Final Reflection

       I was inspired to do this project because of how often I'm at the studio and my passion and interest in the commercial dance industry. Since I'm at the studio almost every day it's open, it was natural for me to work there and just be there for classes too. It was a good way to build my relationship with my teachers, while simultaneously learning more about the dance world and the work it takes to run a studio. This project went really well and I learned a lot from these past three weeks. Firstly, I gained a lot more respect for all of my teachers. As a student, we never really see the behind the scenes of the studio, and we never realized how much work the teachers actually have to do, especially around competition and recital times. Secondly, I learned a lot more about myself. I learned that it was okay to ask questions, and that asking them actually made the work a lot easier. I also learned that I'm actually a good choreographer and teacher. The first time I taught a combo to my class years ago, it wasn't even a dance I made up and I almost had a nervous breakdown. This project pushed me to reach my potential and I could feel myself growing as a dancer. I became confident with my teaching, and even made up a combo I was really proud of and taught it to a huge room of people. Overall, I achieved more than I had hoped during this project. I learned so much about studio management, and I grew closer to my teachers. I have so much gratitude for all three of the teachers we worked with and everyone else at the studio. This was such a fun and meaningful experience.

    For anyone planning to do a project in the future, I'd say my biggest piece of advice is to pick something you genuinely enjoy doing. Three weeks is a long time, and while at some points during this time I was tired and didn't want to go in to work, I was passionate enough to push through and got a lot out of it. Do something you find meaningful and try to have fun.

Week 3: Reflection 2

    Tech rehearsal is where all the dancers come in full hair, costume, and stage makeup, run their dances once or twice, and then take photos. It's also one of the most chaotic times at our dance studio. We have three studios, and all three are being used for something, so the dancers have to cram into the hallway and offices to use as dressing rooms. Marisa and I had to get there early to help set up and do any projects Michelle needed us to do and then after 5 hours of tech rehearsal, which we ourselves are dancers in, we had to stay late to help clean up and again do any projects we were told to do. It was an extremely tiring day, but a good way to wrap up the three weeks of work we've done. During times we weren't dancing or taking photos, Michelle would pull us to the side and make us work. A major project I started was putting all 93 classes for next year up on the website Akada based on a schedule Michelle gave me. It was super tedious and took multiple days to do, but I got it done eventually at tech rehearsal. Not only is tech rehearsal super chaotic, but it also gets extremely dirty so it's completely understandable that they needed extra hands to help clean after everyone left. After sweeping everything, vacuuming, taking out the trash, and wiping down the bathrooms, Marisa and I made two posters for the show, each with a scannable QR code. One for merchandise, since they want to get rid of old merch while getting some money from it, and another that just tells people to scan the QR code for the recital program. Everyone by the end of the night was hungry and exhausted, and our final day ended with a thank you and goodbye to everyone we worked with.

Week 3: Reflection 1

    On Tuesday, I helped Nina teach her 3-5 years old tap and ballet class again. This was their second to last class before the recital, so we worked primarily on their recital dance this time. We also did show and tell this week, which is where every class near the end of their class goes into the big studio and takes turns running their dance while the other classes watch, so we had to make it look good. We really had to work on the part where they hold hands in a circle, because two of the kids faced the outside of the circle instead of the inside, and Michelle's son straight up just didn't move. This week was spirit week, and Tuesday's theme was Monopoly pieces, (since our recital is Monopoly themed our spirit week themes were based on Monopoly), so Michelle dressed him up as a race car driver to represent the car piece from Monopoly. For the whole class, he would turn his cap backward and pose to himself in the mirror. When we got to the big studio, he didn't even dance. He just stood there on his dot while the rest of his class did the recital dance. It was honestly really funny, but also really concerning considering the recital is coming up soon. 

    As for other projects besides teaching, we had to take on a lot. Michelle told us that since it was the last week before tech and dress rehearsals start, it was go time. We made recital show order poster boards for backstage, I sorted through the dressing room and backstage bins and made sure everything that needed to be in there was there, I checked and edited the Monopoly screens that would show up to introduce each dance, and I checked every CD we would use for each rehearsal and show to make sure each song was in order and playable.

Week 2: Reflection 2

    On Thursday I became really sick and unfortunately had to call off work. I knew this was really bad for the teachers because it meant that work would be getting done slower, but there was nothing I could do except try to get better. Fortunately, because the studio is closed on Fridays, I had two days to recover, and I felt better by Saturday morning and could go to work again.

    On Monday, I created an advanced combo I was really proud of for the first time ever. It's a contemporary combo to the song "Bellyache" by Billie Eilish, and it was in a style I personally really enjoyed dancing in. The class was a combined group of three teams, and it was my first time teaching a group as big as that. I like learning dances off of YouTube in my spare time, so I usually teach combos I find on YouTube too. The combos I made up to teach the classes from last week were all fairly easy since the students are younger kids, so I was really proud of myself for this one. Below is Marisa and I doing my combo.

