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!
Showing posts with label slowness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label slowness. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Maaaaayaaaaa
Day 255 of practice.
Worked on some nice, juicy slow mayas today. At least, that's what they should be. Sometimes I think that Mayas, Taxims and Snake Arms are only put in beginner classes with the idea that if you start them right at the beginning, you might maybe not suck at them by the time you're tackling all of the other advanced moves. They're certainly not easy, at least, it's not easy to make them look pretty.
I really need to focus on being able to sink deeper into my knees. I have really short hamstrings and achilles tendons, and ever since I stopped going to the gym that made me do a zillion squats several times a week, they've really tightened back up. My hamstrings especially have been bothering me a lot lately, and it's embarrassing how bad I am at doing levels right now. I think it's time to go back to doing squats at home, as much as I hate them, and lots and lots of stretching, which I do like.
In awesome news, it has been raining A LOT and the temperatures are down, so heat is no longer a barrier to dance practice. I just have to balance my desire to dance with my desire to work on the yard while the weather is nice and the ground is soft!
Worked on some nice, juicy slow mayas today. At least, that's what they should be. Sometimes I think that Mayas, Taxims and Snake Arms are only put in beginner classes with the idea that if you start them right at the beginning, you might maybe not suck at them by the time you're tackling all of the other advanced moves. They're certainly not easy, at least, it's not easy to make them look pretty.
I really need to focus on being able to sink deeper into my knees. I have really short hamstrings and achilles tendons, and ever since I stopped going to the gym that made me do a zillion squats several times a week, they've really tightened back up. My hamstrings especially have been bothering me a lot lately, and it's embarrassing how bad I am at doing levels right now. I think it's time to go back to doing squats at home, as much as I hate them, and lots and lots of stretching, which I do like.
In awesome news, it has been raining A LOT and the temperatures are down, so heat is no longer a barrier to dance practice. I just have to balance my desire to dance with my desire to work on the yard while the weather is nice and the ground is soft!
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Thunder and Fireworks
Day 185 of practice.
Another rainy thunderstorm today. I like this! I don't like the humidity, and I don't like how much my pets get scared (especially Daisy, who walks through the house whining until she finds someone to snuggle up to, then she shivers. Or she hides behind/under furniture), but I like the rain. Since the storm was in the afternoon, the fireworks shows went on as scheduled. I didn't go out to see them, but I could hear them from the house... as well as all of the illegal ones being fired off by my neighbors!
Simple practice today, arm and hand drills and glute squeezes mostly, and then some slow moves because I felt like it. While I was doing slow moves, my husband started playing drum rhythms on the wall and I had fun correctly guessing each one that he played. All in all, it was a pretty nice, relaxing day, part of a lovely weekend. But I have big dance things on the horizon so I need to get into some more serious practice this week!
Another rainy thunderstorm today. I like this! I don't like the humidity, and I don't like how much my pets get scared (especially Daisy, who walks through the house whining until she finds someone to snuggle up to, then she shivers. Or she hides behind/under furniture), but I like the rain. Since the storm was in the afternoon, the fireworks shows went on as scheduled. I didn't go out to see them, but I could hear them from the house... as well as all of the illegal ones being fired off by my neighbors!
Simple practice today, arm and hand drills and glute squeezes mostly, and then some slow moves because I felt like it. While I was doing slow moves, my husband started playing drum rhythms on the wall and I had fun correctly guessing each one that he played. All in all, it was a pretty nice, relaxing day, part of a lovely weekend. But I have big dance things on the horizon so I need to get into some more serious practice this week!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
So hot
Day 178 of practice.
Yeah, I'm not even going to pretend that I'm going to practice during the day for the next few months. 110+ degree temperatures are here to stay. Tomorrow night's drum and dance in the park has been canceled because the forecast says it will still be 100 degrees at 8pm. Remind me again why I committed to half an hour of daily practice, even through the summer? Oh yeah. Because I like becoming a better dancer. Not that one needs to practice every day to get better (but it certainly helps), it's just that I used to really slack off without the accountability that this blog and the challenge provide.
Anyway. I not only worked on my veil solo, but I also played around with my veil. Experimented with different things I could do. And I did some shimmies, and some super slow tribal moves.
