Yes, it's been quite awhile since I've set foot in a dance studio to learn anything. On a few occasions I've been in some shows, I've tried my hand at chorepgraphy & a couple of times have been forced to teach. I am not a teacher so I found it rather ridiculous. First was for some grade school kids. I worked out an easy funky combo for them set to a Macy Gray tune & I was surprisd at how quick the little buggers caught on & actaully at how good I was at captivating their attention. I took a class of 30 kids & in a little over an hour had them do an entire song's worth of dancing. For those who are unfamilliar with dance let's just say that is rather good. On another occassion I was at the Banff Centre & stuck in some god awful crazy native piece & the director was rather stunned to say the least & in no way qualified to be in charge of as good of a cast as she had assembled. Anyhow one by one we got fired. THe main reason for me being toasted was she wanted me to teach another actor to tap dance in under a week. I said lady I am just a begginer at tap, I may have had some Irish, Flamenco, & other training but I am not qualified to do it, & what you are asking is pretty much impossible. She just said well I am not qualified to do this & that but I do it. So off I went after a long day of rehersal to our studio & began to teach this guy some basic tap stuff. I first started out with some warm up exercises, ie stretches you usually do anyway to avoid fatigue & cramping up & that sort of thing. They were really super easy & I told him not to overexert himself in anyway & if anything feels funny it could be a sign you are going too far. Anyhow after getting loosened up we did some basic tap stuff, shuffles, ball changes, riffles, scuffs, grapevine, etc.. Then he said the director told him I had other dance training & wanted to explore some more so we did some travelling across the floor, jazz walks, damn I forget the name of that sideways thing but it looks neat, & other stuff which at the time I could do quite well. Also I was kinda' freaked out cuz right next door over in the next studio were a bunch of my teachers from DJD & the last thing I wanted to do was look like an idiot & teach someone the wrong thing. Every single dance class & teacher played through my mind those nights. I kept checking in the mirror to make sure I was doing the right thing & so was dude. During the strecthces I walked around him made sure all the angles were right, feet were in the right position, pelvis, hips, arms, hands. Then I got into explaining about how you gotta go down to go up & up to go down, the need for core strength, & a zillion other things. On & on I played all the videos of every class I could remember & every teachers techniques. Anyhow it ended up being our exploration of tap, jazz, ballet, & native dance all mixed into one hodge podge of a thing. During the native stuff our roles were reversed since Iwas unfamilliar with that aspect of my heritage. At the end of our classes, practices, exploration or whatever I suggest just a light stretch since that is how most classes ended where I was taught & just seemed natural since I did notice I had become somewhat stiff. I told my compadre he should as well, but when it came time to do the stretch at the end he bailed & I said dude that's probably not a good idea since we were more or less putting in over 12 hours a day to this show with all of our acting & other stuff. Add to that it was winter & we were in the mountains. Anyhow I told the director this & I told her that I dude he should stop any time he felt tired or whatever. I could go on & on for days. Anyhow he ended up getting cramps or something like that. Sometimes before I got there in the evening after supper, a cigarette, & whatever he'd go there earlier. I let him use my tap shoes, & he'd be there doing some further exploration on his own of what we covered although at a somewhat erratic pace. With the director being hte quack she was anyhow I eventually got fired, I was wondering when my time might come & it did. Since dude wasn't able to tap dance, & perform miracles at the end of the week I was to blame. I said hey I am not a dance teacher & to get really good it takes years not days. Anyhow I was dismissed the next day. There were a dozen riduclous reasons she set down on a piece of paper. I think my favourite one was "Jeff does not grab the feather when he wants to talk in the circle." "Due to Jeff's extremely punishing workouts dude has been injured, Jeff kept on pushing & pushing putting another person in mortal danger" & there was "Jeff does not appreciate our native teachings". Give me a break I came to do a show, I came to act, I came to dance. I thought the company had all the proper folks in place. I did not sign on to teach, I did not sign on to hold feathers when I talk, etc.. I am an actor, a somewhat okay dancer to a certain degree. For what she described & what I was hired for I knew I could do the job. Having been in numerous productions before in theatre, tv, film, stilt walking, etc., I knew the correct etiquette & protocol for the gig. Anyhow when I got back to Cowtown I had a friend go "You worker for her, she fires everyone usually, it's a wonder how she gets any money at all." Needless to say after that little incident anything native is scratched off my list unless I myself am directing it, producing it or whatever. Even then it wouldn't be native cuz I am not native. I am your average eccentric, half breed.Anyhow this post was supposed to be how when I saw one of my former teachers the other night at a show I went to watch how she & I were quite happy to see each other even though it was briefly & we didn't talk. Back when I first wanted to learn how to dance I went to DJD & it was different then compared to now & I just found my little niche as the curious student who had other skills the dancers did not posses so I guess that's what caught their attention. Not too mention I was & still am somewhat of a loveable loon. Those girls & lads accepted me for what I was & the company was like some kinda' familly & I was the stray cat who came to the door for some milk quite often. Actually in my eyes they were like abunch of cats as well. Also being a little rough around the edges was something that fascinated them as well. Who knows for sure. Anyhow as time went one I learned more & studied & studied, & more or less had the run of the place when I fancied it. They were quite inspirational, I don't know if I inspired them, but it was wierd how we all grew fond of one another. Anyhow the lads have wandered on since then, new ones have taken their place, the girls are here in town I think, also new ones have come & left the fold. I engratiated myself upon them as a curiousity. Dance is just so wierd. I think just being the anomally I was also helped. All in all it's just to long & detailed to tell exactly. In brief though there is more than the student/ teacher thing. Sometimes the roles were reversed. Other times just firneds, follow artists, or whatever. I loved to watch them grow & I think they got a kick out of watching me as well. U-m-m this might be a strecth but sometimes I think they saw me as their spiritual guru. Little did they know that they too were feeding me some soul. Anyways when I do see one of them it puts a little spring in my step, my heart beats just a wee bit faster, & that sort of thing. I did some pretty kooky stuff for them over the years, but it was all fun in some kinda' way.
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