For my caretaker study, I chose my rhythmic gymnastics coach, Natasha, for both poses. I consider my coach one of my “caretaker’s” because there were times in my life where I did spend more time with her than with my own parents. In and out of the gym, Natash has done a lot to help me grow as an athlete and a person.
The realistic pose depicts how my coach would stand and watch me as I competed. I faced diagonally because she would always stand where I walked out, usually by the corner of the competition floor. Also, standing straight forward would make it harder to tell that I was watching something rather than just looking. I kept my face focused and my body poised, exactly as Natasha would. She would do this to convey her professionalism and control her nervousness, which was sometimes worse than mine! Classmates who guess that the pose was of someone critical and focused were correct. The class was pretty quick to guess that it was a pose of a woman, even mentioning maybe my gymnastics trainer as well.
My second abstract pose was supposed to portray the kindness my coach had. Since i was facing away from the audience with open arms and a “coming forward” stance, I meant to show that this side of my coach was almost hidden from most of the Rhythmic Gymnastics community. Although she always maintained her professionalism, and many would call Natasha “strict”, she would show how proud she was of me when the time was appropriate. She was very specific to whom she held her “open arms” towards, and it took a lot to gain her respect as a gymnast and person. Through years of hard work, I finally achieved what it took to work with Natasha full time as a high level gymnast by the age of 11. I recall it being Eloise and Alvin who guessed the second pose to be of my coach. I think it was easier to guess the identity behind my poses given my background.
