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Today in ballet I did fouettés. I have been practising these all week. I have wanted to do them for years. I can now do them. I am so happy I can do them because I have always struggled with ballet and turns and this is a big accomplishment I have done.

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Today we went over our assessment work. I am confident with my work and I think it looks good. I was told to look up more and to fall at the end so I will make sure to do that. We keep trying to go more slow every time we do it.

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Today we went over the assessment phrase and I am confident with it but two of my three peers weren’t in so we couldn’t practise timing. I will plan to practise with them another day before the day.

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Today we went over the assessment phrase and I feel confident with it. I am struggling with the roll so I am going to practise it for the assessment. I know how to do it I just have to practise the movement as it is new. Rolls always take time for me so I am not annoyed I am struggling with it and I am not struggling with it as much as I was the first week.

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Today we went over the assessment phrase and I wasn’t feeling very well so I couldn’t go full out but I tried my best and I am confident with the moves.

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Today I was ill but I watched the video of the class so I could catch up on Monday.

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Today we spent time on our partner work but my partner was not very well so we spoke about what to practise and what to add to our dance as we had finished our dance. We agreed we need to go slow and give energy.

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Today we finished our contact part of our quartet and I am happy with it. We do different lifts and it works and we have enough work so that it goes in to the dance part of the assessment phrase so our next steps are to go over the timing.

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Today we did our assessment phrase in our groups and I was my feedback was to connect each move to the next and link them and be more relaxed. I will practise doing this when I do the phrase.

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Not timetabled to be in.

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We started learning one of our technique phrases that is part of our assessment towards lawrence’s class. I noticed when learning this part of the piece the movements were executed as quick but with moments of fluidity. I struggled picking up certain steps in the piece that were key to make the piece more fluid. I usually struggle picking up simple foot work steps as my processing issues get in the way. We were able to film the phrase towards the end of the lesson so i was able to pick up from the video on where i needed to work on the key steps that i struggled with within the piece. To help myself move forward with feeling more comfortable and confident with the assessment movement, i will find my own time and effort to commit towards these steps as i know if i don’t i won’t feel as if i worked it out myself and would improve myself further as a performer.

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This week during Katie’s class i really wanted to work on being grounded in our assessment phrase. The beginning move in her piece is crucial to stay grounded so you can see the effect of deepening in second as well as controlling ur arms and ur back. To make sure i successfully pulled this off, i took my socks off. Usually when i perform i always wear socks as i use them for more fluidity in my movements, but i can see that wearing them i am restricted from being grounded in my feet. Taking my socks off, keeps me grounded and i am able to perform more fuller movements.

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Today I did hitt and it was really fun. I am still really weak so some exercises are so hard but I gave all my energy and did what I could. I think if I keep going I will eventually get stronger. I will continue to try my hardest in each class because I probably could do more than I think is possible.

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Today we worked on our contact work. We finished ours so we adapted it. We changed the choreography so it connects more. We made it slower. We made a story to the dance. We will continue to change it and ensure there is fluidity in the whole thing.

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Today we worked on our quartet. It was fun to play about. There were lifts that didn’t work but the whole point of the class was to try stuff. We managed to make some lifts join so it was still a successful class and we made a start. We will try not to complicate things and stress about lifts. We will just do lifts that connect from the previous section.

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Today we went over the assessment phrase. I am getting better with the roll. I still don’t put my hips up because I don’t have time to correct my position in the dance. I will go over the roll in my own time so I can do it easy.

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Today we learned our assessment phrase. It was easy picking up the movement but it was so fast. It was hard but once I understood the connection I did it right so I will keep doing it until the dance feels easy.

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This week in Claires class me and Lauren started creating our assessment contact phrase. We found things such as deciding where to start and how to move through each contact movement quite challenging. However, we are continuing to practice outside of class which is really helping and making an improvement to our phrase.

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This week we started to learn our assessment phrases so that was my focus for the week to really make sure I was taking in all information given to me. I was also trying to pace my energy so marking when needed and then remember to breathe when practicing our phrases really helped pace me through each class.

