Class last night was amazing. We were ready to kick off the sessions strong for both Drills and Technique and American Tribal Style. There were some great plans in place, including a new weekly drill for strong arms with a guest instructor, which will be a continued part of our Drills and Technique class. Given her background as a flamenco dancer, we were all in for a real treat.
Just as class began we had a late drop-in. My brain couldn't comprehend what I was seeing! This was a student I hadn't seen in nine years, since we parted ways back when I was teaching in the Fort Hood area! Yet there she was, standing in my class, ready to jump in and dance.
We had a fantastic class. We kicked off with our shimmy drill and our arms drill. After that we went on with hip work, with a focus on ups and downs, and one of the hip movements we're working on with our choreography. The start of the choreography went brilliantly, and I am so impressed with my dancers! Everyone looked great! I'm excited to get to the next segment next week. This is going to be a fun choreography to build.
After that we moved on to ATS. It took me this long to make the realization that I was dancing with my first two students ever, and the first two students I ever performed with. They'd both somehow made it back to my classes. This was such a beautiful moment for me, as my career had turned to include the dancers that got it all started. While before those two dancers I'd dropped in as a substitute in other classes, but they were the first that spent any significant time working with me. They're the students that made me who I was as an instructor.
The ATS class turned out just as wonderfully as the first. We went through a good introduction of the basic belly dance movements that the American Tribal Style vocabulary begins with, and we actually progressed through more of the moves than I'd anticipated we would! We even got to play with a little bit of improvisation, which is always my favorite part of the dance. Of all the belly dance in the world, American Tribal Style has a special place in my heart. This class is off to an amazing start and I an't wait to watch my dancers grow in their practice.
This first official session of the year promises to be a good one. I'm looking forward to watching my dancers improve as we continue to build our practice as dancers. It's shaping up to be a great year! We're going to have so much fun!
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