Friday the 13th

We had a great rehearsal yesterday Friday the 13th!! I had the kids journal about a loss in their lives. I haven't read about them but I am guessing the majority is about death and one is about the loss of a friendship. Another thing we did was watch their alignment videos and see the little habits they haven created when dancing. It was eye opening for a few of them. Lastly we started exploring improvisation. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. In the beginning I just had them start moving. I noticed movement patterns so I directed them to move differently. After we sat down and I had them write down words that described how they felt about their journal entry when it was happening and how they felt about it now. Then we moved again. I saw a huge difference in they movement. I saw range and anger in a lot. The last entry was to write down some movement qualities. This gave them a little more direction and they started exploring a lot more. It was amazing just in 30 minutes the change I witnessed in their movement. I think they have gotten over the initial embarrassment and will hopefully be less inhibited next time.