During a recent skype session I was asked who inspired me and I struggled to answer initially as I was still contemplating the idea of my professional practice being a 'thing'. This question appeared difficult because I am still finding my feet in this industry and therefore identifying my professional practice was not a simple question for me. I was reluctant to put myself into one box and therefore my inspirations didn't fit into a box either! Having slept on the information I was processing at the time, I can now answer a bit more confidently, who inspires me and why, in all genres.
Dance
Ginger Rodgers - Quite simply, I have always wanted to be the girl in the ostrich feathers. I love 'Top Hat', I love 'Swing Time'...I love them all! I adore the MGM era and Ginger Rodgers was the 'it' girl, I mean, she got to dance with Fred Astaire!
Ann Miller - Her routine from 'On The Town' or 'Small Town Girl' where she taps around the instruments that are being played out of the floor, or 'Too Darn Hot' from 'Kiss Me Kate' dancing on the table. She always wore amazing leotards with tassels and was the epitome of Hollywood glam.
Singing
Idina Menzel - I admire Idina Menzel's work ethic and have found her career interesting to follow as she went from Broadway star to house hold name, playing the voice of 'Elsa' in the Disney hit 'Frozen'. I think her honesty as a performer is admirable, particularly after her rather embarrassing NYE times square performance, where she didn't quite make the top note in 'Let It Go'. If Idina can crack - there is hope for all of us!
Bernadette Peters - I love Sondheim's work and Bernadette Peters has always been the go to interpreter when trying to understand Sondheim's complex pieces. I get lost in her voice and she uses a raw emotion every time she performs that gives me tingles.
Teaching
I really admire my current boss. She is amazing with kids and makes the sessions she takes look so easy. Whenever I get chance to observe I always learn something from her - I take a notepad and pen with me to observations!
Hi Lauren,
ReplyDeleteI agree there are so many inspirational people around it's hard to pin point who is your one true inspiration.
One thing that I thought about especially when you said your current boss of where you teach is an inspiration. Do you ever think about how you are inspiring the ones you teach and pass your knowledge and skills on too? which is a massive point as to why I adore teaching.
Last week I was having a pretty stressful day with one thing and another and I had just finished teaching my pre school class. Everyone was shattered last week, having just completed a massive dance production and it being the end of term everyone was feeling it. At the end of the lesson one of the little ones flung her arms around me and said "I want to be like you miss when I'm a big girl"
It made me stop, think and reflect that you don't always realise how much of an influence you can be on young children that right now in there lifetime you are inspiring to them, and it's times like that that make you keep us going and doing what we do.
thanks Lauren - good descriptions of these inspirational performers - and some aspects of their practice that could be said to influence you... you are beginning to think about the contexts of these performers - is it possible to go further with one or two of thee professionals and do a bit of web research to give more details for reflection - as you say - it is early days - but all of those you mentioned probably have a story behind them...
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