I’m almost into the swing of things now. This week and last week have been very much about settling in, getting over muscle soreness, building strength and learning syllabus material.  The soreness has mostly gone but I have a couple of old injuries that have begin to play up (all on my right side unfortunately).  I’ve been stretching in the evening, massaging my muscles with a natural muscle rub and strapping my ankle.  If all is not well by early next week I’ll go to a physio (no time this week!).

I had a bad day on Wednesday – was feeling a bit drained and overwhelmed with the syllabus work and it’s a big switch from doing beginner/intermediate classes most days to advanced/professional classes on Wednesdays – harder on the body and the brain. Today was a much better day – I am starting to remember the syllabus work and had a great class wearing chorus shoes for the first time – that was a lot of fun!  This is the first time they’ve run jazz classes with chorus shoes after realising there is a need in the industry for dancers to be experienced in dancing in them.  Also, yesterday I learned some new tricks in the advanced / professional jazz class and we did a floor barre in ballet (kind of like pilates).  In between I’ve been furiously practicing the hip-hop and tap routines that I’ll be performing in my exams in a few weeks time – I hope I can remember them and I hope the next level is not significantly more difficult.  I’m lucky that other (only) other teaching student is a tapper and helps me a lot with rehearsing the tap routing.  I seem to have a good memory for the hip-hop choreography so try to help her with that in return.

Our week has been a little disrupted with studios hired out for auditions for Tokyo Disneyland.  There was a buzz of excitement as some of the advanced students auditioned and the rest of us were shifted to other studios.   Some of the advanced students already work professionally in dance; it’s very cool to be so close to what’s going on in the industry.

So that’s a quick  catch-up of the last two weeks.  Tomorrow evening Matt and I are heading down to Phillip Island for the weekend to see his parents and show off (and enjoy!) our new car.  Should be nice and relaxing since we’ve spent the last couple of weekends doing repairs around the house and running around with chores, shopping (for dance gear and groceries) and visiting my parents.

On Wedesday morning, my first day, after a warm, restless night I took the tram and arrived at school very nervously, not sure at all what to expect.  I was immediately allocated a locker and a warm-up studio I quickly changed and made my way down to warm-up. I expected the daily warm-up to last for 15 minutes or so and consist mostly of stretching. I was wrong. It was a tough 30 minute workout with crunches, stretches, splits, etc. It seemed to last forever and I knew that I would be really sore the next day. After that we had an orientation session where we went through the student handbook and got our student cards and discount cards for dancewear stores (very handy). After orientation it was straight into our normal timetable.  Being a Wednesday the next class was advanced ballet – not too hard but it still pushed me. Then we had a 30 minute break for lunch (a light one!) and to change for advanced / professional jazz. Again, more stretching and crunches. But the class wasn’t too cardio-heavy. I really enjoyed it, I really like the teacher, I’ve been to his classes before. The routine we did was quite funky but I think I managed alright. What struck me during this class as my muscles were starting to fatigue was that I would have to do all this again tomorrow, and the day after, and so on. I’m so used to having a day to recover from tough classes.

Thursday was a very similar day, beginning, after warm-up, with a theory class, followed by a break, intermediate jazz, another break, and then beg/inter ballet.  Friday was a little different with warm-up, funk/hip-hop and jazz back-to-back.  I was getting a little giddy from hunger by the end of jazz!  Then we had our first funk/hip-hop syllabus class.  I coped surprisingly well considering my lack of hip-hop exposure and I loved the choreography.  Let’s see how I do on the exam!

During orientation I found out that as part of the Dance Teaching course we must attend jazz and ballet on Wednesdays (this term) with the certificate IV and diploma students, and on other days with the certificate III students.  Other classes are a mixture of syllabus classes with diploma student, classes by ourselves and theory.  We also have exams every 5 weeks for hip-hop, jazz and tap – that’s a bit daunting considering I’ve done very little hip-hop and tap before.  We will also be studying choreography, stage management and have to show our proficiency at dancing ballet, jazz and hip-hop with a partner.  We must also attend a one-day First Aid course.

