And now, to move forward with my plans...

Photo by talented photohgrapher Alex Wild.

Well, here we are, January 1st 2014, the first day of my year of treating my dance training like a full-time career. Of course, since I'm starting on the holiday I'm not actually working full-time today, but I have been doing a few internet things related to dance (like writing this blog post), and I plan to get a little practice in today while I'm getting ready to have my family over later.

My original thought was to start 2014 with this really well-organized schedule of exactly what I was going to do every hour of the day, but then I realized that was pretty unrealistic. I don't think I can go straight from basically unscheduled anarchy to strictly regimented full-time career mode overnight. Besides, how can I make my schedule without knowing how long things are going to take, how much time I'm really going to want to dedicate to different tasks, and for that matter, what the new year schedule is going to be at BreakOut Studios?

There are a few things I know for sure, though:

1. I need to get back to really drilling my basics.

2. I want to be in several ballet classes a week, whatever else I decide to take.

3. It is time to really put my Datura Online subscription to use.

4. ALL THE STRETCHING.

5. I will spend some time every day doing dance-related reading, whether it's a bellydance magazine or an anatomy book or going back over workshop handouts.

6. If I own a prop, I should be skilled with it.

7. I have a whole lot of costuming to get done.

8. I need to include some cardio and strength training so I can be in tip-top shape.

9. I will continue to experiment with makeup, and start doing more hair-related experiments too.

10. Sunday will be my DAY OFF. Except when I have workshops on Sunday, then I don't know what I'll do. But when I don't have workshops, it's a complete day off from dance. Maybe a little stretching, but otherwise I'm going to relax, work on jewelry instead of costumes, and make sure to get some quality time with my husband and our pets and maybe friends and family too.

And of course this blog is going to be a big part of this. It only seems right, since I originally started it to track that year where I tried (and mostly succeeded) to practice every day. I hope my readers will cheer me on and give me the occasional kick in the dance pants when my motivation is flagging.

Happy New Year and all that. Let's dance!

100 Days Challenge 2013

I grabbed Gina's graphic for this challenge so you would know to go to raksgina.com and get in on it!

Today marks the start of the last 100 days of 2013. Wow! How is the year already almost over? It's flown by. Anyway, for the second year in a row, Gina is hosting a 100 Day Challenge to end the year on a powerful note, and I'm once again participating.

In case you didn't go read Gina's post, I'll do a quick summation: The 100 day challenge is where you set a certain number of goals (Gina recommends 10) that you want to hit by the end of the year. It could be developing a new habit, breaking a bad habit, or getting certain tasks done. It's kind of like New Years Resolutions, but with a time limit. It can be a little difficult, of course, because Halloween, Thanksgiving and WinterHolidayOfYourChoice all fall within that 100 days, which can throw off your mojo on whatever you're trying to do, but over all I found it pretty helpful last year.

My 10 goals for the last 100 days of 2013:

1. Write in my dance journal every day, even on days that I don't dance.

2. Build up to practicing 2 hours per day 4 days a week at a minimum, plus classes.

3. Make the sparkly bra and belt set for my next troupe costume.

4. Create and post a video tutorial for wood elf makeup.

5. Build a database for tracking my bead collection.

6. Make at least one fabulous beaded holiday gift for somebody (I know what I want to make and for who, but I can't say in case they read this post!).

7. Make plans to host/organize at least one small dance event here in Tucson (I've started getting event ideas, and I've been encouraged to make them happen).

8. Get braces on my face. It's gonna happen.

9. Stretch every day, even days that I don't dance.

10. Reorganize the costume closet. *gulp* I might not survive that last one!

10,000 Hours

Another beautiful shot from my photoshoot with Liora K.

 

Have you heard the widely-touted saying that it takes 10,000 hours to master something? I've been thinking about it lately because I've been chafing about the lack of home practice lately. We're in the grips of a hot, humid summer and my home is so warm some days that practicing makes me feel sick, like literally queasy. But as the temperatures are slowly creeping down into the 90s instead of the 100s, I've been working practice back into my schedule, sometimes at night when it's a little more bearable. I've got my eye on being able to dance for hours every day (well, 6 days a week, gotta give my muscles a break), whether or not I have class.

