My experience in Tommy's class so far

It has been a new experience so far having Tommy. It's a change from modern and ballet classes. I haven't taken a class like his in 3 years (since I left my studio). He's hard on us but it's helping us get better. When we started his classes, my abs,back,and arms were sore before the day even ended. Now, I hardly even feel it anymore, which I think is a good thing.

I'm picking up movement quicker now since we started his class. Instead of standing there watching him show the choreography, I follow along. I've learned that even if you come in with no energy to dance in the morning, you better get it. You can't work half way and expect to get better. You have to work full out all of the time, even when you're told to "mark" through an exercise or dance because you never know who's watching you. I found that when things were hard, I wasn't putting my all into it.

On Monday, we had to make a 32 count phrase with the gestures in the piece and I felt like I couldn't do it. When we had to go up one by one I had to improv it and when it was my turn, I just looked down at the floor and gave up in the middle. He told me that I was ashamed of every movement I was making. I was ashamed because I felt self-concious about what I was doing. When he gave us another 5 minutes to fix it up, I got over the self-conciousness, and started over. I wasn't ashamed of what I came up with in the end. Having Tommy has been an eye-opening experience for me and I will carry what I have learned and will learn in his class with me