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♪ (intro music) ♪

Hello, dancers and welcome back.

It's a pleasure to see you again
for this last installment

of our instructional videos.

Today, we're going to teach you
the final movements

of this beautiful choreography

created by Starr Muranko
and Aicha Bastien-N'Diaye

and we're so thrilled
to be back with you today.

So Caitlin is demonstrating
from the seated position

and I'll show you some
of the standing footwork.

But as always, we welcome you
to make the adaptations or choices

within the movement that feel best
in your body.

Yes, this is your opportunity to dance,

so feel free to make choices
that feel good to you.

Let's get started
with this ending of the dance.

We finished last time

with a big, explosive, percussive
"hah!" movement, yes?

Big wide legs, slightly curved upper body,
reaching in the space.

Now we're going to continue this sense
of giving and receiving energy

that we've been doing throughout the dance
and we're going to gather.

So we'll gather energy with one arm.

Gather energy with the other arm.

I'm going to wrap my arms
around each other

and kind of protecting that energy

and give it a swoop to one side
and a swoop to the other.

It's almost like a figure of 8 movement,
if you imagine tracing an 8

up and down with your elbows

and then up and down the other side.

It has almost like
a rocking feeling to it.

Beautiful, so this is-- we gather

one, two, three, four,

cradle five, six, seven, eight.

And then you're going to expand,
send that energy away

for one, two, three, four,

feeling the space for seven, eight.

Then you do that again,
gathering one, two,

three, four,

five, six,

seven, eight.

Send it away,

three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Beautiful.

Now, if you're on your feet
and you'd like to travel,

we can travel in that movement
of offering or exploration.

So, after you gather

and you shift,

you can take this movement
and explore the space around you.

Remembering that we're not always
going to use the same front,

we're going to do it again,
maybe pick a new front.

Which way are you facing now?

And then exploring with your body,
feeling the space around you,

six, seven, eight.

Alright, so when you're doing
that exploration,

moving through the space,
choosing your own fronts.

The next section is very similar,
we're going to gather,

one, two, three, four

and then shake it out.

Shake, six, seven, eight.

And do that again, one, two,

three, four,

shake, six, seven, eight.

Fantastic.

And I should mention this idea
of changing your fronts,

this is a decision you make as a group.

So if you or your teacher
or your group decides

that the best way to do it
is facing towards me,

that's the way you do it.

And if you've decided that
you're going to try to move in the space,

that's how you choose to do it, okay.

So make that decision as a team,

how you'd like to incorporate it
into the dance.

So again, this new section,
one, two, three, four,

shake, shake, shake it off,

one, two,

three, four,

shake, shake, shake it off.

Fantastic.

And that movement of shaking is so fun.

Yeah, it's just supposed to be
loose and free feeling.

You might even be taking steps
in the space.

Shake, shake, shake it off.

And the choreographers have given us
an invitation or a challenge

to try and look somebody in the eye
when we do this shake.

So you can look myself in the eye
or Caitlin in the eye,

or maybe if you're dancing
with somebody else,

you turn to them
and you shake, shake, shake.

It can be challenging not to giggle
when we do this eye contact

with the shake.

It's supposed to be fun,
so it's okay to smile.

But as always, dance is a body language.

We rarely use our voice,
or we only very specifically use our voice

like when we do the "hah!"

So when we're doing the shake,
see if you can make some eye contact.

Of course have fun and smile
but see if you can do it

without your voice, okay.

Let's do these two parts together,
gather and explore,

gather and shake.

Ready, five, six,
I'm going to do it on the spot,

go one, two, three, four,

five, six, seven, eight.

Explore two, three, four,

five, six, seven, eight.

You gather two, three, four,

five, six, seven, eight.

You explore two, three, four,

five, six, seven, eight.

You gather,

gather,

shake, shake it, shake it off.

Gather,

gather,

and shake, shake, shake, shake.

So good, dancers, really nicely done.

We are almost there!

We've almost learned the entire dance!

So let's keep going into our last
fun movement section.

So for this, we're going
to cross our arms across our body.

So my right arm is coming
to my left shoulder.

So right arm across to the shoulder.

Left arm is coming across to the hip.

So both my arms are across
and I'm tapping those bones:

shoulder bone, hip bone.

So this is Pose 1.

Pose 2, I'm going to open them up: 2.

Pose 3, I'm going to switch,
so the top becomes the bottom

and the bottom becomes the top.

Switch.

Pose 4, I take it back.

Excellent, let's try
those four poses again.

1 is crossed.

2 is open.

3 is switch.

4, switch back.

1 is cross.

2 is open.

3 is switch.

4, switch back.

Fantastic, dancers.

So, when you do that movement,
will consider one set

four movements long.

