some real dancing!

wednesday i got to teach dance to our girls. which is quite a landmark. for that to make sense, a bit of background. i grew up dancing. once or twice a week since i was 4. then in high school, it became 3-5 times a week. at least. and i loved it. some people do varsity sports -- i did dance company and children's dance theater. two good programs. all of which to say, dance is something that comes rather naturally to me, and which i love to do. but i forget that sometimes. i forget how free i can feel when i dance. and how excited i can get about moving. and trying to figure out how to share my love for movement and physical expression (and the beauty of good dance) with others.

so wednesday, i had an hour and a half or so with 4 teenage girls and one other staff person. i didn't know this would happen for sure until tuesday afternoon, and was busy tuesday night. so wednesday morning found me in my apartment trying to find music and exercises to do with them. thinking back to my time at CDT, and the internship that i did senior year of college teaching a number of friends about my style of dance. doing some warm-ups, creating a short pattern, thinking about how to teach them about time, space, and energy (three elements of dance)...

it went pretty well. i showed them a short video, and there were mixed reactions. but 4 of the 6 girls were ready to try it. and they did put themselves into it, working to understand how i moved and move in a similar way. my pattern wasn't particularly easy (which i will fix next time i do this) but they tried it and even wanted to add one of the warm-up exercises to it from the beginning of 'class'. so they got involved in it, and participated, and would do so again (i asked to make sure).

good signs:
-- my brain is already going, thinking about what i'd most like to teach them and what might be ways to do so. interesting ways that involve creative thinking and movement that is 'outside the box'.
-- i was sore yesterday (and a bit today) .. what with my practicing beforehand and then actually doing, i did quite a bit of movement. and apparently haven't been doing enough recently.
-- while we were ice skating today (we took all our kids for a treat, and they enjoyed themselves), i was dancing to the music a bit and being reminded how much i like to use my body
-- did i mention being sore? it hurts, but it also makes me happy because it means i actually worked