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After Easter we jumped back into contact which I found a bit overwhelming at first but swiftly got more comfortable with it again after practice in Lawrence and Claires classes

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In Marta's class this week, from receiving feedback I haver realised in the technique phrase I need to soften my chest in a particular movement so I have made sure to apply that when rehearsing the phrase. In contact classes I am building more confidence when trying out new things.

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This week we were working on transitions in contact and how to get from one olace to another including lifts. We explored going fast and slow allowing us to listen to our partners. I am happy with how contact is going and aim to try out different approaches for going into and out of different lifts.

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This week we worked on more contact work and how to expand our moves and make them more efficient. I feel these classes are getting easier as I trust Bryony more each session to take my weight.

We also are working out our assessment phrases and working on dancing for ourselves and making the choreography our own, which I feel I am improving on.

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I love contact classes as it helps us connect as a group within working on trust. I find working with Vahid and Jodie very interesting as i can see myself working both ways. I feel with Jodie we both lift and support eachother through movements. We both have similar ideas and help eachother through contact as i have never been a base, so having her support has helped my confidence to lift. Vahid on the other hand, i can find myself doing more complex and abstract lift work with him. Working with vahid i feel more like a flyer, in which i am more confident with as i have done alot of acrobatic contact previously. But, recently when working on improvisation contact i’ve been enjoying being able to take on his weight to create a sense of balance between us when performing.

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I really enjoyed Martas class this week as i fell as if i was able to move more with the use of fluidity. Marta gave us many great examples of how we can show more fluidity during movement used for our upcoming assessment in technique. This helped me a lot as i felt i gained something from that class that can help me further beyond university. Something i worked on was seeing the floor as something that i needed to stay connected to when performing floor movements such as the first slide floor work within our assessed piece.

Something i need to work on within martas class is keeping up my stamina, making sure that i am engaging fully within class. This is probably because im not eating well enough or getting enough rest for my body. Some things that help me get ready for class is eating food, going to bed earlier and waking up earlier to do morning stretches or to walk to uni which will help increase my energy levels

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in Marta’s we mainly focused on our assessment phrase. we linked two phrases that we know together which for me then got confusing on the timing. however when watching back the video from class I noticed that i am showing those clear dynamic quality changes no matter being out of time.

we focused on contact work in Lawrence’s class which helped a lot with trying out new lifts and getting more comfortable with them. we started to piece a little bit together for our quartets for the assessment. i work well with ella jemma and amy due to all being quite similar in the way we dance and there is never any clashing when communicating. amy and i also smashed our lifts this week!

in claire’s class we did another improve jam which gets my mind off the assessment and just solely doing what i want to do. we tested out a few new lifts but also went over ones we already know, to see what ones we want to include into our phrase.

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Today I had yoga and it was really nice to stretch and give time to every bit of the body. In ballet, it was really tricky as we do not do a lot of it and I never used to do ballet so I do not have the form yet. I will keep persevering and trying and I am motivated to get neater.

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Today we continued working on our partner work and we focused on transitioning from the lifts and we have a lot of ideas already but we are trying to work out what lifts work and what is messy. We also experimented with going slow and we also experimented with sound.

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Today we did a contact work phrase and me and Kitty did really well together and I am happy with how the contact work is going. We know what we do well and we know what we do bad so we will spend more time on the bad bits.

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Today we learnt the full assessment phrase. It was a long phrase and I am finding it really fast but with practise and help I will know it. There is one roll that needs work but I got advice from the teacher and she taught me the technique of how to do it because I was doing it and just not landing.

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Today we were told to not worry about the choreography and make it our dance. Usually I would be anxious to go full out and be big but I was confident to go big even though I barely knew the dance because I am not bothered anymore about having to always look pretty.

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In Natalie’s class she said to us, dance for yourself stop worrying about what the “right steps are” and start embracing who I am as a dancer and what makes me unique

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I was ill this week

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In Claire’s class we went over some contact we did last term and learnt some new ways to get on and

Off our partner, it was interesting to learn some new lifts and different ways to move with your partner as well

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Over the holidays I’ve been consistently going to the gym and training and in drills I’ve noticed such an improvement with my strength and stamina, I’m finding things a lot easier and my stability in my handstands and other handstand drills have improved significantly, it reminds me that if i want things to work better i need to put in the effort outside of the studio as well

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We looked at ways to roll on and off your partner and we created a long ish sequence in a duo and “played” around keeping things flowing together, I found this interesting as you never knew what your partner was going to do so you had to listen with your body and try be intuitive

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Martas class

We did a lot of spiral work and focusing on finishing the spiral before continuing on to the next move. I enjoy doing spiral movements as I feel like lately I’ve been trying to improve my flow of things, Also trying to keep the head tail connection as well.