So one set goes like this:

one,

two,

three, four, that's one set.

One, two,

three, four, two sets.

One, two,

three, four, three sets.

One, two,

three, four, four sets.

If you're feeling a little bit like this,
not to worry.

practise always makes things
feel more comfortable

in our bodies.

So take time, repeat, repeat, repeat.

That's the key to success in dance.

Okay, so we're going to do this first
at one tempo

and then we're slowly
going to ramp up the speed.

So first tempo

goes one, two,

three, four,

five, six,

seven, eight, again,

one, two,

three, four,

five, six,

seven, eight.

Now, we're going to go twice as fast.

So you're going to change on each beat.

One, two, three, four,

five, six, seven, eight.

The next step, you have two options.

You either go twice as fast again

or you can stay the same.

Twice as fast again looks like this.

One and two and three and four
and five and six and seven and eight and.

How'd that go?

Try that again with me.

So faster tempo, five, six, seven, eight.

One and two-- Oh, I just did it wrong.

Try it again. (laughs)
Five, six, seven, eight.

One, two, three, four,

five, six, seven, now the faster one.

One and two and three and four
and five and six and seven and eight and.

Fantastic, dancers.

If you'd like to do the faster version,
just follow along with me.

If your group or you as an individual
is choosing the slower version,

please follow along with Caitlin.

Okay, so let's practise again.

This time, we're doing three speed ups
or two speed ups,

depending on your choice, okay.

Here we go, five, six, seven, eight.

On a one, two,

three, four,

five, six,

seven, eight and you switch, two,

three, four,

five, six,

seven, a little faster, go one, two,

three, four, and again, six, seven, eight.

Now pick up your pace
if you're following me

for five and six and seven and eight and.

On count one,
you're bringing your energy in,

so gather energy into fists,

almost feeling like you're grabbing
your shirt in the centre

and we're going to lift
our sternum and our energy up.

So that's one.

From there, you release yourself
down to the floor,

take your time,

take your exploration right down
to where we started,

which is finding our connection
with the earth.

Okay, and whether you connect
with your hands,

you connect with your feet,

you connect with your eyes.

Okay, how you choose
to connect is up to you

but we really are going
to take this moment

to connect to the earth to be grateful

for the space and place we have to dance.

Okay?

So that's the end,
not only of this section,

but the end of the choreography.

So bravo to you for learning this much
and getting this far.

I think we should do a review
of all the new movements

we've learned today.

Six, seven, eight,

we go gather,

gather.

Rock,

rock.

Explore, two, three, four,

five, six, seven, again.

Go gather,

gather.

Rock,

rock.

Explore, two, three, four,

five, six, seven, two gathers in,

and in, shake it out,

go shake.

Good job, coming in,

coming in.

And shake, six, seven,

go across, across.

and two,

and switch and switch.

Go again, across.

And up.

And change.

And change, a little faster,

go one, two,

on a five, six, faster if you like.

Going one, two, three, four,

five, six, seven, and eight

and one.

Three, four, five, six,

you'll hear the music fade away
as you reach down

to make that floor connection.

Take a moment here.

And then you roll up through your spine.

And we finish the dance.

Spectacular, everyone.

You did a really great job
learning this new material today.

I think what we should do next
is try this new section

with the music.

And then we'll move on to link it
to what we learned last time.

But first, let's dance this together
with the music.

♪ (music) ♪

Ready?

Here we go.

Explore.

Gather.

Explore.

Gather.

Shake it out.

Do that again, gather.

Shake it out.

Cross the body, one, two.

And again.

A little bit faster, one, two.

Quicker if you like.

Hup.

And the music fades away,
as you find your connection

to the earth.

♪ (music ends) ♪

Doing this in your time,
taking a deep breath in.

(breathing)

Acknowledging the traditional territories
we have the privilege of dancing on today.

And then rolling up through your spine

and opening your eyes.

Bravo, everyone.

Very nice work.

So let's do a little rewind now,
let's take it back

and let's see if we can recall
the section we learned last time.

So we'll do a little quick refresh.

So it started with eight or sixteen steps

to face towards the east.

So you either do sixteen steps
or eight steps.

One, two,

three, four,

five, six,

seven, eight, fast forward, 9, 10, 11,
12, 13, 14, 15, 16, great.

Next up,

you're going to do the scoop,
this is our port de bras arm section.

So we did a scoop to high lift once.

A scoop to high lift twice.

We did two swimming movements
with the arms, swimming once

and swimming twice.

Fantastic.

From there, we bring our arms up

we do a little switch once and twice.

Then we roll all the way down
through our body.

From there, we have a little dance party.

So we party low.

We party high.

We party low.

