12/17/2023 0 Comments Week 12: Bittersweet endingsAlyssa: Well it is not the final blog post I will ever make for genius hour. As a recap journey, I started with very little dance background and not knowing how to do any skills whatsoever. I learned how hard dance really is and need to give a lot of credit to those dancers out there. My calypso you could say was a success I did learn how to do it with techneiqe its just not the prettiest thing. I worked on them this week to see improvement but I just can not quite get my leg straight all the time but once agian I can still do the skill just not pretty. The turns in seccond were difficult for me so Lila dumbed it down for me last time we met so I have worked on just the single turn with technique rather than all 3. I feel like they could definitely be better but I now have the basics of it and even when this project is done I am going to continue to work of them I am convinced to get it perfect now.
Lila: Since this is the final blog post it is kinda bittersweet. I have had so much fun on this project and it has taught me so much. I started with very little background knowledge of cheer or tumbling. The backwalkover was definitely a struggle at first but then it just clicked one day. So that was definitely a success. The arial is still a struggle. Alyssa has taught me many exercises so I plan to continue working on it even though genius hour is done. I hope to get it one day. I definitely have a whole new respect for anyone who can tumble, like I knew it was hard but I didn’t realize it was this hard.
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12/10/2023 0 Comments Week Eleven: So Time Flew ByAlyssa: week 11 already!! Through this week I have worked a ton on the calypso since I am so close. I feel like I am right there at it and I am planning to send some videos to Lila to see what she thinks! As stated in week 10 3 turns in second may be a stretch at this point in time so I am working on what Lila told me to just do one. I have worked a lot on each individual step in the turn and at this point I feel like I just to to spin on a axis cause its kind of going sideways. Hopefully me and Lila will be able to meet so she can help me correct that. Going back to the calypso. I have done better with 1 down turn into it so I really just need to work on the momentum with the first turn so I can do the full skill but I definitely think with one more weeks practice I will be able to get it! Just to quickly recap its been crazy working through this project going from no dance background to now knowing a little bit about what it is and how hard it really is but I seriously can not wait to show all my friends my new little skills!
Lila: I genuinely can not believe that this is so close to being over, it’s crazy how fast time moves. The fact that I got one of the skills is still crazy to me. I continue to practice the Ariel, I don’t quite think I will get there but I am a whole lot closer than I was before. I still am not getting over fast enough. I need a whole lot more power to do that and I just haven’t quite figured out how to do it. I also am still very hesitant and I need to not do that. If I can hopefully overcome that it will hopefully get a lot better. The back walkover is still going strong which is fabulous. It is still not the prettiest thing in the world but that’s ok. 12/3/2023 0 Comments Week Ten: Progress so farThis week we both continued to work on our skills but our main focus was reflecting and working on our presentation. While reflecting on our project we thought about our progress and wanted to talk about that. Since it is week ten we have a whole lot to think about. When we were choosing Alyssa's skills we knew that the turns would be harder for her. This has proven to be true. When it comes to turns in seconds you have to have a set of skills that come and work together. We had to build all of these skills with Alyssa. Lila still has a lot of hope and faith that she will be able to get them. It just might not be three turns. We knew that for the calypso Alyssa would already have a background in that kind of jump from cheer. So she only really had to learn the prep. She has done amazingly with that. Her calypso looks great and is almost there. When it came to Lila we also knew that one skill would be easier. For the back walkover she already had the different parts, Alyssa just needed to teach her how to connect them. So it did take a couple weeks but Lila did get it. Now Alyssa knew when picking the Arial it would be harder for Lila. This has translated into we have spent more time on it. We have made a decent amount of progress on it but it’s still a struggle bus. Lila needs to learn or try to just not overthink it. Alyssa has learned that she needs to approach teaching it differently and we ended up making a breakthrough in week nine. Alyssa has faith that Lila will be able to do it at least once. We are both hoping in these last two weeks we can make some more progress before we finish.
11/29/2023 1 Comment Week Nine: We finally met!!!!Alyssa: As promised we did meet this week over thanksgiving break! We met for an hour and a half on Saturday. Lila helped me a lot with corrections on what I was doing wrong. She told me my hip turn out was much better which was very good because I have been working a lot on hip flexibility. She told me my calypso with one down turn was looking really good and that we need to clean up the 2 turns to the jump but that there was improvement and the last one I did was the best one! The turns in second have been kicking my butt I have had a hard time turning on axis so Lila told me to just try one turn for now so I can focus on technique. She told me they did look better than the last time though so that is good. Make sure to check out the video for this week!