 

When my husband I discussed this concept a few months ago, he said he thought it would be cool to figure out how many hours I'd already put into dance. But even coming up with a rough estimate would be difficult, as I'd have to look at the past 5 years and estimate how many hours of class I was taking per week each year. Ugh. If I calculate it at all, I might choose a start date other than when I started taking dance classes -- either when I started my Year of Practice challenge, or when I started studying with Jolie (if we want to assume that I'm trying to master tribal fusion, and not just general bellydance).

 

This week, not counting home practice, I'm going to spend 10 hours between ballet class, bellydance class, troupe practice, a private lesson, and a workshop. Plus I'm performing Saturday night. If every week was like that, that would mean 520 hours a year, which means it would take about 19 and a quarter years to master bellydance, at which point I would be in my early 50s. Clearly I need to practice more. 

Follow Your Damn Dreams

Hey, check it out guys, I made my own cheezy inspiration poster. I wanted something about following your dreams but without too much shmaltz, and without pointing to someone else's website, because hey, what if I don't agree with the rest of the content on their website? So I made my own. I know, my graphic design skills are AMAZING.

So anyway, I've been seeing a lot of stuff lately about following your dreams. Whether it's pithy posts on Facebook or friends writing into my Politely Worded blog with advice on how to politely tell their family that they're going to follow their dreams, so there, or blog posts full of tips on how to tackle a big project... it's just been out there.

I've been thinking about the importance of not procrastinating when it comes to dreams and goals. Shira on Twitter asked about everyone's first exposure to bellydance and whether they loved it right away, and I had to say that I saw it at 17, loved it, but waited YEARS to pursue classes. And you know what? That is my number one regret as a dancer. I'm going to turn 31 in six days. If I had 14 years of dance experience under my belt, I would be an amazing dancer. I mean, I'm a pretty good dancer right now (I feel OK saying that because lots of people have said good things to me about my dance and I'm trying to practice building myself up instead of tearing myself down), so how much better would I be if I had started when I was younger and more flexible? What other things would I have accomplished, fueled by the self-esteem boost that dance has given me? Who knows.

My advice to you is that if you want to try bellydance, or rockclimbing, or skydiving, or whatever it is, make it happen now. Don't miss out on years of fun and growth because you've somehow convinced yourself that you're not good enough. You are good enough. Go out there and do it!

Goals for 2013

What does a mask have to do with my goals? Well, as soon as my Mom gave me this handmade polymer clay raven mask last night, I knew that I wanted to find the perfect situation to wear it for a dance performance. It's really awesome!

Anyway, now that I am not quite as hyper as yesterday, let's see if I can focus on writing down a few goals.

1. I am going to Tribal Fest and I am going to make the most of it! I need to develop some good note-taking habits so I can really get the best out of the workshops I'll be taking. I will also try to be smart about my shopping and buy things that will really round out my costume wardrobe, and not just every awesome green thing I see (note to self: you do not need another green tribal belt).

2. I am going to get back to healthy practice habits. I have been a real slacker lately. If I want to grow as a dancer and be a professional, I need to put the work into it, and not just go to classes and then practice choreos furiously in the days leading up to a show. I need to drill my basics. I need to challenge myself with new things. And I need to work on my strength and flexibility, no matter how much it sucks.

3. I am going to take full advantage of my Datura Online subscription. It will not languish unused like so many of my bellydance DVDs.

4. I am going to play. I tend to get focused on drilling and preparing performances, and I rarely let myself just have fun. My practice needs to include just dancing to music for the heck of it. I need to set aside time to play with my makeup when I'm not rushing to get ready for a gig. I need to work on costumes just because I have an idea, not because I need a bra for a troupe costume.

5. I am going to be nice to myself. Jolie says I am too hard on myself, and even in this post you can see that I am talking about all of the things that I do wrong and need to do better. I am going to remember the things I do well, and tell myself about them, and occasionally tell the world, too.

