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Showing posts with label new classes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new classes. Show all posts
Thursday, March 3, 2022
March newsletter includes lots of updates!
BC News
Thursday, July 22, 2021
Basic ballet vs. Beginner ballet - what's the difference?
Beautiful dancers, every teacher has a different definition of their "beginner" level. For some instructors, beginner is what brand new students start with, learning the positions of the feet and how to stand at the barre, etc. For others, it's a class that lots of different dancers take, including advanced dancers, and students do everything from plies to pirouettes.
(And for the record, I believe ALL dancers can benefit from a beginner or even a basic level class, regardless of their experience. Sometimes we learned things wrong or not at all! And sometimes we just need to focus on the technique and not complex choreography.)
**If a class marked Beginner has a finite number of classes, then generally speaking it will be a class for brand new students.
**If a class marked Beginner is ongoing and students can drop in at their whim, then generally speaking it will be a more advanced or "complete" class.
My Beginner level is the latter of the two above types. Students are expected to be familiar with:
--plies
--positions of the feet and arms
--tendus, degages, grand battements
--ronds de jambes
--developpes
--compound steps like pas de bourree and balance
--glissades, jetes, assembles, chassees
They don't need to be experts at it all! But having been exposed to these steps or concepts will make my Beginner class a lot easier for them because it's more like Beginner/Advanced Beginner.
After the pandemic, I realized that a lot of my more advanced students would probably need a Beginner class to ease them back into the studio so the Beginner class began to include far more advanced dancers than it would have pre-pandemic.
But I still wanted a place for brand new students! So that's when I decided to start my Basic class. This is the class for learning all of the steps above and so much more:
--port de bras
--classroom conventions and etiquette
--holding the barre, moving the head, engaging the audience
It's a great class for someone who has no experience in ballet or dance, a dancer who has had an injury or lengthy time away from the studio and needs to move slowly and mindfully, or anyone who wants to refresh their muscle memory or learn proper terminology.
So why am I telling you this now? Because I have a super awesome
Thursday night Basic class at 7PM
(at Inspire Dance Studio)
and I will be opening a
Saturday morning Beginner class at 10AM
(at Inspire starting August 7th & it will also be hybrid)
HAPPY DANCING, EVERYONE!
Sunday, July 4, 2021
What's happening in July? Newsletter!
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BASIC BALLET
Thank
you SO much to the 300+ people all over the world who watched our
virtual fundraiser. We had people logging in from 31 states and 5
countries! How cool is that? We raised money for our next show(s) which
will include a full-length version of Circus of Worldly Wonders.Thursday, June 3, 2021
June: tips, technique & travel!
Happy June to you all! It's made me so happy to see people coming back to class. Former students, new students! Old friends and new! It's not exactly pre-pandemic normal yet, but it's getting there.
This month I'm so excited to be bringing you a new tip for your pirouettes (we can all use more of those!), a new technique class (come on in!), and a reminder that I'm traveling this month (take a breather!)
First the tip!
Connect the shoulder to the knee that is pulled up in passe.
Whether you are doing a pirouette en dehors or en dedans, you want to feel like there is a string attached from your shoulder to your knee so it doesn't move. This will help keep the shape of the passe as you rotate.
How to prepare for this:
1. Find your passe standing flat with a comfortable hip placement and arms in first position.
2. Take note in your peripheral vision of where your shoulder is in relation to your knee. It should not be in front of or behind the position of the knee. If it is either of those things, adjust and then do #1 again.
When you turn:
1. Square yourself off, shoulders and hips, in your fourth position demi-plie, so no part of you is twisted.
2. As you start your turn, use your peripheral vision again to make sure the knee doesn't get ahead of the shoulder which means you are a) losing your turnout at the top of your leg b) collapsing your core or c) pinching your shoulder blades.
To finish the turn:
1. See yourself in the passe if you are turning in front of a mirror, with squared-off shoulders.
2. Roll down on the support leg as you simultaneously release the passe leg to the floor.
Next the technique!
Beginning Thursday, July 1, I will be teaching a brand new class called Basic Ballet at Inspire Dance Studio from 7-8:30PM. This will be a class exploring the fundamentals of ballet and is suitable for dancers with no experience at all, as well as students who might have tried it as kids, more experienced dancers who took some time off during the pandemic or who had children or an injury, or anyone who wants to brush up on the things they never learned correctly!
There are so many reasons to take a basic class, even if you have lots of experience.
1. With time to focus on technique rather than choreography, you can build muscle memory that will later help you pick up choreography faster.
