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This is a video of the quartet when not everyone was in the lesson and was absent so we created a full quartet with the dancers that were in. I am filling in for Hannah Meg for during this quartet as this is the talls quartet. This is when the piece was just created and we were still trying different ideas and adapting different things within the piece.

This is a professional approach to creating dance movement and being able to replace dancers if anything happens before the show.

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This is a short snippet of Tillie's group piece in rehearsal after work shopping and creating new ideas for the piece.

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This is a video of TIllie's group piece performing on the stage practicing and going over the piece created before the assessment show. This is some of the piece but not a completed video of the piece.

Hannah Meg was absent for this run so it affected the run with spacials and we had to rehearse thinking of the gap without her being there.

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The feedback we recieved as a group from this feedback session was to make sure we are dancing it properly all the time and not feel like we are marking it and we should be sweating and completely out of breath after performing this piece.

Craig said to Tillie to just continue with her work and make sure it is finished for the showing.

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In this session, we all learnt each others phrases and made sure that we did know every partners work. the partnerships are Me and Meg, Cerys and Tom, Rosie and Paige.

The routines that we learnt are all going to be in a certain part of the quartet and adapted by Craig to make them more relevant to the piece and to the stimulus.

The movements that we learnt in these phrases included a lot of technical work and making sure that my placement was in the right place when doing the work. This is why we made sure that everyone knew exactly what it was before we moved on to the next duet to learn.

Meg and I feel like we taught our duet very well and explained exactly what the movement was so everyone could get it. We demonstrated each movement one by one and this also helped us remember it more by teaching it to others. This is a popular technique to use to make sure that all of the material is in our bodies properly.

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One of the tasks we have explored as a group is a task which we had to imagine that we were spreading paint everywhere with different body parts. As the stimulus is a Jackson Pollock painting it helps us create material in keeping with the stimulus. When creating movement thinking of this I need to keep thinking of using technical movements to challenge my technique so it is constantly improving.

Next, we had to create movement thinking of this concept and set movement to create a solo which is about 6 eights long.

In the next part we had to get in partners and create a mini duet from our solo choreography. This could include, use of negative space, each others kinisphere and contact. Megs and mine duet was movement which creates our joint phrase which Craig told us is going to be taught to the rest of the class.

As an individual my strengths for creating my solo was to explore with an open mind and not to think i'm doing anything wrong. A weakness was being able to set the movement quickly as it took me a while to set it as I explored with so much movement and cutting it down was difficult. A target for me would be to just create movement and not to be to indecisive with what to chose.

When creating the duet with Meg we work really well as a duet as we listen to each others ideas and take in consideration of both of our ideas to create different movement. A weakness would be that we could have used contact more throughout as we did not use much and we focused mostly on negative space and each others kinispheres. A target would be to spend more time focusing on adding in moments of contact.

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A task that we experimented to create movement for the quartet was the crayon task. This task helped me create movement without over thinking anything and just moving. This also helps not to repeat rep that is in other classes and to think more open minded and find new ways of moving.

This task helps me with my contemporary dance technique as it helps me think outside of the box and helps me realise that movemen can be created without other thinking it and by just moving it is just as interesting as set choreography.

When moving the 'crayon' to different body parts it helps my focus keep on the that certain part of the body and stops my focus just being on one thing and allowing it to move around more than one place.

A strength from this task was to be open minded and to not think about certain movements being right and just moving.

A weakness was not being to explorative with the body parts used.

For a target I need to think of better body parts to place the crayon in to create different movements.

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At the beginning of this lesson we started off with a warm up which includes a huge amount of stamina. The children's playground games we played really show how my stamina has to improve and that I have to keep working on it. Craig explained that if we do this for every warm up in our contemporary lessons our stamina will start to improve and we will start to find the games easier. We played tag, stuck in the mud and tag on all fours and go around the room in all fours and tag people.

After we had done warm up we started to recap over our heroes dance.

I made sure that I knew the piece before the lesson so I could just carry on with the class and not feel like I am behind.

A strength from this class is that I managed to catch up and be in the same position as the rest of my class.

