Jamming it all in: Part 7

A few months passed, and I was teaching more and more. Most of the time it was little isolation tracks, and the same Salsa 2010 block to try and get a bit more choreography under my belt.

During this time, I made a series of hilarious mistakes which I actually look back on really fondly.

One time was when I taught the warmup from BJ56. I started off on the correct foot, but then did something odd with my feet and ended up on the wrong one. On the second rep of the heel pump, Rhys and I were facing in opposite directions, completely oblivious that we both were doing different things.

Like this.

Then, on the third rep, we turned in to face the other direction, and we were facing each other.

Because that's not awkward at all...

Then, there was another time before class when Rhys and I were going over a track. It was raining outside, and part of where I was practising was carpeted, the other part had some linoleum on the floor. The track I was teaching had a lot of side to side movement, so sometimes my feet would end up on the lino as I travelled. The lino was slippery because people had brought in water from outside. I made a note to try and not slip over. Of course, the moment I had this thought, Rhys says, "Rai Rai, there's the lino..." and BOOM! Down I fall! Rhys absolutely lost it and could not stop laughing. It wasn't even a small slip, it was pretty much down to the ground in the most unglamorous fashion possible. The timing was remarkable!

Not only was going through his training a journey for me, but I felt it was also a journey for him (he may not agree, but whatever, my blog. :P) I started being trained by him shortly after he had shadowed for the BJ55 workshop. An honour? Well yes... but also met with a bit of sceptism on my part.

LMNZ may not have meant it this way at all... though all of the Jammers onstage for workshop were the ones who had just done the recent AIM1 and AIM2 (where AIM = Advanced Instructor Module)for Jam. I have heard of other agencies inviting people who have done AIMs up onstage to shadow for workshop simply as a token gesture. They of course have gotten the wrong idea and believed that the reason why they were onstage was because they were of presenting calibre and have gotten all worked up in thinking that they're Les Mills's Next Presenter.

I don't agree with people being selected for workshop just because they did an AIM, but whatever. I don't know if this was LMNZ's goal, but it *felt* a bit like it looking at the lineup for the BJ55 workshop.

So when Rhys was confirmed to be presenting for BJ57, he nearly lost his voice with the screaming of excitement.

As did I!!!

Who would have thought, I was basically being trained by a workshop presenter!

What was interesting was seeing him go through the presenter pathway, and the feedback that he was getting and how he was handling it. I look up to him as a really mindblowingly amazing instructor, so hearing about the feedback he was receiving as part of his preparation for the workshops was intriguing.

He basically was encouraged to change his entire teaching style - to teach in as bland and as monotone a vocal quality as he could, and to really push the new 'set up, follow up, and shut up' coaching model for Jam.

One time I walked into the end of a Jam class that Rhys was teaching to find Carla Fitzsimons and Mid Thomas hiding behind a corner. They saw me and were like "SHHHH!!! Come here! Be quiet! WE'RE SPYING!!!"

Remember how I said that Rhys was very keen on throwing trainees in the deep end and seeing how they went? That was what had happened that night. Rhys had expected to be doing a portion of the class but when he turned up Carla told him, "You're actually doing the whole thing LOLOLOLOL YAY GOOD LUCK KTHXBYE *runs*."

Hiding around the corner from Mid and Carla was really insightful, as they spoke frankly about him and how well he'd done. Carla turned to me and said, "He's done so well. He's changed his entire style of teaching, just like *that*." If anyone asked me to completely change my entire style of teaching I'd probably be like 'TOO HARD I QUIT.'

I don't think I've articulated this to Rhys, but seeing how he handled that entire feedback process was really inspiring to me. He was in a similar place with getting direct feedback delivered to him was concerned, but he never took any of it personally and grew in bounds and leaps as an instructor, and as a presenter.

That was the type of instructor I wanted to be. One that could take feedback for what it was, and go with it.

It made me see how the whole feedback, learning and development doesn't really ever stop, and if I wanted to instruct, I had to damn well get used to it.