Day 45 of practice -- a month and a half!
I think it's Princess Farhana who says "Always warm up and cool down -- it's the law!" Well, I bent the law today and only warmed up my legs with a shimmy exercise, while neglecting my arms, and I paid the price! While practicing with my veil, I did something wrong and wrenched something in my left arm. Ow! Massaging and stretching has made it slightly better but it still hurts in some positions. Hopefully I'll sleep it off!
Before that, I managed to get two songs worth of veil practice. Afterwards, I worked on some mayas, taxims, and rib taxims, sans proper arm movement/position. Earlier in the day I did shimmies, traveling steps and whatever else came to mind as I went about my day through the house.
It looks like I'll be going with "Wandering Star" by Portishead for my veil routine. I like that it's slow, but has room for some shimmy accents to punch things up a bit.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Veil details
Day 44 of practice.
Most of my practice today involved shimmying through the house with my dance playlist on. My traveling shimmies are much better when I'm just goofing off and not thinking about them... When I do them at class, and have an actual goal in mind, I look and feel ridiculous. Hopefully all the home practice will eventually produce results that show in class and performances.
Speaking of performances, the rest of my practice involved working on different little things with my veil, with an eye towards my performance next month. Rather than working to music, I experimented with trying a few things I had been curious about, different entrance and exit possibilities, level changes with veil, a touch of floorwork, and some transitions. Tomorrow I'll try them to music, in the context of a dance, and see what sticks.
Most of my practice today involved shimmying through the house with my dance playlist on. My traveling shimmies are much better when I'm just goofing off and not thinking about them... When I do them at class, and have an actual goal in mind, I look and feel ridiculous. Hopefully all the home practice will eventually produce results that show in class and performances.
Speaking of performances, the rest of my practice involved working on different little things with my veil, with an eye towards my performance next month. Rather than working to music, I experimented with trying a few things I had been curious about, different entrance and exit possibilities, level changes with veil, a touch of floorwork, and some transitions. Tomorrow I'll try them to music, in the context of a dance, and see what sticks.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Supporting the community
Day 43 of practice.
Tonight I went to an event to raise money to pay off the bills from All Souls 2010, the big awesome parade/show in downtown Tucson that honors our ancestors and lost loved ones in a very showy and creative way. I went out because I enjoyed All Souls, and also because Fonda and Brandye were dancing. It was a good time, and I was able to hang out with Kelli from class, meet a few other dancers, and boogie a bit.
Practice has so far consisted of breakfast-time dancing, dancing through the house off and on all day, and doing belly rolls on the way to the show. I might do some more actual dancing later, but probably not as I am exhausted again. I went to an outdoor gem show (my last show of the season), and being in the sun always wears me out.
Tonight I went to an event to raise money to pay off the bills from All Souls 2010, the big awesome parade/show in downtown Tucson that honors our ancestors and lost loved ones in a very showy and creative way. I went out because I enjoyed All Souls, and also because Fonda and Brandye were dancing. It was a good time, and I was able to hang out with Kelli from class, meet a few other dancers, and boogie a bit.
Practice has so far consisted of breakfast-time dancing, dancing through the house off and on all day, and doing belly rolls on the way to the show. I might do some more actual dancing later, but probably not as I am exhausted again. I went to an outdoor gem show (my last show of the season), and being in the sun always wears me out.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Six weeks under my jingly belt!
Day 42 of practice. 42 days = 6 weeks!I wasn't going to buy myself anything special to mark my six weeks of practice, but then I saw this beautiful tribal faerie pendant at the gem show and I just had to have her. When I asked how much, the vendor said "$25, but for you, $20" which I found funny, since we hadn't met before and hadn't spoken at all, since she was on the phone. Perhaps "for you" means "since the show is closing in 2 hours and it's one less thing to take home." Still. $20 for an awesome faerie! Happy day!
Practice tonight consisted of skipping around through my slow play list trying to decide on a song for my veil solo. It needs to be less than 5 minutes and the Stellamara song I've been practicing to is 5:01. Currently leaning towards Faith and the Muse or Portishead, but I'll need to practice some more to see what feels good. I also drilled all the new moves I learned last night, since there's no class next week (boo hoo!) and I want to make sure I don't forget them. I'm horrible about remembering long combos, I always forget some key part.
Now time to go window shop on Etsy for a veil I won't trip over!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Nnngggkkk, tired
Day 41 of practice.
I'm not even sure what sort of noise that is, it just seems to fit. I am really, really tired from my 2 hours of dance class and close to 4 hours of driving, thanks to traffic and road construction.