A weakness is to make sure that I listen to the music in my own time to make sure that I know what movements go on certain parts of the music.

A target is to go to the studio independently to go over it without relying on others.

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Absent due to illness.

My class started to learn our piece for our final major project. The song is Heroes by Mans Zelemerlow.

I need to make sure that I catch up and learn the phrase by next lesson.

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Måns Zelmerlöw - Heroes (Official Video)

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During this showing of work Craig advised Tillie to adapt some of the work to make it more of duets, solos and trios and to make it so we are not just doing it all in unison.

He said to make sure that she carries on working on the piece and cleaning up certain sections.

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Working with the smalls quartet
We recieved a lot of feedback on our spacial patterns after performing this quartet. After watching the other quartet on monday and wednesday we should have known the spacials but as we did not rehearse before this rehearsal in the studio we were not sure of where to go at what time. We had some time with Craig to clarify these patterns and after 15 minutes of doing it it was massively improved and we became more confident with it. We had feedback off our peers and it was to be confident with the movement and to own it. Our biggest piece of advice off Craig was to not be embarassed by our peers when dancing and making mistakes and just own them as we are still in rehearsals and thats where mistakes should be made.

A strength from this lesson was that after recapping and going over some spacials we became more confident and was performing the movement a lot more confidentally and owning the movement more.

A weakness was that we did not meet as a group so we didn’t know what we were doing when we first went in to the class.

We can improve this by meeting as a group at the same time every week and keeping that time to keep going over this as a group and also owning the movement and being confident with everything for example, actions and spacials within the piece.

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During this rehearsal I learnt a new solo which I will be performing in the middle of the piece. It includes lots of different levels throughout the movement and is very dynamic and challenging for me. It includes a movement which is like a fall to the floor and I need to suspend and push my self back up, this includes a lot of arm strength to push me back up. Also there is a movement which is laying down on the floor and coming up with my arms and legs in the air and using my core strength to bring them up and place them back down.
A strength from learning this solo was picking up the material quickly and using my kinisphere.
A weakness is that I was not using the correct dynamic for certain movements. The dynamics will come with rehearsals of the movement.
My target is to go over the movement in the studio on my own and make sure I know all of the movement correctly so I can concentrate on the dynamics needing to be used.

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After seeing Motion House perform their newest piece of work called 'Charge' in the Taliesin it has really helped me realise how there is no difference between boys and girls dancing and how they should not be a difference every dancer should be able to dance the same movement.

It really showed me how different activities can liaise with dance for example, they used a lot of circus work throughout their work and it really works well together.

It taught me that I need to focus on strength a lot more in contemporary dance technique as strength is a massive part of dance. For example, the girls hanging off the ropes from the ceiling and how the boys carried girls around and could still do other things when doing this.

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In this lesson we focused on finishing the phrase we started and making sure that we all know it correctly and are sure with it all.
We went through it without the music and then with the music and remembered pieces of it that we needed to go over when it had ended.

For me as an individual I feel like I needed to go over the part when me and Hannah Meg have the duet and we always collide when dancing so with rehearsing it more outside the studio we will get to know when we have to move on certain parts to avoid this happening. Also an individual I need to see where I am going more and be aware of the space I have and who I am dancing with so I can adjust what I am doing to make sure that we do not collide or get in the way of eachother when dancing and putting eachother off.

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For the warm up we started slightly different as we started on the floor focusing on breath and lifting our legs up and dropping them by gravity letting them fall to the floor and repeating on each legs for a couple of rounds. When I was doing this Craig came over and told me that when I lay down I lay down not straight and a bit uneven. This can be changed by making sure every time I lay down that I look and make sure that it is straight and then feel that sense and then make sure that it is straight all of the time. During the next part of the lesson we had to transfer weight through our hands and other parts of our bodies. This then developed to using our body and exchanging weight and being able to think of pooling. When we were in the middle of this  task Craig told us what to do next and used me to demonstrate to the class on what to do. This task was to think that we had to balance a tennis ball on my body when moving it had to stay balanced this was a little challenging but if when I kept focusing on the thought of the tennis ball and making sure that it 'does not fall'. We could further explore this by thinking of the idea of throwing the ball and catching it in other places and doing the same. This was a really informative task as we had to always think about the tennis ball and making sure it didn't 'fall' but also giving ideas of not thinking of creating movement and just movement.

