Today was rough. To put it simply, I had an off day that seriously affected my ability to put 100% into this class. I had to really focus on keeping myself going today, as I had a headache that wouldn’t quit. What kept me going throughout today was the focus I had in Ondrej’s class. While I still had a lot of fun in this class, I found that I was extremely focused on the task at hand. This manifested itself especially when we were learning the sequence. As much as I struggled to get the timing and movement right, I threw my focus into it even more. By the time we finished working with the sequence, I felt proud of the work I had done. Even if it wasn’t perfect, I think I grasped the concepts of reaction and response that Ondrej was looking for. Dancing at the end of his class was one of the key factors in my being able to keep going. Just letting everything go, not worrying about who was watching, and just dancing to celebrate the beginning of the week really helped me stay positive throughout what appeared to be a bad day. I think I will implement little dance breaks into my daily life to let off steam and revive myself after a lot of time spent studying. These moments of freedom allow me to clear my head and start the task with a clean slate- which means new ideas, new motivation, and some cool new dance moves!

I found that the ability to “keep going” through class became harder as the time went on, because my head got progressively worse. By the end of Trajal’s class, I couldn’t focus at all ,which did not set me off on a good foot for the third part of class. However, what kept me going was the inspiration I felt within the “studio”. Hearing my classmates and professors speak about their experiences, both observing and performing, kept me going more than a dance break could have. Despite the pain in my head, I enjoyed hearing about what was going through my peers’ minds as they watched each other perform and I couldn’t help relating it to my own experience. From this, I learned a valuable lesson in stopping to listen. Finding inspiration in those around you, even when you think inspiration is at an all time low, is an important skill that I hope to develop more in the next few weeks (and throughout life!).