Class was fun, however. We learned a long slow combo, which involved a level change/drop. We also did lots and lots and lots of fast turns and spins, so that I spent most of class slightly dizzy.
Unfortunately, the beading on my new belt started to come unwoven. Fortunately, I am a beadworker, so I should be able to stop it from further coming undone.
I'm not even sure what sort of noise that is, it just seems to fit. I am really, really tired from my 2 hours of dance class and close to 4 hours of driving, thanks to traffic and road construction.
Class was fun, however. We learned a long slow combo, which involved a level change/drop. We also did lots and lots and lots of fast turns and spins, so that I spent most of class slightly dizzy.
Unfortunately, the beading on my new belt started to come unwoven. Fortunately, I am a beadworker, so I should be able to stop it from further coming undone.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
I skipped class!
Day 40 of practice.
I skipped class at The Dance Loft tonight. My usual teacher Fonda was out, and was going to have a substitute. The substitute is a lady named Brandye, another friend of mine, who I've seen dance and think highly of. But then Brandye got sick and called in a substitute substitute, someone who I'm pretty sure I don't know, and my natural shyness kicked in. Shyness and laziness combined, I suppose.
Instead, I watched some of Serpentine, Rachel Brice's new DVD. I want to start doing some of the drills, but tonight the gaming group is meeting at our house, and I didn't want to be messing around with new drills, and thus making a fool of myself, while people might be tromping through my living room. Friday seems like a good day to dive into them!
Of course I practiced too! In addition to my breakfast shimmies and undulations, I did some Anaya Tribal fast and slow, some veil practice, and some solo practice. For my solo, I let me hair down and tried some playful hair-tosses and other hair play. Lots of fun! Some day I'll feel comfortable enough with it to actually throw it into a performance -- just not when the weather is this dry. Can you say "static"?
I skipped class at The Dance Loft tonight. My usual teacher Fonda was out, and was going to have a substitute. The substitute is a lady named Brandye, another friend of mine, who I've seen dance and think highly of. But then Brandye got sick and called in a substitute substitute, someone who I'm pretty sure I don't know, and my natural shyness kicked in. Shyness and laziness combined, I suppose.
Instead, I watched some of Serpentine, Rachel Brice's new DVD. I want to start doing some of the drills, but tonight the gaming group is meeting at our house, and I didn't want to be messing around with new drills, and thus making a fool of myself, while people might be tromping through my living room. Friday seems like a good day to dive into them!
Of course I practiced too! In addition to my breakfast shimmies and undulations, I did some Anaya Tribal fast and slow, some veil practice, and some solo practice. For my solo, I let me hair down and tried some playful hair-tosses and other hair play. Lots of fun! Some day I'll feel comfortable enough with it to actually throw it into a performance -- just not when the weather is this dry. Can you say "static"?
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Belly rolls annoy my cat
Day 39 of practice.
I'm getting lazy and falling into a bad habit of considering breakfast shimmies and evening belly rolls as acceptable practice even on days I'm not working at a gem show. I'd like to blame it on being unreasonably tired, but I really should have practiced earlier in the day when I had energy.
There's only a little over a month until my next scheduled performance at a local hafla, and since I want to do a veil piece, I should really be practicing with my veil. I think I'll do some daytime practice tomorrow, even though an hour and a half at Dance Loft will more than fulfill my daily practice obligations. I think that getting back to class will also help me get back to practicing, as I'll be learning new things that I'll want to drill between classes.
As for the title of this post, my big fluffy Maine Coon mix decided to get into my lap while I was practicing belly rolls, then proceeded to twitch irritably whenever I pushed my belly out into his fuzz. But he's still less disruptive than the dogs!
I'm getting lazy and falling into a bad habit of considering breakfast shimmies and evening belly rolls as acceptable practice even on days I'm not working at a gem show. I'd like to blame it on being unreasonably tired, but I really should have practiced earlier in the day when I had energy.
There's only a little over a month until my next scheduled performance at a local hafla, and since I want to do a veil piece, I should really be practicing with my veil. I think I'll do some daytime practice tomorrow, even though an hour and a half at Dance Loft will more than fulfill my daily practice obligations. I think that getting back to class will also help me get back to practicing, as I'll be learning new things that I'll want to drill between classes.
As for the title of this post, my big fluffy Maine Coon mix decided to get into my lap while I was practicing belly rolls, then proceeded to twitch irritably whenever I pushed my belly out into his fuzz. But he's still less disruptive than the dogs!
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