https://padlet.com/emiliesears1/zxnc3s0tx35gzh0a en-us 2023-02-12 20:35:34 UTC 2023-03-20 20:41:56 UTC hello@padlet.com emiliesears1 https://padlet.com/emiliesears1/zxnc3s0tx35gzh0a/wish/2478083270 (Please read before watching) :)
In many classes, primarily Pilates and Locking, I find myself tensing my body and holding my breath with something I am uncomfortable with. A few sessions ago in Pilates with Pieter Symonds, she had everyone give a big, full-body yawn while lying on our mats. Pieter explained how she noticed that in children and in animals, yawns would involve the whole body. The yawn was not merely the act of breathing, but a means of stretching and finding space within the body. A week later in Cunningham, Hannah Kidd told me to utilize my arms more for stability in one of the center exercises. Hannah explained that instead of holding my arms in place, I could stretch and elongate my body to stay firm in my position. Both of these corrections made me realize that I do not utilize my limbs to their fullest potential. In the sequence above from Cunningham with Hannah, I can see, especially in my fingertips, that I am really trying to implement stretch as a means towards stability. ]]> 2023-02-12 21:09:10 UTC https://padlet.com/emiliesears1/zxnc3s0tx35gzh0a/wish/2478083270 emiliesears1 https://padlet.com/emiliesears1/zxnc3s0tx35gzh0a/wish/2478083354 Floor work with Lewis Wilkins is probably my favorite class because I love moving on the floor and it challenges me. Since I had experience with floor work before studying at The Place, I was not sure how "out of depth" I was going to be, if at all. Thankfully the way he structures the class gives me a mix of feeling comfortable and slightly "out of depth." In the tutorials with him a week ago, Lewis told me that my body organization could be worked on. I have been trying to improve on weight bearing moves and going upside down, so his correction made me realize that I have been focusing on strength and completely neglecting my alignment. This is also why some of the moves in his main phrase feel weighted and more difficult than they need to be. I am not conscious of where I am in space, I am just going through the sequence and pretty much hoping for the best so my muscles do not get enough time to react. I should also work on my fast twitch muscles.
While I currently cannot do the Macau he gives us in class, along with handstands and flips etc. I hope that with some attention to body alignment and working on my proprioception, that I will get at least one of these moves down by the end of the year.]]> 2023-02-12 21:09:24 UTC https://padlet.com/emiliesears1/zxnc3s0tx35gzh0a/wish/2478083354 emiliesears1 https://padlet.com/emiliesears1/zxnc3s0tx35gzh0a/wish/2478127634 Every week I dread going to Dance Fitness. Not because of Khyle Eccles but because he is good at what he does, and pushes me physically harder than most of my dance classes this year. I hate that the class works, but I have noticed a strong improvement in my knee tracking and overall stamina during classes since the start of the term. In Locking with Sam Haynes I have struggled so much to keep my energy up for the entirety of the class. Locking is a completely new style to me, and I have never experienced quick and sharp movements like that before. There are so many parallels between the two classes such as the fast pace and precise movements. In Khyle's class one of the sequences involves a lot of squats, planks and rolls, and progressively gets faster as the song continues. In Sam's locking drills, the lock's start off in a slow eight count and eventually become quicker with the same movement. 
*The two sequences mentioned are shown in the videos above* 

Another example of how the two classes relate, is through whole body involvement versus upper body. At the beginning of Locking, the lock's we learned were mainly upper body, but the more we learned the more my whole body became involved. From squats, to jump twists and kicking, I realized how what Khyle was teaching was not only "how to work out well," but was coming up in the rest of my classes. I could identify specific movements from his class transferring into Locking. Khyle often says "you're not meant to enjoy it, you're meant to endure it. That's what makes you stronger." I think it finally clicked for me that in order to improve and enjoy dance for as long as I can, I need to put in the agonizing effort to make it happen. Dance Fitness, unfortunately, needs to be my best friend if I am going to grow! ]]> 2023-02-12 22:50:58 UTC https://padlet.com/emiliesears1/zxnc3s0tx35gzh0a/wish/2478127634 emiliesears1 https://padlet.com/emiliesears1/zxnc3s0tx35gzh0a/wish/2524247221 My first time teaching a class was when I was fourteen and I was teaching a creative movement class filled with five year olds. Since then, I have taught numerous classes to children ranging from 5-13 years old. After our sessions with Jeannie and Domenico I became so sad about how I taught in the past. It is not that I think I was an awful influence but I realized that I was a young student who was not prepared to give my all to teaching. Partially because the studio I grew up in never gave me a crash course on teaching, I would just get assigned classes to teach. This lack of education would lead to me walking into class without exercises prepared because I procrastinated and thought nothing of the time wasted when creating sequences on spot. It works for some teachers, but I was definitely mimicking what I had experienced from some teachers rather than understanding for myself how I would best conduct a class. 

In my time teaching I had so much fun. I was predominately with five year olds so we would just chat and have dance parties. My direction of thinking was; when I was five what did I want to do in dance class? I wanted to dance, so that is what we did, fairly unstructured with bits of basic technique. In my older classes, I found it difficult to get outside of my brain. I knew the basics of what I was teaching them and I also wanted to challenge them, but it was hard for me to think outside of my perspective. In the teaching practice sessions I found myself assuming a lot of things such as people understanding my inconsistent counts or thinking they would go the right direction even if I had shown it on the other direction. I had also never experienced teaching with a live musician so that opened up a whole new puddle to wade through. While teaching can be a really joyous experience, it is a lot more involved than I had previously identified. I definitely have a healthier outlook on teaching and feel that it may not be my calling after all. I am grateful for the teaching sessions because walking into them I genuinely thought I had little to learn. My confidence was through the roof because I had already taught before. Thankfully, I was quickly humbled in the healthiest way possible while also gaining a greater appreciation for the art form than I had previously. Teaching is so much more than explaining exercises. Teaching is creating healthy habits in people, meeting others where they are and so much more. I am truly baffled and have a new found respect for teachers across all platforms.

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