I've been home for 2 months - now what? Student Edition!

"It's just for a week. Or two. That's it. A couple of weeks."

"They'll fly by! It will be April before we know it and then we'll be back in the studio and dancing with our friends."

And then it was April and we realized, uh-oh, this is going to be much longer than 2 weeks...

Courtesy Denise Krebs, CC Lic

As dancers, we discovered the joy of connecting with other dancers around the world, of taking classes with French teachers and Russian ballerinas, of trying hip-hop and contemporary and Zumba and yoga. Look at all these classes online! Look at all the dancers in their kitchens! Look at all the--

Oops! Look out for the lamp! And the dog!

It was fun for a month or so as we adjusted to a new way of training at home. We built our home studios and we set aside quiet time for ourselves (if we could) and closed the door (if we could) and tried to put our minds back into the studio while our bodies were stuffed into a corner of a living room or perched on the chair in the kitchen nook.

And then reality set in. Oh we thought we were in a new reality but this was the real reality. The reality that we weren't with our friends and our teachers; we weren't getting corrections like we were used to getting; we weren't really training.

We were just...trying really really hard to not kick the dog or smack our hand on the lamp. (I personally have done both many times.)

This way back to reality by Jennifer, cc lic

So right around the 2 month mark, true frustration has set in. Enough of the experimentation with all things new and different! Give us the same old stuff!

We might be in this place for a while longer, depending on where you live. You might go back to your work place but the dance studio will still be closed, which means you're in your home studio for a bit longer. Okay...let's be honest about what you can work on at home. Here is some advice I have for you, as both the teacher who wants to see you mentally healthy and physically able to get back to the regular class and the student who is also stuck at home.

First of all, focus on one thing at a time. Consider each class in your home as an opportunity to work on a step or an arm or a head, etc. You won't have this chance again in the future, unless you do private lessons.

Some things you could focus on:

1. Balance - practice flat or releve, with foot in cou de pied or retire or attitude

2. Stability - practice promenade in any position; developpe; shifting from fourth position to retire as in a pirouette en dehors

3. Port de bras - practice moving through the space and feeling the 3-dimensionality of your hand and fingers tracing the arc in the air

4. Epaulement - practice tilting the head, opening the chest, lifting the sternum and collarbones, rotating the shoulder

5. Calf strength - releves on one leg with the barre and without, use your Theraband with releves in first position

Second, use the rewind button - a lot. If you're not doing a live class, go ahead and hit the back button on a particularly challenging step or a complex combination. Watch it over and over again, study the teacher, and copy it as best you can. When will you ever be able to do that in real life?

Hint: learn new vocabulary by watching a more advanced class and studying the steps and hearing the words.

Third, spend this time to work on muscle memory. Most likely you don't have a kitchen with mirrors so you are doing this on your own. Take this time to feel the movement and get it into your body.

Hint: if you have a small portable mirror, place it somewhere that you can see to check a correct position and then feel what that looks like in your body.

Fourth, practice choreography. This sounds impossible, I know. You're at home with very little room and no mirrors. How can you possibly practice choreography? I would argue this is the perfect time to do it. We rely so much on mirrors and other people that sometimes we don't even pay attention, let alone learn the choreography. So why not use this opportunity to focus on picking things up?

How do you do that? The number one thing to know about learning choreography is that it's different for every person. When I was studying pedagogy in college, the most valuable thing I learned was about how people learn. Some dancers need music, some need to see the combination. Some need the names of the steps or the counts. Do you know how you learn best? Well, why not find out now!

Some hints:

1. Repetition

2. Break a combination up into small chunks

3. Say the names of the steps

4. Count out the music

5. Listen to the music

6. Video yourself doing the combination and then watch it!

Fifth, cross-train.

~Do you have a pool? Swimming builds shoulder and back muscles and increases stamina.

~Do you enjoy walking or running? Put on your sneakers and walk or jog a few times a week for cardio benefits and leg strength.

~Is your town open to hiking? Enjoy nature while you're climbing a hill.

~Yoga and Pilates mat classes are also online and a great way to work in parallel and build core muscles.

~Lift weights if you have them or use objects that can simulate weights.

~Ride a bike, stationary or an actual bike.

Sixth, read. That's right: read. There are a ton of great dance books out there, both fiction and non-fiction (contact me if you need some titles or visit Dance Advantage for my reviews). If you're just not feeling the love of ballet right now because it's just too darn hard to negotiate for space in your home or you're finding it hard to be motivated, you might enjoy reading something that will inspire you or comfort you or educate you. Learn new vocabulary or dance history; check out a memoir of a famous or not-so-famous dancer. Study up on the big ballets and their composers - or choreographers - or costume designers.

Don't despair. We'll get through this.

Whatever you do, know that you are not alone.

As with all social media, what we see may not be what is.

Other dancers may appear to be doing ALL THE THINGS but they're not.

Or maybe they are.

But what does that matter? You are you.

And we are dancers.

Dancers in Quarantine: Mental Health

Hello beautiful dancers!

It's no secret that dancers need to move. It's in our DNA! It's how we communicate with others, how we express our feelings, how we connect to the universe. When we find ourselves locked down in one place, it's not just physically stifling, it's mentally claustrophobic.