6. I am going to learn to sew. I keep saying that. I need to actually do it.

7. I am going to be a professional. Even if I am not getting a lot of paid gigs, I will act like a professional. I will be on-time to my gigs. I will wear the best costumes available to me. I will be well-made-up. I will be friendly and courteous with the organizer, the audience, my fellow dancers.

8. I am going to continue to be a good troupe-mate. I will practice my choreographies. I will help my fellow dancers with costuming needs, extra practices, and encouraging words. I will promote the events that we are dancing at, share the videos of us performing, and continue to speak well of all we do, because I am proud of my troupe.

9. I am going to keep a dance journal. I will record my progress and my deep thoughts, I will say nice things about myself and I will occasionally gripe. At the same time, I am going to work to make this blog less about the minutia of my practice, and more about upcoming gigs, performance videos, vendor recommendations, product reviews and other fun things.

10. I am going to cross-train. Yoga. Jogging. Other styles of dance. Whatever I can do to improve my health and my dance instead of staying so focused on bellydance. I will get out there and do it.

2013 is going to be awesome!

The 100th Day

Remember when I decided to take Gina's 100 days challenge? I set some goals of things to do in the last 100 days of the year, and here we are on the 100th day. Now comes the painful moment of truth when I have to look at my goals and see how I did with them:

1. Practice dance for 1 hour every weekday, ideally from 3-4pm.

I started out so well with this one, but in October I got assailed by some serious gloom and never fully recovered. However, I did learn that I CAN practice for an hour a day, so I need to work this back into my life in the New Year, while also being honest with myself about when I need to take time off.

2. Do one thing every day to improve the state of my home.

Another one that started strong and ended weak. If there is one thing I have learned during this challenge, it's that I'm really bad at doing anything on a daily basis. But I did manage to get rid of a lot of clutter, including a bunch of things that had been in boxes in the coat closet since we moved.

3. Get some advice and set some goals for taking my dance career to the next level.

Ok, I actually succeeded quite a bit on this one! I started out with a great meeting with Jolie where she gave me some advice and had me make a 3-year business plan like a real professional adult person. Then we had another meeting where she looked over my plan and helped me fine-tune it a bit. I am on track with my 1-6 month goals so far.

4. Get a quote on how much my orthodontic work will cost and develop a plan to pay for it.

 

Another success! I saw an orthodontist, got a quote, started the dental work that needs to get done first, and we just switched to a dental insurance carrier that will actually pay for some of my orthodontics. I should be getting braces early in 2013, with scary jaw surgery sometime further down the road (eep!).

5. Maintain at least 100 active listings in my Etsy shop.

 

It's the last day of the year and I have exactly 100 items in my shop! I did get to over 100 a couple of times, but holiday sales were pretty good this year so I had to work hard to keep myself out of the 90s. I hope to maintain a minimum of 100 from now on.

6. Finish at least one currently unfinished beadweaving/bead embroidery project.

 

At the end of October I finished Sunny Seattle Summer, a beadwoven bracelet that I started in August.

7. Make at least one project from one of the numerous beading books on my shelves.

 

At the end of November I made this bracelet. I'm also currently making some beaded leaves from a book which will be made into a necklace of my own designing at some point.

8. Actually photograph and attempt to sell the costume pieces that I've already decided I need to get rid of.

 

I photographed some, but not all, and a couple of pieces sold.

9. Do one nice thing for just myself every week.

 

I lost track of whether I managed to do this every week, but I have been pretty good about giving myself little treats that are not related to dance. For a while there, all I was buying for myself was new costuming and stage makeup. But I bought myself some ridiculous boots, and some makeup to wear day-to-day, and took time to go out and do fun things by myself.

10. Take some yoga classes.

 

Argh! I totally forgot this was on my list, I thought it was just in my three-year-plan. I did intend to do yoga at some point in these past few months, but things just kept being too busy.

11. Finish reading Universe in a Nutshell.

 

I never even tried. It may be time to admit that I will just never understand physics.

12. Develop at least one solo that involves a prop.

 

Another success! I now have a very nice veil solo to "Crooked Muse" by Beats Antique, which I performed at the first new Open Stage at Sky Bar.

