Donyelle's an Awesome Teacher!!!

Hey people, I'm back (again,again)! Here's a blog from a girl who attended Donyelle's dance class. It's really great! She wrote:

This past weekend, Donyelle was teaching at the CanDance convention at the Palais Des Arts in Hull, Quebec. This is only a two minute drive from Ottawa unless you are me and have a tendency to easily miss roads and get lost.

After much personal debate and struggle, I decided to just go. I knew that I would be the only fan there, and that was my biggest hesitation, but I kept telling myself that the chance of having Donyelle in Ottawa again was pretty much slim to none, and I'd regret it more if I did not go. After all, Ottawa is my hometown (not Hull which I got lost in twice).

I was right about being the only fan observing. The class was set up so that there was a big stage in the room with lighing and loud music. I really liked this set-up because it elevated her from the group of at least 70-100 14 year old girls and a couple of guys, so I could see her all of the time.

She comes out with completely new hair, and I did not really recognize her at first. She got it completely straightened and we no longer see the little bangs. It looked amazing. She's amazing.

When she talked, at first, I immediately knew that this was her life passion. I would not have had to have seen the show to know that this girl is in love with dance. Before they began the choreography, she told them to remember three things. One, that they just go AFTER it. Secondly, they should learn at least one thing from the whole experience. Third, FOCUS.

Once she got through this, she started the first few counts of the choreography. This is where I am going to falter because I cannot explain dance. She would count it at first, and then she started to use the technique of chanting the song lyrics to show when you should be doing a certain move. Once she was happy with the first bit of choreography, they played "Blindfold Me" by Kelis. There were some musical problems throughout the routine and she spent a lot of time by the stereo annoyed that it wasn't really working. At one point, she mentioned something about the music not working, and we got to hear the famous Donyelle laugh! SOOO CUTE!!

What was the most entertaining, for me, while she was doing the steps was that she would count/talk out the lyrics "when he wanna he blindfold me then I get sexy on. I get sexy on." I am seriously not kidding here, and I heard Donyelle half sing/talk that SOO many times through the choreography. It amused me to no end.

The really interesting thing about Donyelle is that she has so much wisdom when it comes to dance and auditioning. She really knows what you have to do to succeed, and she'd be hard on this particular class because she knew that they'd be going through this process soon. She talked about making a connection to who you're auditiong for. Throughout one sequence, she watched one girl do the choreography, and the girl never looked at Donyelle. She kept her eyes down the whole time, and Dony completely called her out. She said (paraphrased), "Hey you, ya I'm talking to you, you never looked at me. I was watching you through that whole thing, and you never once looked at me. When you're auditioning you have to make eye contact. If you don't, they won't hire you because they'll think that you're putting a wall between yourself and them, and they want to see you. You may be nervous, but look up and make eye contact. You may be thinking AHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA inside, but you have to look confident." It was so hilarious when she screamed liked that. She doesn't come off, at first, as that crazy so it really shocked everyone.

She also talked about going after the choreography. It's one thing to just memorize all the steps and just dance it without any emotion or feeling. You can't do that. You need to focus more on really just dancing with your heart. Even if you're a mess and you only get a few counts right, a choreographer may be thinking "ya she's a mess, but I can fix that mess" instead of choosing the person who got everything right, but really had no passion behind the movements. That is why she encourages them to go AFTER it. Have fun with it. It's not about perfection. It's about dancing with heart and soul.

She is truly adorable in person. At one point, I forget the context, but she was talking about the "craziness" of it all. She also kept messing up her own choreography, and would say "don't do that!" At one point, she was saying that she was retarded today for adding in that move. She later did it again, so she was like "I must be so excited about this move or something.. don't do it!" It was beyond adorable.

Near the end, she gave the class a bit of a lecture. She told them that when a choreographer or a teacher is talking, you listen. You don't practise the moves or perfect anything. Your full attention needs to be on the person talking. Of course, as she's attempting to drive this point in people's heads, five girls in front of me were doing the steps and ignoring her. I was really not impressed, but they didn't seem to care. She was right though because if you're not paying attention, you may miss something very important. Like I said, she was being harder on the seniors because she knew they'd be auditioning soon, and she wanted them to be prepared. I really liked that about her. Donyelle does not bull shit. She tells it how it is and, to me, that's what makes her an amazing teacher.

My impression of her changed drastically after watching this class. I always saw tidbits of Donyelle from the show and the tour, but I've never witnessed a full hour where the spotlight was completely on her. When people say she doesn't talk a lot, that's really not the case. She actually talks a lot and is a very confident teacher. She was teaching the class one of her personal favourite audition pieces, I believe. She looked amazing doing it. That girl seriously has the best natural movement I have ever seen. She really is an inspiring person, and she doesn't present herself in a way where "I know all, and you all must follow me", but she really does have so much wisdom and heart when it comes to dance, and you see it. You see it in every step she does, when she talks about it, etc. You just get the feeling that she truly is doing what she's meant to be doing, and I am so happy she did not quit. She's not only an amazing dancer, but she's an amazing teacher. If I could, I would take her class!

This is getting so long, but I want to give you everyone all the Donyelle gossip since that has been lacking. After the class, people went on stage to get a picture with her and meet her. This is where I was again debating with myself whether I would go or not, and I even walked out of the room, but I knew I would be an idiot if I just left without at least attempting to meet her, so I went back in and waited for the stage to clear off a bit because I wanted the ones who paid a lot of money to dance with her to get the opportunity to meet her before I did. I finally walked on the stage, and I was just an incoherent mess. I think it had to do with not eating all day and the fact that I was on a stage with DONYELLE (and no metal between us this time), so I was nervous. I think I said something to the effect that I wasn't a dancer, but I came to the class to see her. I went to the tour in Toronto, and heard she was coming here, so I thought I'd check it out. I then said that I really didn't dance, but what they did was cool. She seemed really touched that I went just to see her teach (or maybe she was freaked out), and then she proceeded to tell me that I should have joined in or something, but I obviously couldn't then. She was like "take some classes". I'm still laughing at that because I know I will never be a great dancer no matter how much I love watching dance and doing my few signature moves. I can't remember really what she said because I was an incoherent fool, but I think she thanked me. She may have hugged me, but I don't remember. I know that when I asked someone to take a picture of us, we were standing side by side in the usual picture pose, and then she put her arm around mine, and I was thinking (oh crap what do I do now?), so I kinda hugged her back. I won't lie. It was a little awkward, but I love her anyway. They had to clear everyone out, so I did not get much of a chance to talk to her, but I got a cute picture out of it, and I got to see Donyelle in a whole new light which made me even more inspired by her and love her even more.

Curious about Donny's new hair?? Here's the picture!

~Suzuki