Lila: Okie so we finally met, and for a decent amount of time too. We were able to find time on Saturday for about an hour and a half. We started with making sure I could still do the back walkover, and after failing once I proved I could. So then we started working on my arial. We got stuck on the same issue that I do not cartwheel fast enough. But then we made a breakthrough. We learned that my one handed cartwheel was a whole lot faster. So if I did the drills using a one handed cartwheel I would make a whole lot more progress. So we kinda got somewhere. I mean I am not exactly close to getting it but I am much closer. She gave me more drills to work on so hopefully that will help. Make sure you watch our videos to see our improvement! 11/19/2023 0 Comments Week Eight: Woah we are busyAlyssa: Our lives have been so busy lately and its been so sad we've not had the chance to meet but we are fully expecting to meet over thanksgiving break. This week I have worked on a lot of the hip exercises. I hurt my back at cheer on Monday so I have not wanted to do a whole lot that would strain it even more. So I primarily just worked with the chair to work on my hip turn out along with a lot of my leg flexibility. I actually worked turns in second quite and bit this week since I did not want to do a lot of jumping but I just do not think they look quite right I have been struggling to get my hip to turn out like it is supposed to. I am going to have Lila look at it and see what I am doing wrong so that I can hopefully fix it quite easily. For the calypso I just worked on the floor hitting that 2 picture. Thats all for this week hopefully we get to meet next week!
Lila: AP world fully took over our life this week but it’s ok. We have a long break to meet next and we definitely will be taking advantage of that. So I continue to practice the back walk over and I once again hope it’s getting better. I think my legs are getting more straight but I make no promises about it being more graceful. I keep practicing the arial but I am not making as much progress as I would like too. I think I just need Alyssa’s help on that one. I haven’t been able to start the back handspring because I haven't a clue how to do it. I have been working on the strength building exercises. 11/12/2023 0 Comments Week Seven: Woah Life is crazyAlyssa- We did not have a chance to meet up this week sadly due to our lives getting very busy. Me and Lila did manage to keep in touch though and talked about getting together next week for sure and talked some about progress. This week I worked more on my hip flexibility, i'm using flexibility stretches that Lila gave me and the pain has slowly started to go away but is still definitely there. I have also worked heavily on the calypso just because thats what I feel I am closest to getting. I have been scared to do the turns in second just because I do not want to be doing them wrong but also just being they are causing some pain to my hips. When we meet this week I am going to ask Lila to help me a lot with the turns in second just so I can have some tips so I can focus in on those so I can hopefully make a lot of improvements for the next week. My calpso is coming along pretty well just still struggling a little bit with keeping my leg straight when doing the jump but I have done a few where my leg has been straight.
Lila: Sadly, we did not meet up this week. Our lives were in full swing. Since getting the back walkover I have continued to practice it. I think it’s getting better but I won’t truly know till I show Alyssa again. I definitely feel a whole lot better about it. I am doing it consistently almost every time. The arial is still kicking my butt. I still do not understand how to make my cartwheel faster but I will keep trying. I continue to do the speed and strength exercises but if they haven’t helped much when we meet again we said we would reevaluate and try new ones. I wasn’t able to start practicing the back handspring because we didn’t meet up. I am still doing the strength exercises though. 11/2/2023 0 Comments Week Six: Halfway there!!!Alyssa- We did not meet this week so I worked on some of the drills and exercises Lila told me to work on. I primarily worked on a lot of hip stretches to make it easier to turn my hips out when I'm turning. It has helped with the pain in my hips a little bit but still hurts quite a bit. I've done a lot of calypos to try to straighten out my knee but it's nowhere near consistent yet. I can get some looking pretty decent but others are just not looking good at all. The turns in second I haven't put a lot of focus in this week. I have just worked on my hip turnout and used a chair to go in and then out with my hip and heel turned outward. I can get on turnaround but can’t quite continuously do multiple in a row. Next week we are meeting up so she can give me more tips for my turns in second and calypso.