2. If you've been doing class online or via YouTube videos you haven't been getting corrections or personal guidance. This class can help you break newly-acquired bad habits.
3. Faster-paced classes rarely take the time for questions or to break down things we often take for granted like body positions, port de bras and epaulement, and movement quality.
Interested? Sign up here! Want to send info to a friend? Use this!
Finally some travel!
From June 15th through June 29th, I will be out of town and not teaching my classes, except for my final two YouTube Fridays, June 18th and 25th. When I return in July, hopefully I will see you in my new class! Looking for my complete schedule? Here you go!
Happy dancing! And relaxing!
Wednesday, April 7, 2021
Getting back to the studio! A guide to safe dancing
No matter what your situation, you have not been dancing in the same way you did pre-pandemic (PP). And no matter what, you can't walk into the dance studio and expect to see/feel/move anything you saw before.
I've been in your position too. I have been working in my home, teaching on Zoom and then on concrete outdoors. I have a regulation barre, some marley and a slightly cushioned mat but it's nothing like a sprung floor with a wall of mirrors and SPACE!
Recently I've been lucky to get to a few in-studio classes so I can confidently give you some helpful information about YOUR safe return.
1. Lower your expectations.
Nope, lower than that...keep going. There you go. Did you do triple pirouettes PP? Great! Now, don't expect anything more than a single. In fact, pat yourself on the back if you can balance on demi-pointe without falling over.
2. Make friends with yourself.
For a year we haven't been in a room filled with mirrors in shape-revealing clothes. We might not be happy with what we see because it won't look like us PP. THAT IS OKAY! Do not judge yourself. Be happy you are healthy and are in a dance studio. Look at yourself in the mirror and appreciate that your body is alive and strong enough to be in a class. Many - many - others are not. Be grateful to your body that it made it through a VERY difficult time.
3. New mantra: low and slow.
It will be very tempting to run around the studio. I know. I did it when I first walked in. Jumps should be very low, barely off the ground, and you should concentrate on rolling through your demi-pointe and springing up. Do the allegro half-speed for a while until you find your muscles and build back your strength.
4. Balance, balance, balance.
Prepare to spend a LOT of time finding your balance again. One of the most critical parts of balance is orienting our bodies in space. Think of it like being on a boat out at sea with no land to focus on. You feel woozy and nauseous because you aren't stabilized with a visual image. This is what has happened at home for a year. We need the barre, the mirror, and other people to stabilize ourselves. This takes time. Practice. And then some more.
5. Choreography uses muscles too.
And they might not be in the best shape right now. We joke about "pandemic brain" and being foggy and never knowing what day it is. When it comes to remembering combinations in class, our brains might not be quick to pick them up. Understand that this will also take practice. Don't worry if you have trouble with right and left. If you were on Zoom for a year, that was confusing.
6. Masks are not easy to dance in.
I wear 2 masks: a paper one under a cloth one and I pinch the nose to give me breathing room. The hardest part is turning because it changes my proprioception. A small price to pay for feeling safer than with just one. For now, masks are the rule in the studios where I teach and I personally don't mind them. I imagine that when I can finally take it off, I will be amazing! And so will you.
7. Take your time.
Everyone is different. We all had different pandemic experiences and we are recovering in vastly different ways. Some of us can't wait to do all the things. Some are still not ready to leave the home studio. All of this is fine. For now, I am doing some classes hybrid, some in-studio only, some online only. I would like to make it easy for everyone to return in their own way and at their own time.
🩰🩰🩰🩰🩰🩰🩰🩰🩰🩰🩰🩰🩰🩰🩰🩰🩰🩰🩰🩰🩰🩰🩰🩰
Thursday, April 1, 2021
April 2021 Newsletter is the BACK TO STUDIO edition!
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Monday, February 10, 2020
Spring into Spring with 2 Pointe variations workshops coming to Inspire!
Hello beautiful dancers!
I am adding something FUN to the schedule which requires a sign-up before the end of February:
The Bluebird workshop will be held at Inspire each Sunday, 12:30-1PM from Mar 1 through Mar 22; the cost for the 4-week session is $50.
Wondering what Bluebird is? It's from "Sleeping Beauty" with music by Tchaikovsky and choreography by Marius Petipa and it might look something like this:
The Cupid workshop will be held at Inspire each Sunday, 12:30-1PM from Mar 29 through Apr 19; the cost for the 4-week session is $50.
Wondering what Cupid is? It's from "Don Quixote" with music by Minkus and choreography by Marius Petipa and it might look something like this:
(Attend both for $90 and save some $!)
