On Friday 7th October, Year 10 and 11 dance students took part in a dance workshop held by the National Youth Dance Company. It involved lots of movement that none of us had ever seen before, and we all agree that we learnt a lot, and had so much fun in this session.
We began by trying a warmup that they use at the company, involving turning, sinking into the floor, and emphasising arm gestures. We were taught this thoroughly and struggled a bit to begin with, but with the professional help meant we got the hang of it in the end.
We also took part in a travelling practice across the room and attempted to learn a section from a piece they had just performed. This involved a basketball sequence which we were later inspired by to create our own sequences. We were put into small groups and taught each other what we had just made- making use of everything we had been taught in the session so far. We performed these to the class and got the opportunity to appreciate the hard work everyone had put in.
To round off our session, we had a short improvisation challenge – let the music take over and just dance! This was really fun and it was the perfect way to finish.
Thank you NYDC for taking the time to come and teach us!