So all in all, it's not too bad. I only have two total failures, a couple of strong starts with weak finishes, and a bunch of things that I did, sometimes even going beyond my initial goal. What this shows me is that I do much better with finite goals (make a thing) than with open ended (do this every day). It also confirms my belief that I work best with a deadline. I had wanted to start beading things from books for a while, for instance, but once I knew I had to have something done by the end of the year, it encouraged me to go through my books and find a project that I had all the beads for.

 

Tune in tomorrow when it will finally be 2013 and I can start talking about goals for the New Year!

Getting Things DONE

Don't let the general lack of blog posts make you think that I have not been dancing. Oh, I have been dancing, my friends. I've been going to class, and going to troupe practice, and practicing at home, and dancing in my mind, and shimmying when I'm bored in line at the store.

Actually, this has been a pretty good week. I have a confession: sometimes, I really do not want to go to dance class. Sometimes going to class and doing drills feels like the work I have to do in order to get better at the thing I want to do, which is, you know, dancing. But this week class has been really fun, not just because I love my teacher and my classmates, but because everyone was in a good mood, and we did fun, silly things and we decided that a new combo was called "The Hell Tornado." Really, when you have a combo name that could double as a SyFy Channel Original movie or a Rob Zombie cover band, you know you're having a good time in class. And that was before we discovered that we could perform one of our existing choreos to a ridiculous 90s pop song, which had us all laughing so hard we could barely dance.

That's not all I've been up to. On Tuesday, I devoted my practice time to career development instead and wrote a three year plan for my career, with the eventual goal of being a professional dancer. Just taking this step makes me feel more professional. I've written down my goals and how to achieve them.

One of the things I have to do is get braces. I know that there are people who think my smile is just fine, but I know I will feel more comfortable and be more hire-able if I have a standard beautiful smile. So today I had a consultation with an orthodontist, and while they said some things I didn't want to hear, it's nothing I can't handle.

So here I am, moving forward with things. No more "I want to be a pro someday" and "I will get my teeth fixed someday." Someday is now-ish.

Oh yeah, and I got a new costume in the mail today, as if The Universe (or whatever) was rewarding me for being proactive.

It's a good day to be me!

Day Off

So, today I had a really insightful meeting with Jolie, which I will talk more about later. The important thing for tonight's post is that I told her I was practicing an hour every weekday, and she asked me when my day off was, because she knows I take her classes on the weekend, and I was all, "Uhhh..." and she told me I need to give myself a weekly day off from dancing. My legs and abs agree with her. Since I had already made plans to hang out with a friend this afternoon, it was easy to make today my day off for this week. Later I will decide whether Thurs or Fri is a better regular day off, as they both have their merits.

This means I will be amending my goal from "Practice at 3-4pm every weekday" to "Practice from 3-4pm 4 days a week", but that's still good. It's still discipline. It just means that my body actually gets a day of rest, which will be even more important as I start to add some yoga, other dance classes, and plain ol' exercise to my routine to try to round myself out as a dancer.

Now I am going to give myself some REAL rest by sleeping.

Tattoo!

Oh hey! I forgot to blog about the fact that my tattoo is finished-ish. Currently the vines only swoop over one hip. It may be some time until I get my right hip done, as my artist is going on maternity leave soon. But that's OK, we had already designed the tattoo so it looked like it was supposed to go over only one hip, and honestly, while I would like to have my right hip done eventually, I would rather not have it done during the winter. When this one has been healing, I've liked to sit around the house in a sports bra, letting it breathe and also avoiding having clothes rub against it -- true fact, shirts with tags in the side instead of the neck are awesome, until you have a fresh, tender tattoo on your side.

My appointment was a week ago, so right now I'm coming into the end of the peeling/flaking stage. It should be nice and pretty just in time for me to hit the stage on Saturday, hooray!

I'm glad that I decided to get this as my first tattoo, rather than starting with a small "starter tattoo." THIS is the tattoo I wanted -- why spend my time and money on something else? Plus if I had waited, I might not have gotten to my artist in time, and I really hadn't seen anyone else in my state doing the style that I wanted. Now I'm applying this philosophy to the rest of my life, too. If I want something, I am going to find a way to get/do it, rather than settling for less.