    Something I haven't mentioned yet is that Marisa and I helped clean the studio at the end of the night as part of our job. We had to sweep each studio, wipe the mirrors down, sweep the hallways, vacuum the rugs, sweep the bathrooms, wipe down the bathrooms, restock supplies, empty the trash cans, and occasionally mop (which is arguably the worst one). There is also no food break, so I would pack my dinner at home to bring to the studio, and then eat it while completing one of the projects I was assigned. It was also very easy to get headaches while working, with the overlapping music blasting from each room combined with the noise of screaming children while staring at a screen doing tedious work for hours at a time. Even though there were some rough patches, overall this project was very rewarding.

Week 2: Reflection 1

    Something extraordinary happened on Tuesday. There exists another Claire Li at our studio. She's 8 years old and takes classes on Tuesdays with Nina. The teachers, in particular Emily, love to call her Claire Li Jr and refer to me as Claire Li Sr in order for paperwork and other things to not be confusing. And I finally got to meet her. 

    I was working at the front desk when she walked in, and Nina tells me that that was her. I've waited to meet this girl since I started this project, so I was so excited to walk up to her and introduce myself. Nina said, "hi Claire Li. Look, this is also Claire Li. I'm sandwiched by Claire Lis. I've never been in a room with so many Claire Lis". The little girl laughed and Nina told me that she wasn't even sure she spoke English because she rarely ever talked. So I asked her in Chinese if she spoke Chinese, and she nodded a little, and when I asked her in Chinese if she liked to dance, she just nodded again with a smile on her face not saying anything. 

    On Wednesday I finished putting together the backstage binders for the recital, and Michelle had me help teach her class again. It was the same class as last Wednesday, and they loved me. Before their class even started, they kept asking me if I was going to teach them again, and when we had our competition team banquet last weekend, one of their moms told me that her daughter loved having me as their teacher. This was one of the highlights of the project as I realized then that our work really did make a difference, and it was really enjoyable knowing that I could make someone's day a little bit better just by being there and being nice to them. 

Week 1: Reflection 2

    I was generously given the opportunity to teach a lot of classes this week. Every day I would go in and work on any project I was given, and then when a class needed to be taught, I'd jump in. After teaching I would go right back to working on whatever it was that needed to be done.

    On Thursday, Michelle was out with her son to celebrate his birthday, so she gave me the task of taking over her class and teaching them without any help from any teacher. I led them in a warm-up and stretch, and then taught them a combo I learned from YouTube to "Runaway" by Aurora. She told me to give them a hard combo to challenge them, but they still kept up pretty well. Below is a video of us doing the combo during class.

    On Saturday, I helped Nina teach her 3-5 year old tap and ballet combined class. She told me I had to put on my Disneyland face and be super energetic and cheerful for the children, even if it was early in the morning and I was tired. Honestly, it was a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be. 3-5 is a very entertaining age group to teach, and some of the kids were very friendly to me. I helped lead the warm-up next to Nina, and then we ran their recital dance. I didn't do much during this part, since I didn't know the choreography and therefore couldn't help do it with them on the side, but I did help guide them to the right dots to stand on and tried to help them form a circle, even when one of the kids refused to move at all. (It was actually one of Michelle's sons, which is hilarious to me because she breathes dance but her son won't dance when he's supposed to). After tap, we taught them ballet and then finished the class with freeze dance.

    One of the main projects I worked on this week was the backstage binders for the recital. For the show, we need one binder on each side of the stage that includes the show order for dress rehearsal, show 1, and show 2, as well as the lineup of each dancer for each dance in order. It was a tedious task but it was necessary for the rehearsals and shows to run smoothly. 

Week 1: Reflection 1

    On the first day of the job, I was honestly a little nervous. It's been years since I last worked at the studio, and I didn't really know what I was getting myself into. I thought we would just clean and run around getting my teacher things when they asked for them, like if they needed a pen or sticky note or something. I was actually pleasantly surprised that there was a lot of meaningful work to be done, even on the first day. 

    Before I get into what I did, I want to note that I worked for three main teachers during the three weeks. Michelle, who owns the studio, Nina, who is the competition director, and Emily, who runs more of the recital stuff. All three work and teach at the studio basically every day. I also worked alongside Marisa, a junior at Hawken, and my friend who I've been dancing with for multiple years now. We didn't plan on doing this project together, but rather just ended up having the same idea and working at the same place. It therefore makes sense for us to present together, even though we originally were not going to.

    I didn't get a lot of projects the first day, but I got to teach some little kid classes. I want to say that for the first class I taught, the kids were probably around 7-10 years old. I was honestly kind of surprised that the teachers trusted me enough to lead the entire class, considering I had never done that before, and I was also surprised at my own ability to lead a class by myself. I lead a warm-up, stretch, and across the floors. During across the floors, I taught them how to do fan kicks, and did them with them as they went across. After all that, I taught them a combo I had made up earlier, and I was really happy to find that they were having a lot of fun. When they left, they thanked me and called me Ms. Claire, meaning that they thought of me as just as much of a teacher as the other older and actually certified teachers at the studio. It was a really good first day, and it made me look forward to the next three weeks.