Each week, I will break down a step or 2 that is challenging in each of the variations and we will learn the variation over the course of the 4-week session.
Please sign up in advance right here on my blog: use the drop-down menu at the top left of the blog under the banner to add the workshop or a class card to your cart.
Can't wait to start some fun SPRING variations! Happy dancing~
I am adding something FUN to the schedule which requires a sign-up before the end of February:
Pointe variations workshops!
The Bluebird workshop will be held at Inspire each Sunday, 12:30-1PM from Mar 1 through Mar 22; the cost for the 4-week session is $50.
Wondering what Bluebird is? It's from "Sleeping Beauty" with music by Tchaikovsky and choreography by Marius Petipa and it might look something like this:
The Cupid workshop will be held at Inspire each Sunday, 12:30-1PM from Mar 29 through Apr 19; the cost for the 4-week session is $50.
Wondering what Cupid is? It's from "Don Quixote" with music by Minkus and choreography by Marius Petipa and it might look something like this:
(Attend both for $90 and save some $!)
Each week, I will break down a step or 2 that is challenging in each of the variations and we will learn the variation over the course of the 4-week session.
Please sign up in advance right here on my blog: use the drop-down menu at the top left of the blog under the banner to add the workshop or a class card to your cart.
Can't wait to start some fun SPRING variations! Happy dancing~
Saturday, February 1, 2020
New class, Valentine's Day, and more in the February newsletter!
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Thursday, January 9, 2020
First Newsletter of 2020 and a Personal Teaching Resolution
Happy New Year, beautiful dancers! I'm excited about so many things coming in 2020 (company intention on 1/12, new Sunday class starting on 2/2, a big fundraiser for the company, and of course, season 4 of Sweet Sorrow, A Zombie Ballet!). I put it all in a newsletter which you can have delivered to your very own inbox if you'd prefer to read it there - just click on the browser link below to subscribe. I only send it once a month and I promise I won't spam you.
Before I post that, however, I'd like to talk about a personal resolution I want to make in my teaching:
I will strive to take gendered pronouns and traditional gender norms out of my class.
This will be, I admit, difficult for me. My natural reflex is to greet people as "ladies and gentlemen," to divide groups or partner dancers based on gender, and to identify steps as gendered. I don't mind the reference when it's used with me but that's me and I'm ancient.
However, I am conscious of gendered roles in my choreography and I do what I can (and what fits the story) to not fall prey to the easy nature of stereotypes. For instance, my Rosaline is no frail princess waiting to be rescued by Benvolio; my pointe partnering includes women partnering women; and every woman's role in Hotel at the End of the Universe is a feminist one. I work very hard to empower women, on the stage and in the studio.
I have already begun excising "ladies and gentlemen" to call out my groups, instead saying "dancers" when I can. Just as I ask permission before touching someone in class to make a correction, I will also ask dancers if they prefer a specific pronoun be used with them when it feels appropriate, and I won't assume the answer.
As with all of ballet, the repetition of certain actions on a regular basis soon becomes muscle memory. We do a million tendus so we don't have think of how to do one; similarly, the more often I can refrain from gender norms in my class and choreography, the less cumbersome it will appear - and I will only have to think about what to do with the dancers, not how to address them.
Before I post that, however, I'd like to talk about a personal resolution I want to make in my teaching:
I will strive to take gendered pronouns and traditional gender norms out of my class.
This will be, I admit, difficult for me. My natural reflex is to greet people as "ladies and gentlemen," to divide groups or partner dancers based on gender, and to identify steps as gendered. I don't mind the reference when it's used with me but that's me and I'm ancient.
However, I am conscious of gendered roles in my choreography and I do what I can (and what fits the story) to not fall prey to the easy nature of stereotypes. For instance, my Rosaline is no frail princess waiting to be rescued by Benvolio; my pointe partnering includes women partnering women; and every woman's role in Hotel at the End of the Universe is a feminist one. I work very hard to empower women, on the stage and in the studio.
I have already begun excising "ladies and gentlemen" to call out my groups, instead saying "dancers" when I can. Just as I ask permission before touching someone in class to make a correction, I will also ask dancers if they prefer a specific pronoun be used with them when it feels appropriate, and I won't assume the answer.
As with all of ballet, the repetition of certain actions on a regular basis soon becomes muscle memory. We do a million tendus so we don't have think of how to do one; similarly, the more often I can refrain from gender norms in my class and choreography, the less cumbersome it will appear - and I will only have to think about what to do with the dancers, not how to address them.
~HAPPY 2020~
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January 2020 schedule
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