Lucinda Morgan
Marietta makes things happen! I qualified with my Certificate III in 2004, but was expecting one baby by the time I finished the course, then moved to London and had another. I never taught group fitness, but also never forgot my desire to help keep freestyle classes, which I’ve loved since the early 80s, alive and kicking. Seven years later, back in Melbourne, in my forties, and with my youngest starting kinder, I tentatively looked up Marietta’s website- she had taken a step workshop in my original course, and I remembered how the elegance and precision of her instruction had made a complex step routine fall into place. As an English teacher, when I teach about elegance in prose, it’s about having no excess parts… and that is Marietta- beautiful choreography that flows and feels right, and learning curves that make perfect sense. So Marietta, agreeing to be my mentor, has seen off my excess parts- my waving arms, my clumsy cueing and my insane non-stop link pyramiding (the only teaching technique I had learnt for my exam)… not to mention about seven kilos from practising so hard! At the end of the Cert III course I knew some theory, some moves and how to hear the beat. But I was not a teacher. Marietta’s mentoring has bridged that gap and given me the confidence to take my own classes. Her generosity and passion, as well as her professional expertise, have been a huge inspiration. She is the best possible example of a mentor: a master of her craft who enables her mentees to achieve their best without creating dependency. Her management of the mentoring process is very finely and carefully judged- the whole experience involves an increasing appreciation of her insight and skill. She knows exactly when to push you, and when to back off! I feel very lucky to have had Marietta as my mentor. She has made a very long held dream come true, and delivered to the fitness industry another very keen instructor, who would still be a participant daydreaming at the back of the class if not for her wonderful mentoring program.