Dances: Waltz, Nightclub 2-step, Foxtrot, Tango, Viennese, Hustle (sort of)
Hovers: 2
Though this blog post is technically supposed to be about our social dancing on Friday, Dec 23rd, I feel like there is more catching up to do. Our apologies for leaving this hanging for so long; as the post title references, the holidays were indeed upon us, and what with family in town and extra preparations to be made, practice had to play second fiddle for the past few weeks.
We did end up making it out for social dancing on the Friday before Christmas, December 23rd, and there we joined the usual crowd at Danceworks for waltz, foxtrot, nightclub, and other dances. This time the dance music was a bit more holiday themed, as would be expected, but that meant a slower than usual Viennese, which was quite smooth. Considering we hadn't danced in about a week, our dancing was quite passable, I'd say. As long as Jeff doesn't keep trying to dance our quickstep routine in waltz, I'm happy. I also danced a very nice nightclub 2-step with the studio owner there; he is a fun lead to dance with especially in the club dances and I like his musicality. A good evening overall.
Speaking of my partner, I suppose anyone who is still reading at this point might wonder what's become of his blog posts. Because, come on, we must admit, we all know his posts tend to have the most entertainment value. Jeff is a odd fellow in a number of ways, and he'd return the compliment in feminine form I have absolutely no doubt, but one thing he likes to do is write his blog posts without posting them...like doing your homework without turning it in. I have yet to understand why, but apparently the posting is a big hurdle and takes more time and effort. All that is to say, he actually has been keeping up with the posts to some degree, but has not yet graced our readers with access to them. So, as I do, just have faith that they will come one happy day, and don't think that he's abandoned our little project here. The Jeff-partner wears a lot of hats these days, so finding that spare time to do justice to a post is understandably hard to come by. Ahem...I could actually say the same, but that's not my job as a good partner. My job is to assure you that he's got it covered, never fear. Trust, remember.
Since that pre-Christmas social dance, we've both been engaged with celebrating and spending time with our families for the holidays, and therefore have not had a practice session since then. Starting this week, however, Jeff has decided to take the workout regime to a new level. On Monday, Jeff and I and another good friend started the "Insanity" workout, a fitness regime comprised of 60 days of workout videos about 40 min. in length of extremely intense cardio and strength training. And they are not kidding. Think about dancing jive for 40 minutes straight, and you're pretty close. Jeff has been feeling the need to just take the bull by the horns in his quest to really get in shape, and I was intrigued by the idea of doing something new and challenging (and less boring) that would both boost my cardio endurance and provide that strength training. The only big downside to all of this is that Jeff cancelled practice for this week at least, just because he knew we'd be hurting after the workouts. While that has definitely been the case, I still think I could dance. But that's me...Jeff thinks I'm crazy. So today, we just finished day 2, after doing day 1 and the fit test on Monday. I've actually been pleasantly surprised by my abilities in the cardio department, as I was sure I'd be winded very quickly. I guess my workouts have paid off. The pushups, jumps, and strength training exercises have been killer for me though, and I was one big sore aching muscle group all day today. Still, I expect a number of these workouts are going to be great cross-training for dance; one of them yesterday I know was perfect training for CBM in foxtrot and tango, oh yeah! And I suppose the jumping and leaping around will help quickstep. Ow. To help with this process and just my general peace of mind and well-being, I recently made a meal plan of sorts for myself to help avoid the "nothing to eat" problems and impulse buying of less than optimal sources of fuel. I'm going for a diet based mainly on lean meat, fish, fruit, vegetables and good fats. I'm pretty much getting rid of grains and dairy because I feel more like I'm running on high octane fuel that way and I don't think my body really understands what to do with those things. It burns cleaner. So it's kind of low carb, but not really intentionally. Wish me luck!
Because of the new workout regime and several unknowns, it isn't likely we'll have another dance practice to report until at least Friday. But if you're patient enough, stay tuned!
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