Yeah, I'm not even going to pretend that I'm going to practice during the day for the next few months. 110+ degree temperatures are here to stay. Tomorrow night's drum and dance in the park has been canceled because the forecast says it will still be 100 degrees at 8pm. Remind me again why I committed to half an hour of daily practice, even through the summer? Oh yeah. Because I like becoming a better dancer. Not that one needs to practice every day to get better (but it certainly helps), it's just that I used to really slack off without the accountability that this blog and the challenge provide.
Anyway. I not only worked on my veil solo, but I also played around with my veil. Experimented with different things I could do. And I did some shimmies, and some super slow tribal moves.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Hot times at The Dance Loft
Day 173 of practice.
Apparently it was 112 degrees today. As such, it was still pretty hot when everyone got to The Dance Loft for class tonight. Fonda ended up changing a lot of her plans because I guess she didn't want to give us heat stroke. She's just nice that way! We did some fast, but mostly we did slow and talked about formations and plans for the future and how to do better snake arms and seaweed. It's funny how snake arms are one of the first things a newbie dancer learns, and they take the longest to master.
I'll probably do some solo practice later, but I figured I'd update the blog now while I had a few spare minutes.
Apparently it was 112 degrees today. As such, it was still pretty hot when everyone got to The Dance Loft for class tonight. Fonda ended up changing a lot of her plans because I guess she didn't want to give us heat stroke. She's just nice that way! We did some fast, but mostly we did slow and talked about formations and plans for the future and how to do better snake arms and seaweed. It's funny how snake arms are one of the first things a newbie dancer learns, and they take the longest to master.
I'll probably do some solo practice later, but I figured I'd update the blog now while I had a few spare minutes.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Slooooow like a mo-fo.
Day 164 of practice.
Fun practice today, over 40 minutes of dance. Well, ok, some of that time was actually spent reading the descriptions of skirt combos and walking my way through them, but that was dance-like. In addition to that I did the shimmy drill section from Serpentine, and then I put on a song and practiced dancing as slow as I could. I dance so slow that I ran out of song long before I ran out of slow moves that I could remember off the top of my head, which doesn't usually happen.
Fun practice today, over 40 minutes of dance. Well, ok, some of that time was actually spent reading the descriptions of skirt combos and walking my way through them, but that was dance-like. In addition to that I did the shimmy drill section from Serpentine, and then I put on a song and practiced dancing as slow as I could. I dance so slow that I ran out of song long before I ran out of slow moves that I could remember off the top of my head, which doesn't usually happen.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
On! Sailing On! To Our Fate!
Day 157 of practice.
Decided to do the random song practice again tonight, and the iPod decided it was in a fast mood and gave me "India" by Xandria. That's where the title of the post comes from. This is a song that I would love to do a steampunk piece to sometime, it has the perfect adventurous spirit... but it's also fast metal, which makes it a challenge to dance to. I was shimmying, making grand gestures, spinning, and rushing across my living room, which left me in a sweat.
That was the capper to my practice, which started with a shimmy warm-up, moved into practicing my solo, then doing one of the combos Jen and I developed this weekend, but only a couple of times because my thighs don't want to do levels today, then Anaya Tribal fast, then working on the shimmy I need to layer over my Arabic, then Anaya Tribal slow. Whew. I am going to have to practice for more than half an hour a day if I want to stay current on my skills and also develop new things. I didn't get to skirt tonight, and I haven't done veil, zills, or balancing props for a while! I probably also need to practice at home on days that I have other dance plans, too. I spend a minimum of three nights a week out of the house for belly dance things, which is great, but when I'm at class, or dancing at the park, or taking workshops, I'm not necessarily working on the areas that I should really focus on.
Decided to do the random song practice again tonight, and the iPod decided it was in a fast mood and gave me "India" by Xandria. That's where the title of the post comes from. This is a song that I would love to do a steampunk piece to sometime, it has the perfect adventurous spirit... but it's also fast metal, which makes it a challenge to dance to. I was shimmying, making grand gestures, spinning, and rushing across my living room, which left me in a sweat.
