I was so excited about what happened in class Thursday: we skyped Twyla into our class, and she taught the dance portion of our class and held a Q & A with us! In the past few weeks, we have been reading her book, The Creative Habit, and we watched a film she choreographed, Hair, directed by Milos Forman. In my mind, she is a famous superstar—not somebody I would ever get to meet; yet there we were, talking with her in our dance class! When our teachers, Shawn and Shannon, told us we were going to interact with Twyla in the class, I thought maybe we would send her a video of us dancing in class to her and she would give us some comments online. So when I found out that she would be watching us dance in real time, I was really surprised.

When I heard Twyla’s voice, everything started feeling very real. Nervous, I made a few mistakes in the first phrase we showed her, even though we had been practicing it for a while. But my excitement and my nerves made my mind go blank! A few minutes later, I finally calmed down. In performing the phrase “speed,” I was proud about what we showed, because even though our movements still needed polish, we showed our passion to Twyla, representing the energy and the positive attitude of the young generation learning her work. I also appreciated Shawn’s presence, since she encouraged us so enthusiastically.

We finished the class with a Q & A session with Twyla, which made me feel nervous again. Twyla was very patient and attentive, she asked everyone’s major before answering questions. It made me feel like she was a real person, a kind instructor, despite being somebody I have always pictured as a celebrity. Hearing her talk about the Torelli and her choreography more generally helped me understand the dances more clearly.