I intend to be sharing thoughts and ideas here and hope we can start some conversations whether you are a teacher or student. We all learn from each other.
At the moment I have a private teaching practice with a wide mix of children, teenagers and adult students. I love having a mix. It keeps me on my toes. Over the years I have taught players with Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Asperger’s and one person, with part of a finger missing. Everyone is different.
For a year now, I have been teaching a lady in her early 70s who has Parkinson’s. The Parkinson’s organisation is inspirational. They suggested C should follow her dream to learn the cello. And why not, it’s vital to stay open to new, exciting and expanding experiences.
As a child and teenager, she was at ballet school. Finding this out, gave me a strong idea of the kind of intense experience she grew up with. It also indicated I would be working with a determined & courageous person.
It’s so exciting for me to be teaching differently, learning more about how our bodies do and don’t behave and how we can strengthen both our emotional and physical circuitry. This is an important part of our development.
We work early in the morning when the drugs have settled her tremors. Having started with more tremble on her right side, C is now much more in overall control of her body.
The confidence this adventure has given C is lovely to observe. Last summer C went away with some girlfriends, one of whom had also been a dancer. One morning C went onto the patio with her friend, and for the first time in decades, did a workout with a cobbled-together bar. She said it was not as bad as she had expected, and it thrilled her.
We are both feeling our way, creating a syllabus. Recently at a bus stop, C noticed she was doing petit jetes with her right leg. She does them when improvising too! #connectingup