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Contact

I really enjoyed this week as I feel quite confident with contact, it was good to find out effective ways to get on and off our partner and not loosing contact with each other whilst keeping it smooth

And controlled

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Assessment week

We just rehearsed for our assessments this week,

Going in our groups and doing the phrases, trying to work out spacing and timing

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In Natalie’s class we focused on head tail connection, keeping our eyeliner up, finding musicality and dynamic changes.

In everyone’s class this week a common theme was musicality

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Today we learned the assessment phrase which I am finding hard but it’s because it’s fast and I am confident that when I know it better I will be able to do it easy. I will practise and ask Katie for help.

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Today we did contact work. My partner wasn’t in so when we started our duets I researched some lifts. I am comfortable dancing with kitty as we communicate well and listen to each other and we are both similar abilities with lifting.

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Today we did some new phrases and then a phrase we did before and it potentially is the assessment phrase which would be good as I really like it and think I do it well. I am confident if I have to perform it. We did some contact work and it was fun doing something different because it was sort of ballroom like.

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Today I had a 1-1 for my technique progress essay and it was very helpful. I understood how to write my paragraphs and how to structure the essay. I caught up on the assessment phrase I missed.

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Not timetabled to be in.

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when watching back the assessment phrase video from Marta’s class I noticed that I let my head go throughout the whole thing which is quite eye catching, I fully extend every move to the extreme and no move is rushed! however I need to work on my balance control and get deeper into each of the lunges.

we went through the assessment phrase in Lawrence’s which I am starting to get more confident with but we also tried out a little duet phrase that involved some lifts and held positions that i have never done before. Amy and I smashed a lift that both of us haven’t done together but it will definitely be added into our quartet for the assessment phrase.

Claire gave each duet some time to start thinking of weight bearing moves and lifts to add for the assessment phrase that we have done in class. Amy and I managed to get quite a bit done which makes it a little less stressful for the assessment but we will definitely need to clean up the phrase we created today. The last 15 minutes of class was a ‘does the spaces need me?’ Can’t remember the name Claire called it but it was so freeing and can literally do whatever you want, don’t have to follow anyone else, no storyline and just play any random music. This managed to realise any stress I had and I left feeling more confident.

Katie’s classes are very fast paced and definitely are going to keep me on my toes! We went over exercise phrases that work on feet, balance and the way we hold ourselves. The assessment phrase got changed to a phrase that we got taught before Easter and I couldn’t be happier because this phrase I am comfortable and confident with but also know very well. I have that fluidity throughout when I watched myself but I need to make sure I don’t rush just because it’s quick!

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throughout marta’s we started our assessment phrase and it is definitely going to be a challenge for me. There are a lot of turns and balance control moves which I can slack at unless I really focus and get into the zone. I am going to make sure that I watch back the videos we filmed today and look at where I can improve.

In Lawrence’s technique class we focused more on phrases, going over things we already know and keeping a fast pace. This helped me in a way so then I don’t overthink the lifts for the phrase and can focus more on my technique. A phrase that we got taught last term is our assessment phrase, but it is very hard so i am going to make sure I practice.

we did more contact improvisation in claire’s which I am starting to get a bit more comfortable with, so then hopefully by the assessment day I feel more confident. Tried out a couple lifts with amy which we filmed and going to practice them as we will use them for our assessment phrase.

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since being back after Easter, we are starting to think about lifts and contact work more within Lawrence’s and Claire’s technique classes, for the end phrases. Marta’s and Katie’s classes are more about dynamic changes and flowing through the movements. Throughout technique for the phrases in June I am going to really think about contact improvisation, pushing myself with new, harder lifts and not over complicating that fluidity throughout my dancing, which I’d say I am quite good at anyways.

