Journaling: Returning to Yo-el's class

Last night I took Yo-el's class, which I haven't taken since September, maybe? We started with an improv warm up which was confusing for me because I hadn't done this in a really long time. But then we got to learning his material, and I really felt like I was applying what I had learned when videotaping myself for Leslie Koval's Jury: how to move when the head leads. His warm up now is very repetitive, but not too intense, so I was glad that I had done a mini pre-barre before. Two of the skills I recently acquired are a clean, functional, smooth, and powerful plié, which I need to warm up to get to, and a feeling of true extension in the leg (with the stretch behind the knee). I had forgotten how he uses the upper body to initiative the turns and the jumps. It was fun to incorporate that into my pliés. I think I've definitely gotten stronger, because when I jumped and looked into the mirror, it actually looked spectacular. Yo-el is also a fan of the low, grounded running. Leslie Koval helped me really find that, and I think it showed. I've also been working on external focus with Gino a lot. One of my new habits is to look up, which Leslie Koval pointed out, but I was much more aware of where I was choosing to focus. I still could use some work, but it was definitely a gratifying experience to know that it's become more of a habit. Yo-el came up to me and said how strong I've become--that I'm all muscle! Yet afterwards he said, I've become very clean, that I'm getting good technical training, but it hasn't gotten in the way of my freedom. That's nice to hear, that I'm acquiring skills that I want without compromising the skills that I already have. It was such a refreshing class to attend!