After taking the tram on Wednesday (and suffering during the walk home) I decided to drive on Thursday.  Thankfully I found that driving was faster than taking the tram (which saves me the walk to/from the tram stop) and I managed to get parking so I will keep that up for a while.  It’s good to get home 30 minutes earlier so I can get more work done.

In terms of the course, so far all of the teachers seem very supportive and professional and a couple of them are great choreographers.  I had expected to feel a little old but I’m happy to find I’m not the eldest, or the shortest, or the fattest / skinniest, or the worst.  There are actually 3-4 other students around my age.  Being one of the teaching students I am held up as an example quite often (to my embarrassment), particularly to the certificate III students, so at least I know my technique is ok.

So that’s week one out of the way.  I managed to purchase a new leotard, tights, pants, legwarmers and tap shoes today.  It took me a while to find but I went to the Bloch store in Camberwell.  I couldn’t really do without tap shoes when I have an exam in 5 weeks!  Also, the uniform of leotard (no bra) and pink tights for ballet is pretty strict so I thought I better get one more leotard.  I’m getting used to having to wear 2-3 outfits per day just for school – and the loads of washing!!  Now I’m going to sit and relax, watch the first episode of Australia’s So You Think You Can Dance and prepare for my first full week of classes.

That decision, all those years of classes, the dreams and flights of fancy, the injuries, the rehearsals, the exams have all resulted in a dramatic turning point in my life: I have been accepted into a one-year full-time training course for dance teachers. I will attend 25 hours of classes per week consisting mostly of ballet and jazz but also funk and tap (whilst maintaining my web design business in the remaining time). I hope that at the end of the year I will emerge a technically proficient, wise and, most important of all, employable dance teacher.

So, as one of my clients says, I will not only be a multi-skilled web designer but also a dance teacher. Is it possible to somehow combine and promote the two? “Would you like a ballet class with that website madam?”. Somehow I think not but at least for me it’s a wonderful combination. Although nervous about how my body will cope with 20+ hours of dance per week, I’m very much looking forward to the year ahead!

So, I’ve been in Amsterdam for 2 months now, attending the Amsterdam Dance Centre. It’s a small school in an old converted church. It has one studio but it has classes every day of the week and given that it specialises in Jazz, Classical and some Hip-Hop / Modern, that’s a lot of choice for me. Throughout the summer they have had many guest teachers from the US, UK and the Netherlands and I’ve been soaking up their teachings as much as I can. In fact, I’ve been enjoying their classical classes so much that I’ve hardly attended any Jazz classes. And I’ve been attending between 4 and 6 classes a week. That’s a lot of dancing for me. But I’m loving it and I’ve really improved at classical – I’ve graduated from beginner to fully-fledge intermediate status

My plan, after starting work, is to attend at least 3 classes a week – one each of Jazz and Classical and then whatever else fits into my schedule. I’ll be taking home with me not only much better classical technique, fitness and flexibility but also a more broadened repertoire of Jazz choreography. I have to say, though the Classical technique training is excellent at this school, it does lack in Jazz technique – though this may be due to the range of guest teachers that I have been attending. I think it is a trend, nowadays, to teach fun, showy, funky Jazz choreography rather than focus on technique. Which is a shame because in not learning certain technique, students have a more limited range of choreography rather than a broader range. I am glad that my school back home focusses so much on Jazz technique – even though the teachers are not so uptodate with the latest choreographic styles.

I’m curious as to what the classes will be like once the summer program is over and they settle back to local teachers, that happens next month I think. I hope it is as good as it has been. It might be good to have a more settled schedule as well, since the teachers and class times are constantly changing.

So, on top of all this dancing and also riding my bide and walking, I’m managing to stay pretty fit. Let’s see if I can keep this up once I’m back at work sitting at a desk all day.

