The Decibel War

Dances:  Foxtrot, Waltz, Quickstep
Part:  Lead
Workout:  Chest and shoulders at the gym.
Happy Hour:  McCormick & Schmick's - Cheeseburger
Amount of Data Downloaded/Uploaded in 30 Days:  250gb/1tb

Boy was I running behind today!  I usually try to get to the gym a little before 7pm which gives me roughly an hour to stretch and workout before we start practice at 8pm.  Today I arrived at around 7:20 which meant I had to work fast.  I took 5 minutes to stretch, then jumped on the elliptical for 5 minutes to get my heart rate up.  After that I did my fastest workout to date.  I managed to do the entire thing in 15 minutes.  That's 3 sets of 10 reps over 6 exercises (180 reps) split between chest and shoulders in just 900 seconds (that's 5 seconds per rep which includes rest time and getting water in between each exercise).  The last 15 minutes I spent on abs.  Needless to say, I was burnt afterwards, but felt great.  Also recovered just in time for practice so I wasn't dead.

Now why was I late?  Well recently I've been accumulating ballroom dance music of all kinds.  It's been a long time goal of mine to create the ultimate dance music collection.  That means not only having a great and varied song selection, but also making sure all the songs are tagged properly including: name, artist, album, tempo, dance type, track number, and album art.  Doing this makes choosing music a breeze.  I simply type in the dance I want to do and it lists all the songs I have for that dance.  I can then sort it by tempo, name, album, etc.  I got a little carried away this morning and just couldn't stop working on it.  I added over 1,100 songs to my archive today alone.  So that made me leave the house a tad bit too late.  But I know this sacrifice will be worth it in the long run.  I only have to organize it once.

Practice began with a full house today.  Patrick was there as well as Shaoshu, the bikini girls were already strutting around, and these punk kids who were trying to break dance were also in there.  As usual, I patched into the sound system and started up some music at a low volume.  The next thing I know, the kids (who had this little sound dock for iPods) had turned their music WAAAAY up.  *sigh*  After putting up with it for about 10 minutes (hoping they'd be considerate and lower the volume once the song ended) I decided being passive wasn't going to solve anything going to get us anywhere.  So I went back over and just cranked up a tango which easily drowned them out.  I think they kind of got the hint as they left soon after.  Now I don't mind sharing music at all, but SHARING is the key concept there as well as just general courtesy.

Other than the music war, practice was great.  The metronomic waltz and foxtrot continued to make progress and we started quickstep today as well!  That one is tough dancing super slow since we're so used to normal tempos where you can just fall over everywhere and get away with it.  But give it a few more days and I think we'll have it under control.  Our waltz is already feeling A LOT better with just one day under our belt.  Despite a few hiccups, including Sarah yelling out "I'm having a hard time getting between your legs!", we're on balance, more controlled, and smoother across the board.  I can't wait to see what it's like at the end of June.

Monday Night Dance and Fashion Show!

Dances:  Foxtrot, Waltz
Part:  Lead
Workout:  Arms and back at the gym.
Songs Added Today:  521

We started out the week well today.  Everything (from a physical and mental perspective) seemed fresh and ready to go.  As usual, we started with the weight lifting.  Today was arms and back.  Sarah kept looking at her arms to make sure she's not becoming the Hulk.  I have to keep reassuring her that it would take FOREVER for that to happen.  On the other hand I'm definitely seeing definition start to come through across my entire body.  Glad to know all the work is having an effect.

After the workout, we kicked off practice with the new SUPER SLOW metronomic waltz exercise!!  It went surprisingly well.  Not sure if we're just more comfortable with the waltz or maybe the slow work with the foxtrot is just carrying over.  One thing is certain though:  When you dance waltz at 40bpm (1.5 seconds per step) you know right away the spots you're falling over on.  For us it's the third step in any weave like figure.  We always just cheat and fall onto it waaaaay too early.  You also give your legs one hell of a workout.

Even though I haven't run our metronomic exercise idea through either Kora or Simeon, I doubt this is the first time anyone has done it.  I also think it's going to be incredibly beneficial and will separate us from the pack when we do finally compete.  I can't begin to tell you how much patience it takes to practice like this.  As we begin week three of this ordeal, I'm proud of Sarah and I for not only sticking with it and seeing improvements, but also for not getting into any fights over it (or anything yet for that matter).  Other couples keep telling us that eventually we'll fight, but somehow I doubt it.  Doesn't seem in our nature to do so.  I guess we'll see.

