My hip hop kiddies are so excited about the new routine I’ve choreographed for them. By ‘kiddies’, I mean people between 16 and 25 years old. Not really kid-like in the traditional sense of the word, but hey, everyone I teach is a ‘kiddy’ in my vocabulary.

This new routine is much harder than the other two they’ve learned so far. I’ve upped the ante. Raised the stakes. Set the bar higher. I’ve really had no choice. All the other hip hop teachers were doing cool, intricate routines and my class was getting ‘routine envy’.

I’ve had difficulty balancing what Don has taught me at teacher training and what the other teachers are advocating. Don says, “They’re beginners. You can’t rush them or they’ll feel inadequate. Teach to the lowest level so no one feels ignored.” Makes sense, right? But what happens when all the other classes are speeding ahead and looking funky and the clever people in my class are bored? So I’m doing a hard routine but hopefully teaching it slowly enough that everyone can keep up. I think it’s worked so far (for the one lesson I’ve taught it!) because people seem thrilled.

I’m quite excited about the routine myself. I didn’t think I had it in me to be choreographically innovative. I haven’t yet developed my own hip hop style but luckily, I have a knack of picking out other people’s. My beginners routines were decidedly “Liz” style, lots of body movement and direction changes. Now, I’m doing a “Kathleen” – on the spot, body isolations, fast hand movements. I’d like to do a “Deb” one day but there’s a lot of popping and locking. Hmm, hard!

*pop* *lock* *b-o-d-y r-o-l-l* !