In the next part of the session we focused on a floor phrase it was hugely focused on the shifting of weight and the use of gravity. There is movements in this phrase that we learnt that includes opening out movements which you have to use and open out as much as you can and make sure that the use of kinisphere. This is one of my strengths to be able to use my kinisphere to my full potential as you reach beyond you can. This helps me massively as I am quite small it helps me look bigger as a dancer.

One of the points Craig was on about having the ability to stand out from the rest of the people in your class and being able to make people look at you on stage. Some of the points that Craig spoke about was risk taking, for example,  when doing a high release making sure you use it so much that you feel like you need to fall out of it. Another example of risk taking is when you lunge make sure you are lunging properly and further than you can actually go and this can also come in the same category as doing all movements to your full potential. The use of kinisphere is another point of risk taking and this is to make sure that when you are doing for example a reach that you are reaching further than you actually can.

When we were recapping and going over the next phrase that is mainly focused on travelling and shifting weight. We went over this a few times to make sure that we were all shifting our weight correctly and travelling when shifting weight. We also went over this phrase on the second side as all of us do not find it simple to do this. This is a target for me is to make sure that I know all of the phrases on the second side the same as the first side. This can be improved by practising the phrases outside the studio.

During the next part of the session was the travelling phrase from the left hand side which includes a lot of exchanging and shifting of weight. One of the points that Craig said today which is a different point from the rest of the week was the release and catch of the movement. This is a challenge for me to execute it correctly but if I practise outside of the classroom this technique it should help me during this phrase. I also need to majorly focus on doing more work on performing work on the second side. This a weakness for me as I always end up going the wrong way but with practise it should really help me improve.

We explored the concept of running correctly as in the previous sequence it includes a run that needs to be grounded and make sure we keep our hips down and think of that there is a ceiling where our heads are and that we cannot move. We explored this by seeing how many strides it took to run from one side of the studio to the other and we had to try and beat our score each time, I started at 7 and ended at 5. This shows that we were not running correctly and it should help us with this phrase and to do it correctly.

During this lesson we learnt a new phrase which is completely focused on balance. After learning this phrase we had to focus on trying to make sure that we were pooling our legs and making sure that they were 'full'. If you make sure that all of the weight is in the supporting leg it is a lot easier to balance. In one part of the phrase we had to take our focus down to the ground and make sure that we kept our backs straight and our heads long. If you do not do this it is not technically correct. When focusing Craig told us to focus up and then follow down to the floor and then when you are right over and your leg is in the air you should focus on your shin. This was difficult for me as I could not balance completely still. This is a big target for me do focus on the idea of pooling throughout the whole of this lesson.

We also recapped the other travelling phrase which includes the idea of pooling in this also and also a sense of space as when all of us in the class perform this phrase we do not leave a lot of space and then end up dancing in the corner of the room with no space to do any movement. This is a main point of this phrase as we have to be able to do this correctly and not run out of space as it is not a mature thing to do and when we go further in dance this will not be a professional thing to do as whatever dance space you have you need to fit the movement to it.

In the final part of the lesson we done an exploration which focuses on travelling an shifting our pelvises. These were jumps and shifts of weight and we performed these with Craig playing the bongo. Craig said that this was a strength for me as I shifted my weight effectively and I could move across the space quickly and efficiently.

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At the beginning of this lesson we were mainly focusing on one phrase which is the phrase starting with the shoulder roll. Craig wanted to make a change to technique class and create a routine to help us get the movement into our bodies, to help improve technique within a routine and being able to perform a piece to show our technique to audience members rather than just doing one phrase. This is a very different way to be working in technique class but my peers and my lecturer have found this a very efficient and effective way.

I feel like throughout this lesson a major strength for me was having the ability to remember the phrase and being able to do any section of it when asked to when piecing together the section I could do any part. Another strength for me was being able to work with different people in different partnerships for example, I was put into a trio at the beginning with Meg and Lewis and I worked in a postive way with them and then further on in the piece I worked in a quarter with Tom, Meg and Lewis. This was also different from the trio as me and Tom had to exit when Lewis and Meg were still performing the material.

