Day 304 of practice.
What a fun, eventful day I have had so far. I worked some practice into my day, some zilling and working with the heavy friggin' veil. Then I got dressed up in my dryad costume and handed candy out to trick-or-treaters for a little bit until it was time to go to class. No one else showed up to class, so this belly dancing dryad enjoyed a private lesson with Jolie.
I have a love-hate relationship with private lessons. On the one hand it is great to find out what you need to work on and have individual attention to get it done right. On the other hand, there's always those little moments where you go "ARGH I AM BAD AT EVERYTHING I AM THE WORST DANCER EVAR!" But Jolie's a lot of fun and we chatted a lot about things while we drilled, so it kept me mostly relaxed and not stressing so much about all the ways I was messing up.
Now I am beat and it is time to remove my pretty dryad costume and makeup (I drew leaves on my face with sparkly olive eyeliner) and enjoy some faerie beer.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Places that I danced today....
Day 303 of practice.
Today I danced in line at Party City, behind the wheel of my car, and in the aisle at Club Bellydance during the intermission. And by dance I mean drilled moves. It's fun to snatch moments here and there to do a few isolations when I'd otherwise be sitting or standing still.
Club Bellydance was really a lot of fun. I got to see tons of my friends and watch great performances by local Arizona dancers and the five Bellydance Superstars who were touring. And I bought some dance pants and cheap rings. All in all, a great time!
Today I danced in line at Party City, behind the wheel of my car, and in the aisle at Club Bellydance during the intermission. And by dance I mean drilled moves. It's fun to snatch moments here and there to do a few isolations when I'd otherwise be sitting or standing still.
Club Bellydance was really a lot of fun. I got to see tons of my friends and watch great performances by local Arizona dancers and the five Bellydance Superstars who were touring. And I bought some dance pants and cheap rings. All in all, a great time!
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Cat as a prop?
Day 302 of practice.
Today's practice was more work with the heavy veil (to Apocalyptica, layered over shimmies), and also working on various traveling moves from the various classes I'm in. Some of those moves involved holding a cat. Well, the cat wasn't officially a prop, she just didn't understand why she couldn't jump on the bathroom counter when there was cleaner on it, so I had to keep her out of the way and she enjoyed being held while I danced.
Today's practice was more work with the heavy veil (to Apocalyptica, layered over shimmies), and also working on various traveling moves from the various classes I'm in. Some of those moves involved holding a cat. Well, the cat wasn't officially a prop, she just didn't understand why she couldn't jump on the bathroom counter when there was cleaner on it, so I had to keep her out of the way and she enjoyed being held while I danced.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Heavy veil!
Day 301 of practice.
I was out at Savers the other day looking for a fake head (no, I'm not dressing like Salome for Halloween, I need it to display hairsticks). While my fake head quest was unsuccessful, I did find a really pretty veil for only $6! I do so love thrift stores. It's a nice purple veil and the color scheme for the All Souls Procession next month is purple, so I thought it would be nice to do veil during the parade.
The only problem is that while I am used to using a silk half circle veil, this is a synthetic rectangle veil... with a border of sequins all the way around the edge. It's HEAVY! I think it would be much better suited for Bollywood-style finger veil, but I don't know anything about that and I can't learn enough in a week not to look like a dope. So instead I'm trying to get used to the weight of this new veil, so I don't get it stuck on my head and also look like a dope.
I also practiced gliding back and forth on my floor. It's much easier on tile in socks than on that awful black rubber floor at the Dance Loft in Vibrams.
I was out at Savers the other day looking for a fake head (no, I'm not dressing like Salome for Halloween, I need it to display hairsticks). While my fake head quest was unsuccessful, I did find a really pretty veil for only $6! I do so love thrift stores. It's a nice purple veil and the color scheme for the All Souls Procession next month is purple, so I thought it would be nice to do veil during the parade.
