a cup of coffee in my system. I recorded my dancing, and to my surprise, I looked decent. We all have a tendency to be our own worst critics, but certain things surprised me.

There is one song that stood out for me when I improvised. I put on the song “Breathe Again” by Sara Bareilles, and just went for it. Little did I know that 1- it would turn into looking like a put together piece, and 2- that I would start crying in the middle of the dancing. The song is about leaving someone behind because you’re looking for something more, and hoping someday you’ll find it. It hits home a little too much right now. One movement where I let out all the air in body suddenly became an epic moment in my life. It was the realization that dance would always be there for me.

People ask all me the time- “well, what are you going to do when you can’t dance anymore?” People look at me like I’m crazy for wanting to be in a career where you don’t get paid a whole lot, and when you need to search out your own benefits, if you can get any. People wonder why I choose an art for a career.

This is my answer- I have known since the age of 7 that I wanted to be a dancer. Sure, I went through stints where I wanted to be a marine biologist or a writer, but I always knew inside that it was always going to be dance. I don’t care if there are hardships, or struggles. Those are just channeled into the choreography and dancing, and enhances my life experiences. Financially it may not be sound, but dancers find ways, and we make sacrifices so that we can do this. I do not get upset from having to have another job to pay my bills. If anything, it teaches me more discipline and responsibility. While I may have needed guidance in those areas for a while, I have grown to become an incredible person from my dancing. I have learned so much from being a dancer, and I continue to learn from it, and my mentors, teachers, and peers within the field.

Dance is not something that grew into my life. There was something in my soul and my spirit at conception that was implemented so that I would be able to share my talent with the universe. My purpose in life is to dance, and therefore, is part of me. It is part of who I am, and not just what I do, and how many people get to say that in this lifetime? Very very few.

I hope to continue to learn the various forms in which this purpose is going to manifest. I am excited that this realization came while I am still young enough to take full advantage of it, and I am looking forward to even more realizations in other parts of my life.

And you can bet that I will be back here more to talk about my journeys!

Warming Up in the Cold

It's officially mid-January in New England. That can only mean one thing- COLD! For a while, some of us in the area thought the chill would never really come, with temperatures in the 50's in December! That's almost unheard of, particularly in the area I live in. But the cold came in, and with it have come the familiar sounds of "I'm cold" from my students.

As a teacher, there is always the dilemma of deciding if you will allow your students to wear warm ups. Often, students are not well-equipped with warm-ups that will allow maximum view of their bodies. I see students with over-sized sweatshirts that go well below hip level. Students try to wear sweatpants that are bulky and will fall down if you roll up the pant leg. It prevents me from seeing their muscles, and can hide their bodies.

On the other hand, it can be tough for students to understand that they need to get their bodies warmed up immediately. Depending on the level of knowledge/technique that they are at, they often don't think to warm up before class. For my more advanced levels, I always give the speech that instead of chatting out in the lobby, they should be stretching, or doing exercises to get their muscles limber. When muscles are cold, they are often tighter, which raises the possibility of injury from improper warm up. Depending on the time frame in which I have the students, I can't always give them the extensive warm up that they may need, particularly if temperatures are at or below the freezing mark.

A way to rectify the situation is to allow them to wear warm ups. However, often times, they warm their bodies up with the warm ups on, but then when it comes time take them off, their bodies have to readjust and warm up all over again. In my eyes, this makes the warm ups essentially obsolete.

Now, as an example, I am no better. I am notorious for having cold hands that make my students recoil every time I touch their bare shoulders to correct them. Therefore, I am usually wrapping myself in sweatshirts, long sleeved t-shirts, sweatpants, and socks. Pretty much anything I'm not "supposed" to wear, I wear. And there's always that student that has to point it out- "Why can't I wear my sweatshirt? You're wearing yours!" My typical response is that I earned my right over the years to wear whatever I like and I've been in their position. I tell them I wasn't allowed to wear warm-ups, which for the most part is true. I also like to tell them that they are the ones that are working, and I am not. They are the ones whose muscles and body parts need to be seen- not necessarily mine.

Over the years, I've developed the rule that if it's particularly cold out, I will allow warm ups through rond de jambes. Mostly, I will allow them ONLY through plies. If it's in a lyrical or jazz or contemporary technique class, I will allow them through the beginning stretch. This way, they get to wear their warm ups to kick start the initial blood flow without the adverse effects of wearing them too long before the body gets used to it and has to readjust.

What's your favorite warm up clothing? As a dancer do you like to wear bulky warm ups? As a teacher do you like to allow them?

