What a difference a few weeks can make.
It was just a regular class tonight. We reviewed some dances -- Nabrala Je, Miserlou, La Plongeuse de l'Ouest, Ya Da Kalinushku Lomala... we learned a couple of new ones -- Arap, schottische... and then reviewed some more.
Someone asked if we could do Jarnana, an Albanian line dance that we had learned earlier in the spring. We reviewed it, and I put on the music. By this time in the session (week 8), I like when other people lead the lines. So Toresa lead the dance, and I joined the end of the line where Cathy was dancing.
After I took Cathy's hand, she turned and commented to me, saying that she had enjoyed the Irish session that she dropped in on last week in the pub. Now, Cathy is relatively new to folk dancing, and when I say relatively new - I mean that she hasn't been dancing for longer than a year. For her to turn and start a conversation was, to me, a demonstration of how comfortable she is feeling with her dancing. For her to be able to keep her feet doing Jarnana while talking about the Irish session was SO impressive.
I like chatty dancers. I love watching dancers in my class when they are being social --- while they're dancing (better to be chatty while they're dancing than while I'm teaching). It's one of the reasons people love dancing - to spend leisure time with other people from their village, to connect with other people.
It was just a regular class tonight. We reviewed some dances -- Nabrala Je, Miserlou, La Plongeuse de l'Ouest, Ya Da Kalinushku Lomala... we learned a couple of new ones -- Arap, schottische... and then reviewed some more.
Someone asked if we could do Jarnana, an Albanian line dance that we had learned earlier in the spring. We reviewed it, and I put on the music. By this time in the session (week 8), I like when other people lead the lines. So Toresa lead the dance, and I joined the end of the line where Cathy was dancing.
After I took Cathy's hand, she turned and commented to me, saying that she had enjoyed the Irish session that she dropped in on last week in the pub. Now, Cathy is relatively new to folk dancing, and when I say relatively new - I mean that she hasn't been dancing for longer than a year. For her to turn and start a conversation was, to me, a demonstration of how comfortable she is feeling with her dancing. For her to be able to keep her feet doing Jarnana while talking about the Irish session was SO impressive.
I like chatty dancers. I love watching dancers in my class when they are being social --- while they're dancing (better to be chatty while they're dancing than while I'm teaching). It's one of the reasons people love dancing - to spend leisure time with other people from their village, to connect with other people.
RSS Feed