If you've suffered from anxiety or depression in the past, it wouldn't be uncommon to feel that now in quarantine. There are so many things that can trigger these feelings and others. When we don't have our usual forms of outlet, both physical and creative, we can panic. We might worry that we will never dance in a studio again. We might never perform again. We might never see our friends again.

As days stretch to weeks and into months, it's a challenge to navigate all the many emotions. Knowing how difficult this can be, I consulted with two of my LPBC company members who are also licensed psychotherapists: Laila Madni, Psy.D. and Cyla Fisk, LMFT.

Laila and Cyla created the slideshow below to help dancers (and anyone else!) in this challenging time. We all hope it helps you or someone you know. Consider it advice from dancers to dancers. Please remember that if you need help, extend those beautiful fingers of yours, open your graceful arms, and reach out.

Dancers support dancers.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month

I've been home for a month - now what? Teacher Edition!

Beautiful dancers, we are moving into our fifth week of being locked down in our homes and it's definitely been taxing (tax deadline extended, by the way, yay!) on all of us, on our physical health and mental well-being.

I understand not everyone is able to work from home and as many people have noted, it is indeed a privilege to be able to work from your home. My gratitude and appreciation go out to the health care workers, grocery store employees, delivery people, and everyone else involved in a service industry deemed essential to the running of our country.

Dance teachers like me and many of my friends have had to scramble to put our businesses online in some form or another. We look at each other and try to follow the best path, cobbling together something that resembles our classes without being anything at all like them. How could they be? Each of us teaches in a different way and our personalities, our pet peeves and our quirks distinguish us from one another. We are not one-size-fits-all in real life; yet we can't truly be ourselves in the virtual world.

Blossom is my at-home assistant

We want our businesses to thrive, of course, but we also want our students to thrive. We are teachers because we love our students, we live for our students! We worry about them alone at home, not having someone to correct their errors or not taking class at all. I want my students to build on their technique with my guidance but how can I do that when I can't see them or gently prod them? One student emailed me that she missed my "stern gaze" but she also missed her fellow students' gazes. We all want to do well for our teachers but we want to perform well for our friends and fellow dancers.

Teaching virtually has been trial-and-error and sometimes fraught with anxiety! Had we all had time to prepare for online instruction, we would have invested in home studio equipment, microphones and cameras, a powerful internet connection. We would have researched the various platforms, tested them alone and with our students. We would have asked our students which platform suited them, which was easiest to use, what times to teach, and so on.

I know it's hard for you to train at home; it's lonely and hard to stay motivated! It's hard for us too. I miss seeing you dance across the floor to a combination I put together. I miss seeing you apply a correction I give you and the look of "Aha!" on your face.

Blossom loves ronds de jambes

Teaching from home, I've discovered, is not at all the same as teaching in a studio. For one thing, I have to watch my pace more. The usual benchmarks of a clock or simply seeing students' faces or fatigue would let me know when to move on, when to give more instruction, when to answer a question that hasn't been asked. I have to anticipate questions and problems. I have to do the exercises so I know where the problems could be since I can't see them on students' bodies.

However, I have to watch when I'm giving too much instruction and talking too much between exercises. Why? We're at home with a million distractions! There's my dog, Blossom, who barks at unusual times and sometimes wanders in when I'm doing ronds de jambe. There's my phone and my social media feeds; my kitchen which has coffee and snacks; and sometimes there's the pandemic itself which will consume my every waking thought until I can't focus on anything but the doom and gloom.

Whereas in the studio I might have another class coming in or a rehearsal to get to, at home I try to limit class to just an hour in order to keep it moving and engaging. I don't want you distracted either! And I certainly don't want you to feel the doom and gloom - for at least an hour!

Forget doom and gloom when Blossom's in the room!

And technology? Well, when it works, it's fantastic and a true gift to teachers and students alike. When it doesn't? Yeah...I'm a dancer not an IT expert. I get frustrated and upset and I just keep "turning it off and turning it back on" - over and over and over.

The fact is, like our current situation, teaching and taking ballet class online are fluid. We don't know what will happen tomorrow or the next day so have to take it as it comes and respond accordingly.

We dance now because we can.

We teach now because we can.

We fill our lives with joy when we can.

Stay safe and healthy! Happy dancing~

Suspension of classes through Mar 31

Hello beautiful dancers!

From today through the end of the month, I will be suspending my classes at both Live Arts LA and Inspire Dance Studio.

However, that won't mean we can't keep dancing! I will be uploading some videos to my YouTube channel and also plan to do a livestream daily barre, stretching and technique tips. Details on that will follow shortly.

I'm grateful our ballet community is so resilient and kind to one another. I will miss seeing you all and feeling your positive energy in person but I know we can buoy each other virtually!

Good attitude (ha!) will get us through this!

To my students concerned about the virus...

A note to my students: if you don't feel well or are uncomfortable coming to the studio, please stay home and tend to yourself and your families.

Class is here for you if you want it and when you are ready for it. Class cards don't expire and I will give credit for unused workshops. In studio, we will maintain good hygiene and remind people to wash their hands after barre.

And please! We can do plenty of dramadagio without touching our faces! ❤️