These are my recommendations to improve the online lesson experience. I´m sure you already have your own tips... but just in case it can help, I'd like to share mine with you:
🎗Do the moment be your gift: Choose a place in your home where you can focus and take that time just for yourself. Turn off the notifications for WhatsApp, email and other apps, the attention span in the online experience changes a lot. Help your concentration and focus by reducing unnecessary alarms.
🏠 The room you need: Count two steps on each side, more or less. You have to be able to have the space to lie down on the mat.
🧉Elements that we are going to use: Have a mat or towel for the floor, the rehearsal shoes/sneakers and tango shoes. If you can get a tennis ball it would be great too, you will see that when you start using it you will love it. Leave your book to take note close by! It depends on the type of training you signed up for, maybe we'll use a chair or stool, to hold you like in a ballet barre (yup!).
💻 Which device is more convenient? I suggest laptop or tablet, which by having the larger screen, facilitate the experience. Anyway, you have to locate the device that you are going to use, in a place where you can see me while we do the exercises together. If you use a computer, you can place it on a table or high chair. And if it is a phone or tablet, there are tripods that help a lot with that issue. You can easily change the angle and height and also protect the device. (Now we can find cheaper gadgets on the market, when the pandemic started, everything was very expensive!) Also, check that I can see you at some point in the session. I recommend that you practice before: open the camera of the device and go testing where and how to locate it. And then we can check it together, of course. Ah! Have the battery charger and plug nearby.
🎧 The sound: I use a microphone and a console for music, so the sound is supposed to be clear from my transmission, but if you want to use wireless headphones, you may be more comfortable (although I do not find it necessary). If you mute (get silence) while we are working, the sound will come out clearer.
💭 Is it necessary to have a mirror? Well, it help for self-correction, like we normally used in the studios I rented for my training. But it is not essential. If you have one of those mirrors that can be hung or supported on some side (like those of the closet), fine! - if not, you will develop another way to perceive and train your body.
📡 Internet connection: That is a nightmare! Even platforms with super developed infrastructures are still having problems with live-broadcasts. Within what we can control, my recommendations are: close all applications so that the device works better, try to disconnect all the devices that are using the same internet signal, and then... we entrust ourselves together to the universe so that it works as it says on the bill that we pay every month.
When I started taking classes online in quarantine, I didn't even understand how to turn on the video or silence myself ... what stress! But, little by little we all became familiar and now everything becomes more functional and less frustrating. This is a system that will remain with us -beyond this time of social distance- and we can take advantage of it! It does not replace physical contact, we do not have to compare it from there, it does not make sense: it is obvious. I plan to continue using this format to learn and train things that are being VERY productive for me. And of course, I pretend to grow in technology and strategies, to be able to share with you the best of my training method. 🙏 Cheer up! Go ahead and enjoy it!