This past week I’ve had the pleasure of having one of my Jazz dance students, Milena Heino, sharing some of my work week with me for her eight grade internship week. Here’s how it went in her words:
“My TET week with Wilma-Emilia
Hi, I’m Milena Heino. I’m in the eighth grade and I’m Wilma-Emilia’s jazz dance student. I chose jazz dance because I have read a lot about different dances before starting jazz dance and it was the most appealing. The history of jazz dance goes back a long way and jazz dance is a good way to start dancing or learn a new dance technique. I wanted to find a good dance community and I thought that a dance that reflects rhythm and art would give it to me. In this blog, I will tell you what it was like to live a week in the middle of jazz dance and see its world from a different perspective.
The week started with us seeing each other at KAMP2 at 10am. First we made a plan for our whole week and then we warmed up for the upcoming class. At 11am in the morning, we started a class called Barre.
Barre is a body care and fitness sport. The workout lasted one hour, which included a lot of different movements and movement sequences. In class, we needed a ball, leg weights, an elastic band and dumbbells, which we found at the Helsinki Dance Institute. A ballet pole was also used in the class. The class was very fun, I learned new movements and I also felt that I was working for the movement. Fortunately, Wilma-Emilia showed and explained the movements clearly and I always noticed what had to be done, how and when. During the lesson, I also took pictures of one of the students’ exercises. I could see how the students remembered it well and have done a lot of work to see how well it is going right now. After Barre, we had lunch at the studio and the choreographer Tarja Rinne came to the studio to work on Wilma-Emilia’s dance solo. At the beginning of the training, I decorated performance hats for Wilma-Emilia’s little students. Finally, I got to see what the solo looked like and Wilma-Emilia danced it very beautifully and spectacularly. After the workouts, we did an improv together and at the end we stretched together.”
WEKC: Double Bill, one ticket for two shows! Premier 14.4 KokoTeatteri: https://www.kokoteatteri.fi/ohjelmisto/wekc-double-bill
“The next day started with us seeing each other at the Hanken tram stop at 8.55am. We went together to the Fokus dance studio. It was my first time visiting the studio, but it was gorgeous and cozy. At 9.45 a.m., a professional dance class began, which Wilma-Emilia held. Before the class, we warmed up and danced one of the class choreos from my class.
Wilma-Emilia held a dance class and I participated. The class was more difficult than the classes I usually attend, but I think it went quite well. After the training, Wilma-Emilia and her WEKC dance company started working on scenes for the dance piece S H O E S.
However, I went for a walk to the Alexander Theatre to attach posters for Wilma-Emilia’s upcoming performances. After the dance class, walking outside was good and the walk was not long at all.
When I got back to the studio, I watched the rest of the rehearsals, helped with the counts and after that we had lunch together. After lunch, S H O E S training continued for another hour. The show looks stunning.
Right after the training, we packed our things and took two trams to Pikku Huopalahti. In Huopalahti, I mopped the dance hall and we cleaned the place. At 16.00 the classes started. We first had three children’s classes. At the beginning of each lesson, we had a circle where I told who I am and what I do here. During the lessons, I took part in a few games and turned on the music. It was wonderful to see how excited the children were. In the evening there was one more class that I participated in. At the beginning we tried on the spring show outfits. The rest of the class we did different exercises and then, of course, a class choreo. The dance class was similar to my other dance class, the people were wonderful and everything was just perfect. At the end of the class, Wilma-Emilia and I cleaned up and left together.
On Wednesday morning we saw each other in Kamppi at 9.45am. We went to the Fokus dance studio together with Tarja Rinne. When we arrived at the studio, we warmed up for a while and then Tarja Rinne held a dance class for her students. I watched Wilma-Emilia dance and it looked amazing. The students were so talented. After the class, we had lunch and planned where to hang the posters. We did some paperwork, Wilma-Emilia answered emails and we packed up and started walking to the city. We walked for a few hours gluing posters and stickers. The walk was good and it was wonderful to talk and put up posters.
On Thursday, my TET day started at 4.30 p.m. at Leipätehdas. We went through the text I had written about the week so far and at 17.00 the jazz class for adults began. Wilma-Emilia held the dance class and I did it with them.The class had many exercises familiar from a Tuesday class. At the end of the class, we moved to another dance hall, where the Jazz collective’s class began. I saw how the Jazz collective had rehearsed a lot to become the wonderful dancers they are now. After the class, we stretched and went home together.
On Friday, I went alone to attach posters for the upcoming Double Bill-performances of the Wilma-Emilia Kuosa Company. For example, I went to Kisahalli, Stoa, Vuotalo and Kanneltalo.
Sunday was the last TET day. Wilma-Emilia and I met at 14.00 in Kamppi at the Helsinki Dance Institute. We took pictures before 2.30 p.m. started the jazz beginners class. The class was familiar, as I have sometimes attended the classes myself. After the beginners, lyrical jazz started straight away, I ate during the class and filmed the beginning of their spring performance. Finally, my own jazz class began, which I attend every week. The class was fun and liberating.
This week was a lot of fun. I was able to see the world of jazz dance from another person’s point of view. I saw how different personalities danced from very young students to adult professionals. I am very happy with the TET place I chose, the week felt liberating and I learned a lot.
Thank you Wilma-Emilia!”Thank you so much for the week Milena <3 Find all my classes mentioned in the blog:https://www.helsingintanssiopisto.fi/?s=classes&tcs=classes&tcs_teacher%5B%5D=1413and the morning Jazzhttps://www.varaaheti.fi/tanssistudiofokus/fi/tanssistudio_fokus/tunnit
