Sunday, March 8, 2015

And We're Dancing...


So I teach my first barre class this Friday morning at 8:30 a.m. I won't normally be available to teach during the day, but it's spring break and no one will be in the office anyway, so I'm taking a couple hours of vacation and heading in late. I'm not nervous about it right now, but I'm 100% certain I will be when I put my yoga mat down in the place of authority at the front of the room. I'm also not sure I can count out loud while doing ab exercises, but maybe that's when I need to get up and check form. I'm the teacher. I know what's best.

I bought a new binder at Target yesterday because all new endeavors begin best with new school supplies. I also bought tabs and sheet protectors and skinny markers- I'm not a ballet dancer, but I'm pretty sure each of those items is essential to mapping out any kind of choreography.


I'm still working on my music play list. Rather than stress myself out trying to find current popular music that is cool but not too cool and therefore uncool, I'm going with a theme- dance movie soundtracks. Because a huge part of my attraction to barre in the beginning was it let me pretend I was a ballerina. Even though I've never had the build, feet, or flexibility to be one, I could live out my beloved dance movies while standing in releve at the barre in my 30's and pretend. So I have the upbeat songs from Center Stage, Step Up, etc., but I need more, so let me know if you have any favorite dance-y songs. Or any fun songs ("Shut Up and Dance" by Walk the Moon is also on the list). It doesn't all have to be on theme.


Center Stage good times


I have my warm-up, arms, barre, abs, and cool down sections all written out; now I just need to go through it once to make sure I'm remotely in the right ballpark on timing. I've been to enough classes that I'm not too worried about having to wing it, whether to cut the number of sets or intervals to shorten it up, or throw in additional moves to fill blank time if needed, but I'm staring at my carefully printed cue list and have no idea if it's a 45 minutes or 2 hours. Maybe I'll get Claire to go through it with me.

We'll cool down to this song because I'm obsessed with it (along with Mark Wilkinson's entire Hand Picked album; have you heard it? It's wonderful.):


So that's what's on my plate for today- music and barre practice. I still need to plan my first day of teaching outfit, but I have time.

Until then, Cora is going to help by highlighting the passages of Brown Bear, Brown Bear she finds most motivating. Perhaps I'll open class with a short reading.


(I have since reclaimed the marker to its high shelf; that girls is like a bloodhound when it comes to contraband writing utensils.)

19 comments:

  1. That is SO exciting you're teaching your very first Barre class. I remember reading when you first started attending the classes and you were so nervous. Congratulations lady! Best of luck to you, I know you'll do a fantastic job!

    Lindsay
    www.theflynnigans.com

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    1. Thanks Lyndsay! It's fun to have something to new to be so excited and the good kind of scared about :).

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  2. LOVE Shut Up and Dance! Other good songs are "Dog Days" by Florence and the Machines (current face) and "Rather Be" by Clean Bandit. These are my three favorite running songs right now. Good luck!

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    1. Rather Be was the only other song I already owned that I've put on my barre list! It is SO good! Dog Days is another good one. Let me know if you think of any more!

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    2. I love Blurred Lines....but that might be too scandalous. How about "Sugar" from Maroon 5?

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    3. Ooh, Prayer In C from Lilly Wood? Not sure if it's fast enough?

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    4. Ooh, Prayer In C from Lilly Wood? Not sure if it's fast enough?

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  3. I assume you Step Up song is "Give it up to me" (Sean Paul)?

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    1. It wasn't actually- I have Till the Dawn and Show Me the Money; I'll check out Give it up to me, though!

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  4. i recently became a barre-lover (flybarre) and am curious where you teach! you don't have to give specifics of course, but i always assumed that the routines at flybarre were given to the instructors since they seem to be very similar. are you at a smaller studio and thus have more freedom of expression? you will do fantastic - i agree with you that binders and markers make EVERYTHING go more smoothly :) :)

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  5. Not sure if it's the right tempo for bar, but I love when Girls Chase Boys by Ingrid Michaelson comes on my iPod while I'm running!

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  6. How cool! Good luck :) And regarding the being able to count out loud during ab exercises worry, as someone who worked as a dance teacher for many, many years, I'll tell you that when the adrenaline kicks it is truly amazing what you're able to do for the purposes of class demonstration. You'll be great!

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  7. Oh man, I think my comment just got eaten! I will try to recreate it...

    First, check out "Honey I'm Good" by Andy Grammer - it's super upbeat and dance-y, just like "Shut Up and Dance."

    Others to try: "Somebody Loves You" by Betty Who, "Come Get It Bae" by Pharrell Williams,
    "Sexotheque" by La Roux, "I Will Never Let You Down" by Rita Ora, "Heads Will Roll" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Baby Don't Lie" by Gwen Stefani, "Glass Heart" by Magic Giant, and "Geronimo" by Sheppard. All excellent for my workout needs, as I require any exercising music to be super upbeat, danceable, and worthy of singing along (if I can breathe well enough to do so - I'm not above mouthing the words as I pant).

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  8. Just as a treat here's this from the Royal New Zealand Ballet

    https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152662976546863

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  9. I'll admit I'm using your comments and your blog entry to create an updated running mix. I like Hey Mama by Black Eyed Peas (and so do my toddlers).

    -Simi

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  10. Hey! Today's your big debut! Can't wait to read all about it! Break a leg LL!
    -Desimom

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    1. Thanks Desi! I actually teach tomorrow (Friday) morning and am getting increasingly nervous about it. I'll let you know how it goes! I do at least have a great playlist thanks to everyone's suggestions!

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    2. Maybe I was wishing it were Friday already! lol

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