A Reflection of 2011

Ah, yet again, I have been terrible about keeping up with this blog. The inspiration is always there- it’s a matter of remembering to put the inspiration into words and finding the time to do it! I’m sure most of you out there can relate!

I have decided to take the time to reflect on my personal year in dance.

The first part of 2011 was muddled with some personal problems that I was working through, however, I realize that the dance studio was my place of respite. From fine-tuning my competitive choreography, to creating for my recreational dancers, I found comfort in throwing myself into the world of dance. In some classes, it proved to be the drive that I needed. In others, I found myself struggling to be inspired.

2011 was the first year that I had a group lyric dance in competition. While it did not win any major awards, I was very proud of the choreography, and extremely pleased with much of the feedback that I got from judges. It was the same with a ballet piece. It was the first time our director was entering a group with a ballet dance that wasn’t the top level in the studio. They held their own, and proved to be able to handle a ballet piece with positivity, hard work, and a little grace.

Recreationally, 2011 was a mix. While the kids were great, and the dances wound up being good, I had some difficulty choreographing. With one class in particular, it seemed I had different people out every week, and since I wasn’t good with keeping the same notebook in my bag, I had no idea where anyone was spatially in the dance. It was, on a grand majority, my fault. On the other hand, I had a class where the choreography was done in almost record time, and we almost over rehearsed it for the recital. It paid off, though- it was one of my favorite and most fun pieces I ever created.

2011 was also the first year I acted as a judge in the dance world. I gained a whole new respect for dance competition judges. I had judged for a one day competition that started very early, but ended at a pretty decent hour. I was exhausted and wiped out by the end. Even with breaks for lunch and coffee, and having the opportunity to get up and walk around, I was amazed at how draining it was! However, I would never pass up the opportunity to do it again. I thoroughly enjoyed doing it, and loved being able to see different dancers out there.

The summer proved to be a long one this year. I typically take the summer off. The craziness from January to May usually gives me the feeling that I have the right to take this time off from dancing. I had the opportunity to go see some of my dancers at a Nationals competition in Boston where they did very well. After that, though, it was a long way to August. I wound up taking up jogging just to get myself back into a physical place. It paid off, though. I felt in top physical shape!

When August finally came around and I started teaching for the summer program, I felt ready to be inspired and boy was I! If you check out some of my previous entries, you’ll read about some of my experiences I had with taking class. It sparked the flame in me. My desire to return to my best year yet had been stoked.

The fall season began with a few minor hiccups, but I am proud to say that I believe this is going to be the best year yet! I am finding my stride as a choreographer. I am better aware of my students as dancers, and I am more aware of my choreography on stage. I know what inspires me, and hope that I can pass the inspiration on to my students. I adore working where I do, and can only hope that 2011 will be the year that my dance/teaching/choreography skills expand and move to new heights.

Looking back on 2011, in all aspects of my life, I believe it was a growing year. While I believe that some years are filled with more growth than others, I felt as though I walked into 2011 humbly, knowing that I had a long way to go, and that I needed to grow in certain ways in my life. I am walking confidently this year into 2012 with a better sense of where I am, and with an ever-increasing hunger to learn from my peers and superiors.

I am most looking forward to creating more dances in 2012. What are you looking forward to the most?

First Day Thoughts

I have to say, I love the first day of classes. Even though I’ve been teaching at the same studio for a few years now, and overall I’ve taught the same type of classes, there’s still a bit of excitement in the air.

I get excited to see my old students. To be able to welcome back familiar faces is almost a comfort. On a day full of so many possibilities, being able to see students that I know personally and as dancers is uplifting. In the same respect, I am excited to meet new ones. I get to introduce myself as a teacher, and I get to learn about these new dancers- to see who the quiet ones are and who the chatty ones are; the ones that naturally pick up movement, and the ones that need me to go over combinations a few more times. It is a joy to be able to pick up the dance styles and quirks and personalities of each individual.

Seeing how the old and the new react to each other is always a pleasure as well. I love watching a group of friends that have known each other and myself for a year or two take in the newer students and make them feel comfortable. It not only makes it an easier class, but it warms my heart to see how there is still some kindness in the world amongst the younger generations.

I also like to get to know the teachers that are teaching on the same day as me. Networking with fellow teachers, and even just getting to know them as peers is always exciting for me. Just like any teacher, I enjoy speaking with like-minded people about topics that we are passionate about. Passing ideas back and forth, and discussing classes opens up my own mind.

Personally, my season has started out wonderfully, and I am very excited for this upcoming year with my students! I can’t wait to grow and learn with them!