Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Zumba Girl and the Return of Mr. & Mrs. Robot

Part: Follow
Dances: Waltz, tango, foxtrot, quickstep
Hovers: 0

Practicing this week was off to pretty good start; we've been working specifically on some known issues and have become better at focusing our efforts. Yesterday evening, however, I was truly exhausted and had little energy to spare, so Jeff ended up sending me home early, and by that I mean ordering me to leave multiple times to get a real night's sleep. It's just that I can't physically keep up with the physiological and mental demands we're making on ourselves on 5-6 hrs. of sleep per night, and though Jeff refuses to admit the validity of this problem, he nevertheless was very good to me and let me/made me cop out early last night. After getting about 7 hrs. in last night, I'm feeling much better today...so I'm hoping I can be more helpful in tonight's practice session.

Last night we were joined in our practice room at the gym by "Zumba Girl"; a young Asian girl who came in just as we were and plugged into the music system and got right down to it. Man, that looks like a workout! She obviously knew what she was doing too; she had all the routines down pat and was so focused that it seemed she hardly noticed she had company. Of course, for us that meant no music and no metronome, but we went ahead and ran through some things slowly, and then worked on some of the issue areas, such as the back open promenade in Tango, and the contra-check in waltz. After about 45 min. of practice we headed over to the ballet studio where our coaches teach a few classes and lessons on Tuesday nights. It was great to see them again, newly crowned Bulgarian Standard Champions (congrats, guys!), and hear a few stories about Blackpool, including the Latin couples who attempted to incorporate lifts into their Paso routines. Now that they're home, we need to get back to lessons again, and won't those be fun to blog about! We'll have some good stories to share about Kora "breaking" Jeff in half, and Simeon being impressed by our "convincing prep-step," that "makes one think that your dancing is going to be really good," at least, we will if past experience is any indication.

Nota bene: Mr. & Mrs. Robot are our coaches, Simeon and Kora, thus christened by Jeff. Ask him to explain that one.

2 comments:

  1. This is how I know you're REALLY into dance: that you're willing to forgo your good night's sleep for it! You're like me; you need a solid eight hours. (I confess that I am not getting that either. But it's not entirely my fault.) Good for Jeff making you go rest!

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  2. Sheila, do you remember how I used to go to bed so much earlier than almost everyone in college? But you're right, I'm with you on the eight hours of sleep thing. Jeff normally tells me I'm pathetic when I talk about being tired (but somehow that doesn't apply to him when he complains about being tired, the irony!), but since he hates dealing with my grouchy self as much as I do, he sent me home for both of our sakes. My big weakness with this whole thing is not knowing when I've pushed myself too hard sometimes, so often it takes someone else to make me take a break.

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