Times flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana. (Groucho Marx.) It definitely feels like I just posted, but the site seems to be telling me that my last post was 20 days ago. Interesting. In these 20 days, my ballet school has exploded. I now have 53 students, and on Monday 17 girls showed up to one class (my max is 8 - spacing wise and sanity wise). It was mayhem. Still, everyone enjoyed it and the parents were thrilled. Classes are all going tremendously well and I am loving every minute of it - it has been really great to discover that I not only love teaching ballet, but that I am actually pretty good at it. I always know what to say next...that's an amazing feeling!
I have felt that I am not working with the street kids enough, but it's been hard to discern exactly how I would go about meeting them, talking to them, getting them to the studio, and teaching them. Please keep in mind that I do not speak a word of Kinyarwanda besides good morning, thank you, good afternoon, how are you, the response to how are you which I don't even know what it means, the word dance, and the numbers 1, 5, 6, and 8. Like, I am not lying to you, that is literally all I know (yes, I do not know how to say 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, or 10). The kids also don't speak a word of English.
So! Yesterday I decided to ask the neighborhood street kids (the ones who frequently come and play at our house and feed the bunnies) if they would like to come to the studio with me. Rather, Jennifer did the talking and said "you go to school of Carolina?" and I then promptly chime in with my great addition to the conversation and say assertively "kubyina!" (dance). We didn't have to ask, the boys will do anything we ask them. They all got very excited and said they wanted to wash up first. This is very respectful of them. They came back a bit later and Jen drove Danyire, Jiye, Christiane, Qwizera, Jacques and I to the studio.
I wanted to keep it a small group, and these are all the boys I have established relationships with already. Well, it was incredibly difficult to communicate and I think they were a bit mystified by the whole thing (especially since I started them off by watching Alvin Ailey's Sinner Man) but this is what we came up with after an hour.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQA5jD_4na0
(Sorry that it's an outside link, it's 18MB which takes over an hour to upload so I went with youtube so I could share it everywhere.) Hopefully next week will be more solid.
Otherwise, it's Christmastime, and here is our glorious tree that reminds me of very happy days in Portugal.
The new "bar" that went up a few houses down from ours. Yes, that is a shipping container. No, muzungus are not invited.
And here is a nice one of my friend Emmy (dreads) running into a friend while we walked to the main road to look for motos at dusk.
I am going to post on Thursdays and Sundays from now on. I know I haven't been keeping you up to date and I am sorry for this. No longer!
I have felt that I am not working with the street kids enough, but it's been hard to discern exactly how I would go about meeting them, talking to them, getting them to the studio, and teaching them. Please keep in mind that I do not speak a word of Kinyarwanda besides good morning, thank you, good afternoon, how are you, the response to how are you which I don't even know what it means, the word dance, and the numbers 1, 5, 6, and 8. Like, I am not lying to you, that is literally all I know (yes, I do not know how to say 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, or 10). The kids also don't speak a word of English.
So! Yesterday I decided to ask the neighborhood street kids (the ones who frequently come and play at our house and feed the bunnies) if they would like to come to the studio with me. Rather, Jennifer did the talking and said "you go to school of Carolina?" and I then promptly chime in with my great addition to the conversation and say assertively "kubyina!" (dance). We didn't have to ask, the boys will do anything we ask them. They all got very excited and said they wanted to wash up first. This is very respectful of them. They came back a bit later and Jen drove Danyire, Jiye, Christiane, Qwizera, Jacques and I to the studio.
I wanted to keep it a small group, and these are all the boys I have established relationships with already. Well, it was incredibly difficult to communicate and I think they were a bit mystified by the whole thing (especially since I started them off by watching Alvin Ailey's Sinner Man) but this is what we came up with after an hour.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQA5jD_4na0
(Sorry that it's an outside link, it's 18MB which takes over an hour to upload so I went with youtube so I could share it everywhere.) Hopefully next week will be more solid.
Otherwise, it's Christmastime, and here is our glorious tree that reminds me of very happy days in Portugal.
The new "bar" that went up a few houses down from ours. Yes, that is a shipping container. No, muzungus are not invited.
And here is a nice one of my friend Emmy (dreads) running into a friend while we walked to the main road to look for motos at dusk.
I am going to post on Thursdays and Sundays from now on. I know I haven't been keeping you up to date and I am sorry for this. No longer!
2 comments:
The YouTube of the boys' routine made me cry....looking at their faces and thinking of the work they put into their performance, and the friendships being formed.
Great dancing, how free . . . the video was a great link
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