Day Five

I created a counting game to warm up for this day. I was planning on having us do four different movements four times each and then three and then two and then once, to create a fun and silly environment and to help each girl develop a sense of internal counting and rhythm. I planned on doing it once slowly, a few times more quickly and then a few times with music that had a strong down beat to help them practice counting. I created two sets the first was hop, run, jump, and wiggle and the second was releve, skip, spin, and a hamstring stretch (this latter one had movements that would take two counts so we would approach it at half time).
When I began to execute it, I realized that these students would need more time to understand and execute this game, so we only did the first set and did not advance to doing it with music. I may simplify it for next week and see if the students can do it on their own.

I was also hoping to get done with pirouettes before the second set of students came (so that the rest of class would be less rushed and we would have more to do after the first group left), but one girl came at about fifteen after so we had just finished stretching. The rest of class went smoothly, and we revisited pirouettes after the first group of students had left. The student who came early had to leave early as well, so the last fifteen minutes I only had my newest student, which turned out really well. We were able to work on her leaps (using a large scarf as "purple mud" to help her visualize and embody the concept of going from one foot to the other instead of a more skipping motion), and do a small amount of stretching which greatly helped her technique.

The youngest dancer cried and had a bit of a melt down when I tried to help her do her chaines correctly (she was flipping back and forth instead of making complete circles). I'm not really sure what to do with her. I want her to be comfortable and happy, but I also want her to be able to learn and do the exercises correctly.