This week's Friday classes were pretty great. Because we had a few absences we decided to do a few new things, that way no one would really miss out on what we've been doing. It made for a fun and interesting chance, and it was an opportunity to try a few new things.
In our Drills and Technique for Tribal Belly Dance class we talked about a new choreography that's being written for my arms instructor, Lauren. I was practically begged to try it out with them. The beginning was simple enough that we could easily walk through it in one class session, just enough to give everyone a taste. They loved it so much that this may have to become a future choreography. I'm feeling pretty good about this one as it was never designed to be a project. I just started playing with the idea when it came on my music and decided I was going to work with it. It's only a very small start, but it's coming together really well.
The added bonus to working on this choreography is it gave us an opportunity to drill some hand and arm movements we haven't done with Lauren. Her focus is primarily on flamenco arms, which are beautiful and lovely, but this gives us a little bit of something a little more traditional belly dance to work on. It was fun to change up the arm routine for a week, since Lauren wasn't there to take over the arm drill. That being said, I still love having her in class to teach the arms drills. It gives everyone something a little bit different to work on, and it's also the inspiration for this choreography.
In ATS® Level 1 one of my students expressed some challenges with the turns in our slow vocabulary. Since turns are such a big element of slow ATS® movements, I thought it would be a good time to talk about the turns. We spent a good deal of the class going over them, with plenty of breaks to keep anyone from getting dizzy. It was a good class because it allowed me a chance to work on some specific challenges that my students were having with these turns by breaking it down into segments that were more easily worked through. Then we talked a little bit about timing and feeling the rhythm.
That's something that can be so challenging for dancers. If you've got a hard time identifying the beat and the rhythm to the music it can be hard to dance through the movements. Some people feel the music right away and are able to express movement to it rather easily, but a good number of people just can't feel it from the start. This is where it can help to work with basic rhythms, that way students can learn to recognize the rhythm to the drums without a lot of extra accents. Since we're mostly focused on the rhythm in belly dance, it makes sense that we would take a step back and start there.
Overall it was a great week. We got a lot done and really had some fun. Next week, when everyone is back, we'll start moving back into our choreography for the Drills and Technique class. We've got half the session left and there's so much to do before the end of the month!
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