I don’t know about you but this idea of Hybrid learning splits my attention so fiercely that I forget which class I’m in, what combination I’m on, the counts, the arm positions, proper alignment of myself let alone the dancers in front of me… those participating on screen and that of the dog that keeps interrupting the little dancer at their ballet barre/chair. I hate it!!
A few weeks ago I was subbing for a friend of mine at her studio and as the camera connected to the online students I began to introduce myself to both the virtual and the live world of dancers in the studio or ‘studio.’
‘Hello everyone it’s nice to see you all again.. for those of you who don’t know me, my name is Li..’ ‘Excuse me..um Miss Lisa? Tap Tap Tap’ Who’s tapping? I thought this was a Ballet class? Do I need to change my shoes? What’s happening? “Over here… I’m in my living room, it’s Amanda…” “ Oh hi Amanda nice chesterfield..” “Yeah Miss Lisa can you move back? Your head’s cut off, as is your right arm, you need to stand on the ‘x… yeah right there.” Well that ‘x’ was so far from the actual dancers in front of me I felt so disconnected. “Um ok can you all see me now?”
“Can you talk louder?” SURE! I CAN DO THAT FOR YOU… RUSSIAN BALLET PLIÉS GRADE 2… LET”S BEGIN. Dammit am I only on Plié’s? “Tap Tap Tap…” Yes, Amanda?” “Um...we’re the grade 4 class.”
“You are? Oh right, of course you are!!”
As the class commenced and clearly I was feeling completely off my teacher game, we finally moved to the centre of the room. I was feeling somewhat settled until we got to Sauté and Changement; the petite allegro section. We took turns in 2 groups of 3 repeating the jumps back and forth with little Amanda being in group 2. “Ok" I thought, “we are working as a community, a dance class, it’s not so bad, maybe I can do this.”
Suddenly I notice the kids giggling and pointing to the TV screen at little Amanda. She was trying to perfect her jumps while her little brother ran in and out of the door. Behind him trailed their new puppy, who then ran in and out of her changements causing her to lose her balance and fall to the carpet. The only words out of my dumbfounded mouth were ‘ oh look… a Sheepadoodle.’
This differentiation of focus followed me into my teaching at the high school during my grade 9/10 dance class. The dancers were filming their project for their culminating performance task as the end of the first Corona quadmester was fast approaching. I have 4 cohorts- 3 of which have 12 students and the last one has only 4; it was this cohort that I was working with. The dancers had to create a dance film and hence we’ve been rehearsing and videoing the last 2-3 classes. Three of the dancers were with me live and one was at home in quarantine online in her proper bodysuit and tights, dancing in her basement, once she rolled out of the comforts of her covers.
The dancers working live were insistent that their spacing was to stay the same and to replace real Natalie with computer Natalie by placing my laptop in the proper formation of their original choreography. Picture a diagonal line from Downstage left to Upstage right… Dancer, Dancer, Laptop, Dancer… funny right? My job was to video the work and I could not for the life of me stop laughing at the comedy of the entire scene.
The dancers were focused and determined to finish their task. Natalie happily danced in her basement amidst her mom’s hair salon and her brother’s drum kit. It didn’t matter what part of the choreography they were on, pirouettes, switch splits, ariels Natalie was committed and smiling. ‘Sure Miss, I’ll jeté, spin around in the swirly chair and then pirouette.’ Meanwhile the other dancers were astute enough to say, ‘but Miss those directions you just gave her is not part of our choreography.’ “Right dancers I was just turning that section into a site specific but can she hit the drum kit? We gotta have the drum kit!”
Ahhh my sense of comedy and creation began to infiltrate the moment and seep into my one teacher task of filming their work.
FOCUS LISA!!!
This Hybrid model of learning has changed our choreography, has changed our learning patterns and has brought me some of the funniest moments that I have no choice but to surrender too.
Like this one....I finally got that drum kit moment… You nailed it Natalie, amazing, 100% A+.
Pulling myself out of the virtual and physical worlds I decided to just view the room, laptop and all, through the lens of the iPhone used to film their project. In the end the video was, for me, a great example of their perseverance to create and to complete their assignment whether live or virtual as well as a testament to the times we’re in, but I still hate it.
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