Lila- This was our week where we didn’t meet up so I mainly worked on the exercises. For the aerial, I did the strength exercises and the speed exercises. I’m not quite sure how much they are helping because I do not think my cartwheel is getting any faster. I mean maybe I just don’t feel it. I am continuing to work on the back walkover even though I have successfully done it. I would like to straighten my legs more and be more graceful. That is going a lot better than the aerial. Since I got the base skill for my reach skill next time we meet I will start working on a back handspring. Alyssa gave me workouts to make sure I had the strength to do it. I am excited to try it! 10/25/2023 1 Comment Week Five: New Skills!!!!Alyssa- We did meet up on Tuesday as promised. Lila looked at my first attempts at skills that she had taught me the last time we met up. The turns in second are really kicking my but because my hip strength and flexibility is not quite there. Lila taught me some good hip strengthening exercises to work on until the next time we meet to hopefully ease some of the pain. The calypso was looking really good. Lila just told me to work on straightening my front knee for a good picture. She had me try it many times and she told me my shanayes are looking really good. So for this week since we are not meeting up I am going to work on the hip exercises for better strength along with trying to connect the calypso with a straight knee for a good picture! Watch the videos for more of our learning!
Lila- So Alyssa and I met up this week and it was very exciting, I got my first skill!!!! I finally got the back walkover and was able to do it a couple times too. I mean it’s definitely far from pretty or perfect but I will take it. The aerial is a whole different rodeo though. It’s rough and that’s being extremely nice. Alyssa taught me some drills to fix the issues (there are a lot of them) and hopefully that will help a lot before we meet again. I need a whole whole lot of help on it though. I really thought the back walkover would be the harder skill for me but it's definitely the aerial. Since I got my back walkover though I know I can start working on my reach skill. I am genuinely petrified. A back handspring sounds like a great way for me to land on my head but I trust Alyssa so I am willing to try. I hope it goes well and I don’t kill myself, but that is an issue for the next time we meet. 10/23/2023 1 Comment Week Four: Quite the jam-packed weekAlyssa- We got very busy this week and were not able to meet up but we are planning to meet this Tuesday. In the meantime, I have worked on all the skills Lila has taught me so far. For the turns in second, I have worked with a chair a lot to work on my legs and hip flexibility. I do not have dance shoes right now to spin with so I have been using my socks. I have worked really hard on the technique for the first spin so I have not attempted to add any more turns after the first one. I need to work on finding and spotting the object I am supposed to be looking at as well as keeping my heel off the floor so when I am ready I can get more momentum for more spins. For the calypso, I have been working on the second part a lot to make sure I get the correct position in the air. I have also worked on the shanaye up to the shanaye down including the approach. I feel like it's pretty solid. I just need to work on the connections. Lila will tell me more corrections and what I need to work on when we meet on Tuesday!
Lila: Sadly since we couldn't meet up I wasn’t able to get corrections this week. I continued to work on the skills Alyssa had taught me. The back walkover is looking very solid. Every time i do the back walkover it becomes more of one movement. Do not get me wrong I still fall on my back a decent amount or I will get stuck in a handstand. I need to work on kicking over as soon as u put my hands down, I still hesitate a decent amount. The Ariel is still a major work in progress. I don’t have nearly enough power and definitely don’t cartwheel fast enough. It’s definitely kicking my butt more than the other one. I think I just need to keep practicing and just take more risks with it . Thankfully Alyssa will be able to help me on Tuesday. 10/11/2023 5 Comments Week Three: On our ownAlyssa: This past week me and Lila did not meet together. We each decided we were going to work on the skills that we were taught the previous week. As a recap Lila taught we a turn in second and a calypso. I was practicing the approach for the turns in second, which consistent in me spotting and holding on to a chair and doing leg lifts. I practiced this quite frequently and even tried to add a spin. That went pretty well I just feel like I need to tighten up more and have more of a flow with it. Sometimes I switch up my arms so I also need to work on that. For the calypso I practiced the approach with my arms and the chaine. I first practiced with the approach and then added the first chaine up chaine. As I got better with the approach to the first chaine I added the second chaine or the down chaine. I need to sharpen up when doing this and gain more speed. I am not quite ready to add the jump on this so I will just continue to practice the approach with the chaine for now.
Lila: This past week I have been drilling the skills and exercises everyday. I started with the back walkover, Alyssa thought I was close enough to the skill to just practice it. The first couple days practicing were definitely rough. I fell on my back a lot or couldn't kick over. Eventually I started getting all the way through the skill. I mainly need to focus on making the skill continuous. I tend to pause in between the different parts. The aerial has proven to be much harder. I am still doing the exercises but I’m not making as much progress. I need to definitely speed up my cartwheel because with current speed I will not make it. I also need to overall have more power in the prep. I am also doing the strength drills for the back handspring. In class: Mr Barker came up to us during class to check on our progress. He became curious about what the dance skills looked like so we demonstrated them for him. He then attempted the skills and it was amazing. |