The Improvisation Safety Net Testimonials
What some of the participants had to say:
Heather Wayman
“Any program can have a great curriculum, but the ones that really go above and beyond are the ones that cater to each individual student personally.”
Having benefited from being the guinea pig for the “Improvisational Mastery Mentoring/Be Amazing In the Moment” (BAM) program, I had special insight into the “Improvisational Safety Net” program (ISN). While the “BAM” is super intense and certainly not for the uncommitted, the “ISN” requires a smaller time commitment and is still chock FULL of concrete techniques that you can use right away to get you on the road to successful improvisational dancing.
I found the ISN course to be a great way to “make an appointment with myself” three times a week.
It helped me dedicate practice time to myself and the accountability that Nadira and the forum provided really helped me stay more on track throughout the course. There were a few times when “life happened” and I wasn’t able to meet my “appointments” with myself, but I was able to catch up each time, do the assignments at my own pace and post to the forum. I really liked working in the small groups (3-4) in the forum. It helped to know that I wasn’t the only person struggling with one thing or another and reading the feedback from Nadira to my own posts and to those of my classmates was helpful in illuminating ideas that I hadn’t thought of yet (and might not have).
Nadira is exceptional at designing course material in a methodical and practical order.
Each week builds on itself helping to make stronger and more confident dancers. I was eager to take this course as a refresher/companion to the “Be Amazing In the Moment” course and it certainly didn’t disappoint.
Each week I received an email letting me know that the assignments for the week had been posted and a link taking me to their location in the forum. I could see from the beginning of the week what kinds of things I would be focusing on.
Besides learning how to take the moves I use most often and make them more interesting and elegant, my favorite part of the ISN was the personalized assignments in weeks 7 and 8.
Any program can have a great curriculum, but the ones that really go above and beyond are the ones that cater to each individual student personally. That can be difficult, but Nadira’s ISN does that very well. Based on videos that I had posted for a particular assignment, she created a lesson for me that specifically targeted an area of mine that I could improve upon (Setting, Sparkle and Sigh). That assignment gave me concrete ways to make the most of “Diamond Solitaire” moments in my dance that I really hadn’t been emphasizing before. The assignment helped me see how important these “Ah ha” moments were and how I could use them to really capture my audience.
I also loved the Bonus Zil Week! I already knew a number of zil patterns, but was lacking in putting them together with movements (never mind with improv!). Nadira taught me many ways to incorporate zils with movement enabling me to totally improvise my zil work too! I NEVER improvised zils before taking the ISN with bonus zil week. Now I feel confident that I CAN do it…and do it well.
I really liked the nifty PDFs in each assignment that I could download and print out so I could “binder-ize” the program, keep everything organized and revisit again and again. The ISN is full of so much useful information. It’s nice to be able to easily review when I feel old habits creeping up on me.
This course is challenging but manageable.
There are 3 movement/concept assignments each week and a reflection/journaling assignment. If you don’t obsess over them, you can do most of them in about 30 minutes. There is also time built into the program for “catching up” if you get behind and for reviewing and building upon what you’ve learned over the full course. I found this very valuable as a way to “connect all of the dots” at the end instead of just getting all of the material week by week, completing it and then it just being over.
I recommend this program for the advanced beginner/lower intermediate and beyond level dancer. The ISN will teach a dancer to expand the use of even just a handful of movements to make interesting, beautiful and confident improvisational dances. This course is not a “one size fits all” deal.
The ISN will take your dancing to your own personal “next level”.
Heather Wayman
(formerly of) Granbury Texas
Sandi
“I went from a dancer with the “deer in the headlights” look to a more confident dancer who can improvise to a piece of music I’ve never heard before.”
This was a wonderful class that was organized as a real distance learning class. We received weekly assignments to complete and regular feedback. Since I live so far from a teacher this class was perfect for my needs in that I did not have to rely on any sort of streaming video which I cannot do due to bandwidth. Although we were supposed to post our videos on YouTube using a private setting, Nadira provided an alternate when I could not use it and the alternate worked quite well.
Since this class was set up as a proper distance class, a person really needs self motivation in order to complete it. I spent about 3 to 4 hours a week on my assignments and practice before I filmed myself dancing. Nadira’s feedback was specific to each student and she was encouraging.
I don’t think I’ve grown as a dancer as much in any class I’ve taken before.
She made the whole experience wonderful so I want to take another class from her. In addition, the others in the class were so supportive and there when you needed it. Furthermore, it was designed so I only needed a few moves combined with a knowledge of using the moves so I could perform a 5 to 7 min improvised number.
When I began the class, I could barely tolerate seeing myself on video and would avoid improvisation.
Through the wonderfully designed curriculum, I blossomed and at the end of the class I could dance to the different layers of the music, move, and express myself. I guess you could say I went from a dancer with the “deer in the headlights” look to a more confident dancer who can improvise to a piece of music I’ve never heard before. I still have a ways to go but I feel so much better about my dancing.
This course helped me do three things.
1. It allowed me to take my first real class in several years.
2. It allowed me to develop the ability to improv a dance.
3. It helped build my self confidence in regard to dancing. If I tried to berate my bad dancing someone was there to see the good things and encouraged me to keep up the good work.
I fully recommend this class to anyone who wants to improve their improvisation.
I plan to take this class again the next time it is offered so that I can further evolve as a dancer.
As stated earlier, this is a distance class with deadlines so you need to make sure you have the time to do it. I will admit, sometimes, it was hard to make the deadlines but it was worth it to me because I have no other way to improve my dancing other than the occasional workshop or through the use of DVD’s. Unfortunately, neither of the other two methods provides the same degree of feedback as this course did.
Sandi
Alaska.