Session Two Day Eleven (TR)

Class One Jazz (Younger):
We had a fun day today! I decided to try and do the isolations seated, for both classes, to try and help them distinguish movement of their hips and their ribs. It worked pretty well! It is a lot harder to use your hips to move your body when you have both sitz bones on the ground, and they looked good! I think it will still be a while before I can have them move just their ribs while standing, but I think this is good progress, and a good solution to the problem.
We still worked on the usual things; pirouettes, kicks, leaps, chaines, side leaps, and normal leaps, but I began to combine things together. I had her do 8 counts of kicks and then an 8 count pirouette (the music was kind of slow) and it worked pretty well! She got mixed up about which foot to use when starting the pirouettes, but I think that was more me confusing her as I tried to mirror her (I may have done it backwards the first few times). I think with practice we'll be able to get them down really well!
The stag leaps are coming along pretty well too! She gets mixed up with which foot should leap, but they're getting better. I had her practice a high chaine and a low chaine with out the leap before we started the stags, and that seemed to help. She still bounces between each step, which throws off her momentum, but that'll come with more practice.

Class One Jazz (Older):
This class went well too! The girls are getting a little more rowdy, and want to play tag through all the exercises, but they are doing well. We did pirouettes, kicks, kick and pirouette combination, side leaps, leaps, chaines, and I began to teach them how to do a floor roll. We started by doing one chaine and then tucked the back leg to allow us to do a bum roll so we could come back to standing and turn under ourselves. It was pretty rough, but I think they'll get it with practice. I am hoping we can do chaines into a bum roll into two chasses and a side leap, but it'll probably be a few weeks before we attempt that. We made it farther in the hip hop routine, and they are doing well. They understand the counts pretty well, (even if their counting with the music still needs a little work). They all take corrections really well and are a delight to work with.

Day Eight

Today went well. We did the Rhythm game to warm up (a song that has you move and rest for specific times) which was more aerobic than I'd expected, but it was good. Nest we did some stretching, and I tried to do some less strenuous stretched and do a little bit more fluid movements. We worked on pirouettes, kicks, leaps, and chaines. Then we learned a new combination (eight counts of kicks and one pirouette) which they didn't like but that they did very well with and then practiced our combination from last time. We ended with freeze dance because they seemed a little worn out in mind and body. 

Having the girls freeze dance while coming back from drinks has worked pretty well. It makes me feel like we aren't wasting time, but that none of the girls are missing anything either. 

After the other girls left, we played the Jungle Game, the Rhythm Game and did some stretching (only one of the late comers came again). Both of us were pretty tired, and it was hard to come up with things to do that filled the time enough but didn't take up a ton of energy. 

The youngest girl didn't actually cry, but she hid behind some chairs and wouldn't come out until I offered to let her "be the teacher." I had her tell us when to start our combination, but she didn't really perk up much or dance with us again until freeze dance at the end. I am not really sure what was wrong. One of my friends suggested that she is doing it for attention, and maybe I'll have to single her out a little bit more, but my natural reaction to people seeking attention is to ignore them. I don't want to baby her or stop the class for her, but I want her to dance and learn as well...

It has been kind of a struggle for me energy wise lately. It has been hard to find the energy to do all that I need to do body wise (I have 3-4.5 hours of dance before each day of teaching) but the students seem more worn out as well. I wonder how to help with that... Maybe do some yoga or slow sustained movements? I am hoping to teach maybe one combination more and then put together the dance. It's cutting it a little close, but I think we can make it work. Hopefully. I think a good deal of it will be poses or tricks, and then the two combinations that I have already taught them. The girls decided to name the one with the fan kick "The Happy Combination" and the one with the kicks and pirouettes "The Straight One." It was pretty cute. 

It has been so exciting to get to work with these girls and see their progression and excitement. I am realizing that if they come back for next session I am going to need to have a lot more lesson plans and a greater variety of movement and activities for them though!

Day Seven

We did the usual exercises today, but we went through them faster so we could learn new material. The students are beginning to remember how to do each step and how they start, which is very exciting because it means we can focus more on technique and begin adding other concepts and steps.

We learned a simple combo today (it was very cute to see how wide-eyed they got at the new word) and it went very well! They learned it quickly, and were able to do it by themselves by the end of class. It was quite fun and exciting!

The main technique we focused on was spotting during all of the different types of turns that we practiced. We talked about spotting without tilting our heads and I used the image of your chin staying on a table, but I think it was a little difficult for the dancers to understand. I think I might try a book or something on the top of their heads, and see if that helps.

We also attempted to do kicks on a beat, which was fun, if a little messy. There was definite improvement from last class though! Mostly it is a struggle to get them to do the step before the kick on a beat as well, but we'll keep working on it. It will be exciting to see them continue to improve.

After we practiced each exercise I had the dancers try and do it on their own (without my verbal ques or physical example). They did quite well and I was very impressed with their willingness to step up to a challenge.

Our youngest dancer got discouraged at one point, but she cheered up after we did silly high fives. I think she is doing better at facing new steps and not getting discouraged.

It's very funny and interesting to see the different parents who are so involved in their child's dancing and proper technique. In a way it is very exciting and fun, but it also worries me. If a child has too many authoritative figures giving them corrections it is easy for them to become discouraged, but so far the children have seemed fine.

One of the late comers was absent today, so I only had one student until 5:30. We did some simple games (freeze dance, a rhythm game, and a creative game involving jungle animals). Then we stretched and left a little bit early because we were both a little worn out.

Overall I am pleased with the progress that these dancers are making and I really enjoy keeping them on their toes and trying to not do the same type of class twice in a row. I think it makes the class more engaging for the students and for me as a teacher.