A weakness during this class was not being able to do the material to my full potential as I did not know all of the directions for the movement on the left side. As Craig could see that not everyone was certain with this phrase on the other side he gave us some time to go over it with a partner to work out all of the different directions of the movement as it all moves from different directions quite frequently.

A main target for me during this session is to make sure that in my spare time in the studio I use a section of it to go over all of the phrase that we do in class.

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Half term assessment - Tuesday 24th October

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Half term assessment - Tuesday 24th October

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As this session was our assessment session we were being recorded as part of our mid term assessments and it is a milestone moment from this term so far for contemporary dance technique.
To start off this lesson we started off by laying on the floor and focusing on our breath. when we had done a few rounds of deep breathing we then went into thinking of contracting and releasing from side to side focusing on using our abs to get our knees up to our chest. As an individual I find this quite difficult as I focus on using my legs to bring up my legs but I neeed to remember to focus on using my abs. This is a target for me during this lesson as when I am doing phrases in this lesson I forgot to focus on using my core but with focusing on this I will be able to improve on core strength.

During the next part of the lesson we started to explore a phrase which was floor based and we had to feel the movement to pick it up and perform it to our best potential. After we had gone over it a few times we had to find a partner. My partner was Tillie and the task was that we had to create our own phrase which was based on movements which have been used throuhgout all of our lessons which were included in the beginning phrase. Our phrase startd with movements which were on the floor. Most of the movements included in our phrase were floor based but we tried to include a variety of levels throughout. This was a weakness of mine and Tillies throughout this task and if we had another chance to develop this phrase that would have been one of the main focuses. A strength from this task was how efficiently Tillie and I worked throughtout this task and created a phrase efficiently and correctly as we used a variety of movements and movements with the movement style of the phrases we have done previously. A target is to make sure that we use a variety of choreographic devices to make the piece more effective.

In the later parts of the lesson we went over the phrases that we have been rehearsing and exploring in the previous lesson so fhtis term. We didn't base our focus on these phrase during this class but they were a part of it which was a focus of the class and how we can develop them each week to become more technical and get our bodies more into the movements.

A strength from this lesson for me as an individual is being able to perform the phrases that we have been doing for the last weeks in this term and having them in my muscle memory

A weakness was not exploring a variety of choreographic devices when creating the phrase with Tillie.

A target is to make sure how I can make dances look more effective with the use of different choreographic devices and levels.

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In this lesson we started by taking deep rounds of breath while we were laying on the floor on our backs and feet on the floor palms facing the ceiling, this helps us get motivated ready for the lesson. I find this really helps and gets me in the right mind frame for the particular lesson we are doing.

My main target from the last session was to make sure that I was always confident throughout the whole class. This was a key point that I was focusing on during this lesson to try and help me think of my own body and feel confident about what movement I am doing and not worrying about what others are doing. This was majorly shown when we were doing the first phrase as we had never done it before and when I was doing the exercise with confidence I found it a lot more enjoyable and.more interesting to see how my body would move without thinking of what comes next and just feeling what comes next. When I am doing the movement of the first phrase I have to make sure that I am always thinking about my kinisphere and how big I can make considering my body size is quite small. This can be achieved by making sure when I am doing movements to make sure that I do the movements the biggest I can and take more risks when I was do grabs and reaches. This will help make me look more mature as a dancer and also will help me improve.

In the second part of the class we mainly focused on recapping the phrases we have been doing for a few weeks and making sure they were correct and trying to improve them by going through each movement and making sure that we knew exactly what it was so we could execute it correctly in further lessons. A strength for me during the recapping of these phrases what that I did remember most of them and made sure that I was doing them correctly and checking the way I do the movements and if they are correct and the same as Craig's.

In the last part of the lesson we learnt a new  phrase which included lots of foot actions and changing of direction. This included a lot of sense of direction as it changed direction all of the time. This phrase is something I need to work on as I get confused when changing directions all of the time. One part of the phrase has an open leg attitude of the leg turning around. We need to focus on keeping our upper bodies open which makes it easier to turn and looks more effective. As an individual with practise this will become easier for me to do correctly.

