John Barnes Training. It is everything I wanted and everything I didn't even know I wanted. Not only is it a fun hobby, it's fun time with two of my favorite people, it's bringing together people from all these different disciplines (hand balance, zouk, pole, crossfit), it is strenuous for my body (yayy!), it is a skill I have yearned for since I was a 8-year-old in Drill Team Hawaii and I watched this 10-year-old balancing handstands in the parking lot. I asked her the secret, and she just shrugged and said she did it a lot until she could do it. I have been sporadically handstanding for my whole life since then, and I've never been able to hold it unless by fluke of accident. The coach, John, is also a role model in what I want to strive for as a movement instructor. He is full of cheerfully presented information and exercises tailored to your every weakness and every goal. He gives us all a program of individually tailored exercises and constantly updates it depending on our progress. He cares SO MUCH that we progress and it truly makes him happy when we get better or do a drill right. He is easily accessible and very responsive outside of class to any questions, and always willing to give feedback on videos of us doing our drills. He's able to demonstrate every variation of how our form is improper, and also advanced versions of what crazy handstand stuff we will be doing one day if we stick with it, all while talking through it in a helpful narrative stream. He will stay long after class time is over to work on our form or give advice on how we are doing. He loves talking about hand balancing stuff and could be excited about it all day. He is basically #danceteachergoals. This handstand clinic has brought a lot of laughter, sweat, happiness, and the good kind of struggle into my life. It's so awesome to know what the goal is and to feel myself getting better at controlling my handstands almost every week I practice! I feel like I just wrote a glowing Yelp review for a new favorite restaurant that I can't stop attending. A+ would recommend. read more