Practice ended with Patrick (who basically practices whenever we do now) giving us a fashion show of all the new clothes he bought.  He needed an outside voice to sign off on the purchases.  For the most part I think he did well.  That reminds me, I'll need to start going clothes shopping again as my body changes in the next few months from all the dancing and working out.  *sigh*

Hovering like "The Inception Van"

Part: Follow

Dances: Waltz, tango, Viennese waltz, foxtrot, quickstep, cha-cha, bolero (sort of)

Hovers: 3!

Today my post must be short, as I am extraordinarily tired and just physically exhausted, plus have to get up a bit early tomorrow. So the run down...

The workout today was pretty good; I got my 30 minutes in on the cross trainer and got super hot. The gym was not air conditioned well enough for me today since it was about 70 something outside. Then I joined Jeff for the arms and back weight training, and actually am starting to break the 1/2 rule. Yes! I do keep checking out my arms trepidatiously in the mirror though to make sure I'm not getting big, and Jeff continues to be exasperated by the fact that I care. I'm a standard girl though, and I want to look graceful and balletic, not muscular and athletic, even if I actually am pretty strong.

Practice went well today, we really worked hard on the metronome business and introduced it to our waltz routine. The waltz and the metronome hit it off a bit better than the foxtrot and met did at first, but it could be because we are getting more controlled and just better with the whole exercise. One funny part was the hover, because it is so long and drawn out at 40 metronome clicks per minute (at a full 6 counts), that Jeff likened it to the falling van in "Inception"; essentially slow motion falling and floating. Going along with the "Inception" theme, I really think this slow metronome practice is going to be the kick that takes our dancing to the next level. Jeff commented and I agree that our dancing felt so much more controlled and together when we went dancing on Sunday, and we're attributing a lot of that to this exercise. Go us!

We ended with a round, and we took advantage of some wonderful new music Jeff managed to acquire over the weekend, including a waltz version of the "Forest Gump" theme, which I particularly like.

Praying that I am not dead tomorrow, as this was a good start to the week.

P.S. Spell checker says "trepidatiously" is not a word. Boo that! I'm still going to use it since it makes perfect sense.

Takin’ it Easy

Part: Follow

Dances: Waltz, tango, Viennese waltz, foxtrot, quickstep, cha-cha, rumba

Hovers: 1

After no practice and no workout yesterday or today, I was ready to test the waters again tonight with some social dancing. Jeff and I headed out to the Washington Dance Club a little early for the Sunday evening dance party so that we could warm and run through a few things. We mostly went through some foxtrot, and little waltz and quickstep. Things felt much more relaxed today, I think because of our short weekend break, the warm weather, and Jeff’s massage earlier in the afternoon. I reminded Jeff that the object when social dancing for us does not necessarily have to be having the most power moving down the floor and having the most exaggerated layout and posture, as perhaps it might be in regular practice or competition. With that in mind, we tried taking some of our routines a bit more gently, and overall I think it really helped the lead/follow connection and made it easier to navigate around the busy social floor. Waltz and foxtrot are continuing to feel smoother, but quickstep still really needs work. I get the feeling it’s going to be our toughest dance for a while. Still, Jeff did a really good job jumbling up the various routines in floor crafting emergencies, and I think I stayed with him pretty well, all things considered.

For some reason I did not feel like I danced as much tonight, well, at least as much as I would have liked to and normally do…but the ratio of leads to follows was not entirely in my favor. I like to feel really physically tired from dancing for two hours, but I didn’t really dance hard enough tonight for that. I really need to hit the gym again tomorrow though, because I ate too much good food this weekend. On the other hand, I did have a few very nice dances with a couple of experienced competitive dancers, and it made me realize again how much I still have to learn and train my body to respond to.

The dance ended with me making a sad face because Jeff had agreed with some friends that we’d leave 15-20 minutes early to meet them for dinner afterwards, and of course I had wanted to get more dances in, but in the interests of the common good I went with a good grace.

All in all, a nice, relaxing sort of dance evening; but tomorrow, it’s back to the grindstone!