I was so delighted when last Tuesday, having been back in the Highland area for about a day, I got a call about covering some street dance classes at Eden Court.

I love Eden Court and I love the dance that they offer in both performances and participatory activities.

Now I have not done street dance classes for a long while and was really rather nervous about the thought of teaching them. However the delivery and preparation really reminded me of how much I know,can do and thoroughly enjoy street dance. It was great to have the opportunity to get me back in to working in the Street Dance sector, and to really remind myself of how much I love it! I was so lucky that when during my work for The Royal Academy of Dance, I received the very best of quality training in a variety of street dance styles.

Here I received training from a variety of artists, one of which was Gavin, aka Dissi AKA Hawk from Soul Mavericks, who have represented The UK 7 times in the world Bboy championships. They are an amazing crew. Have a look at this awesome video of two of their dancers. Its one of my favourite dance videos of all time, really showing how dance can benefit people of all ages.

I also got a lot of training from Oliver Fitzgerald. He is really inclusive in his practice and looks at new ways to approach a variety of street dance styles. He does a great class with very little stillness, using the whole space and interaction between participants. Intensive training days with him really opened up a new way of teaching street dance for me, one where the class is not just about facing the front and copying the teacher and moves. This is something I feel incredibly passionate about, and he really showed me great ways to deliver this as well as some great moves and the study of House dance in depth.

It was so great to get back into teaching a variety of street dance styles and the class looked at poppin, lockin, breakin and house. The classes ranged from 5 all the way up to adult, and it was really fun to reach such a wide variety of ages in just 3.5 hours! For me, it was great to teach in English too, and without sign language (as much as I have loved being able to use this in Cambodia) because I didn’t have to stop the dance; explanation can be done over the top of movement. It allowed the class to really flow, and I think I will certainly be participating and looking to teach more street dance from now on.

I was covering class for Antonia DeCarlo, who has really had a massive part to play in taking HipHop and Street dance to the Highlands. She has started a crew, TruUnity and has really engaged with a wide spectrum of all generations of people up here. She also regularly gets visiting artists up; the next being with Bboy Jay in 3 weeks. Have a look and book your spaces!

It’s really great to get such a variety of artists visiting the highlands, and so many people engaged when they do.

For more information of Eden Courts array of classes see here. They have lots on offer from outreach to professional.

For me, it was just great to get back into teaching in the UK and to see the Eden Court team again.

And for now feast your eyes on this video of Poppin’ John, what a man!