Contemporary Dance for beginners: BA (Contemporary Dance) 1st class Honours from London Contemporary Dance School | Graduate Dance Assistant at London local inclusive dance company | DBS-checked to w

Find out more about Freddi

• At what age did you start playing sports? Tell us about this time or moment in your life.

  Quite late, to be honest. I started athletic training at my uni when I was 19. Before that, I seldom do any sports. During my uni days my biggest achievement is to finish a 3000m run in 15min 30s and even won a medal, never thought I will do this before and I shall never do it again.
  
  Whilst dance training happened even later when I was twenty-something when I discovered how contemporary dance and hip-hop dance can channel my emotions, allowing me to focus on the present moment. And all the clear little goals that I can work on when I am practicing dancing. It's just so great!

• What are your favourite sports; those that you practice at a high level, a simple hobby, and a sport that you'd still like to discover?

  Currently, my favourite sport is dancing. I go to London Contemporary Dance School to study for my Bachelor's degree in contemporary dance. So this is something I spend a lot of time on a regular basis. A sport I'd love to discover would be ice skating maybe. It seems that travelling across space at such a high speed while doing dance poses would be fun.

• What gives you the motivation and passion to pursue your sport?

  My motivation for contemporary dance mainly comes from my inner desire for emotional expression and the fun of discovering different ways to move the body. It's an art and sport at the same time, when we learn contemporary dance we focus a lot on our body senses and the surroundings. We focus on the moment and the way you sense time passing by would be different each time. It's really interesting.

• Do you have a sporting achievement that you're particularly proud of?

  Finishing 3000m run in 15min-ish!

• How have your achievements and challenges made you a better sportsperson?

  I was trained by this young lady who is my floormate at my university student residential hall. She told me long-distance running is more a test of perseverance than fitness. Of course, you need endurance physically but mentally is more important. She told me this phrase that I remind myself every time I face a challenge: Pain is temporary, but Pride is forever.

• If you had to go for a jog with a famous athlete, who would you choose? And what questions would you ask them?

  Hanyu Yuzuru, a figure skating athlete. I will ask how him how he keeps up his motivation. It's not hard to do something you enjoy, but sometimes not everything you do is enjoyable. I will ask how will he adjust his mentality when he needs to do something that he finds boring, torturing, or hard. I think this is an important part of athlete training---the psychological part.

• How do you help people stay motivated?

  For my students, I would spend time planning fun activities to do during class. In the long term, I will check with them if what I am teaching suits what they need. For instance, if I teach you the Japanese language using manga/anime as a medium, is it something that you are interested in? or do you prefer drama? In terms of sports, I will explain the difficulty of the task to the student, and feedback them how well did they do. And what method they can use to improve. For example, if they need to learn a dance turn that they find challenging. I will explain to them it's not something supposed to be mastered in a short period, you can now focus on training your balance, etc. And later you shall be able to do this and that.

• What makes you a Superprof in sports?

  I would say my people's skills and teaching techniques. I am good at establishing trusting relationships with students. If my teaching on that day was not effective, I will acknowledge them, and let them know we will try another method. I reckon this can make students less confused, and stay positive in trying different ways of learning. I am also good at identifying different cueing methods for my students. In terms of dance, I will remind them which muscle to use for certain dance moves, and which part of the body shall we use to initiate a move. If verbal instructions are not enough, I will use imagery, and provide tactile cues (e.g. patting certain body parts) as well if it is appropriate.