dancingleaf

the biggest negative I have about the weekend was the location where the performance was. It was absolutely dreadful. An old punk rock club. NO seating, almost no seating. I ended up sitting on the floor. In my skirt. I took off my heels. J tried sitting on the floor for a bit but found it too uncomfortable. AND no beverages. Not just no alcohol but no nothing. it was a bring your own place. It would have been nice if someone had mentioned that J ended up walking 7 blocks through a not very nice neighbourhood ??? to get us a coupld of pops and a six pack of beer. Which we only drank 3 of between the 2 of us.

Sunday morning started with a dream that I was so frustrated with my abilities of the day before that I decided not to go to the workshop that day and just skip it. And you know what... there were 6 no shows. People who had paid to be there and didn't show. Kind of funny. I had told J on Friday when we were walking the dogs and he passed me the leash of our 'badly behaving' Pandora that even if I broke my leg I was still going to the workshop even if I just sat in the corner and took notes. So d*mmit! Even though I had a SECOND bad dream and was feeling pretty phhbt I was still GOING. And I'm glad that I did. because I really did learn a lot.

so lets see if I can apply that life lesson learned...

OMG I look horrid in the photos I took this weekend. I'm up a few pounds to 145, it kind of snuck up on me with this overloaded schedule. I thought I looked okay in the mirror but whoa... or maybe anyone would look padded, next to a stick like Rachel Brice

I couldn't do this or that move the moves were challenging. I have things I know I want to work on now.

I totally messed up the choreography but really....not enough time, not enough practice space, not enough time with the music. not enough time with the group - if I could have run through it for another half an hour I would have gotten it I'm sure.

plain old positives.

I did pretty well with the yoga portions. I'd like to work on the sun salutaions that incorporate upward dog (for low back strength) and more plank, particularly with the elbow bend. (for arm strength)

I learned a LOT about constructing your own choreography. stage presence and pausing - upstage for distance and remote, down stage to draw the audience in. The importance of moving between to create drama, building intensity. pathways, facing etc.

I took lots of notes.

Also I'm going to share this with you - These are important things in choreography. why I am including it here?... there were lots of sex jokes that accompanied it - particularly close to the end. But then if you really think about sex as a dance between bodies than it does kind of make sense in both cases.

unity
variety
repitition
contrast
transition
sequence
climax
proportion
balance
harmony

I think I need to take a couple days off. My muscles are sore. and next weekend is Aziza.

Rachel was amazing in person. Really easy to talk to and really open. I learned a lot about her life on the road touring and what she thinks about things. Also that she is planning a NEW 3 DVD set soon, yoga, drills and choreography.

I had a really great time.

Rachel also reminded me of something important. She told J that he looked like Elvis and smelled good too. Being a big Elvis fan myself... I always thought so too, a little bit. And that it was so nice of him "to support his woman in her belly dance." Made me kind of see all over again how lucky I am that I have him.

that's it for now....I'll probably be full of Rachel-isms all week.

The PHOTOS.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/92633827@N00/sets/72057594109411784/

and before you say I don't look horrid in the photos. You aren't seeing the photos I discarded or my creative use of photo editting to 'improve' the shot. LOL.

Some of them turned out rather dark and I had to play with contrast/brightness to get anything. I didn't want to do too much though or they turn out wonky. I'm most disappointed in the blurry ones.