Let the music guide you

Image: manuel MC

So many realizations, so little time...

The main one is probably that I've been dancing like a blind person these last three workshops, chasing steps and all the while ignoring the one guide that was always there: the music.

It's like that exercise we did with one person leading another with their eyes closed - that's what happens on stage: You surrender to the music, you trust it and you go with the flow, whatever is thrown at you.

Image: Tilemahos

I couldn't decide which image to use for this post - the giant boombox with the international group of dancers and the small boombox in front of it or the music box ballerina, so I posted them both.

I like the ballerina because though stuck in her box, she's forever tied to the music. She won't dance when the lid is closed, i.e. there's no music and she'll only stop when the music does. This one plays Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake".

Realizations are like seeds

Image: Joe Lipson

Realizations are like seeds: They need soil, water and sunshine to grow.

Sometimes, we have the soil, i.e. the right environment but sunshine and water are missing.

Sometimes, we have the soil and sunshine, i.e. the information but water is missing.

Sometimes, we have soil and water, i.e. reinforcement but sunshine is missing.

Sometimes, we have all three but still nothing is happening because the seed is not receptive.

Only when all three - soil, water and sunshine - are present and the timing is right, i.e. the seed is receptive, can real growth happen.

Done chasing steps

Image: doogierule

I hereby pledge not to chase steps again - not for the fourth workshop in a row. I've done it for three and looked overwhelmed, confused and scared in them but not like I had actually fun dancing.

Enough of chasing steps, I'm a better dancer than that and the music and routines deserve much more credit and respect than that. If I don't know the steps, I'll make up my own according to the feel of the song or I'll shimmy but I won't become a wooden doll again. And if I don't get it by the time showtime rolls around - too bad. I'll cheer the group from the wings but I will not go out there and look overwhelmed, confused or scared again.

RIP Step Chaser

"If I die before I wake, pray the Lord my soul to take."

Feel it, don't fake it

Image: sancocho.com webzine

Feel is everything! Feel it, don't fake it!

Workshop has started - woo-hoo! Go punk'd!

Dance whenever you feel the urge!

Image: Terry Robinson

I just love this picture because it reminds me of the sudden urges I get to dance when I'm outdoors (and I have revised routines in public parks, usually to the embarrassment of friends). And these three look like "gotta dance when you gotta dance" personified.

And why not? If people would break out into song and dance in real life too and not just in musicals and Hindi movies, I think the world would be a better place. A less serious one for sure.

Fun practice session

Image: George_Ou

Today the studio was almost empty for a little bit of time so I practiced pirouettes - promptly got a pretty ok double but only on the right side. It's so true - the more you're on autopilot, meaning the less you think about it, the better they'll turn out. All I kept focusing on was "up".

Then I tried chaînés - they're getting better but not there yet. And jumps. Right side is okay, can't get the left to work. But jumps are the most fun.

I'm happy with my dance too - I remembered all the steps of both routines, minus some details. The devil's always in the details...

Another thing I found out today - the doggy exercise (see previous post) didn't hurt so much when I tried it again. Either I got something wrong or the muscles' initial shock wasn't there. As in "You're going to use us? You're kidding, right, after all these years?" Heh heh.

Great butt exercise but it hurts

Another good class... and yes, revising right after helps remembering!

I also learned that a simple exercise like stretching your leg to the side while on all fours and drilling an (imaginary) hole hurts like hell! Next time I see a dog doing the same thing I'll appreciate the effort. Just when you thought you had discovered all the muscles there are in your body, you realize there are so many more!

Only a few more days till workshop - I think for the first time, I'm actually excited about it! And there has been a gradual increase in difficulty:

Summer WS 2009: beginners

Summer WS 2010: BE

Summer WS 2011: beginners + BE

Winter WS 2011: 2 BEs

Frustration

Image: Karen Blumberg

Sometimes, dancing feels like this.

Then I feel like this:

Image: Roy Costello

But why give up?

Beauty and the Chest

Image: Chris Willis

OMG, major realization and I wasn't even in class today - just revising the Womanizer routine in the studio with a senior dancer who was kind enough to revise at my speed.

So, the realization is - I have been dancing without my chest for 3 years! Sounds silly but it's true. I've done legs, arms, shoulders, hands, feet - anything but chest! I can do chest isolations during warm-up (it took me 11 months to locate my chest though) but it actually took me this long to incorporate it into my dance.

Oh well, better late than never. And just in time before workshop. Let's unveil the new and improved me - wheeeee, here I come!

And yes, now that I'm using it, my chest is hurting!

