Malta- week five

Monday

Coming into class today, I was informed technique was going to be cancelled for a week while another module did a workshop in that time slot. Never has my heart sunk so much 1.. For missing ballet and 2. For walking all the way in to go home. Luckily, it was solved that ballet would still continue and the workshop would take over from 11. In this case I was lucky enough to do double ballet, by joining in with the first years at 11. In the second class we re looked over floor barre which helped get some excersises I had forgotten into my body and made sure it was done for the day. These exersoses have formed part of my daily ritual.

In the afternoon, we collaborated with 3 music students by using chance technique to pair one of our solos with a excerpt of music. From the task we now have connections should we want a piece to be composed for our final dance theatre piece and I have an idea of some musical traits I’m seeking for different effects.

I have started watching Kathryn Morgan's YouTube channel again, a former principal dancer who give dance tips and tricks, which now paired with practical ballet everyday is making more and more sense with every video.

Tuesday

With only one class today I was: home, fed, excersises and Italian done before two. Feeling productive, I could sit in the sun with a cup of tea and reflect on the day watching the beautiful views of the island.

Wednesday

Contemporary this morning played to my strengths, finding it easy to pick up material and challenging to stick to the group pace and not rush ahead. It is a trait I have always known I do, going too quick, when I’m confident or nervous. We focused on spiraling, stating from different parts of the body and falling into movement. I found to start a spiral in improvisation difficult but when given the imagery of someone pulling and then replicating this in paid my body naturally fell from side to side and around its own axis.

My second class of the morning was improvisation, where these ideas were taken further through tasks to finalise in using the skills we learning in a dance circle. Our 5 tasks were: copying, manipulating, leading with a body part, spiraling and falling. It was lovely to dance in a more comfortable setting feeling strengths and weaknesses and having that same teacher see. To me I felt competent as a dancer again and not miles behind everyone else. Both feelings give aid for further self-discovery knowing its OK to fail and learn from others, and when to not gloat having picked something up quicker than others.

My final class of the day ended up being the funniest. Never had I thought discovering Laban’s character traits in dance would be so amusing. We took an action and assigned it to a body part to create a given sequence. From here, we were assigned a Laban effort and to adapt the movement to this dynamic way of moving. Float was my effort which was interesting to learn it is the one main effort I do not add in improvisational work.

Thursday

Ballet class one, done. Ballet class two, done. You would think going from advanced to intermediate classes would make me better, but instead it showed more my weaknesses. I enjoyed learning how my body worked and putting elements I talk about in my blogs into practice. Don’t overstretch to be as high as everyone else if you are falling out of line. Lift against the floor. Have confidence fully in my knowledge and let that show. We are all still growing. No dancer will ever be perfect or what would we strive for? If anything the drive at not being the best will push me further, with a little body exploration and theoretical research a day. As I say hard work beats talent that doesn’t try.

After body conditioning (learnt some great daily feet strengthening exercises that I’ll I’ll soon) and my afternoon theory class I was knackered. I can feel the improvements but also the wall I have met as a dancer to push through. When here, remember why you do this and feed yourself enough (this includes drinking water!). As of next week I will have a fifth class, collaborating with music and drams students. I am looking forward to working in the Valletta theatre.

I HAVE HAD AMAZING NEWS. I have been accepted to do a placement in April with “Openimg door”, a Maltese company who help bring dance to everyone regardless of disabilities. I will be helping put together a show, shadowing the artistic director of the company. I cannot wait to see what I will learn to put into my school.

Friday

Everyone says that Friday 13th is unlucky but I’ve always found it to be quite the opposite. Of course I started the day with ballet, and though I was far from flawless I felt I ballet-ed. I remembered sequences both on barre and centre, even creating my own terminology for moves in my own language. By using words I found more descriptive than the French ones I had not learnt yet, such as twisty leg thing, I was able to recall movement and flow much better than before.

Within contemporary, we looked at recreating and adapting a duet with one dancer with their eyes shut. By loosing a sense, I was more open to: touch, my alignment and the sounds in space. It was a lot less scary than it seems. We worked on a range of basic lifts and counterbalances whilst including a short unison phrase. Choreographically, as a tool more attention would need to be on the dancers eyes shut as it can be hard to tell a small detail from an audience perspective once rehearsed and performed with confidence. This is an idea I will play with.

It dawned on me more today that my research into setting up a company gave me more information than I thought. Most of what i was taught today was information I knew about grants and legal proceedings. I am much more focused and positive about my business I am soon to venture on.

Saturday

Physio day. A 15 minute session with a physiotherapist has helped me regain motivation and understanding of my weird body. The only thing stopping my turn out is the strength of my right wide of the core and bits of my inner thigh- not tight hips and Achilles like I have been told for so long. I have always thought I was not designed for turn out, but on inspection I am close to 90° turn out in the hips. With constant training and focus in key areas, I can hope to have an average “dancer” turnout by the end of the year.

The weakness in one side of my core, has also left movement with the right leg as supporting to be weaker. My flexibility has been called “great” so this should be a quicker fix to better developes than if there was an internal problem.

I have a slight side bend in my back, which I was completely unaware of, but is nothing serious to need any surgery or adapting of movement.

The rest of the day was spent...SHOPPING. It was an expensive day getting new dance equipment and Lee getting a Macbook. Its nice to have days where you can let go a little and have fun. We are spending tonight watching Halloween films with takeout and cookies.

Sunday

Today hasn’t been the sparkliest day. I have realised dance has become my everything. You need to be committed for something to happen, to find the magic inside but I am learning the importance on building around it. Learn more and more inspiration will come. I’m looking at learning the art of calligraphy, and photography. Funny enough as I am writing this Jessie M’s ROSE unconditional speech came on in the background. Its about finding inspiration. I haven’t reached giving up on dance by had a day I hit the wall. I’m sharing this to tell you all its normal, its important. Great art comes from emotion not thin air or it would have no meaning. I burnt myself out this week, so next week I will learn from this.