By the way, practice today was fine. Still bored with drills, but they are what they are. Gotta get them done to be the dancer that I want to be. And I got to play a bit, too, dancing to fun songs, so it wasn't all workworkwork.

The Last 100 Days

Did you know that today marks the start of the last 100 days of 2012? Hard to believe the year is so close to over! Anyway, Gina Gonzalez suggested taking up a challenge to set 12 goals to achieve by the end of the year, like New Years Resolutions but not. Since I was already looking at a few things I wanted to change in my life, I decided to use this chance to get a little support and a little accountability. I posted my goals on Gina's page and I'm also posting here! Please feel free to ask me how I am doing on them, at any time.

1. Practice dance for 1 hour every weekday, ideally from 3-4pm.
2. Do one thing every day to improve the state of my home.
3. Get some advice and set some goals for taking my dance career to the next level.

4. Get a quote on how much my orthodontic work will cost and develop a plan to pay for it.
5. Maintain at least 100 active listings in my Etsy shop.
6. Finish at least one currently unfinished beadweaving/bead embroidery project.
7. Make at least one project from one of the numerous beading books on my shelves.
8. Actually photograph and attempt to sell the costume pieces that I've already decided I need to get rid of.
9. Do one nice thing for just myself every week.
10. Take some yoga classes.
11. Finish reading Universe in a Nutshell.
12. Develop at least one solo that involves a prop.

 

Of course a lot of my goals are dance-specific or dance-related, but there's a few jewelry ones and a few general life ones. Let's see how I do!

An hour a day

About 1 3/4 years ago, I started this blog to chronicle my attempt to dance for half an hour a day for a year. After that year ended, I kept up daily practice for a while but eventually I fell off the wagon, and lately I have not been doing hardly any home practice at all. This is simply Not Acceptable. I work from home and I have plenty of time on my hands, time which I waste on the internet. I could be a much better dancer than I am, if I just practiced harder.

So over the weekend, I was struck with inspiration. It was time to be really strict with myself and set a time for dancing every weekday. Dancing right after I got up just wasn't working... there was too much "Ok, but first I need to..." because sometimes it is hard to dance when the floors need sweeping and the laundry needs doing and the dogs want their breakfast, and the next thing you know, it's two in the afternoon. So fine. I'll dance in the afternoon, from 3-4pm. That gives me plenty of time to get everything else out of the way -- housework, correspondence, listing items on Etsy. And anything that isn't done by 3pm is just going to have to wait.

Today I gave it a try. At 3pm I parked myself in front of my mirror with a glass of iced tea and an oven timer set for one hour. I set my iPod on shuffle and let the songs dictate what I was going to drill. Then I worked on some troupe choreo and my solo for this weekend, a little playtime to a song I'm in love with, and a quick shimmy drill, then spent the last 8 minutes stretching while I was nice and warm -- so, so warm.

As always, once I got started it was easy to keep going. I love to dance, after all! And I let myself play a bit between drilling, if a song didn't strike me as being appropriate for drilling.

Things I learned today:

1. I need a bigger glass of iced tea tomorrow.
2. Doing snake arms for a 6 minute long song really sucks when you spent the previous night doing arm work with fire fans. Ouch.
3. I am actually making progress with chaine turns. In fact, I kept doing them in the silence after the song ended, because I was on such a roll.

I'm looking forward tomorrow!

How did I do?

So, how well did I do with my goal of a year of practice? I did miss some days -- maybe a week total. It's one thing to say that I'll practice even when I'm sick, and quite another to actually do it. I am a bit disappointed that I didn't truly practice for half an hour every day, but I realize now that in some ways that was an unrealistic goal for me.


That said, there were days when I was perfectly healthy and I still slacked off a lot. I practiced, but it wasn't honest, dedicated practice that would really improve me as a dancer. In 2012 I think I need to focus on quality more than quantity, especially if I want to move past some of my current obstacles.