Flying

Image: dydcheung

Another class yesterday - and what class! Some pain but also fun. And nothing like feeling tired to the bone.

Realizations? Hm. If you have a memory problem, always revise the steps you have learned on that day itself, best right before going to sleep. They'll haunt you in your dreams then and grow roots in your long-term memory.

Also, always push yourself during flooring & other exercises - if you're not sweating or you're not feeling some kind of pain, then you're not giving it your all.

And of course, letting go when you have to...

Womanizer & nuggets of wisdom

I've been singing the Womanizer lyrics the whole day (Britney Spears). Well, whatever I know. Time to take a closer look:

Superstar, where you from? How's it going?I know you got a clue what you’re doingYou can play brand new to all the other chicks out hereBut I know what you are, what you are, baby
Look at you gettin' more than just a re-upBaby, you got all the puppets with their strings upFakin' like a good one but I call 'em like I see 'emI know what you are, what you are, baby
Womanizer, woman-womanizer, you're a womanizerOh, womanizer, oh, you’re a womanizer babyYou, you-you are, you, you-you areWomanizer, womanizer, womanizer(Womanizer)
Boy don't try to frontI-I know just-just what you are are-areBoy don't try to frontI-I know just-just what you are are-are
(You!) You got me goin'(You!) You're oh so charmin'(You!) But I can't do it(You!) You womanizer
Boy don't try to front...
(You!) You say I'm crazy(You!) I got your crazy(You!) You're nothing but a(You!) Womanizer
Daddy-O, you got the swagger of a championToo bad for you, you just can't find the right companionI guess when you have one too many, makes it hard, it could be easyWho you are, that's just who you are, baby
Lollipop, must mistake me you're the suckerTo think that I would be a victim not anotherSay it, play it how you want itBut no way I'm never gonna fall for you, never you, baby
Womanizer, woman-womanizer...
Boy don't try to front...
(You!) You got me goin'...
Boy don't try to front...
(You!) You say I'm crazy...
Maybe if we both lived in a different world, yeah(Womanizer, womanizer, womanizer, womanizer)It would be all good and maybe I could be your girlBut I can't, 'cause we don't, you!
Womanizer, woman-womanizer...
Boy don't try to front...
(You!) You got me goin'...
Boy don't try to front ...
(You!) You say I'm crazy...
Boy don't try to front...
Womanizer, woman-womanizer...

Phew, I never knew there was so much text but luckily it repeats quite a bit...

Nuggets of wisdom from yesterdays class: Flooring is for technique; the pass is for performance and technique and the routine is just for performance, technique goes on autopilot.

I kinda knew that but it's good to see it black on white. The dance memory. Archive. Store and USE.

The calmer, the better...

Finally had another dance class yesterday at The Danceworx, the dance academy with a heart and simply the best in the world. Realizations? Many. One was, the faster the music/routine gets, the calmer you have to be. I sure have to work on that. Otherwise the lines go for a toss and the facial muscles too. Dancing with a rushed, pained expression is not really that attractive.

Womanizer's the routine song. The song's catchy though the video is not really my favorite. Can't hurt to watch it again, especially given that winter workshop's around the corner. Performance is key!!! And for that, watching Britney is always helpful. She just twists the audience around her little finger and oozes self-confidence, regardless of how she really feels.

Alvin Ailey Barbie

Image: Meg Sense

OMG, there's an Alvin Ailey Barbie, I want it!

I wonder if she's more movable than a regular Barbie so that one can re-enact dance poses? That would be really cool.

Just checked Amazon. She was released to celebrate the 5oth anniversary of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 2008. Now she's a collector's item and retails for around $140, holy sh*t!

I really love the Amazon entry though because they have more about the Alvin Ailey Company and customers share their stories - like one aunt who gave the doll to her niece who now takes her along to dance class. Cute story and what an inspiration for the girl!

The Barbie wears "a flowing white and lace recreation" of the costumes worn by the dancers in "Wade in the Water", one of Ailey's masterpieces, "Revelations". Talk about attention to detail! Here's the video:

What cracks me up is the manufacturer's recommended age for the Barbie, 6-15 years. It's more like 2-10 and then 20-? years.

Dance brings out YOU

Image: Chris Willis

The hardest battle in life, is to be nobody but yourself, in a world that is working night and day to make you like everybody else.

- e.e. cummings

Male dancer outdoors

Image: Chris Willis

Wow, beautiful dancer and pose! There's something about dancing in the outdoors, here the Palo Alto shoreline in California. The simple white cloth adds magic.