Friday, April 20, 2012

New links of note and a quote!

First the links:

One of my wonderful - and wonderfully creative - students has a blog called The Spinning Dancer where she likes to write about dance.  Most of the time, she comments on ballroom dance, which is her specialty, but this post is about ballet class.  I think you will enjoy it!

And here is a blog that's new to me, Grown-ups at the Barre (what a great name for a blog!).  Thanks to Nichelle at Dance Advantage for sharing the link.  Lots of great resources and insight for the adult dancer.  Who knew there were so many aficionados out there?  I love it!

And now, the quote...from the illustrious Allegra Kent, on teaching (from Dance Teacher Magazine):

"I think everyone's teaching changes as time goes on. I was definitely a little wilder when I first started--very wild. I've calmed down a bit, but when I teach on Friday morning at 10 am, these students are exhausted, so I need to give them a lot of energy to wake them up. I've learned that pure movement and a lot of wit are the best ways to engage them.

Learning about my students outside of the classroom helps me understand them. I have them write me poems and through this, I've discovered wonderful things about them that I would have never known from just seeing them bend their knees."


Talking with one of my students recently has made me think about the relationship between a teacher and her students. I'm formulating a post on this...stay tuned for a bit of philosophy.  Happy dancing!

2 comments:

Johanna said...

Thanks for giving our "Grown-ups at the Barre" -blog such a lovely shout-out! We are currently a bit slow with the updates as all our writers are busy with their other projects and own blogs. But new posts are in the making!

Please check out our blog-roll in the meantime :)

Leigh Purtill said...

Johanna, we're all a bit slow these days, lol!! So many other things seem to get in the way - like spring recitals! Looking forward to new material on your blog.

Cheers~
Leigh