Then we come up for three,
five, six, seven, eight.

We have three deep breaths.

One deep breath.

Two deep breaths.

Three deep breaths.

We release our energy
to finish in a (yell) "hah!"

From there, we start the new material
we learned today

with our gathering shapes.

Okay, so let's count through
these two sections together,

really being aware of the transition
from one movement to the next,

recalling what we learned last time

connecting it to what
we learned this time.

So the starting point
is going to be five, six, seven,

drop your energy on eight.

Let's go from there.

Ready, five, six, seven, drop.

And one, two,

three, four,

five, six,

seven, finding the east.

Two, three, four,

five, six, seven.

Scooping one, two, three, four,

and five, six, seven.

Swimming one, two,

three, four, other side,

six, seven, bring it up to switch.

And switch.

Going down, down, down to the floor.

You party low, two, three, four.

You party high, six, seven, eight.

You party low, two, three, four.

You party high, get ready, seven hands in

to go in. (inhale)

Out. (exhale)

In (inhale)

and out. (exhale)

In (inhale) and out, (exhale) release it,
five, six, seven, hit it, eight.

Gather, gather.

Sweep, sweep.

Explore, two, three, four,

five, six, seven, eight.

You gather,

gather.

Sweep, sweep.

Explore, two, three, four,

five, and six, and seven, eight.

You gather,

get ready to shake it out.

Shake it out, good job, again.

Gather,

gather,

shake it out, six, seven.

Final move goes cross,

open,

switch and switch.

Again, do across,

open and change.

Very nice, a little faster.

Go one, two.

On a five, six.

Quicker if you like.

Two, three, four,

five, six, seven, and eight.

And one.

Release.

Down.

Making your connection.

Six, seven, the music fades away.

Body rolls up.

And we finish.

Very nice, dancers.

So let's change our front,
let's go into rehearsal mode

and we'll practise
these two sections together,

once with counts and once with the music.

Okay everyone, let's do
a rehearsal with counts

of these last two sections of the dance.

So starting from our walks to the east

and finishing with that
very last opportunity

to make a connection
to the earth to give thanks

for the opportunity to dance today.

Okay, I'll count you through

and then we'll try it afterwards
with some music.

All right, let's get started.

So find your place.

We're going to start with the sense
of reaching up and dropping

safely down on eight.

Here we go, one, two, three, four,

five, six, seven, eight.

And one, two, three, four,

walking to the east.

Nine, ten, eleven, twelve,

thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen.

One, two, three, four,

and five, six, seven, swim it.

One, two, three, four,

other side, six, seven, eight.

You shift

and shift.

And drop at six and ready
to party low, two, three, four.

Take it up, six, seven, eight.

Take it down, two, three, four,

and up in six, get ready,
grab eight to go in

and out.

In and out.

In and out.

Going five, six, seven, (yell) "hah!"

Gather,

gather.

Rock,

rock.

Explore, two, three, four

five, six, seven, eight.

You gather,

gather.

Rock,

rock.

Explore, two, three, four,

five, six, seven, gather again.

And gather, shake it out,

making eye contact.

Gather,

gather.

Making eye contact, across,

go one.

And five

and six

and seven

and eight, a little quicker.

Go one.

And five.

Faster if you like, one, two, three, four,

five, six, seven, and eight.

And one,

three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Finding your connection to the floor.

And rolling it up...

to finish.

All right, dancers, let's give this
a try with the music,

the final two sections of the dance.

Remember, you can pause,
rewind, repeat these videos

as many times as you need.

So take your opportunity
to rehearse and to make sure

you're building confidence
in the movement.

Let's give this a try.

From the drop

all the way to the end with the music.

♪ (music) ♪

One, two, three, four,

five, six, seven, eight.

One.

Five, six, seven, get ready up.

Swim.

Switch, switch.

Down.

One.

High.

Low.

High, six, seven, eight.

One.

Release, five, six, seven, eight.

Explore.

Gather.

Explore.

Gather.

Shake.

Gather.

Shake it out.

Cross the body.

Faster.

One, two, switch.

Faster, one.

Finding your way down.

Rolling up.

Really fantastic work, dancers.

Congratulations on learning
the entirety of the choreography.

You've been working so beautifully
and I know you'll continue

to use the full run-through videos

to practise and practise
and get these movements

into your body

so that you can, in turn, focus
on what's most important,

which is our sense of connection
to our self, to our body,

our breath, and our space.

So from myself and from Caitlin,
it's been a pleasure to work with you

and we look forward
to this ongoing rehearsal

and practicing

until Sharing Dance Day 2022,

when we'll see you live

from Canada's National Ballet School.

Keep up the good work
and see you again soon.

Bye for now.