I am very much a visual learner, and very much not an auditory learner. When I’m driving, the navigator must point– “left” and “right” are completely lost on me when split second action is required. The same goes for choreography; the typical ballet class practice of verbally listing the sequence in a combination rather than actually demonstrating it inevitably ends in a train wreck for me.

My learning style requires me to rely on copying, which I can do virtually simultaneously. I try to stand as close to the instructor/choreographer as possible for this reason.

I have never been able to do fouette turns (or even a single one). The other day when I was mindlessly copying the choreographer in a rehearsal, I realized that I had just perfectly executed one. For the record, I have since been able to reproduce it, so it wasn’t a fluke. It seems that my body needed to get the feel of it once, and now I’ve internalized it. Yay for harnessing my learning style!

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UPDATE, 5/21/08

If you’re not sure what your learning style is I found a simple quiz online that will help you figure it out. It did confirm that I am a visual learner.

Take the quiz here.

And, for the benefit of my family and others who may not appreciate how cool it is I can now do a fouette turn, here is what it looks like: