Day 243 - Lots of Teaching = No Blogging

So, last time I was on here I was at a friends birthday party after having taught adults ballet. The party was absolutely amazing which explains why I needed a whole day to recover!

Sunday and Monday don't allow much room for any dancing of any kind as I have to go and do a normal job with normal(ish) people, and I don't think they'd take too kindly to me choreographing and not answering calls. I might make some sketches next time I'm there if there's a quiet patch :)

Tuesday through to Friday or Saturday are my dancy days. Advanced 1 ballet on Tuesday evening was great but tiring, especially with the cycle to and from. I was quite pleased with myself that I got up for college on Wednesday morning.  I could have, and probably should have, spent some time Tuesday daytime preparing for classes and choreographing but housework needed attention and took precedance.

I turned up for open ballet on Wednesday at 10.30 but due to teacher availability I ended up doing my first contemporary class in far too long. It made me more determind to get back to contempary on a regular basis. Hopefully Tuesday morning next week at the Island. While preparing to head home I was asked to teach the college pointe class. Luckly I had music and pointe shoes with me. It was a small class of two so plenty of time to really work on detailed corections. I finally jumped on the bike at about 1pm to head home only to leave again at 3 to teach at 4. Unfortunetely there was no key for the hall so I had to cancel. Back on the bike and home for a much needed early night.

Thursday, today. Phew. I had open ballet, DDI and advanced 1 as normal and was supposed to be working this eve. I am currently sitting in a school in Bradley Stoke waiting for the last class of the evening to finish. I have been covering 4 ballet classes from pre-primary to grade 2. My feet hurt but boy has it been a valuable evening :) I haven't taken grades 1 or 2 before although we did cover grade 1 in DDI today and grade 2 is one of the classes I'm observing. Really lovely students and feel very greatful for the experience. Zoe, one of the regular teachers at this branch, will be dropping me back at college where I can jump back on the bike and head home. Very much looking forward to my bed and no alarm in the morning. More teaching tomorrow evening though :)

Day 242 - Teaching Choreography

Sometimes I forget that the people i'm teaching choreography to can't see the pictures in my head, but we did get the first section done :)

Very happy with the way it's progressing but there will be some damage control to do next week. Lots of re-capping to do as well.

 

Chilling at a friends birthday party now so blog done and time to dance :)

Day 242 - Back to College

Today was my first full day back at college. That meant 1hr 15mins open ballet, 2hrs DDI (teaching lesson) and 1hr 45mins advanced 1 ballet. It goes without saying that I am exhausted but pleasantly so.

On my way to work for a quick 3 hours just to round off the day and then possible party planning for tomorrow.

I am quite excited that the last bits for my bike arrived today so no more buses once it's assembled and working again :)

Day 241 - TACT Choreography etc.

Phew, ok it's time to try again.  I can't seem to find my stride but hopefully this will help.  I had a little bit of time in the studio today before my class arrived so I put down the first bit of choreography for the TACT charity show in November.  This will be part of Dance for TACT: an evening of dance to raise money and awareness for the fostering and adoption charity.  Saturday 22nd November 2014, 8pm, 334 Dance School, Bristol. Tickets, £8, available at reception.

 I'll post a link for the show soon, but here is TACT's site:  http://tactcare.org.uk/

I also started teaching the choreography to my adult beginners on Friday for the January show.  Very please with the amount we got done this first week and hoping this Friday will involve a similar level of concentration and effort.  Looking forward to teaching the next couple of sections which will involve lots of spacial awareness and team work :)

College starts back this week so I will have more time in the studio to get some filming done.  I do need to sort my home studio space out again for more home-work.  Now that my knee seems to be letting me dance more :)  For now here is a short beginning to my piece for Dance for TACT.

Music = Le Onde by Ludovico Einaudi

Day 240 - Timetable

Timetable done for the next 10 weeks. Anything blank is earmarked for study and written work. Gonna be a busy term! But so much dancing :)

Day 239 - Teaching Pointe

This evening was the last summer adult class which included half an hour dedicated to pointe work. It's been a really valuable experience for me to develop my teaching methods and my own pointe technique.

In the adults ballet class on Fridays there are usually a few doing the class on pointe. I have been spending some time correcting and advising but my time is divided. Having a dedicated class means that i can fully focus my efforts to describe and demonstrate exercises and techniques in greater detail.

From the in class reaction and feedback I am confident that my methods are well receieved and beneficial.

Day 238 - A long Hiatus

Hello again.  It's been a long road to getting here, almost injury free and with energy to spare.  The family holiday in the Netherlands helped :)

School term starts again next week and college not long after that and I have a lot of work to do this term.  Making sure I am fighting fit for dancing, teaching and the two choreography projects to be performed in November and January is key, so this morning I got up and did a 20 minute ballet barre and some necessary stretching.  I'm back to the office today so getting back in the studio this morning was calming and hopefully a good start to September.

See you tomorrow.