When you take my virtual fitness classes online, you see me, more makeup than normal, livingroom lamp lighting coming into my face and my empty kitchen. You see my tendency to keep it simple, especially when I dance near the camera, and I cue the layers a lot more when I’m up against the wall. (The literal wall.)
But what you miss is all the fun that goes into setting up the actual space, the amount of time taken to produce choreography, cues or progressions that translate on screen, and the business gears that turn continually to make sure classes continue.
Essentially the carnival is always in business but the Tilt a Whirl becomes a kitchen table when it’s not in action.
All chairs get moved to the north side of my livingroom, in a line like children ready to sing for grandparents. One stool is moved to the end of the chairs, like a sentinel. The table is moved exactly 3″ from the line of the wood floor and the carpet, and the legs are in parallel to the line of the kitchen and butted up against the couch. Then two dish clothes are placed on the table in square fashion, towards the front of the table that is closest to me. Our livingroom lamp comes behind the table and tape helps each of the three lights angle upwards, behind the whole set up so there is more light in my general direction, and if it is a nighttime class, the kitchen lights, the dining room light and the fireplace light all get flipped on. Then the magic happens, the last stool goes on the table. It has a Ring Light permanently (semi-permanently) painter’s taped to itself and the chair then fits in the square of the towels on the table, facing me.
A gracious lesson I learned from Kass Martin, and moreso, her sister Emily Engemann, is that light behind a camera held high makes you look younger. In fact, as we go to take selfies we often joke, “younger” (higher), “or, younger” (higher) as we tweak the angle. So the difference between a table directly in front of me with a chair versus a stool is a few years, and those years count!
Then the bluetooth speaker is paired to the music, which has a success rate of 90% if using playlists on Spotify and only 50% if using iTunes. If I want the music to work, I use Spotify. If I want the music to blend to exactly 9 seconds, and I don’t mind praying, I try iTunes. And either way, I have to prepare for the speaker not working at some point either way, which means I have to really “sell it” as I teach if it turns into whisper-mode. *Side note* I try to build my playlists on both Spotify and ITunes for anyone who wishes to subscribe!
Then the laptop is placed on the stool (on the table, on its perch) and set to a specific angle, in line with the “rectangle” formed by my kitchen, the line of my patio door, and the youthfulness of my forehead wrinkles. If they disappear up close, the lighting is set. Then Zoom is opened, I pair the sound internally while still keeping my microphone on, and wait for folks to join while jamming out in my kitchen, generally to the newest songs added in my playlist for peace of mind.
According to Virtual Pro training with ZES Jenna Bostic last week I am doing this right! It feels good knowing that my set up and style are what Home Office is hoping we use and the ways I have my lights, my open space, my paired sound are all in alignment. I am grateful for the training, especially to reinforce that I am doing something right!
Then comes the time I practice the new material from the training, two layers of thought I had not considered. First, I need to consider choreography in three sections, and that one layer is simple, meant for connecting with folks on the screen. Another layer essentially stays contained, within a few steps or so. And last, the final section of choreo that has more progessions might need the balance of something simple after and it needs every cue I can muster. The other piece of training I had not considered was the sheer amount of cues needed in a virtual setting, and how our typical Pro Skills cues (top down, rather large, somewhat organic) may not translate on screen.
In other words, I have spent the past week of classes practicing keeping things three dimentional as I connect with those on the screen. I have held cues longer than I ever thought reasonable. I have marched and smiled into the camera in more songs, and stayed back towards my kitchen wall and navigated tricky sections like a pro. The feedback I have gotten so far is that the difference between old cues and new cues is slight but appreciated; the amount of joy and connection is the same but it seems like I am teaching “with a purpose”.
The tech support of Virtual Pro training is perfect if you have yet to teach, or have an interesting dance space to work with. The reminders about sections of choreo and cueing are essential, and the drills that include practice in your space are incredibly helpful. I highly recommend taking Virtual Pro training, if for no other reason than it helps your people see your “purpose” and your passion with a bit more clarity. And at this stage in the quarantine game, I truly hope you keep your passion!