We are excited to launch our new monthly series, My Dance Week. Once a month, an artist will sketch out or write out (literally) his/her week. One of the hardest things for a young dancer to envision is what a weekly schedule might look like – fitting in paying work, teaching, rehearsing, performing, training, family, friends, relaxation, and more. In particular, since the majority of modern dancers will teach in some capacity, how much teaching makes for "full-time?" Plus, "teaching" includes class time and also prep time. 

How do we balance our dance and non-dance life?

Please join us once a month as we look at different dancers' schedules and ways to balance a life in dance. 

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Schedule #1: Valerie Gutwirth (Oakland, CA)

Valerie is a teaching artist, spouse, mother of two teens, and performer (MoToR, Paufve Dance). She teaches at John Muir School in the Berkeley Unified School District (a .60 FTE position). 

FRIDAY

Home warm-up (60 minutes): myofascial release, yoga

School prep (2 hours): rainy day plans for 2 classes, Outdoor School notes review and email to fundraising committee, rewrite some class notes from Thursday for presentation today and next Thursday. Greet observers from Cal State University East Bay.

Classes

First grade: on the fly, adjusting class plan for very squirrely bunch due to rain. Using water imagery and work from previous week in Freeze Dance, Rocks and Rivers, Pattern Dancing formats. End with This Little Light of Mine prep for February assembly.

Third Grade: rainy day class in their classroom. Mostly tried and true stuff: Obwi Sana Sa (African chant with hand rhythms), introduce Tuwe Tuwe (Ghanaian folk dance), Go Bananas (new item from Energizers book), djembe rhythms and echo play

Kindergarten: rainy day class in their classroom, tried and true format of drummers and dancers, plus This Little Light of Mine prep for February assembly.

Lunch

5^th Grade: set warmup week 6 (automatic!! Yay team!), focus on plié. Small group work to finish phrases for Gettysburg Address performance dance, first rough run of the whole dance.  Structure is tried and true, content is new.

After School (60 minutes): notes for next week, progress notes to teachers, clean out the desk, prep notes for Tuesday and the weekend.

SATURDAY

Laundry, grocery shopping

Ballet class

Mom duty

Synagogue event

SUNDAY

Mom duty

Modern class

Cook for the work week

Berkeley Rep show

MONDAY

Errands for costumes for 2/28 performance

Yoga class

House jobs/Mom duty

Rehearsal 8:30-10:30

TUESDAY

Home warm-up (60 minutes): Pilates

School prep (90 minutes): prep stage for performance practice, prep classroom after rainy day the day before, review/rework class notes for the day (turns out it’s pajama and bring your stuffie day!), review evaluation notes from last Thursday’s evaluation

Yard duty

Classes

Grade 2: continuation of space ideas, part of a tried-and-true unit on mapping. Freeze Dance with stuffies, Tuwe Tuwe in warmup lines, in partners. Focus on high/low, circles, zigzags. Across the floor in pathways: zigzags, straight, curvy lines. Whole-group exploration using different drumbeats for different pathways. Ending with personal space book (new material from Toolbox curriculum) and line up.

Grade 4/5: Set Warmup Week 7, focus on pushing feet off the floor, plié. Final revisions to performance dance, review expectations for behavior onstage, sketch the dance onstage. Format is tried and true, content is new. Added in Personal Space ideas from Toolbox.

Kindergarten: continuation of Letter of the Week curriculum: Letter J. Added Personal Space ideas to warmup circle (jiggle, juggle, jog), across the floor (jog, jazzy walk), dance time (jump pattern) and ending (jello)

Lunch

4^th Grade: Set Warmup Week 7, focus on pushing feet off the floor, plié. Final revisions to performance dance, review expectations for behavior onstage, sketch the dance onstage. Format is tried and true, content is new. Added in Personal Space ideas from Toolbox.

After School: notes for next week, progress notes to teachers, evaluation meeting (40 minutes), hike (90 minutes), site council meeting (60 minutes).

WEDNESDAY

Yoga class

Ballet barre

Errands for materials for February 28^th performance

School prep (30 minutes): prep for dance in classrooms (100^th Day of school celebration)

Kindergarten: in the classroom. All pretty new. Introduce hambone, juba. Hambone and Juba with dancers. Read from Drumbeat In Our Feet.

Grade 4/5: writing and song prep for February performance. All pretty new. 3 writing groups, 1 works on opinions, 2 on synopses of content. The singing group practices with pitch and a rhythm keeper.

After School: notes for next week, progress notes to teachers. Staff Meeting (2 hours)

THURSDAY

Home warm-up (60 minutes): Pilates

Bus duty

School prep (1 ¾  hours): Room cleanup from yesterday’s event, planning for first and second grade to incorporate lessons learned from Friday and Tuesday.

Second Grade: Drumbeat In our Feet on drum sounds to start.Tuwe Tuwe in lines, in partners. Introduce personal space idea from Toolbox, use in Freeze Dance format. Carousel format in pathways: zigzags, straight, curvy lines. Whole-group exploration using different drumbeats for different pathways. Ending with djembe echo.

Third Grade: Chinese New Year Dragon Dancing and Drumming (tried and true, we had to put this on hold for two weeks due to assembly performance and rainy day).

First Grade: continuation of water dance ideas (tried and true theme with student ideas that are new; each group responded differently to observing the creek and reading A Drop Of Water). Warmup with water words (trickle, drip, float); across the floor (flow, move fast, move slow, jump rock to rock, intro pathway idea); dance time (intro ABA form with axial and traveling water words, e.g. float, move fast, float, then show watch reflect); ending with djembe echo

Second Grade: Tuwe Tuwe in lines, in partners. Introduce personal space idea from Toolbox, use in Freeze Dance format. Carousel format in pathways: zigzags, straight, curvy lines. Whole-group exploration using different drumbeats for different pathways. Ending with Drumbeat In Our Feet, djembe echo.

4^th/5^th Grade: yoga warm-up (this is usually our fitness day); staging of singers and movers with transition between this group and the 5^th grade group. End early for Valentine’s Day parties

(YES I ENDED MY REALLY HARD DAY WITH A GROUP OF 50 KIDS!! And they did great! And I was SOOOO tired!!)

Some notes on the not-dance stuff: Mom duty can be anything from driving kids to appointments to helping with homework to hosting a dinner to braiding hair to just being around. House jobs are endless. I do all the grocery shopping and cooking for our family, and most of the spot cleaning. We have a cleaning person every other week to do a super clean, change the sheets, etc, and a garden person once a month to do major yard stuff; these are our LUXURIES, and keep our marriage happier.

Notes on the dance stuff: I try to make notes for each class right after the class ends; these are really rough and I formalize them at the end of each day when I can. I sit and each lunch every day except Thursday (otherwise I get dizzy); Thursday I have only one 15 minute break between classes, and so I do bunches of snacking at that point.

 

Read Valerie's full artist profile here.

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