Miss Alicia and I were talking the other day about how great this year has been so far. The economy is getting better (sorta), we have roofs over our heads and food in our bellies, great friends and family, and each week we get to teach what we love: dance.
As Thanksgiving nears, here are the things I am thankful for at AiM:
* Great students. - Our students are simply fabulous. Students who have great attitudes, lovely smiles and a desire to learn. I really appreciate that our students are so fun to teach. Many times, teaching does not feel like a job.
* Teachers who continue to dance. - Dance is not an easy field to get into. It takes a lot of dedication, a lot of ups, a lot of downs. The teachers at AiM have been really fortunate to perform professionally throughout the years. Miss Lindsay is the assistant rehearsal director at MADCO where each year she gets to work with nationally recognized choreographers, choreograph and continuously take modern and ballet classes. Miss Hannahbeth recently took on an important role at aTrek Dance Collective helping teach, dance, choreograph...you name it, she's doing it. Miss Alicia, Miss Kirsten and I have been freelancing throughout the fall with various companies and also participating in shows like 60x60 where we get to choreograph. It's inspiring to work alongside artists in the field.
* Students taking extra classes. - This year we have had an influx of students taking additional classes. Students are learning a wider range of dance styles and techniques which is helping them across the board. Our students are becoming more well-rounded as they learn not only ballet and modern, but also jazz, tap, pointe and more advanced ballet. These classes are not a requirement of our curriculum, so it's always wonderful to see students taking it upon themselves to improve!
* Positive attitudes. - We all know that mid-fall, students, parents and teachers get into a mis-season lull. It's almost the holidays but not quite, homework is getting heavier and heavier, daylight savings makes us all a little sleepy, and each organization is planning an extra field trip or performance. It gets a little exhausting and sometimes can change our attitudes. But I must say, especially with our ensemble students, they have maintained a high work ethic and are still very focused on their classes and rehearsal practice. For example, Ballet/Mod 3-4 always asks me relevant dance-related questions, focuses on their ballet technique as well as their modern and always comes in with smiles on their faces! This really helps us teachers because we feed off the positive energy, thus making for better classes!
So thank you students for making my job incredibly enjoyable! It sure beats the pants off slinging steaks at a restaurant (which I used to do...ew).
- Miss Keli
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