The only problem is that while I am used to using a silk half circle veil, this is a synthetic rectangle veil... with a border of sequins all the way around the edge. It's HEAVY! I think it would be much better suited for Bollywood-style finger veil, but I don't know anything about that and I can't learn enough in a week not to look like a dope. So instead I'm trying to get used to the weight of this new veil, so I don't get it stuck on my head and also look like a dope.
I also practiced gliding back and forth on my floor. It's much easier on tile in socks than on that awful black rubber floor at the Dance Loft in Vibrams.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Three hundred!
Day 300 of practice.
Woohoo... 65 more days to go until my year of practice is complete!
So anyway, I lied when I said I was doing 8 hours of class this week... it's actually only 7. I'm going to have to forgo sword in favor of keeping my carpool going. It's a shame, because I love sword, but gas is just too expensive to keep making the drive myself. Especially since I have to drive up twice a week until Thanksgiving week, when I will finally have a respite.
Class tonight was good... It was the start of a new session, which means lots of new faces in the beginner class. Level 3&4 consisted of perfecting the zills and lead changing with one specific move for 50 of the 60 minutes of class. Needless to say, those muscles are pretty tired, and so am I.
Woohoo... 65 more days to go until my year of practice is complete!
So anyway, I lied when I said I was doing 8 hours of class this week... it's actually only 7. I'm going to have to forgo sword in favor of keeping my carpool going. It's a shame, because I love sword, but gas is just too expensive to keep making the drive myself. Especially since I have to drive up twice a week until Thanksgiving week, when I will finally have a respite.
Class tonight was good... It was the start of a new session, which means lots of new faces in the beginner class. Level 3&4 consisted of perfecting the zills and lead changing with one specific move for 50 of the 60 minutes of class. Needless to say, those muscles are pretty tired, and so am I.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
New ways to travel
Day 299 of practice.
Tonight was Fonda's class at The Dance Loft (5 hours of class down, 3 more to go!). Tonight was really fun because we went over a couple of traveling steps. I always like to learn more ways to cover ground. We learned how to glide which is RIDICULOUSLY easy at the conceptual level, and it's just a matter of practicing to be able to do it smoothly in all directions.
I also practiced dancing a bit while I cleaned, because that's how I roll.
Tonight was Fonda's class at The Dance Loft (5 hours of class down, 3 more to go!). Tonight was really fun because we went over a couple of traveling steps. I always like to learn more ways to cover ground. We learned how to glide which is RIDICULOUSLY easy at the conceptual level, and it's just a matter of practicing to be able to do it smoothly in all directions.
I also practiced dancing a bit while I cleaned, because that's how I roll.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Limbs fall off
Day 298 of practice.
The problem with having Jolie's classes on consecutive days is that my poor body takes a beating! Then I have Fonda's class on Weds and 3 hours at Plaza on Thurs, so I don't really slow down until Friday. I have a love-hate relationship with this current schedule. On the one hand, I LOVE that I have 8 hours of class a week before I even factor in troupe practice, performances, and workshops. On the other hand, I rarely get a lazy evening at home anymore.
Anyway, tonight's classes involved lots of rib taxims and mayas and taxims and horizontal figure 8s with slow 4-4 shimmies layered on top. Lots of tricky stuff so it was another good, challenging night. But I'm so tired and hungry that it feels like my limbs are all going to fall off!
The problem with having Jolie's classes on consecutive days is that my poor body takes a beating! Then I have Fonda's class on Weds and 3 hours at Plaza on Thurs, so I don't really slow down until Friday. I have a love-hate relationship with this current schedule. On the one hand, I LOVE that I have 8 hours of class a week before I even factor in troupe practice, performances, and workshops. On the other hand, I rarely get a lazy evening at home anymore.
Anyway, tonight's classes involved lots of rib taxims and mayas and taxims and horizontal figure 8s with slow 4-4 shimmies layered on top. Lots of tricky stuff so it was another good, challenging night. But I'm so tired and hungry that it feels like my limbs are all going to fall off!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)