What a strange week it has been! I’m sure you are all finding it just as odd as I am not to be dancing, particularly those of you who are with us several times a week.
Everyone is using their time off in lockdown differently, and I’m trying to be as productive as I can. Many of you may not know that teaching dance is not my only source of income; I’m also a freelance artist! A perk of freelancing is that I largely work from home anyway, so lockdown hasn’t thrown a spanner in all aspects of my life… just most of them!
I’ve spent the past week creating as much artwork as I can. I’ve had a few external client projects to work on (some logo designs for companies, commissioned portraits, and some work on a music video, which is pretty exciting!), but I’ve been working on my own projects as well! I also bought a fancy new printer a little while ago, so I’ve been having slightly too much fun making prints and stickers out of my work, ready for my online shop! Miss Kelly and I have also not stopped preparing for ‘The Wind in the Willows’ – on Thursday we had a lengthy Skype meeting about all kinds of artwork for the show. We shall once again be using the projector during our performance, so we talked at length about creating videos for this as well as artwork for the programme, which I’m very excited to be working on once more. Don’t forget to keep sending us your photos of nature, wildlife and rubbish around Milton Keynes when you’re out on your one walk of the day!
I have also been keeping up as well as I can with both dancing and teaching from here. As I’m sure you’ve all noticed, we have been developing online classes and show rehearsals over the past week to make sure you can all keep up to date with everything we’ve worked hard on so far. Videos for Preliminary Ballet and Intermediate Street will be with those of you who take these classes very soon! Remember, we’d love to see any videos of you practicing your dances at home! And of course I’ve been following along with some classes of my own (nothing like doing Flow in my pyjamas in the morning!) When I’m not drawing or dancing, I have been making my way through the huge pile of books I own.
I’m already itching to get back to normal. I really miss teaching you all! I definitely miss the amount of exercise I usually get, particularly from Advanced Jazz where I can work on my flexibility and core strength. I also miss working on your show dances with you all. The lead up to the show is definitely my favourite time of year; I love choreographing dances and helping my pupils to develop characters. My ‘dragonfly’ dance with Pre-School Ballet on a Saturday morning is definitely one of my favourites to work on this year! The fact our little bunch of four-to-five-year-olds can ALL stop in a set place, without prompting, will never fail to impress me!
I’m looking forward to jumping back into classes as soon as we get back to normal, and carrying on with your show dances in full force. Teaching is without a doubt the most rewarding thing I do, and my days feel emptier without it! Everyone at Attitude feels like a little family to me, and I can’t wait to see them again.
Keep safe and keep dancing!
Miss Jess x
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