Saturday, June 23, 2007, Brooklyn, NY

This was a nice Saturday filled w/familiar faces, some 1st times & pretty nice flying...!

The 1st class of the day was almost like a private class: 3 students, 3 instructors. I called the talented, straight-A student, deceptively young & all around awesome teen-ager Leah B. as MY student for the class. After warming up out of lines, Leah made her 1st remount (off her Turn Around) to the pedestal ever! Then, she promptly ripped her hands past the point of flying any further. (Sorry for suggesting that Uprise, Leah...) The wonderfully single Marisa B. shared her coffee & took a few swings but had to end class early. Then, there was one... The lovely Nicole A. also made her 1st ever remount to the pedestal board! She went for the deluxe package where you get to punch Dino in the head b/c she didn't reach ACROSS her body! Still love ya, Nic. After practicing her Uprise Fwd Overs, she rose to the occasions (as always) when it came time to catch! Nicole got 2 Splits catches & an Uprise Shoot catch w/Jeff S.!

Here's Nicole's 1st B/E Splits catch of the day:


Here's Nicole's 2nd B/E Splits catch of the day:


And, here's Nicole's Uprise Shoot catch:


The 2nd class was just as fun! The extremely personable Tina moved onto her full swing (sans force out for now) w/some promising 1st practices! She went on to catch 1 Set Straddle Whip & elude me for 2 more...!? Adorable Lauri W. toyed w/the tempo of her swing before ripping a few shreds from her hands. Stick w/it, Lauri! Newcomer Katherine from Argentina claimed she was scared out of her mind, all the while smiling from ear to ear. We'll see her again soon... Allison M. (sans her puppies) recovered from her wounded hands to fly again. She honed her swing before making a few B/E Straddle Whip catches w/me & working the apron! Allison's friend, Sarah, really stuck w/it & threw some nice Knee Hangs before fatigue set in.

My dear & feisty Galit E. warmed up out of lines, faked us out w/some Straddle Cut/Catches (hold the Straddle) & practiced her somewhat twisted B/E Whip before leaving us for some static lessons. (BOOOO!) We instructors couldn't stop laughing at how fast the mighty Cassandra J. learned & threw her Set positions virtually perfectly w/little instruction & virtually no practice on the low bar! But, alas, we found something that slowed her down! The Pull Over Shoot! And, our YK H. honed her Set Planche before being introduced to the B/E of the swing. ("YK, meet Frustration...") YK also learned the woes of the Pull Over Shoot. I'm sure both Cassandra & YK will conquer that tough POS soon enough...!

Remember:
Pop off the board on your take-off. Don't knock that 2x4 over... (stand)
Feel the tempo of your swing. (walk)
Sweep like you mean it! (run)
A Force Out is really more of a "Force Up". (climb)
Eventually, learn to play on the bar... (dance)

"He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand & walk & run & climb & dance; one cannot fly into flying." - Friedrich Nietzsche