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*Clear reflection from music.
*Ambiance from music - use of music to enhance movement.
*Neat choreography.
*Touch base with solo everyday (physically) to help get it into my movement memory and to get the feeling of the choreographer.
*Dynamics went first (lack of practise).
*Use of kinisphere needs to be imoroved (reach out of my body.)
*It looks like I am marking the work because I am concentrating to much but I need to really work on this to get it improved.
*Stop rushing (focusing on dynamics to much).
*Energy - help me portray Akram

AKRAM = DYNAMIC

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In this session we started laying on the floor with our palms facing the ceiling and our feet and legs relaxed on the floor. This is how we usually start this session as it helps us get into the right mind set and feeling relaxed ready to start the movement. After breathing for a number rounds of breath we started contracting and moving from side to side using our core to help us. A piece of feedback I had off Craig was to make sure I was using my core more to help me move from these sides, when I was thinking about controlling my stomach muscles properly and more efficiently it felt a lot different and I could feel it a lot more and my stomach muscles felt a lot warmer.

After this warm up we went straight into another floor phrase which was quite similar to last weeks one. It included a lot of sense of direction as most movements changed direction and example of this was a monkey jump starting in one direction and turning to end facing the other way. I feel like every week I am getting more of an understanding of the concept of this type of technique and I am starting to think about the movement and where it takes me next instead of thinking about what movement actually comes next. In this phrase a strength for me was feeling the movement  and where it takes me next and not thinking to much about the movement.
A weakness for me was when we did the sequence on the other side I was doubting myself and then adjusting to go the way everyone else was going.
A target is to just worry about the way I am going and be confident.
In this phrase it contained a handstand and we were not doing it properly so Craig done an exercise with us travelling across the room doing 'handstands' which are actually exchanging of weight from the feet to the hands. We had to keep our head alligned to our backs and make sure that the weight was in our hands, we did a few laps of the room doing this and Craig said I had good strength to be able to hold myself up. I did fall over into a crab position on one my turns of this and it was a weakness but if I have more control it will prevent me from falling over.

In the next parts of the lesson we recapped all of the other phrases that we do in this lesson which are focused on the idea of shift and exchanging weight. A strength from these phrases was constantly thinking and working on the idea of shifting my weight and exchanging my weight on different parts of the body. For example, When doing the shoulder roll it exchanges weight from one shoulder to the other and then to your bottom.
A weakness for me was not being able to do all movement full out because I was i jured.
A target is to make sure that I am always confident when performing the movement.

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*Continue
*How can I show my weight more clearly.
*Crisper and sharper.
*How can I continue to push my dynamics further?
*Am I working with or against the music?
*How can I make my movements deeper?

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*Music framed it - went to the music.
*Use high space more (leave the floor)
*Precision, clarity and energy.
*Improve dynamics.
*Lacking precision
*Clear with choice.

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Technique class - Tuesday 12th September

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Technique class - Tuesday 12th September

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During the lesson of contemporary dance technique we did many things which challenged me and made me think of contemporary dance choreography in a different perspective. This lesson contained learning phrases and Craig, my lecturer, showed us the phrase and didn't go over it to much so we have to feel what movement our body would take us to next.

The first phrase we did contained lots of floor parts and feeling our bodies onto the floor and by not being taught the movement as much Craig said it will help us mature as dancers and help us feel the movement instead of memorising it.

The second phrase that we learnt was a phrase that included a high amount of shifting aspects to it. To get the feeling of this shifting style we used shifting actions around the room. We have to focus on shifting from the hips and not the legs and also through the lower abs. When doing shifting for a while you should start to feel your lower abs working. A weakness for me during this phrase was trying to get the hang of shifting my weight in a low level and through the hips amd lower abs. With practise this should become more natural to me.

A strength from this lesson for me was not getting to flustered, angry and annoyed at myself when i can't really remember what comes next and trying to use my body and feel what is next.

