Dance workshops summer

Summer dance workshops

For the next six weeks of the summer holidays I will be continuing my current dance classes at D.T.A.A up until my class breaks up for summer. I will be attending on a Thursday a 30 minute stretch class. The purpose of this is to increase my muscular strength and flexibility in all muscles and joints such as my spine, hamstrings, neck, abdominals, gluteal’s. I find these classes to be very useful for me imparticular as they allow me to improve my technique. I can focus on my areas of improvement in these half hour sessions. I also on a Thursday participate in a one hour street dance class. These are also very useful to me as it helps me pick up choreography every week we add on to an existing dance or create a new one. I do however sometimes feel that these lessons aren’t very challenging and are slightly repetitive because I have been in that class for 5 years and I am now one of the oldest students. The younger students that have just moved up from junior street dance are 11 and 12 there fore subsequently haven’t been dancing for as large period of time. I feel that whenever new students do arrive we do dip down back into basics which is good for the new students but not for me as I feel it does nothing to improve my technique or performance.

•Furthermore also with D.T.A.A on Saturdays I participate in fourty five Minuit modern lessons. I have just moved up a grade and am now in Intermediate modern which is very challenging and new. I like this as I find flaws in my technique and movements I am not able to perform, in the first week this made me feel upset however after practise inside and outside of lessons by the fourth week I had seen a dramatic improvement in my technique and was able to do moves I previously couldn’t. This gave me a lot of self esteem and satisfaction which also increased my levels of confidence.  In addition on Saturdays I also take part in one hour tap lessons. This is by far my most enjoyable class with D.T.A.A because I can truly be in my element. When my tap shoes are on I feel free and truly like a dancer. I think its because I have been doing tap classes since I was 5 and now I am fully comfortable in myself to know I am not bad at it. During these last six lessons we went back to the advanced two syllabus work which was interesting. Because we had been doing show work for the last year I didn’t expect to remembered any of the set phrases however I surprised myself and knew the majority of the steps.

 •I went to a summer work shop set up by my previous dance school. It was a contemporary work shop however I did not feel it was enjoyable at all. Usually I like contemporary but this was very ballet like and myself am not a fan of ballet. Although I didn’t enjoy it I did gain a lot from the work shop. And this was that I need to keep my hips tucked under. I also learnt that my calves are too tight for me to plea low and it is impossible for me to plea correctly because of this. I also have very minimal turn out so my side kicks should but more diagonal than straight out to the side.