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anysiaTonight, the last night of the class term, I brought in a surprise for the students. Today would be their first day of improvised tribal dancing. One slow song, one fast song and the 'surprise' song I have been mentioning.
After the warm up stretches and exercises, Meegan and I ran through what we were aiming for with them. We showed them how to transition, cue and swap leadership, and chorus. So they had to select 2 fast moves, two slow moves, and not tell us what their choices were. Played the slow music. Meegan and Brenda got so hypnotised with it, they kind of forgot we were waiting for a turn. Fast music same up and Seana and I were up. She had a bit of mind blank on what to do, BUT she did not freeze up or come up with some daffy invented move. I stage whispered 'choo choo' and off she went. We stopped the music before the SURPRISE song started.
Meegan and I ran through the cues and fine tuned a few arm placements, and back we went again, this time to go through the entire selection of songs. Brenda and me first. Went smooth as silk, with one minor hint about arm placement (didn't need the hint again after that either, you go girl!) We swapped, Meegan and Seana came up, and did their bit of slow music (Frame Drum, Helm), They were up when the 2nd song came up, and breezed through half of a 7.5 minute baladi drum piece. Then Brenda and I went up for our part of it. Went marvelously.
Then... the surprise song. Both of them just grinned ear to ear, and Brenda started leading, full on, no stalls or being unsure (if she was, she hid it damned well). Meegan and Seana next, and again, it was just amazing. They performed their first set... all 15 and a half minutes of it!
We caught our breaths, got some water, then went to zil drill.
After cool down, we had discussion on how things went and where it's going and get this..... THEY GOT IT! The whole tribal mentality, for real! Not just mouthing platitudes and the words. Not saying one thing and doing another, but well and truly GOT it.
This was a banner day for us all, and I am still jazzed about it.
After the warm up stretches and exercises, Meegan and I ran through what we were aiming for with them. We showed them how to transition, cue and swap leadership, and chorus. So they had to select 2 fast moves, two slow moves, and not tell us what their choices were. Played the slow music. Meegan and Brenda got so hypnotised with it, they kind of forgot we were waiting for a turn. Fast music same up and Seana and I were up. She had a bit of mind blank on what to do, BUT she did not freeze up or come up with some daffy invented move. I stage whispered 'choo choo' and off she went. We stopped the music before the SURPRISE song started.
Meegan and I ran through the cues and fine tuned a few arm placements, and back we went again, this time to go through the entire selection of songs. Brenda and me first. Went smooth as silk, with one minor hint about arm placement (didn't need the hint again after that either, you go girl!) We swapped, Meegan and Seana came up, and did their bit of slow music (Frame Drum, Helm), They were up when the 2nd song came up, and breezed through half of a 7.5 minute baladi drum piece. Then Brenda and I went up for our part of it. Went marvelously.
Then... the surprise song. Both of them just grinned ear to ear, and Brenda started leading, full on, no stalls or being unsure (if she was, she hid it damned well). Meegan and Seana next, and again, it was just amazing. They performed their first set... all 15 and a half minutes of it!
We caught our breaths, got some water, then went to zil drill.
After cool down, we had discussion on how things went and where it's going and get this..... THEY GOT IT! The whole tribal mentality, for real! Not just mouthing platitudes and the words. Not saying one thing and doing another, but well and truly GOT it.
This was a banner day for us all, and I am still jazzed about it.
