Nineteen Classes Old and Still Young – May 21, 2009

Shana was present for todays class. I quickly found out, that while she is good at breaking moves down for beginners, she doesn’t tolerate messiness when you can do better. I learned that fairly quickly, and had to remind myself not to take it personally, she just wants me to perform the tricks to the best of my ability and make them look pretty and effortless.

Today, we climbed on both feet on the corde lisse, did the “foot block” moves: “elbow lean away”, “1-hand hang”, “squat”, “back arch”, “thigh side lean”, “back of knee hang”, and “trapezius angel”; the “waist block” moves: “part 2”, “part 3”, and “flyer; and “upside-down descent” into the “½ roll”. But today was not just some review day, we also learned “cross legs” and part 1 of the “arrow sequence”. Oh, and did I mention that we also attempted all of these moves on our bad side (my left foot). Let’s just say that there was lots of messiness and room to improve. The “cross legs” is a variation on the “trapezius angel” and the part 1 of the “arrow sequence” begins in the “trapezius angel”. Basically, you do a big straddle and hook your foot onto the rope above your head. Let me tell you as someone who was definitely not ready for that type of stretch, your hamstrings certainly will not thank you in the immediate future. I was not doing it right because I kept bringing my legs closer together on the way up. If it is done correctly, your body shifts just a little bit, and your legs stay straight. Due to lack of experience, I accidentally bent my legs and had quite an ordeal trying to get out of the move without falling onto the ground.

On the trapeze, we did one gigantic review. The problem with the moves I was doing was that I was not extending my body enough. If I remembered to point my toes more often and arched my back a little more, I could have appeared so much longer. Also, part of the performance is so that the audience can see the moves. Shana reminded us that along with extending ourselves, slowly down and holding the various moves would also give them more control and would in turn look prettier.

To review, we did the “rock and roll”, “stag”, “tuck up on ropes” and “birds nest”. We then moved onto the “mermaid sequence”: “mermaid”, “½ angel”, “back angel”, “one-hand one-foot”, “one-knee one-elbow”, and “candlestick”. We did the sitting moves “trapezius angel” into “splits” (it was fast and fun), and “gazelles”. We also tried the “split leg rotation” to remount the trapeze after the “trapezius angel” into “splits”. The “split leg rotation” resembled a “monkey roll”, but instead of both legs hugging the bar, only one leg did, while the other kicked the body around into an upright position. We also worked on our “birds nest from sitting” and “side pose”. “Side pose” is a move where you stand on one leg, on one side and curve your neck around the rope. Pretty simple. And just like Shana wanted us to do on the corde lisse, we tried it again on our weaker side. Of course it was harder, but not impossible.

Although much of the day was review, unlike with previous teachers, Shana truly critiqued our moves and told us exactly what we were doing that kept it from being perfect and beautiful. I think her class is going to be challenging, but hopefully I will learn the grace and gain the strength and flexibility to make it look effortless and graceful.