Dance Me to the End of Term

[shanmonster]

I taught my last dance class of the year, tonight. I got my students started on Mayas, which are almost always really difficult for beginners. But by the end of the class, everyone had the basics down, and my one intermediate student was well on her way to layering various types of shimmies on her Maya. Then, I had everyone break up into groups of two or three, run through a quick, upbeat song a few times, and then perform for the rest of the class. It may very well have been the first time any of them have done a performance, and they did great! Sure, there were lots of goof-ups, but they were happy goof-ups. No one burst into tears. No one hyperventilated. They all laughed and kept on shimmying.

There is one little girl in my class. She speaks very little English, and has a typically short attention span (she's six, I think). Mostly, she does her own thing during classes, sporadically tuning in to what I'm teaching, and working on it voraciously before running a few laps, twirling her veil. Tonight, she was my dance partner, and she performed with me for the rest of the class. She's a natural for barrel turns. I still can't do those. They make me want to barf! So I had her doing barrel turns with the veil held butterfly-style. She's so friggin' cute! I want to teach her some floorwork, too, because she's so flexible and light, that it's not very difficult for her. If she gets a start now, before she gets heavier and her muscles have to work a lot harder, she'll be awesome. She already does some nice arches to the ground from a kneeling position. I guess I'll have to get her Mom to help her out a bit at home.

Although I love teaching my students, I am feeling a nice sag of relief that I won't be teaching any more classes until next month. I need a break! My schoolwork has been burning me out, and I could use a bit more chill-out time. Hopefully, these few weeks off will do the trick....

Comments

[montecristo.livejournal.com]

Ha! Here's some interesting trivia for you. My younger daughter is ten, she's also a Shannon, by the way, and she's probably more flexible than that kid you're describing. Heh heh. There's not a solid bone in her body -- she's all cartilage, as near as I can figure. She does gymnastics. She can go from a bridge to a table without taking her hands off the floor. She's a real Houdini. She can dislocate both shoulders. She can't be handcuffed with her hands behind her successfully because she can "roll out of it" by rolling her arms up over her head. I've seen her demonstrate this with the cardboard tube from the center of a roll of toilet paper. She holds the thing with both hands, behind her back, and can bring her arms to the front without letting go of the tube with either hand.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Hypermobility! My sister could force herself to do that thing with the toilet tube. Eventually, it catches up with you, though. Dislocations cause pain, years later...

I don't think the kid in my class is extra flexible. I think she just has the typical high flexibility of a little kid. Most kids are much more flexible than adults. If they keep working with it, they'll maintain that flexibility into their adulthoods.

[metasilk.livejournal.com]

Why do you think mayas are more difficult? What can one do to practice them better, develop that skill better?

When you say various types of shimmies, are you referring to directions of or something else?

Stayin' Alive

[snowy-kathryn.livejournal.com]

Hey Shan! I'm still alive...just wrapping up exams and final papers and trying to churn out another draft of a thesis-chapter. My costume came in yesterday! Can I bring it over to show you sometime today??? :)

Re: Stayin' Alive

[f00dave.livejournal.com]

She's all pooped out and taking a nap this afternoon. How 'bout around 5ish? She might be conscious by then. ;-)

Re: Stayin' Alive

[snowy-kathryn.livejournal.com]

Okidokee :)

[montecristo.livejournal.com]

My daughter doesn't have to force it. She makes it look disturbingly natural. Eeek. She can practically fold herself in half...backwards. The girl is completely made of rubber. Hmmm, maybe she's a Tigger.

The wonderful thing about Tiggers,
Is Tiggers are wonderful things,
Their tops are made out of rubber,
Their bottoms are made out of springs,
They're bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, bouncy,
Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun,
But the most wonderful thing about Tiggers,
Is I'm the only one.

-- A.A. Milne

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

They're not necessarily more difficult. Some people find them easier than upright figure 8s from the other direction. The reasons most people find them trickier are:

1. They use the wrong muscles. Most beginners use their calves to achieve the pelvic tilt of the Maya. The move should instead originate in the inner thighs. A properly-done Maya can be done with the heels firmly on the floor.
2. They try too hard. The move is very subtle, and doesn't require an enormous tip through the pelvis to get an appreciable movement.

I start my students off by having them lie down on their backs, then pull a hip up straight toward their armpit, then push it over to the side, relaxing, then repeating on the opposite side. Effectively, you're doing Mayas on the floor in such a way that it's impossible to use the calf muscles. You have no choice but to use the correct muscles. However, you also look like a wriggling fish on the ground. Heh.... Then I have the students stand up and try the same thing, focusing on using the correct muscles. I find they catch on much faster when I start them off on the floor than when they try it standing up from the get-go.

I also get my students to use the planks in the hardwood floor as a bit of a guideline. They stand so the planks run in the same direction as their hips, and I get them to do the movement so their hips continue following the floorboards, and don't twist from front to back.

When I say various shimmies, I mean knee shimmies, thigh shimmies, and a bit of a bounce movement, which makes the Maya more staccato in appearance.

Hmmm.... I think I'll crosspost this to the bellydance community. They might find it interesting!