Teaching a skill or a trick to another person is an art unto itself. You have to communicate what is necessary to the student in a way that is accurate, but you also have to be understandable in order for the student to be able to assimilate whatever it is you are trying to teach them. The biggest challenge is to try to communicate the information while considering that the student does not have the benefit of experience, which is something that you the teacher have in spades. If you are a good teacher you try to explain the finer points of your lesson while remembering that it is all still theoretical to your student. Hopefully, your desire is for the student to assimilate the information then be able to accomplish the skill or trick on their own. This challenge for a teacher has come up three times in the past month during discussions with good friends (and there was wine). Once while discussing teaching singing lessons, once while discussing teaching a new language, and once while discussing teaching me how to do this: So I wanted to take a little time and share my journey, which is by no means over, as I learn to suspend my post pregnancy body from a rope using my own sheer will and my own upper body strength, then swing out over a body of water and a section of audience members who likely think it all looks pretty, darn easy.
Before my first attempt at doing a much shorter swing (that would only involve me having to swim in a few feet of water then dry off my ego and my body should disaster occur and I let go of the rope) I did dead hang after dead hang from my pull up bar, from a large ladder, from a sheet tied to my ceiling, and from the manila rope on the set. I gotta tell you, dangling for 2, then eventually three, and now 6 seconds does very little to calm the nerves when you consider that the consequences of losing your grip are a trip to the bottom of a body of water and a very bruised ego. Never the less, I screwed my courage to the sticking place, took about 20 deep breaths, and lifted my feet off the ground. I made it to the landing pad, barely, and after one swing back to the other side decided to call it quits for the day. I am now able to swing back and forth about 3-4 times before I think my arms are going to fall off and if I squeeze my knees together around the rope I can swing back and forth without touching. I should be attempting the above any time now! So I want to give a few pointers for anyone else trying to traverse the finer points of swinging on a rope. 1) Your first time will be very scary, but it may not be as scary as the next time you come back and have had a few days to think about it. 2)Try not to think about it! For that matter try not to spend too much time talking about it either. Walk in and just do it as soon as you can as often as you can. 3) Some people feel that it is easier to keep your fists together at your chest, lock your elbows, and get "on top of the rope". I think it is easier to keep my dominant hand at my chest and my other hand just above my face. Neither of us are correct. The easiest thing to do is to not swing on a rope, over water, in front of people. 4) As you get a feel for hurling your body across open space with only a rope, your will, and your muscles to save you think about hurling yourself a little faster! The momentum makes it easier. Either give it a 3-4 step run, or jump up and slightly away from the rope in order to lift your legs. 5) You are probably not going to fall, so get out of your head. Remember #2? Try not to think about it. Hopefully, someday I will be able to post a video of me doing this insane feat! I think I can!
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Today I am sitting in Heine Brother's in Louisville, KY, and tomorrow I will be rehearsing a show in New York City. I have spent so much time auditioning in New York city that the studios where most auditions are held, have become a second home to me. You can ask at the front desk where the best lunch spots are near Ripley Grier or Chelsea but my favorite spots are better. Perhaps you need to find the bathroom so that you can change only to realize that there is a dedicated changing room at Chelsea studios, well, I have been there done that. For the next ten days i will be locked away at Chelsea Studios rehearsing for the tour of All Shook Up, and even after all of these years, starting with a new company still makes me anxious.
The stellar reputation of the theater that I am working for aside, you never know what you are going to get when you walk into a rehearsal space for the first time. The first twenty minutes are always filled with introductions reunions, and games of 6 degrees of separation, and that's even before the official day has begun. Will the stage manager be organized? Will the director be collaborative but decisive? Will these kids just out of college get on my nerves in an hour or a month? Will I live up to the expectations they developed through the audition process? Do I even know how to do a musical? My resume says yes, but my neuroses says maybe, maybe not. Still, I have signed the contract, I can't back out now, and their is no point in worrying about tomorrow, because ready or not, it is coming. |
Brooke Aston
Since the age of sixteen my adventures in music have taken me all over the country. After years of bouncing around I've made Orange County my home. Here are my stories. Archives
February 2019
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