A weakness I feel throughout this lesson was direction when performing the phrase and having to change direction to get back on the right direction of my peers.

A target from this lesson for me would be to try and pick up the direction of the movement quicker and try and feel where to go next more accurately.

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Technique class - Tuesday 19th September

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Technique class - Tuesday 19th September

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In this lesson we had a warm up which consisted of using the floor and making sure we used all different body parts to touch the floor at different points. We also had to use different parts of our body to push up to explore different levels. It was also heavily influenced by making sure we are breathing correctly, we had a few long rounds of breath to help get into the zone to learn in contemporary technique.

The first thing we explored in this lesson was a floor based phrase. The same as last lesson Craig went over it a few times and we had to feel what movement came next. I think this lesson I was more prepared for what was going to happen and had more idea of what to expect. I found it more enjoyable this week as I was more confident and had more of an open mind. A weakness from this phrase for me as an individual was trying to do the phrase on the other side. Mainly was the directions which made it more difficult for me.

We recapped the second phrase and added on some new movements on which also was focusing on shifting of weight. The aspect of this came a bit easier for me this week as the exploration last week helped me a lot to get it into my body and being able to perform it better. One example of the new movement which was shifting and exchanging of weight was a should roll which is exchanging weight  through the shoulders.

The next phrase we did starting from the side and travelled across the room. It included lots of shifting and exchanging weight. Shifting was a key part of this sequence as you had to shift to be able to travel efficiently. The video attached at the bottom is a recording of this phrase. As you can see it does include a lot of shifting amd exchanging weight. A strength for me individually was remembering the phrase and being able to perform the phrase  with the correct directions. A weakness was not being able to do it to the same standard on the other sie. I struggled with this on the second side but with practise I should be able to perform it the same on both sides.

The final part of this session we learnt a section which also travelled from the side but from the other side. This phrase was focusing on contraction and extension. It included a lot of different levels and turns. One of the movements took a lot of balance to be able to do it properly. The idea that we had to think of while doing this movement was the pooling idea. This idea is when you think of water pooling in one of your legs so that it is so heavy that it will not move and help you keep balance. This idea really helped with thisovement as you had to do a dolphin dive and the move the same leg to the side and wait, then three swings. This takes a lot of balance and using this idea it really helps.

Throughtout the whole lesson we were thinking of shifting weight and in this lesson I feel like I could use it more as I had a better understanding of it.

The thing I need to work on is being anle to do a sequence on the otherside straight away. If I practise this outside of the classroom it should help me inside the classroom.

This video is of the third phrase that we learnt in class.

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Technique class - Tuesday 26th September

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Technique class - Tuesday 26th September

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The warm up of this lesson began with laying on our backs focusing on our breath. This is how we always start these lessons as it helps us mentally prepare for the lesson. After a while of this we focused on contracting and releasing our bodies while changing from the feutal position on each side. Breathing in when extending and breathing out when contracting. This is a movement that requires the lower abs to help the movement work and to help work our bodies to the fullest.

In the next part of the lesson Craig taught us another floor section which was also focused on the use of  the lower abs and mivements that were chnaging directions quite frequently. I found this sequence quite difficult because Craig does not go over it much and I still find this quite difficult even on the third lesson. I think this is going to take me a while to get the hang of and to be able to feel the movement.

In the next part of the session we recapped the rest of the phrases that we have learnt. When recapping the second phrase I had a space at the front and I moved myself to the back because I wasn't confident enough. Craig told me that I should have stayed there because I did know what I was doing and I should just be confident about it.

On the second phrase we recapped and focused on the second side majorly. When going tnrough the second side with my peers and my teacher I found it a little simpler and could manage to work it out. This was a strength for me this lesson which was being able to work out different directions for the second side.

When recapping the last phrase we had to go in to groups and figure it out on the second side. I am still not confident  and comfortable to work out the second side on my own but in a groupfind it a little easier. I always end up going back to the original side but Craig said even if you do not know what you are doing always just go back to the original side rather than going off to the side and watching.

A target from this lesson was to be more open minded about new phrases and repeating phrases on the second side. If I practise these phrases outside the classroom it should help me when I try and do it on the second side next time.