Adventures in the ballet class....

Once a week i teach in a nursery

where the class are more of a dance/drama

based class as opposed to pure ballet.

I find these classes great fun,

and love trying to find out new ways to incorporate 

different stories into our dance adventures.

To make it more tricky the classes are predominately 

filled with little boys.

When i've taught this style of classes before

it was easier to think up stories as

you can pretty much just go through the Disney Princessess.

So lately we have been on a visit to the Dinosaur museum

where we have marched like scary T-rex's

and flown like pterodactyls.

We have been pirates looking for lost treasure

being chased by crocodiles,

and on safari in the deepest jungle.

we have sky-dived into Australia and

jumped like the Kangaroos and spun like the Tasmanian Devils.

These little boys have a lot of energy...

it keeps me on my toes first thing in the morning,

in fact the only way i think i am able to make

it through without going crazy

is from having been the older sister to 5 crazy younger brothers.

Now i've got to think of more Adventure stories....

Things....

What have i been up to lately.

Teaching, teaching, teaching.

Pilates,Pilates Pilates,

Teaching -

I've changed ballet schools and i'm really enjoying my new school.

Its a very different environment,

the students at my new school have more professional

aspirations (even at a young age)

so i can treat them like young professionals,

and they actually responding well to it,

so rather than thinking to my self all the time,

are they 'having fun' are they 'being stimulated'

i can focus on

are they learning? are they progressing? are they improving?

hopefully the learning and improving is what stimulates

them and makes it enjoyable,

i know thats what ballet always meant to me

and thats what i want ballet to be to my students.

Last Sunday I volunteered at a charity gala held by the

school at the Royal Opera House

where the children performed and auctions were held.

They raised over £300 000 to be used for dance scholarships.

It was just parents watching week...

i hope i survived it....

Pilates

I'm thoroughly enjoying my teacher training with Alan Herdman Pilates.

I know some of the other students on the course struggle with

the style of teaching, but it suits me to a T.

Every week i come away feeling i ve learned so much.

I worry about when i have to go out and actually start finding a job,

its a whole new industry to me,

hopefully i can make the cross over.

Been and Gone....

So husband has been and gone...

10 days.

10 busy days.

When husband comes he likes to fill up his social calendar with every

 Tom, Dick and Harry he can think off....

i reign him in a little, but i also enjoy seeing what a good friend he is to those around him, 

even though he only has a few days in the Uk a year he 

wants to make sure that he phones and

 meets up with everyone he cares about.

 (It upsets me when i see people dont realise what an 

effort he is making and give him the cold shoulder)

Bonus points....

my Dad decided to drive down to London whilst he was here 

and brought my three youngest brothers to visit us...

unbonus points, 

he was being spontaneous and didnt inform us first or

 he would have realised that we werent actually in London but in Dorset!

bonus points

 he made an extra effort and drove the boys down to spend the 

day with us in Dorset. 

It was great to see them. I hadn't seen them since

my wedding a year and a half ago...how time flies....

and somehow i'm not as good at my husband as 

making time to see loved ones. 

My little brothers are not so little anymore...

nearly towering above me!

We had a great time taking them to the tank museum in Dorset.....

hree boys in a museum for 3 hours...

we could hardly get them out...

they loved it!

Husband and i also had a weekend 

getaway from London at Windsor....

where we went to visit the Queens house and also went to Ascot.

Ascot was sooooo much fun...

i tired my hand at betting on the horses (only a pound a race!)

 and lost nearly every time....

Gambling is a fools game...

why would you do it! 

i tried lots of different techniques for wining,

choosing horse by best name,

best outfit,

best odds,

worst odds,

eventually i won a race and made a wooping £1.25

(but was still way in the minus)

as my father always taught me, 

its not gambling if you know your going to loose...

It's always hard when husband leaves...

and London seems so much brighter when he is around,

in fact it actually was brighter when he was around this time.

After weeks of rain the sun shone nearly every day....

he was wondering why i keep complaining about the British weather

enjoying the changing of the guard a little too much at Windsor  Castle

My little monkey of a borhter enjoying hanging around at the tank museum