Sunday came around and I nervously arrived at the studio and sat my theory test straight away. That was easy. Then there was a lot of waiting until it was time for my class. The nervousness grew.

Finally my students arrived. Eight beautiful friends of mine whom I all owe big-time! We piled in to the studio and I managed to sputter out a legible introduction.

As I conducted the class, I managed to relax and enjoy myself. My friends helped to ease the tension also – particularly since a few of them were rather uncoordinated. I think I actually taught them a thing or two which was great and they all seemed to enjoy themselves.

Class over, I was asked to perform the Level 4 dance. This was good, I was hoping for either level 1 or level 4. It was so hot in the room (heating for the examiners) that I could barely breathe and forget smiling! I didn’t “perform” the dance as much as I knew I should have but then again, I never do.

Then it was on to demonstrations and explanations. I was only asked to do 4 (instead of 5) – flat back, simple turns, standing posture and knee bends in 1st and 2nd. My nervousness was at its peak and I spoke faster than I ever before! They asked me to slow down as I was making them nervous and take a breath.

Then it was solo time. I changed into my Jazz shoes (better for the tarquet flooring, as there is a split in my routine) and began with gusto. This was my own choreography and therefore all my strengths so I had to make it look good. However, all of a sudden I caught sight of my friends watching from outside and destroyed a double turn. Seconds later, disaster – I ended a move facing the wrong way and subsequently panicked and forgot the rest of the dance. The examiners told me not to worry – they had seen enough (which didn’t bode well for me)

Next, came demonstrations and explanations of 2 level exercises. Thankfully they chose easy ones for me. And the exam was over.

I came out of the room thinking I had only completed half of my solo and that I would surely fail. On later reflection I realised that I had only missed 3 lots of 8 counts of the routine, which accounted for about 10 seconds – out of 2.5 minutes.

So, apprehensively I attended my normal casual Intermediate Jazz class last night (taken by one of the examiners, which the other examiner normally attends). My friends in the class all asked me how I went and I told them. After class the teacher asked me if I had asked for my results yet. I hadn’t as the exam results normally take 3 weeks. However, I happened to ask as the teacher in charge of the results was walking into the reception and she told me that I PASSED!!! She couldn’t tell me anything else yet but that was enough for me.

Then my teacher told everyone how nervous I was and they all told me stories about how nervous they were. I told here that I had known my solo back to front and she told me that I knew everything back to front and that I did very well.

Relief.

Wow, I am now qualified to teach levels 1-4 of the school’s syllabus as well as beginner Jazz. I’m also qualified to teach beginner Funk and Tap but I have to learn how to dance in those styles first.

Yay!

Sunday came around and I nervously arrived at the studio and sat my theory test straight away. That was easy. Then there was a lot of waiting until it was time for my class. The nervousness grew.

Finally my students arrived. Eight beautiful friends of mine whom I all owe big-time! We piled in to the studio and I managed to sputter out a legible introduction.

As I conducted the class, I managed to relax and enjoy myself. My friends helped to ease the tension also – particularly since a few of them were rather uncoordinated. I think I actually taught them a thing or two which was great and they all seemed to enjoy themselves.

Class over, I was asked to perform the Level 4 dance. This was good, I was hoping for either level 1 or level 4. It was so hot in the room (heating for the examiners) that I could barely breathe and forget smiling! I didn’t “perform” the dance as much as I knew I should have but then again, I never do.

Then it was on to demonstrations and explanations. I was only asked to do 4 (instead of 5) – flat back, simple turns, standing posture and knee bends in 1st and 2nd. My nervousness was at its peak and I spoke faster than I ever before! They asked me to slow down as I was making them nervous and take a breath.