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I heard this phrase from Katie in a session when she was asking us to critically evaluate our movement by ourselves after dancing a phrase, I find this very helpful in bringing instant awareness of what I was doing. By doing so, I could spot my weaknesses each time I was dancing, and one of the bold ones was my significant inability to translate a phrase on the opposite side, although Katie asked us not to criticise ourselves negatively, having this in mind would help me to be working on the weaknesses I have and working towards improving them.

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During Claire's contact improv classes I feel I have really grown and improved with confidence, I am trying to actively attempt lifts and movements that are out of my comfort zone to push myself. I am getting better at being more 'floppy' and dropping my head to allow twisting motions. Spent a lot of this session going backwards which has previously been something I'm very opposed to however I'm now less stressed about. With the help of spotters I achieved a supported walkover with is something I didn't think I had the ability to do weeks ago.

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I feel I have improved with trust within myself when performing 'falling' moves or big jumps/rolls when I have to absorb the energy into the floor. The more confident I get with the mechanics of which body parts I'm landing the bigger, riskier and explosive these moves can be. An important element I have found to help with this is momentum, although scary, commitment is important to ensure I'm moving through these moments and not landing harshly. In Lawrence's class this week I really felt like I saw a significant shift.

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The main thing I took away from the week was about releasing tension in my upper body and not holding my breath. I have time to indulge and include my whole upper body and chest when performing so by relaxing a little it looks more effortless and less stiff. By reviewing videos from this past week I can see a difference when these notes are applied. Especially in Katie's class where the moves don't always have to be so placed you can flow through them.

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Today I did hitt and I am extremely proud of myself for going full out until I needed to stop despite being really tired. I am weak so I find anything with weights hard but I used the lightest weight and did good. Since being told I need to breathe more I do it and it really helped me. I feel really fit after doing it and I am going to do more classes.

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Today we did contact work and I did enter my red zone. We have three zones in contact work which is where you're comfortable, where you’re uncomfortable but still ok and when you’re completely tense don’t like doing something. There were moves that I did not do and there moves I did not like but tried so I did ok and I did learn new skills. It will become more natural.

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Today we had our first technique lesson with Lawrence. I enjoyed the phrases and I felt very confused learning them but when we did the phrases on the second side I picked it up really quick as swapping it was easy to carry out due to the fact that I eventually understood the phrase and could dance it and not stop dancing.

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Today we also did the same phrases as last week and I am getting stronger with holding my leg up and I am learning to engage all muscles. I really enjoy the assessment phrase because I get to be slow and add emotion. I do not know the moves completely yet so I will keep practising.

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Today we did the same phrases as last week and I am starting to know them better and I am now able to add emotion and dynamic. Some of the phrases have turns and that is one of the biggest things I need to work on because I either turn not enough or too much and I need to practise coming out of it. I know for something like turns it is a practise makes perfect situation.

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In Martas class we continued some new phrases and I feel more comfortable with the material. I am able to take up space and expand my kinesphere. With this I have also been able to show different dynamics more effectively.

In Lawrences class we were focusing on spinal twists and using head and tail connection to help the material flow. This is something that I have been working on and feel more confident to use my head and allow it to flow freely.

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Lawrence’s salsa class:

I enjoyed Lawrence’s salsa technique session even though it was cut short due to an eye appointment. It’s a style that i’ve only even been taught by, by Lawrence and it’s such a challenging a style as there’s many aspects of technique that you need that you may not even thought about. This is such as, the head placement within partner work. As well as making sure you keep your alignment stable, your foot work is perfect and, your arm placement is stable. It was a challenge for myself to keep my head turned towards the side the whole time we completed the steps as i felt i wasn’t in control. I learnt to have fun in this class and i found it fascinating learning more about the technique which is key towards salsa dancing.

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We did some more contact in Claires class, mostly going over what we had already learnt. This was useful as going over the basics after a break reminded us all what positions we needed to be in to take and give weight. I feel more confident and comfortable to share and take weight now and know where to be to ensure its safe.

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As we approach the deadline for your written component/presentation, I would like you all to look back at the initial video that was shared with you during Unit launch about reflective practice. The key point of the assignment is to write reflectively, asking yourself questions such as: why? what does this mean for me and my practice? what can i do differently moving forward? what have I learnt from this experience? etc...

