Home, Health & Style

What is the Difference Between Introvert and Extrovert?

What is the difference between introvert and extrovert? And which one are you?

 

What does an INTROVERT look like?

Introverts tend to be people who are most comfortable in their own company or spending time with a small, familiar group of friends. They are analytical in their thinking, like to have all of the available facts to hand before making a decision and are probably a little bit uncomfortable when forced into the limelight. Introverts think before they speak.

 

What does an EXTROVERT look like?

 

Extroverts, on the other hand, think as they speak! They’re happy to take centre stage, love to talk about anything and everything that comes to mind, are happy being part of a large group and make fast decisions. Extroverts are less happy in their own company and tend to get bored without someone around to keep them amused.

In short, introverts are often described as being energised by enjoying time spent alone with their thoughts, whereas extroverts recharge their batteries by being in a roomful of equally extroverted people!

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Art & History

Does Atlantis Exist, and Where Does the Name Originate?

Around 350 BC, the Greek philosopher Plato wrote about an island situated in front of the Pillars of Hercules, that disappeared under the sea in one day and one night. According to Plato, the capital of Atlantis was built on a hill and surrounded by rings of water, which were joined by tunnels large enough for a ship to sail through. A huge canal connected the outer rings of water to the ocean.
The possible existence of the island of  Atlantis has intrigued scholars and scientists over the centuries.

In 1800s a man called Ignatius Donnelly wrote a  bestselling book called Atlantis, the Antediluvian World. After studying flood history, Ignatius put forward the suggestion that Atlantis was not fiction, but the recording of a natural disaster.

Most modern academics insist that Plato created the story, and was perhaps inspired by events that happened during his lifetime, but that the island never existed.

The subject of dreams, of magical tales and many a search, Atlantis has long captured our imagination. But where did all of this spring from?

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Home, Health & Style, Sports

Move Over Girls, and Make Space for Ballet for Boys

DANCE is for EVERYONE!

When did people begin to dance?  No one knows for sure, but dancing has been around for as long as there have been people!

Dancing provides people with a wonderful tool to express their emotions and thoughts.  They can communicate to others what they are feeling and their state of mind.  Dancing connect people.  All around the world, there is dance.  Over many centuries, every country and culture has developed typical dances of its own.  They are part of peoples’ traditions.

Aside from these cultural dances, dance developed for performance.

People have always passed on their old dances from generation to generation and always enjoyed dancing them.  In addition there were also modifications, changes,  new steps and other dance moves.  More dances evolved.

We will, in this series of articles, look at the different styles of dance and find out how you can get involved.  We shall start with BALLET and ask the question ‘Is ballet for boys too?’

 

What is ballet?

Ballet Class

 

Ballet was created in the courts of Italian princes about 500 years old.  A royal dance school was later founded in France by Louis XIV in 1661. 

Many positive benefits are associated with learning the art of ballet.  Besides learning the traditional techniques of ballet, ballet lessons can also nurture a positive self image.  Ballet teaches skill, grace, poise, self-discipline and confidence.  If your dream is to become a dancer, you must practice a lot in order to master the many challenging poses and steps of ballet.  You will begin by learning the rules and traditional techniques of ballet.

 

Why should I learn Ballet?

 

Ballet2

 

Ballet lessons have three major benefits.  First of all, a dancer expands their vocabulary through learning the French names of the steps and hearing the musical terms.  Secondly, they develop their musicality and rhythm through coordinating their bodies to the music. A third benefit is that memorising new steps and dances improves the memory of young ballet students. 

So, Ballet makes you smart!

 

Dance offers a greater range of motion, coordination, endurance and strength than most other physical activities.  If you have an interest in any kind of future in dance, you’ll need ballet because that’s where you learn the basics.  But even if dance isn’t the ultimate goal, ballet lessons improve posture, flexibility, coordination, strength and grace.  They also provide an opportunity for you to be active regardless of the weather outdoors. 

So, Ballet makes you fit and strong!  This IS looking promising.

 

Ballet lessons can also be good for a kid’s development by improving their social skills.  It’s been suggested that ballet classes encourage kids to form new friendships. Dancers also get to interact with positive role models in their dance teachers.  In ballet class, you need to follow directions closely and discipline yourself to not run around the space of the dance studio!  Your confidence will grow as you develop new skills and perform in front of an audience.  My dancers love to perform for their friends and family.  After working hard all year, my students feel a sense of accomplishment while performing on stage in awesome costumes. 

So, Ballet can make you a more confident person!  What’s not to like?!

 

Is Ballet just for girls…?  No, definitely not!  More girls than boys do ballet, but the ballet that girls do is very different from ballet for men and boys.  Male ballet dancers have to be strong and athletic.  When scientists tested male ballet dancers against sportsmen, they found that the dancers were fitter and able to keep going for longer.  Lots of sports clubs invite Ballet teachers in sometimes to give the players a lesson!  It’s great for their balance, agility and core strength. 

So, Ballet is great for boys too! Sign me up.  

 

 

Naomi is an AISTD trained dance teacher, has been teaching since 1994. As well as a long career in dance schools, she has also been Head of Dance in a sixth form college. She runs a small, encouraging dance school offering classes for children and young adults in Ballet, Tap, Jazz and Linedancing, as well as Dancing Hands which uses songs and signing to introduce Ballet to pre-school dancers. The school is based in Bassingbourn and Litlington, on the border of South Cambridgeshire and North Hertfordshire, UK.  Naomi has a particular love for working with children and young adults who have learning difficulties – dance is for everybody! Find out more on www.dance-matters.co.uk

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Art & History

Great Women You Should Know: Betty Skelton

In our series of Great Women You Should Know … here comes daredevil and adventurer Betty Skelton

When she was eight, Betty fell in love with aeroplanes. She watched them flying over her house every day, she devoured books about them, and she begged her parents to take her to airfields where she would persuade pilots to take her on rides above the clouds.

Betty must have been a very persuasive person, because she also talked a young Navy pilot into giving the whole family flying lessons. And when I say whole family, I mean it: Betty flew her first plane solo when she was just twelve years old. She might have been a tiny daredevil, but she was so scared her mother would scold her for doing it that she kept it a secret for a week!

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Home, Health & Style, Popular

5 Things Parents Wish Their Kids Would Do …

… and 5 Things Kids Wish Their Parents Would Do!
Hello there! I’m Cat and I’m 12 years old, almost 13 (yay!)  I’ve picked out 5 things I wish my parents would do, or rather… Wouldn’t do!  And my mum has done the same with 5 things she wishes that my brother and I would do.
Go grab a piece of paper and do this with your parents – you might surprise each other!

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