Before I started 2011, I posted 5 things I wanted to work on in my year of practice. Let's see how I did with them!


1: Get better at group dancing.

I must have succeeded with this one, since I'm now in a troupe! Spending time in Fonda's class, which is smaller and more prone to having newbie dancers, forced me to spend more time leading and get more comfortable with it. I've also been working on my peripheral vision so I don't have to stare at the leader!

2: Hone my solo technique.

Thank goodness for Jolie's classes! I'm definitely a much more well-rounded soloist.

3. Improve my zill playing.

Anaya gave me no choice on this when they decided that we had to play rhythms other than a gallop! If you've been following my blog for a while you know that at one point I was zilling every day to try to get a handle on what Anaya was throwing at me. I'm still not good enough to comfortably zill solo, but I do better in groups than I used to.

4. Revisit props I learned this year but never practiced at home.

I revisited sword, which I've used twice in performances with Fonda's class, and I learned veil, skirt, and skirt & fan. I did not, however, revisit my palm flames. Not bad!

5. Backbends!


Somehow I never got around to this! I guess I just got too busy with classes and life and things.


I also went above and beyond my goals in some ways. I pretty much expected that I would spend 2011 continuing to take whatever classes were offered on Thursdays at Plaza de Anaya. I had no idea that I would end up taking Fonda's class, and that Jolie would come to Tucson and rock my world two nights a week. Unfortunately this level of classes is not sustainable given how much it costs, and when Jolie moves away I probably won't be able to replace her classes with something else, but it's been fun while it lasted.


And then there's the workshops. I said I was going to take less of them in 2011, to save some money and maybe get to go to a festival instead, but Kim wouldn't stop bringing amazing people to Plaza! My goodness! I had workshops with Mira Betz, Deb Rubin, Rachel Brice, Silvia Salamanca, and Elizabeth Strong. That's just the visiting teachers at Plaza. I also took a couple of workshops from local teachers. I studied sword with Miriam Amaya at the Desert Shakedown. I had workshops with Anaya and Jolie down here in Tucson. 


I was also able to perform a lot. I performed as a soloist, I did a duet with Jen/Sata, I danced in student recitals and I joined Anaya Tribe and danced at numerous events across the Phoenix metroplex.


All in all, 2011 was an amazing year. I'm going to have to work hard to top it in 2012!

Still taking it easy

Day 234 of practice.

So at this point I pretty much have to admit that I am NOT practicing 30 minutes every day. But I am still making a point to practice every day, even if I'm sick or tired or traveling. And once I'm all better, I have a lot of things I want to add to my daily practice to bring it over 30 minutes each day.

When I started this, it was easy to think that I'd suck it up and practice for half an hour no matter how bad I felt or how busy I was. And many days I did, and I still want to aim for that goal on days where I'm not sick and exhausted. It's just that right now I find myself unexpectedly tired by the time the house cools down at night. I blame all the housework I did today. If I'd been lazy, I'd have plenty of energy for dancing!

So today's practice was a bit of dancing while I cleaned, some hand isolations, and some mayas. Tomorrow will hopefully be better!

I've picked out my year's end reward

Hey look, it's another supplemental, non-practice post! My goal is to do about one of this a week from now on. We'll see how that goes.

So back when I started this thing, I wondered what I should do to reward myself... should I buy frequent rewards (one for every completed month?) or save up for a really big one? So far I've occasionally treated myself for big milestones, but for the most part I've been just buying myself things when I found something I wanted or needed, or when I was at a workshop.

But recently I found something to look forward to as my one year of practice reward -- 3rd Coast Tribal! It has a lot going for it -- awesome instructors, an early January date that nicely coincides with the end of my goal, and it's conveniently located in Ft Worth, where my husband frequently goes for business trips, so I can probably piggyback onto a trip and take advantage of the fact that his employer will be paying for the hotel and car ;) Plus since it's right after the holidays, if any of my loved ones are stumped on what to give me, they can pay for a workshop or buy a gift certificate for a vendor that will be there, or a TX restaurant, or what have you.

