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mekyriaWe all get requests from random strangers through email and phone about try out classes. We all know that these inquieries usually come to nothing. I my six years of teaching, I haven't had one inquiery that ended in someone participating in the class. Lo and behold, not so last Monday!
Two teenage girls (I estimate 16ish) showed up for my beginners class. I was so baffled that I completely threw my lesson plan out of the window. The planning was working on chest lifts/drops, shoulder accents and dancer's walk. We started out with the walk, got to the acents and then people started asking questions, I got a bit carried away and when I looked at the clock it was 5 minutes after the official end of my class. Oh noes!!! I rushed outside to call the next group in, while hastily taking the four students of the first group through a short cool down. I felt like a bad teacher. The good news: the girls really liked the class and asked if they could enroll. Yes please!!
The good news is that I recovered my focus in the second group. We did the walking exercise (making eye contact, exuding confidence, being there) and it went very well. I think we got a bit further in the group proces with regards to building an emotionally safe environment. The third class are my intermediates and we dipped into musicality. I have a different approach this season in addition to the choreography/technique material: each group chose music to dance too, and they had homework to transcribe the music (what do you hear, + write it down).
It is a very confusing assignment if you have never done it before. In class we took one of the songs (sensual chifti from Eddie 'the sheik' kochak). First dance to the melody only, then rhythm only, then in pairs: one takes the rhythm, the other the melody. The melody person gives a sign when they want to swap. It was brilliant, several students had epiphanies with regards to musical interpretation. I have mostly melodic listeners in my group (I'm melodic too, though working on using the rhythm more often). How could would it be to have live music in class?
Two teenage girls (I estimate 16ish) showed up for my beginners class. I was so baffled that I completely threw my lesson plan out of the window. The planning was working on chest lifts/drops, shoulder accents and dancer's walk. We started out with the walk, got to the acents and then people started asking questions, I got a bit carried away and when I looked at the clock it was 5 minutes after the official end of my class. Oh noes!!! I rushed outside to call the next group in, while hastily taking the four students of the first group through a short cool down. I felt like a bad teacher. The good news: the girls really liked the class and asked if they could enroll. Yes please!!
The good news is that I recovered my focus in the second group. We did the walking exercise (making eye contact, exuding confidence, being there) and it went very well. I think we got a bit further in the group proces with regards to building an emotionally safe environment. The third class are my intermediates and we dipped into musicality. I have a different approach this season in addition to the choreography/technique material: each group chose music to dance too, and they had homework to transcribe the music (what do you hear, + write it down).
It is a very confusing assignment if you have never done it before. In class we took one of the songs (sensual chifti from Eddie 'the sheik' kochak). First dance to the melody only, then rhythm only, then in pairs: one takes the rhythm, the other the melody. The melody person gives a sign when they want to swap. It was brilliant, several students had epiphanies with regards to musical interpretation. I have mostly melodic listeners in my group (I'm melodic too, though working on using the rhythm more often). How could would it be to have live music in class?
