Here we go

So today is my first day of blogging. Sorry if I'm not as interesting as you think I may be.
Ok so here we go. I have taught dance for seven years at my home, The Dance Gallery. I spend more time up there than I do at home or any where else. And the crazy thing to me is that I can not wait to get up there during the day. I love children and I LOVE dance. So this really is the perfect job for me. I know a lot of people that hate their jobs or just aren't as happy as they should be. I could not ask for anything better. (Well maybe a better salary, but I'll worry about that later)
During the fall I received a phone call from one of my dance professors at Tech. She is the head of the dance department and the most intelligent person I know. She made getting a dance degree seem like premed. We read all the time and wrote more papers than I would like to count. She had previously talked to me about teaching at Tech. I told her that as long as it didn't interfere with Dance Gallery hours that I would love to. She called me and told me that I could teach two classes in the spring. Of course without even thinking I shouted yes! I teach a modern I and jazz I class. Both have their own challenges. I have taught the advanced jazz classes at the studio so I know what to expect. Now modern is a TOTALLY different story. Of course I took modern classes at Tech and loved them. Never once did I think that I would have to retain all of that information and put it into practice.
Now some of you might be saying "Isn't modern that really weird genre"? Yes it can be. The modern that we teach isn't quite as weird. Yes you have to have an open mind when a teacher asks you to feel the music. Move your body in ways that quite frankly should not be possible. But I LOVE this style. I could do that type of dance every day. Since I am a teacher I like people to know what is going on and what I am talking about. So first part of your homework for today is to youtube different modern dances. You can also put in the word contemporary and still get the same idea. (Yes there is homework on the first day. Sorry)

So back to the modern classes. My modern class is really BIG. And dance classes are usually anywhere from 15 to 20. Maybe even less depending upon the level. So level I classes are the most basic. We teach every thing you need to know. These classes are a slower pace class. That way hopefully at the end you actually remember everything we taught. If not shame on you. I have 25 people in my class. This is huge. They fill up the entire studio just standing. Hopefully when we start dancing we will not hurt everyone in the class.
Classes actually started last week. And I love this class. Everyone has such different personalities and makes the class entertaining. Although at 8 o'clock in the morning you can not expect 18-20 year olds to be very happy. So that has been my one struggle so far. I love to have noise in the classroom. (of course not while I'm talking) I love to have students ask questions and give me response when I ask them questions. This has not happened during my class so far. But that is my goal for the semester. I will keep you posted on how it goes.
My jazz class has only had one class. So I will have to come back to that class later.
All in all I am very excited to see what happens this semester in both classes. There is nothing better than to see when your students finally understand what's going on.
Both classes have their first performance exam the first week of February so hopefully we can get most of their technique done. This week I will actually give them a pop quiz to see what vocabulary terms they understand and what we need to go over. Never thought dance had tests. Oh we do and some of them have been the hardest tests I've ever taken.
So second part of your homework. Look up dance terms. Preferably ballet terminology. This will help you in any genre of dance. Then if you have any questions feel free to ask what they might be.
Hope to see you all soon! Have a GREAT Sunday!