Had an off day in class and troupe practice tonight. I think I'm just too tired from having guests here for the past four days. There were times when I literally stumbled, because my foot fell out from under me. I soldiered on anyway, and I'm happy to say that I found improvement in some areas, such as stretching. It's good to see progress even on bad days!
Unfortunately, three troupe members were missing tonight, so we didn't get to move forward with the choreography, but at least we used our time wisely, drilling the moves from the choreo that people are still feeling rough with.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
A little of this, a little of that
Classes tonight were focused on drilling moves that troupe members felt they/we needed more work on. It was good to focus on some basics and drill the daylights out of them. It's also good to go back to things and see how I've improved. I like the feeling of progress!
Maybe it's the warmer weather, but classes were also packed tonight! Hooray! I hope this is a trend across town.
Maybe it's the warmer weather, but classes were also packed tonight! Hooray! I hope this is a trend across town.
Keeping up
I am just so busy lately! Between my dance life and my daily life, it feels like I'm juggling all sorts of things. There is pretty much not a single day where I don't have some sort of specific obligation. I know this is normal for a lot of people but not for me. I'm trying to adjust to it, but as an introvert it's a little weird for me to be around other people almost every single day.
Anyway, yesterday and today were both troupe practices today. TTBDC worked on some sword and veil numbers, as well as picking out more music to build some full set lists. Fire and Gold gained 3 new members, who had to be caught up to speed on the choreography. This meant that our formation had to be rearranged, with irritated me for no good reason. I was USED to where I was standing, and then I had to MOVE! The indignity! I need to work on not being irritated about silly little stuff in dance.
This post probably makes me sound pretty lame, but it's true. I am not really the cool, collected person I'd like you all to think I am! I'm a work in progress and sometimes I have stupid problems like wanting to sit at home alone on my couch instead of seeing people, or not wanting to make changes to how I was already doing things. I should really be writing this stuff in my private dance journal instead so I could maintain my facade of awesomeness!
Anyway, yesterday and today were both troupe practices today. TTBDC worked on some sword and veil numbers, as well as picking out more music to build some full set lists. Fire and Gold gained 3 new members, who had to be caught up to speed on the choreography. This meant that our formation had to be rearranged, with irritated me for no good reason. I was USED to where I was standing, and then I had to MOVE! The indignity! I need to work on not being irritated about silly little stuff in dance.
This post probably makes me sound pretty lame, but it's true. I am not really the cool, collected person I'd like you all to think I am! I'm a work in progress and sometimes I have stupid problems like wanting to sit at home alone on my couch instead of seeing people, or not wanting to make changes to how I was already doing things. I should really be writing this stuff in my private dance journal instead so I could maintain my facade of awesomeness!
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Oh yeah. Practicing!
With my official year of practice behind me, I haven't been as on top of practicing as I should be. Oh, I started out alright in January, because the habits were still there, but then February came along with its gem shows and house guests and I lost focus.
Tonight I decided to do some actual practicing, working on moves that I need to improve, especially moves that we're using in troupe choreography (which means I can't get away with being sloppy!). I'm trying to figure out what is causing me to twist in my taxim and rib taxim. I'm also working on getting comfortable with the high arm framing position that Jolie likes us to use for rib taxims and torso rotations. For a while I felt really awkward, holding my arms stiffly and looking like the giant Jesus statue in Brazil (if giant Jesus wore yoga pants). I'm getting more comfortable with it now, I just need to work on holding my arms up high enough. And by the way, this is why having video of yourself is important -- I thought I WAS holding my arms up high until I saw the troupe practice video and realized that I had some seriously droopy arm going on.
Anyway, I was home practicing tonight because I decided that I need to take a hiatus from Anaya classes, probably permanently (or at least until Arizona puts in a commuter train, which is years in the future). The time, money and stress of driving through rush hour and road construction just killed it for me. I already miss my classmates and teachers, but I'll have to make due with seeing them at workshops, performances and festivals.
Tonight I decided to do some actual practicing, working on moves that I need to improve, especially moves that we're using in troupe choreography (which means I can't get away with being sloppy!). I'm trying to figure out what is causing me to twist in my taxim and rib taxim. I'm also working on getting comfortable with the high arm framing position that Jolie likes us to use for rib taxims and torso rotations. For a while I felt really awkward, holding my arms stiffly and looking like the giant Jesus statue in Brazil (if giant Jesus wore yoga pants). I'm getting more comfortable with it now, I just need to work on holding my arms up high enough. And by the way, this is why having video of yourself is important -- I thought I WAS holding my arms up high until I saw the troupe practice video and realized that I had some seriously droopy arm going on.
Anyway, I was home practicing tonight because I decided that I need to take a hiatus from Anaya classes, probably permanently (or at least until Arizona puts in a commuter train, which is years in the future). The time, money and stress of driving through rush hour and road construction just killed it for me. I already miss my classmates and teachers, but I'll have to make due with seeing them at workshops, performances and festivals.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Sword
Did a lot of slow and sword in Fonda's class tonight. It was a really small class, only two other students showed up. It seems like a lot of classes have been small lately, which is sad. I wonder where everyone is?
Had a couple weird moments when I was leading slow when I realized that I was just dancing really badly, I got into this zone where I was just waving my arms around like a freak. Glad I caught myself, and doubly glad it didn't happen at a performance!
Had a couple weird moments when I was leading slow when I realized that I was just dancing really badly, I got into this zone where I was just waving my arms around like a freak. Glad I caught myself, and doubly glad it didn't happen at a performance!
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Snaaaaaake Aaaaaaaarms
I did so many snake arms tonight. All the snake arms! Ok, not really all of them, I had to focus on my taxim at one point and drop my arms to try to figure out what was up with my hips. But I did spend an entire five minute long song doing snake arms and pretending like it was no big deal (it was a big deal, my muscles were really protesting after 3-4 minutes but I toughed it out).
Over all, I really enjoyed the classes tonight, even though our room was really cold (50 degrees tonight and the class before us decided it was an awesome idea to have the garage door open!) and I had trouble with some of the material. I was just in a really good mood and ready to dance. I need that kind of mindset more often.
Over all, I really enjoyed the classes tonight, even though our room was really cold (50 degrees tonight and the class before us decided it was an awesome idea to have the garage door open!) and I had trouble with some of the material. I was just in a really good mood and ready to dance. I need that kind of mindset more often.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Back to the grind!
It's time to buckle down and get back to regular classes and practicing! Tonight I had choreo class and troupe practice, two good solid hours of dancing. It felt really good, despite some blisters making me uncomfortable (I've been making a habit of taking my corgis for long walks so we can all get more exercise, but I'm learning that my shoes kind of suck). I'm really happy about our troupe choreography and I really enjoy dancing with my troupe mates!
I have a lot of things I need to work on to get better at the choreo though, especially my taxeem which is embarrassingly bad. So I need to spend more time practicing at home, even on class days -- since almost every day is a class day!
I have a lot of things I need to work on to get better at the choreo though, especially my taxeem which is embarrassingly bad. So I need to spend more time practicing at home, even on class days -- since almost every day is a class day!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)