adult learner

More Practise > More Classes

~ Lifelongdancestudent ~ Leave a comment

Wall of tap shoesLately, I’ve found myself having conversations encouraging some of my classmates to practise outside of class. Before class people tend to ask each other if they’ve practised the routine, and I find some people are saying they don’t practise and they’re shocked at how much I do (and I really don’t do that much compared to some tap dancers). Now I know I am obsessed with tap, and want to get to a higher skill level, so I do try to practise the class routine at least 3 different days a week (not particularly long sessions), otherwise I find it doesn’t get into my muscle memory… and that’s a separate thing to doing drills etc, which I try to do on weekends, but I haven’t managed much of that since the autumn. I also know some people just want to do tap dance for fun and not really have to do homework – I definitely get that…BUT THEN they get frustrated in the class and sometimes even with the teacher. A lady recently told me she’s been doing tap classes on and off for about 20 years now, and she’s not improving, so her solution was perhaps to enrol in more classes. I asked her how much she practises outside of class – she doesn’t really. AHA. Imagine if we were talking about learning a musical instrument – I’m not improving but I don’t practise outside of my lessons. Unfortunately, it won’t happen by OSMOSIS 🙂

More Practise > More Classes

Keep Going

~ Lifelongdancestudent ~ Leave a comment

Thursday 12th September would have been my first week back at Rhythm Tap, this time in the intermediate class, but I had to go home from work the day before as I was unwell, and I didn’t return until this past Tuesday. I had also been intending to get back in the gym after having most of the summer off, but besides being unwell, the university gym that I use is now closed because…they are demolishing the building to build a shiny new one!

To be fair, the gym will be temporarily rehoused in another part of the campus from some time in October, and full memberships will be heavily discounted to only £10, but I wonder if there will be a reduction in the number of machines. Until I get to try it out, I plan to concentrate on doing some stretching.

But yeah, I was really annoyed that after a lovely two week break to recharge for the autumn, I had to then be run down by illness. I had my weekly timetable all mapped out: Gym on Tuesday lunchtime. Ukulele class Wednesday evening (starting this week). Tap class Thursday lunchtime. Just shows how our plans are not always under our control!

I managed to get along to my tap class on Thursday, and it was EXTREMELY CHALLENGING! I knew it would be, from the last time I had a go at that class in the evening, but not being 100% better, I felt ever so slightly vacant. The warm up was all call-and-response, which is one of my favourite things, but being a bit out of it, I felt slightly like a rabbit in headlights…especially with only 5 of us in the class – nowhere to hide! In the exercises and routine I felt like I couldn’t keep up with instructions and the speed of the steps.

Then I had that creeping feeling again. You know the one. It’s too difficult, I can’t do it, I don’t want to do this anymore, etc, BUT I’ve been through this before at previous levels – it’s challenging and you want to give up, but actually, if you want to improve, you have to push through it, and in time it will get easier. Besides, those of us who have just moved up from advanced beginners are all in the same boat and we can support each other!

We are learning a routine to a song by Gentleman’s Dub Club, which is just my thing. I just need to watch the video I took of the routine and practice a lot, because I retained NONE of the information given – doh!

LCBC (Last class before Christmas) 

~ Lifelongdancestudent ~ Leave a comment

I am just on my way home from my last ballet class of the year. To warm up I walked from Waterloo Bridge to Citylit and then just did some stretches at the barre once I was changed (I had intended to change before leaving work and leave a bulky cardigan there, but there’s a girl who won’t stop talking and I literally had to just grab ‘n’ go LOL).

I hadn’t been since moving house, so I felt a bit unsure of myself, but it was ok! We were challenged with some longer sequences including battement glisses, battement piques en croix, attitudes in front and behind, pas de bouree, and more! I had another one of those moments where 2 of us were asked to demonstrate the pas de bouree exercise and I was literally blank until the moment I began! ‘Adult Learner After Work Brain’ or ALAWB syndrome, I call it 😁

We ended the class in the centre (ooh!)  with reverence which we never usually do as it’s a barre only class. I thought I’d never done it, but part way through, I realised this is what we did every week at Aviv when I was doing their 8 week adult ballet beginners course. Anyway, I enjoyed it.  Made me think about doing Classical Ballet beginners or improvers, but I’ll have to see as I’m all psyched up for returning to RHYTHM TAP in January!

What are your dance plans for the new year?