Rachel Brice Kicks My Butt

Day 58 of practice.

My brother-in-law gave me Rachel Brice's Serpentine DVD for the holidays, and tonight I finally made it part of my daily practice. I decided to give the shimmy drills a try, because I'm really bad at drilling anything if I don't have someone (even if they're just on the TV screen) telling me what to do. The exercise consists of several different types of shimmies, with arm, torso, and hip movements layered over them. Some of the drills were easy, and some of them were impossible at my current skill level! Of course, Rachel makes all of them look easy. I think I'll do these drills every day that I have time for an extra-long practice and don't have class/workshops, at least until I can do everything in the exercise. Maybe then I'll move on to one of the other sections of the DVD.

And that was just the start of my practice! I skipped my usual shimmy warm-up, since I was VERY warm (had to change into a lighter-weight shirt partway through the drills!), and moved right into veil practice. My routine is coming together, but since the hafla is in less than 2 weeks, I definitely need to work out my entrance and smooth everything out. This was followed by two songs worth of Anaya Tribal fast, one of slow, and some solo practice to Collide. Add in some cool-down stretches, and I practiced for about 45-50 minutes total. Not bad!

I finished my Level 1 flashcards today. Of course, I don't really NEED flashcards for the Level 1 moves, but I'm a completist.