That was the capper to my practice, which started with a shimmy warm-up, moved into practicing my solo, then doing one of the combos Jen and I developed this weekend, but only a couple of times because my thighs don't want to do levels today, then Anaya Tribal fast, then working on the shimmy I need to layer over my Arabic, then Anaya Tribal slow. Whew. I am going to have to practice for more than half an hour a day if I want to stay current on my skills and also develop new things. I didn't get to skirt tonight, and I haven't done veil, zills, or balancing props for a while! I probably also need to practice at home on days that I have other dance plans, too. I spend a minimum of three nights a week out of the house for belly dance things, which is great, but when I'm at class, or dancing at the park, or taking workshops, I'm not necessarily working on the areas that I should really focus on.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
The benefits of cross-training
Day 130 of practice.
I practiced during the day! For a while now I've wanted to take the time that I used to go to the gym (12:30-1:30) as my dance practice time. I wouldn't have to worry about being too tired, or about having had a large dinner and feeling too bloated to dance. But while the cooler was malfunctioning, it was simply too unbearably hot to do any sort of anything until about 10pm or later.
As part of this hour or so of practice, I also want to get back into working out. You see, I spent over a year going to a CrossFit gym in my neighborhood, where I got accustomed to doing really hardcore workouts -- running, rowing, Olympic lifting, pushups, sits-ups, squats, etc etc. I got into great shape but I was also too tired to get quality dance practice, and I was frequently covered in bruises (I bruise really easily!) and nursing sore muscles. Plus the membership fees were crazy expensive, so I decided to drop out and focus on dance. But I've been losing a lot of the great muscle tone I had, so I want to get back to at least doing some fitness stuff at home to supplement my belly dance and keep me in shape. I may also pick up some yoga classes or something to further my cross-training goals, but I don't know.
Anyway, my husband decided he liked my idea of practicing/working out in our old CrossFit time slot, so he decided to invite me on a jog. Even at my peak adult fitness I was horrible at running, but I decided to go with him anyway. We probably jogged about 400 meters and walked the rest of the block and it kicked my butt! I decided not to do any skirt practice because I didn't want to get all that gross sweat in my nice skirt :P
For the dancing part of my practice I did my layered shimmy practice, some glute squeezes and lower ab isolations, random bits of dancing to music that came on while I was doing things and inspired me, and then I decided to go back to my "one random song a day" exercise. "Come Tenderness" by Lisa Gerrard was what the iPod gave me. The song is really, really minimalist, the sort of thing I would never want to perform to. I used it as an excuse to practice really, really, ridiculously slow slow moves. I was glad when it was done!
I'll round out my half-hour later tonight by throwing on the skirt and practicing skirt combos and spotting.
I practiced during the day! For a while now I've wanted to take the time that I used to go to the gym (12:30-1:30) as my dance practice time. I wouldn't have to worry about being too tired, or about having had a large dinner and feeling too bloated to dance. But while the cooler was malfunctioning, it was simply too unbearably hot to do any sort of anything until about 10pm or later.
As part of this hour or so of practice, I also want to get back into working out. You see, I spent over a year going to a CrossFit gym in my neighborhood, where I got accustomed to doing really hardcore workouts -- running, rowing, Olympic lifting, pushups, sits-ups, squats, etc etc. I got into great shape but I was also too tired to get quality dance practice, and I was frequently covered in bruises (I bruise really easily!) and nursing sore muscles. Plus the membership fees were crazy expensive, so I decided to drop out and focus on dance. But I've been losing a lot of the great muscle tone I had, so I want to get back to at least doing some fitness stuff at home to supplement my belly dance and keep me in shape. I may also pick up some yoga classes or something to further my cross-training goals, but I don't know.
Anyway, my husband decided he liked my idea of practicing/working out in our old CrossFit time slot, so he decided to invite me on a jog. Even at my peak adult fitness I was horrible at running, but I decided to go with him anyway. We probably jogged about 400 meters and walked the rest of the block and it kicked my butt! I decided not to do any skirt practice because I didn't want to get all that gross sweat in my nice skirt :P
For the dancing part of my practice I did my layered shimmy practice, some glute squeezes and lower ab isolations, random bits of dancing to music that came on while I was doing things and inspired me, and then I decided to go back to my "one random song a day" exercise. "Come Tenderness" by Lisa Gerrard was what the iPod gave me. The song is really, really minimalist, the sort of thing I would never want to perform to. I used it as an excuse to practice really, really, ridiculously slow slow moves. I was glad when it was done!
