Hi dancers and parents!
This is my first year being on the official
teaching roster at ESB, but I didn’t get here in the same way that most
teachers do, so I thought I would give you a bit of my backstory.
I started dancing in the way most of us at
the tender age of 3 or 4, in a combined tap and ballet class at the studio near
my house. I hated it. I thought ballet class was boring and though we weren’t
raised to be quitters, my poor mother gave up the fight and stopped dragging me
(kicking and screaming) to class when I was 6.
Fast forward to my mid-teenage years, and I
wanted nothing more than to dance. Our ‘social dance’ units in gym class were
the only times I ever truly thrived in phys. ed. I couldn’t hear music without
moving to it. I couldn’t even play my clarinet without moving around as I
played. I would try and make up my own contemporary choreography to my
favourite songs, but I was sorely lacking any sort of training so I had no
movements in my repertoire and no experience on which to draw. I knew I had
some natural talent in dance and desperately wanted to start taking classes,
but this was long enough ago that there wasn’t much opportunity for beginner
teenaged dancers (at least not that I was aware), so I had to wait until I was
old enough to take adult ballet classes.
The summer after my first year of
university, I did a simple Google search for adult ballet classes, and I chose
to go with ESB as they offered the greatest variety of adult ballet levels, and
their teaching staff were all highly qualified. My first classes were the ESB
summer intensive that year. It was sweltering, the studio was crowded, and my
body hurt for every day of those two weeks. But I loved it. I knew this was what I’d been waiting for. (In case you
were curious, my brief training in childhood gave me NO advantage. I had
forgotten everything from those
dance classes. I didn’t even know what a plié was. It was like I’d blocked the
memories or something.)
I continued on that year in Adult Beginner
ballet, and I added a second ballet class and adult modern in my second year. I
continued taking two ballet classes and modern, and in my fourth year I added
adult tap and jazz as well. I loved all of it: I loved the technical aspects,
tradition, and artistry of ballet; I loved the fact that I really felt like I
was dancing in modern because we got to just
move; and tap has always been the most FUN I’ve ever had dancing, even though
I was the only beginner and experienced quite a steep learning curve in that
first year. I’ve always loved performing and have taken every opportunity I
could to get on stage, be it for a competition or for ESB show.
I continued to expand my dance horizons
where I could. I attended workshops when the opportunity presented itself.
These have mostly been in modern and ballet, though I’ve also taken workshops in
some really different styles like creative movement, salsa, Broadway,
burlesque, bellydance, go-go dancing, traditional Swiss dancing, Hula, Bollywood,
traditional East Indian dancing – Bharatanatyam and Bhangra, and bachata. I’ve
even been inspired to workshop in things which have had nothing to do with
dance like aerial silks, hooping, Garuda, acro yoga, and poi spinning. I took
intermediate contemporary and Afro-Cuban classes- at the U of A. I took floor
barre, contemporary, jazzfunk, and tap classes at Grant MacEwan. More ballet,
tap, jazz, and contemporary, as well as some new things like stretch &
strength, hip hop, and Irish dance at some smaller studios around town. I’ve
done my best to really expand upon my traditional training and make myself a
truly well-rounded dancer.
I really got the opportunity to take my
ballet training further in my sixth year at ESB, when my teacher took me aside
after class and asked me how I felt about getting pointe shoes!! Can you
imagine? Me, an adult, getting en pointe?! This was well before ESB began
offering adult pre-pointe and pointe classes; in fact, by this point I had
never even heard of another adult dancer getting recommended to go en pointe,
and I certainly never thought I would ever get there. I was shocked. And
elated. Isn’t this every dancer’s dream? I gave a vehement YES to the idea, and
after Christmas that year we attended my first pointe shoe fitting. I spent an
entire shift at work one day sewing ribbons onto my shoes (the first time takes
AGES, let me tell you). I had a few private pointe classes with my teacher, and
then I started wearing my shoes in my adult class – just for the first part of
barre, then the whole barre, and then in the centre for adage, and eventually
even for allegro. It truly was a dream come true, and to-date I still consider
it one of my major life accomplishments; I never ever in a million years
thought that I, who started dancing at the ripe old age of 18, would ever earn
a pair of pointe shoes. It felt really good to know I’d earned it, too! I knew
a few dancers who, against the advice of their teachers, snuck out and bought
themselves a pair and fumbled their way through pointe in their kitchens at home,
but knowing I’d waited for permission made it that much sweeter.
Despite all of my training in a whole list
of styles, and even making it en pointe, I never thought that I would be able
to do anything with dance beyond having a rather expensive hobby. That is,
until later that same year I was approached about auditioning for ESB’s
Cecchetti Teacher Training Program. I hadn’t dreamed of being a ballet teacher
when I was growing up, nor had I ever thought as an adult that it would be a
possibility for me, having started as late as I did. But by this point I had a
physics degree I was never going to use, no life plan to speak of, and I was
advancing leaps and bounds in my ballet training, so this really was the
perfect opportunity, and one I wanted badly to explore.
I auditioned, but having only trained in
adult classes and not having taken a syllabus exam in my life, I was required
to take a “Provisional Year” and play catch up. I started taking Cecchetti and
RAD syllabus classes for the first time and successfully passed my first ever
Cecchetti exam. I’m now in my third year of part-time studying with the program
and I continue to attend the Associate (theory) and Cecchetti syllabus classes,
as well as assist with other ESB classes (Junior Grades and adult ballet). I
have had many opportunities to hone my craft by substitute teaching countless
classes in a variety of levels (ages 3 to adult and everything in between) and
styles (ballet, tap, modern, hip hop, and acro) at a number of studios around
the Edmonton area in addition to ESB. This past year I became certified to
teach the ESB Junior Grades, and this year for the first time I have my very
own classes! Subbing is one thing, but to teach and choreograph for your own
classes is something ENTIRELY different. It has been quite the experience –
I’ve gained such a deeper understanding of ballet through teaching it, and my
own technique has improved immensely!
I have been told by many of my fellow adult
dancers that my journey has been inspiring to them, and I hope that by telling
it here I can inspire a few more. You’re never too old to chase your dreams,
and so much can be possible if you just set your mind to it! Never give up on
your passions, no matter what they are. If it’s calling to your soul, pursue
it!
– Miss. Amy
