The Mug, The Sock and The Pen

To start this blog off, I have to confess that there is also a scarf that should have been included in the list above but as the rest of my Emily Dance blog titles are a list of 3, I couldn't bring myself to add in a fourth item! It's got to fit right?!

The reason for the mug, the sock, the pen and the scarf is perhaps not what you would first expect. Rather than being used for drinking, keeping your toes warm, writing and adding a touch of style to the neckline of a jumper they have all had a role in my online dance class over the last few weeks. These items have helped me to train direction. Building a sense of direction online is extremely difficult so by placing items in the corners of the room it helps dancers to understand where they are heading to at different points of the sequence.

Back in the studio my new grade 3 dancers have been learning the more traditional way of managing direction; counting corners! We have had great fun with seeing who can stand in the correct place first as I call out different numbers. There has also been the tricky placing of croisé and ouvert to manage. Croisé is a crossed position so for example you would be stood in croisé if you had your right foot in the front in 5th position facing the front left corner (corner 5) of your room. You would be stood in an open ouvert line if you stayed facing the front left corner but placed the left foot in the front. And now I'm going to stop talking before things become totally confusing! Don't forget I'm always open to questions on emily@emilydance.com.