I'll round out my half-hour later tonight by throwing on the skirt and practicing skirt combos and spotting.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Skirts and friends
Day 125 of practice.
Tonight was a fun evening of Anaya Tribal classes, made extra fun by the fact that my friend Dawn is now carpooling with me to take classes at Plaza! That long drive sure went a lot faster with someone to chat with :)
We learned this weird half-turn double choo-choo move in skirt class and it was just so counter-intuitive, a lot of us were struggling with it. I know what I'll be practicing all week.
Also, in performance prep we learned a BRAND NEW slow move! So exciting! I'll have to also practice that, since it's new and all :)
Now, hydration followed by sleep.
Tonight was a fun evening of Anaya Tribal classes, made extra fun by the fact that my friend Dawn is now carpooling with me to take classes at Plaza! That long drive sure went a lot faster with someone to chat with :)
We learned this weird half-turn double choo-choo move in skirt class and it was just so counter-intuitive, a lot of us were struggling with it. I know what I'll be practicing all week.
Also, in performance prep we learned a BRAND NEW slow move! So exciting! I'll have to also practice that, since it's new and all :)
Now, hydration followed by sleep.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Fast and slow and a third of the way there
Day 122 of practice.
Wow, is a third of the year really behind me? I guess it is!
Today's practice was a little bit of dancing while cleaning earlier, working on my fast layered shimmies homework, and doing some really slow arm drills and floreo practice. Mira Betz talked about tempo changes during the workshops last month, so that's been on my mind lately and has me listening to music a little differently and working on the sort of syrupy slow dancing that Cari exhorts us to strive for in Anaya Tribal classes. Usually I dance too fast, because I'm an impatient person, but I'm starting to understand the dramatic impact of moving super slow, and then throwing in something fast where the music calls for it, then slinking back into slow. I played with it a little bit in my Convivio solo, but I didn't get super-slow because I wasn't thinking that way yet and also I always dance faster when I'm nervous!
Wow, is a third of the year really behind me? I guess it is!
Today's practice was a little bit of dancing while cleaning earlier, working on my fast layered shimmies homework, and doing some really slow arm drills and floreo practice. Mira Betz talked about tempo changes during the workshops last month, so that's been on my mind lately and has me listening to music a little differently and working on the sort of syrupy slow dancing that Cari exhorts us to strive for in Anaya Tribal classes. Usually I dance too fast, because I'm an impatient person, but I'm starting to understand the dramatic impact of moving super slow, and then throwing in something fast where the music calls for it, then slinking back into slow. I played with it a little bit in my Convivio solo, but I didn't get super-slow because I wasn't thinking that way yet and also I always dance faster when I'm nervous!
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Saturdays are hard!
Day 120 of practice... four months!
I find it hard to get the necessary practice on alternate Saturdays, as we host a roleplaying game at our house (did I mention I'm a nerd?). Today was especially hard because instead of spending the afternoon at home, cleaning for the game and dancing, we went out for lunch with my family.
I did get some practice today... I did some sloooooooow hip circles while talking with my husband. I've been into doing things really slow the past couple of days, now that I have more muscle control it's fun to take advantage of it. I also danced a little bit while doing some quick cleaning. And I drilled knee shimmies and did some arm drills while actually playing the game.
Also I got a cool gift today from my brother! He got me a Fire Fans DVD! It has how-tos and inspirational performances! I can't wait to watch it and then start learning!
I find it hard to get the necessary practice on alternate Saturdays, as we host a roleplaying game at our house (did I mention I'm a nerd?). Today was especially hard because instead of spending the afternoon at home, cleaning for the game and dancing, we went out for lunch with my family.
I did get some practice today... I did some sloooooooow hip circles while talking with my husband. I've been into doing things really slow the past couple of days, now that I have more muscle control it's fun to take advantage of it. I also danced a little bit while doing some quick cleaning. And I drilled knee shimmies and did some arm drills while actually playing the game.
Also I got a cool gift today from my brother! He got me a Fire Fans DVD! It has how-tos and inspirational performances! I can't wait to watch it and then start learning!
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