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 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 237 - College etc.

Just a quick word about college today as I'm shattered.  Thursday is a long day with college and then work in the evening (and voting as an extra today) and I'm now ready for bed.  A very physically and mentally exhausting day.  Music was the underlying theme for my DDI class today, looking at how to communicate to examiner and pianist the rhythm, tempo and style of the desired piece of music for a particular exercise.  I think of my self as a musical person but this seems to he a hurdle for me.  I plan to make note of how I do this while teaching tomorrow and see if I can develop it further.  I'm wondering if it's being put on the spot that stumps me?!  

After DDI I had an Advanced 1 Ballet class.  I'm still not completely up to doing everything in class because of my knee, particularly jumps, but I think small improvements are being made.  I haven't put my pointe shoes on since the re-injury but today I made plans with some fellow students to do some extra pointe work after half term which is next week.  

Anyway, night all :)

Day 230 - Monday on a Wednesday Improv and Teaching

It's Wednesday so I headed of to teach ISTD Primary.  For my teaching exam (hopefully at the end of this year) I need to know the exercises from each grade from Primary to Grade 5.  This is just for this level, after that I will need to know these plus Grade 6 and Intermediate.  This is not a straight forward thing for me as I did not do these grades growing up.  I figure that as there are 6 grades I need to learn, with 1 day at college a week, that leaves a grade a day for the rest of the week.  OK so this is a big undertaking but I'm hoping that by the end of this term I will mostly be able to recognize each exercise from the music and at least some of them without this prompt.

On my way to teach today I listened to the complete class about three times (doing the exercises in my head and with my feet on the bus!) and then did the class by myself once I'd got to the hall.  As I have been teaching this grade for 4 weeks now I feel pretty confided about the content of the syllabus, this is mostly through physically doing it as well as teaching. Therefore my plan to at least visit each grade once a week should hopefully be a successful one.

While in the studio I also did a small improvisation to ease my way back into choreographing.  My knee is still a weak so this is very calm and controlled.  Music = Monday by Ludovico Einaudi.