Looking at your entries, some of you are still writing descriptively, meaning you are purely describing what you did in class, which is not part of the brief, nor is going to help your development. Please scroll back through all the tasks that have been giving throughout the Unit, as a lot of the resources you will need to support your writing are there and on Canvas.

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Today I really enjoyed the phrases and I felt very calm and relaxed. It was a great environment and I felt confident when I danced. I was watching how Katie taught the class and I made notes of the things that made me like the class so that I can be like that in the future.

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Today we did contact in class and we went over the things we did in the term before. We then did some new lifts and it was fun to experiment and do new things.

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Today we did a beginner and advanced tango and salsa lesson with Lawrence as he is our unit leader and he teaches a class to the community so it helps with people who want to do community. He asked us to think about what he did well and what he could do better. I paid attention to the teaching and it was useful.

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Today we did some different warm ups to usual which I really enjoyed. We did ballet exercises which are helping me with balance and some kicks which is useful because I am good with my right but not so good with my left. We also did some new dances which was exciting.

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Not timetabled to be in.

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In weeks time, I start to notice improvements in Marta’s class, I start gain confidence in taking risks when I try the movements and so has my breathing which keeps the fluidity in movements. I still need to focus on my leaps but I’ve started to focus on my pointing feet. In Claire’s class, we started to try out ways to put on each others weight as we try to find ways to create balance on my partners back to get off and back on.

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In Marta’s class, we focused more into spiralling to know more into the fluidity in the movements. Using the spirals, I know I need to focus on my eye line in spotting to know I’m going towards that directions and to keep myself in balance. I also noticed my weakness is leaps which I know I tend to flex my foot which I should improve on to keep my feet pointed, especially in turn outs. In Lawrence’s class, we started picking up what we did last class. Following up on lifts, I know that I still need to improve to being stronger to be able to be a lifter. In Claire’s class, I know I’ve been improving myself step by step on contact improvisation as I start to feel comfortable. We also included on practicing lifts with my partner Beth, I knew that we could work well in contact work.

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In Katie’s class, we focused on travels to expand our strengths in our areas of the body which made me notice that I should work improving my stamina to avoid struggles in my movements, especially in arms and abs. Learning the technique phrases, reflects towards me on knowing to keep my dynamics sharp but slow at parts. I should be aware to keep breathing as it keeps the flow of the movements steady. In Marta’s class, I start to experience the spiral turns by leaving my head behind until the next movements, I still need to improve the use of spirals as it gives the risk of suspense and to be put into the phrase we learn. In Claire’s class, we focused on massaging on our partners, which helped me learn to know the areas of the muscles. Using those points, helped me know where I should focus on strengthening the muscles.

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We started on contact work and in Laurence class, we focused on something simple to start, learning jumps with my partner knowing the steps and taking turns. In Claire’s, we worked on contact improvisation which I knew that I had to improve in knowing what to do. For me, it was something new to experience and it made me come to learn a new experience.

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It was the techniques assessment, so I recapped all feedbacks that needed to be worked on, focused on the dynamics and where my eye line should be when performing. I reflected on knowing making the use of the space as to being aware of people around you, and using my moments to travel around the space which would expand on my dynamics to create an explosive movements when it occurs. I also understood the musicality in knowing when to hit the beats within my movements.

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As we continued to focus on Marta’s class, I continued to make sure my movements were to be in sharp dynamics and to know that I should keep keeping the momentum going as I usually overthink and cause a stop in my movements. This is to tell me that I should keep using my own goal to improve myself to be confident in knowing movements and accepts mistakes. I also know I should use the space where I use big movements and should be aware of my special awareness around others so I know where and how I came use my movements.

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For this week, in Claire’s class, we started to learn more on some technique phrases which would involve the assessment. I’ve learned that it’s okay to make a mistake as long as you known it and enjoy. This reflects to me to know that I should be a characters as I perform my movements hence it’s something that I try to involve when performing my movements in phrases. Using that key point, this would give me the constant to train my performance in other parts. In Natalie’s class, I noticed that I needed to keep my head heavy and smooth to parts where it comes last until the next movements.

