I had hoped that I had seen the end of zoom classes along with the end of 2020 but I have realised how wrong I was!! As I listen to the disheartening news and emerge myself into lockdown 3 without all the baking I have had time to reflect on the positives 2020 has brought.
Never did I think that I could teach classes online. It had never occurred to me that this would be a useful and sensible thing to do. I think Zoom Ballet classes will be here to stay for a long time and actually I think that is great. It has taken me a while to learn the entirely new skill of teaching over zoom but I have adjusted my teaching, my expectations and goals and am now proud of my new skill set. For some students Zoom is tough. If you are of a perfectionist mindset (as so many dancers are!!!) it is hard to change your expectations and to overcome the challenges of the wrong type of floor to give just one example. But as an ex dancer we had to dance on all sorts of floors and in all sorts of different settings which was frustrating . I remember the director saying that it doesn’t matter where you dance or how grand the setting is. What counts is on the inside and the joy you find in dancing and the joy you give to others. Never has a truer phrase been said when we think about why we should do zoom classes. We can find the joy for ourselves. We can give joy to the other students, joy to the family members who may be watching and most of all joy to our teachers who has been forced to stop the thing that he/she loves best!!!!
As I start zoom classes today for you all, let us share that joy. Let us remember that it isn’t forever and we will be together in the hall soon. But whilst we wait we can find the joy and share it. We can give our day structure, we can gain new goals and we can get better together and be ready for when we return to classes.
It is my pleasure to teach you Zoom classes and I am looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible to keep our dance school family going and ready for when we return. If Mums want to try the Barre class you are most welcome. Who knows I may end up with some new recruits because they found the joy for themselves!!!!!