[nabs-l] Taking acting and dancing classes

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

Ashley,

Yes, my mom owns a dance studio. She always owned and taught dance when
I was little, but for years she has not danced until recently.

I haven't taken a dance class since losing my vision, but I like to
dance still. I get quickly disorientated when spinning in circles too
much, but at home, it's easy to figure direction. I still incorporate
ballet bar exercises in my workout routine which help with toning and
flexibility.

I only took traditional forms of dance- ballet, jazz and tap. I was best
at jazz and did everything from traditional to hip-hop. We would
incorporate Latin moves like salsa or samba, but I've never taken
specific Latin dance classes, and I've never tried ballroom dancing
either. I hear ballroom is more difficult than it looks. When I lived in
Des Moines, I knew a blind woman who taught ballroom dancing.

Especially in ballet, most instructors will touch a student not standing
in the right position or not holding a pose properly, so it stands to
reason that it wouldn't be a big deal to have to help a blind person
learn positions and movements by touching them. I'm not sure how it
works with other dancing, but it seems like it makes sense to ask, and
if a person refuses, it's their problem, not yours.

Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Read my blog at:
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/
 
"History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan

Message: 18
Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2011 16:11:35 -0500
From: "Ashley Bramlett" <bookwormahb at earthlink.net>
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
	<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Taking dance and acting classes
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	reply-type=original

Bridgit,
So you took ballet, tap and jazz. Anything else?
Were you the one that said your mom owned a dance studio?
Did you find taking dance different after becoming blind?

IF dance instructors were hands-on, that is good. I think many people
learn 
well by touch-- the haptic/kinesthetic sense.
But its not used enough in this visual culture. The dance instructor I 
encountered, when I comtemplated signing up for ballroom dance, said he 
explained the moves and demonstrated them. But he did not reference
using hands-on learning by correcting participants by
positioning them in the  proper stances.
But maybe I just didn't encounter the right instructor; who knows?
Maybe I'll take some private lessons someday. That way I'd go at my own
pace 
and it could be as hands on as I needed. Dance is so beautiful,
particularly 
ballroom. The waltz looks/sounds neat as well.

Ashley