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In Natalie’s class, I worked on the same abs exercises and planks which made me able to hold on the going through the exercise without struggle, this made me notice that my core strength improved that can help with movements. As we started with the assessment, I noticed that I have some elements in taking risk as I struggle to take to suspense as I do the handstands so I tried to improve my confidence with being careful. I’ve also struggled to balance my turns so I know that I should be working on spotting on the direction to where my movement will continue. In Marta’s class, I know that I had to focus on my making my movements sharp and to show confidence in movements for the assessment. I needed to focus on making most movements into being gestural so it would show how I would own the movements.

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In Ian’s class, we focused on improving our selves to knowing what we need to know for the assessment. We learned knowing about the structure of our body and with knowing it, I noticed improvements as we used travel sequences using handstands which improves my arm muscles to being stronger on certain parts that would help me for the assessment. This also relates to reaching towards the kinesphere. In Marta’s class, we start to set a challenge on our goal to focus on which mine was, don’t stop and keep going even if you made a mistake, be confident with your movements. We started with warms ups that would help me with my core strength which I know that it was something that I had to reflect on to parts of the movements that was key to the assessment. In Claire’s class, we focused on small phrases that I did find some parts difficult and fast to learn which I need to work on my muscle memory to knowing parts of movements.

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In our session with Claire this week, she used a metaphor: move, as in you pour water in each other’s cup. Having this idea in mind and working with my partner, I instantly realised when it was the right time to give my weight to my partner and when to take her weight in return. Trying to find balance in both instances was my takeaway from that session, and I believe this is an important factor in increasing my awareness when working with a partner.

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We worked on our assessment phrases this week, I was quite ill so I sat out for most classes,

A bit part of martas class was finding musicality and lifting our eyeline up and engaging with the audience

In ians, reaching to and past our kinesphere and conserving our energy and momentum throughout the phrase

And Claire’s, she asked us to have fun with the phrase and embody a character

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I was told in martas classes that I should be brave in my movements and to remember the reason I’m being trained is to be observed so be confident in my movements and lift my eyeline up

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I wasn’t here for this week

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This week in Lawrence's class we tried some bigger lifts and then in Claires contact class we tried different ways of how to get on and off of eachother when your weight is on them. In Marta's class we learnt some new movement and I think I have gained so much more confidence when trying movements that I would be less quick to try last year for example a shoulder stand. Another thing we did was leaps from the corner and for me this is something I have never really trained in but I gave it a go and asked Marta if she could help me with it so that I knew I was doing it correctly. I definitely need more practice on things like leaps but this is something that will come with practice

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This week I am starting to feel as if I am getting a lot more confident with the improvisational contact work. I am trying to remember it doesn't matter what it looks like and just throwing myself into things more without overthinking it. The set lifts we learn I feel are just about getting better at them the more we repeat and practice them. Also in Marta's class we continued to look at spiralling and including our head as it follows, I feel over the last couple of weeks I have really improved with this.

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In Marta"s technique classes I feel like I am showing that I am improving a lot more when including my head in movements and not leaving it behind by implementing this into phrases we learn. Also in Katie's class we are being pushed a lot more on rally's from the side, sometimes I struggle with this because of my low iron etc. but I feel from doing this my stamina has improved and I am doing well to know myself when I need to slow down or take a break. In Claires class we did some massaging at the beginning and it's good to learn more about this and also I feel I probably needed it.

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This week we started contact work. In our first class with Lawrence we started of quite simple to ease into it especially if we haven't done it before. I feel at this stage I am ok with being a base person or the person being lifted. But I feel most of the times it made more sense for me to be the lifter. In Claires contact class it was something new to me as I hadn't done contact improvisation before and is good to start trying and thinking about something new.

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This was the week of the technique assessment. I reminded myself not stress myself out over it and just perform to my best. I feel as if when it's either an assessment or a performance I manage to bring the performances to life and perform at my best. For there assessment I wanted to remember all the smaller details of feedback I had been given for example, on certain movements palms facing up, dynamic changes and quality and also musicality. I am very happy with how these technique phrases and assessment went.

