Technique Time

One of the many gorgeous photos that Pedro Romano took at the Temple of Eden show.

Lately it feels like when I've been dancing at all, I've been entirely focused on pushing out new material. Not only do I try to have something new for every Open Stage, but I also had a mock audition as a private lesson, and I had to come up with three all-new solos for that. Not easy to do when I was in the middle of hating all of my music, let me tell you!

So for the next month or so, I want to turn my focus towards refining what I already have. Whether it's practicing troupe choreographies that I've grown rusty on, or drilling basics, or playing with layers, or trying to add a new move to my vocabulary, I'm going to be working on growing as a dancer rather than growing my collection of pre-made solos.

I do have one more new, special thing that I have been challenged to do for the next Open Stage (more on that tomorrow or Thurs), but after that I'm good for the next few months thanks to the things I worked on for my mock audition. I feel like unless something comes up that I need a specific themed piece for, I should have enough solos to draw from for any event that comes up. I don't need to make something new until I really feel inspired again.

Besides, between troupe performances coming up and Mira Betz and Tribal Fest around the corner, I really need to be at my tip-top best to keep up!  

Fighting with my music

Music and I have not been getting along for the past week or so. I've been trying to find new things to dance to, or rather, things I already have but have not performed to yet, and I'm just not really liking anything. I had to go way back to something from the 90s for open stage this coming Thursday, and then I had to fight with editing it, because I am bad at that.

I don't know if it's burnout, or if I'm feeling the pressure to just really make amazing choices, or if I'm still feeling a little bummed out and thus not really connecting to anything. I can get into music in class, but there I don't have to pick it out, and I'm also soaking up the good attitude of my troupemates.

I probably need to spend some time just listening to things, without worrying about whether I can dance to it or whether someone else has already performed to it locally or whether a famous dancer has an iconic choreo set to that particular song. I need to remember how to enjoy music for music's sake, and maybe then I can find some inspiration.

Burned out

Day 149 of practice.

I think it's time to admit that I'm burned out! I mean, I'm not going to let it stop me or anything, but I just have no enthusiasm for dance practice right now. I know I should be practicing moves from class, and working on my Convivio solo, but all I do is drill isolations and exercises while doing other things, because I just don't feel like dancing. I'll dance around if a good song comes on while I clean, so at least I still like dancing. I just don't like practicing.

Today was lower abs and pelvic floor muscles and glutes and obliques and floreos. All good things. Now if only my passion for really dancing and practicing and being at my personal best would come back. I think tomorrow I'll tear down the extra table and force myself to practice some DC skirt combos no matter what, otherwise I will really fall behind in class!