Then it was solo time. I changed into my Jazz shoes (better for the tarquet flooring, as there is a split in my routine) and began with gusto. This was my own choreography and therefore all my strengths so I had to make it look good. However, all of a sudden I caught sight of my friends watching from outside and destroyed a double turn. Seconds later, disaster – I ended a move facing the wrong way and subsequently panicked and forgot the rest of the dance. The examiners told me not to worry – they had seen enough (which didn’t bode well for me)

Next, came demonstrations and explanations of 2 level exercises. Thankfully they chose easy ones for me. And the exam was over.

I came out of the room thinking I had only completed half of my solo and that I would surely fail. On later reflection I realised that I had only missed 3 lots of 8 counts of the routine, which accounted for about 10 seconds – out of 2.5 minutes.

So, apprehensively I attended my normal casual Intermediate Jazz class last night (taken by one of the examiners, which the other examiner normally attends). My friends in the class all asked me how I went and I told them. After class the teacher asked me if I had asked for my results yet. I hadn’t as the exam results normally take 3 weeks. However, I happened to ask as the teacher in charge of the results was walking into the reception and she told me that I PASSED!!! She couldn’t tell me anything else yet but that was enough for me.

Then my teacher told everyone how nervous I was and they all told me stories about how nervous they were. I told here that I had known my solo back to front and she told me that I knew everything back to front and that I did very well.

Relief.

Wow, I am now qualified to teach levels 1-4 of the school’s syllabus as well as beginner Jazz. I’m also qualified to teach beginner Funk and Tap but I have to learn how to dance in those styles first.

Yay!

At least now I have the level dances committed to memory, I think. I’m more confident with them. The theory – not so much….

Ah, it’s all too much… Why do I put myself through these things???

Speaking of music, I found out I couldn’t use my chosen song for the dance routine because it had swear words in it and as they no longer sell the radio-edit version I bit the bullet and switched songs. I managed to choose a song that suited my choreography so at least I didn’t have to start again. Phew! I had choreographed about 10 lots of 8 counts when I realised just how long the routine was. After checking with the teacher she said that we’d probably only have enough time to teach about 8 lots of 8 but still had to choreograph 16 lots of 8 so that put me at ease!

The biggest thing now, on top of rehearsing all of that and studying the theory, is choreographing my solo! I had started but wasn’t satisfied with what I had done but now I really need to knuckle down and get it done because it’s going to be longer and harder than the beginner routine. Also I had a sort of attitude thing going in the beginner routine and I have to figure out what sort of attitude / theme to have in my solo rather than just tacking together a bunch of double turns, kicks and jumps. My job for this weekend I think, trying to fit that around my 3rd wedding for the year…

Speaking of music, I found out I couldn’t use my chosen song for the dance routine because it had swear words in it and as they no longer sell the radio-edit version I bit the bullet and switched songs. I managed to choose a song that suited my choreography so at least I didn’t have to start again. Phew! I had choreographed about 10 lots of 8 counts when I realised just how long the routine was. After checking with the teacher she said that we’d probably only have enough time to teach about 8 lots of 8 but still had to choreograph 16 lots of 8 so that put me at ease!

The biggest thing now, on top of rehearsing all of that and studying the theory, is choreographing my solo! I had started but wasn’t satisfied with what I had done but now I really need to knuckle down and get it done because it’s going to be longer and harder than the beginner routine. Also I had a sort of attitude thing going in the beginner routine and I have to figure out what sort of attitude / theme to have in my solo rather than just tacking together a bunch of double turns, kicks and jumps. My job for this weekend I think, trying to fit that around my 3rd wedding for the year…

My teacher gave us some literature regarding teaching and warmups which is really interesting. I also found a good article about stretching that I’ve had for a while and use myself at home. The more I read about stretching the more I realise how important it is to stretch the right things in the right way in the right order. Order is almost as important as correctness. For example, you should make sure your calf muscles are stretched before stretching hamstrings as they are related. Lots of muscles are either grouped together or act as balances for each other and over-stretching one set may either cause damage or imbalance in other areas.

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