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In all classes this week I continued to try and push myself the most I can so I can get as much out of it and learn from each task or phrase we learn. In Marta's class when continuing to learn the technique phrase I continued to make the dynamic changes clear and also as the phrase travels, to make sure I know which movements to use to travel as much as I can as sometimes the phrase travels one way and I needed to not travel on certain movements but travel more on others as I would end up too close to the wall, and I think I did this very well.

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This week when learning Claire's technique phrase we were reminded to remember to perform the phrase and become a character, which was something I was trying to bring to all rehearsals anyway, as I am constantly trying to work on training and performing in class how I would on stage. Also to not always worry about making movements look pretty but attack each movement however is needed. In Natalie's class we focused a bit on eyeline and this helped me also with how I am trying to improve connecting my head into movements and not leaving it, which I believe I am getting better at. Then in Ian's class I was trying to focus on making movements flow and not rushing even if it is quick.

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Stick to the problem, try to find a solution!

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Stick to the problem, try to find a solution!

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In contact improvisation class with Claire, we learn what to do and where to go when we are in certain positions. For example, if someone is at the table top the other person can roll on the person’s back. It can be done by rolling on the back or front of the body. The same principles are applied when one person is doing squat. So far I find it problematic to intuitively find myself and my partner in those certain positions where we can initiate what we learned. However, to create a unique movement I think we need to have a pause and find a solution for different moments when we don't know what to do and where to go so sticking with the problem which I heard in one social media post can be a way of finding the solution to generate new yet principle-based material for our contact improvisation class.

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This week was the week of our performance bodyscapes so had rehearsals and no technique classes. When rehearsing, I thought about what we do in technique class such as looking at the audience, extension, use of space and dynamics.

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This week in Natalie's class I did well in the plank and ab exercises and am able to complete all of it without dropping which shows good improvement in strength. We also starter the assessment phrase and it has some elements we have practiced like handstands so I was able to show my improvement in this through the phrase. I also at first couldn't get the double turn at the beginning of the phrase, but the more I kept practicing it and believed in myself I was able to do it. In Marta's assessment phrase the first movements are gestural and we worked on making them sharp and intricate.

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In Ian's class this week we carried on with repeating handstands and floor work and I think I can really see an improvement compared to when we first started doing these. We also started o the assessment phrase, which was about reaching the body's full potential/kinesphere. In Marta's class this week we has to think of an intention for the class which we would keep to, and mine was to make the most out of everything we practice and train how I would perform which is something I want to continue to do.

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This week I was making small tweaks whilst preparing for assessment phrases and making sure I know them to my best ability and really trying to input the little things that make such a difference such as reaching, making sure there’s fluidity and adding attack to show more confidence.

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In Katie and Martas classes this week it was good to get stuck back in after having a bad wrist. I was trying to work on my fluidity in both these classes this week as in both classes there was a challenging phrase. I find I do over complicate and overthink choreography sometimes if I find something tricky but have been trying to change this mindset and just experiment rather than get stressed that I can’t do something. Therefore, I think more fluidity will come more naturally if I stop overthinking.

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This week challenged my as I’m still suffering with a sprained wrist, however I’ve been trying to adapt to this and this has been a big challenge but I would say I did very well. It got me thinking in different ways about alternating choreography which I think is definitely a good skill to practice. For example making slight changes such as using arms instead of hands in plank or even doing some moves a similar way standing rather than floor work.

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This week I was definitely starting to get more comfortable with contact work and trying new things in contact classes. I’m also trying to practice sharing equal roles in contact classes.

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Drift yourself like a leaf into a moving river!

When I heard this phrase in a meditation practice it resonated with me in one of Claire's classes where she wants us to move to the floor like a leaf falling from a tree. Although there are many other elements and techniques required to dance I find this imagery picture very powerful to have in mind when I move.

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This week in contact we played around with catching one anothers weight with different parts of our body like our shoulder or back, anything but out hands. We then learnt from this we can incorporate other contact moves we have leart previously. This was fun as we could create a long sequence of moves and interactions that we hadnt done before.

I feel this is important as in contact improvisation by catching and giving weight in different positions opens up the options to different moves you could then go into, depending on where that weight is.

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Today I felt ill again so I sat out. I was observing but then it got too much so I sat outside. I came back in after ten minutes and watched everyone do the contact. I know so many movements to do now.