My awesome carpool buddy Dawn and awesome Ren Faire carpool buddy Cynthia are also considering coming, so that would make it even more fun -- an adventure with friends, and then sharing a hotel with my husband at night!

Some of the workshops are already selling out, so I may need to start registering now, which means I'll have to stick to my resolution of not taking anymore big weekend workshops for the rest of the Summer and early Autumn -- I already passed up Suhaila at the end of July, even though three of my best Tucson dance buds are going.

Getting Bored

Day 46 of practice.

Now that practicing every day has become a routine, it's starting to feel, well, routine. The excitement of daily practice has been replaced by the feeling like I should be getting more from it. I'm thinking half an hour might not be enough. Oh sure, it's a good minimum, for days when I have house guests, am working at the gem show, or just don't feel good. But on the average day, I should be doing more. I mean really, how much can I be gaining from one song each of shimmies, fast, slow, veil, and just plain dancing? It's helping me keep moves fresh in my mind, which is good, and get more familiar with them, but I feel like I should be pushing myself harder, learning new things, strengthening my muscles, tiring myself out.

This isn't a good time to be thinking these things, since I should be getting my house ready for my mother-in-law's visit, and once she's here I'll be busy doing the hostess thing again, but at least I can plan for next month, maybe set some goals to work towards.

(Practice, by the way, was breakfast shimmies and then 28 minutes straight practice of Anaya Tribal and veil moves)

30 minutes a day, 365 days a year...

... that's the goal! Starting on January 1st, 2011, I aim to practice belly dance for at least 30 minutes a day, every day, no matter what. I had already wanted to step up my practice regimen, and a blog post from my friend SaraBeth (and the first follower of this blog! yay!) inspired me to join her in striving for a minimum of half an hour a day. SaraBeth was in turn inspired by belly dancer Lisa Zahiya, who has started the blog A year of practice... to track her progress and encourage other dancers, athletes and goal-seekers. I'm grateful to them both for giving me something to latch onto, a movement that I can share with my fellow dancers, which will hopefully keep me from slacking off. There are just a few points I need to ponder before I start, which is what this blog is for.

Specific Goals

What do I want to accomplish in this year? So far I have a couple of definites.

1: Get better at group dancing.

2: Hone my solo technique.

3. Improve my zill playing.

4. Revisit props I learned this year but never practiced at home.

5. Backbends!

What counts as practice?

In order to make sure that I actually get my 30 minutes a day, I need to decide what I will consider to be practice. I'm going to count warm-up and cool-down time, as they're good for the body and make me a better dancer by preventing injury.

Dancing obviously counts as practice, but it has to be in the form of a class, a workshop, or dedicated practice. Maybe a performance. But as much as I would like to say that bopping around at a party counts, the truth is that there is no focus on posture or technique at parties, I'm just having fun.

I've also decided that drilling isolations and practicing zills while seated can count as practice, for days when I'm sick or injured.

What obstacles do I foresee?

As mentioned above, it's hard to get into dance practice when I'm sick or I've hurt myself at the gym, and I get sick a lot. I'll need to work out some easy-on-the-body things I can practice when I'm not well enough to actually dance.

Gem show in February is also going to be hard, as I spend at least 8 hours a day working and then usually have a party or dinner to go to every night for 5 days. I'll probably have to do a combination of dancing a bit while I get ready in the morning (drills in the shower? Shimmies while my oatmeal cooks?), and doing belly rolls while I sit behind the counter packaging crystals.

Vacations are usually pretty chaotic and oftentimes my days are filled with activities. How am I going to find 30 minutes a day to practice? I'll have to work that out when I come to it. Maybe more belly rolls, this time in the car on the way to attractions. Wrist circles, too. Throw some mufflers on my zills and play them as we walk down nature trails. I'll find a way.

How should I reward myself?

Dance should be its own reward, but I may need extra motivation. Many people embarking on a new diet or fitness plan find it helpful to reward themselves for every milestone reached. I'm trying to decide if I want to do the same. A new pair of dance pants for every 30 days of practice sounds pretty good! Maybe if I make it for the entire 365 days I can reward myself with a pair of custom-made fluffy lacy pants like these.