Keeping Up Good Habits

Dances:  Quickstep
Part:  Lead
Workout:  Detailed one car and arms, back, chest, and shoulders at the gym.
Random Weekly Bonus:  Found extra Propel mix in my luggage!

Today's workout and practice was definitely not our best.  I'll be honest, it was totally my fault.  Sometimes you're just not in the right frame of mind to do the things that need to get done.  This weekend had been fairly hectic for all of us with the various projects we're working on as well as Seattle Star Ball coming up on the weekend.  Good news is that both Sarah and I still got to the gym and kept up with our good habit of working out and practice.  Since I was going to Seattle Star Ball to support our friends and photograph them we both needed to make up Friday's workout today.  That meant double duty.

Practice was interesting.  Like I said, I wasn't really in the mood for practice, but nevertheless we still ran through our Quickstep.  I think it's getting smoother.  Sarah and I are still trying to keep the connection in our hips together.  It's pretty tough.  Usually we drift apart after a few steps.  The interesting thing is that our connection up top is very consistent.  But like Kora said, that means one of us is just sticking our butt out.

Metronomic practice was applied today as well.  I think we keep practicing it slow like that, the dance will feel and look better pretty soon.  It's amazing how every part we "cheat" on is painfully obvious with the metronome on.  Falling out of certain figures, rushing certain steps, back leading, balance, etc.  All those things just scream for attention at that slow pace.  It's good though.  I know for a fact our balance as a couple has improved tremendously from when we first started.  Another factor to that is working out our legs with weights.  Especially the ankles and calves.  It makes a HUGE difference.

So altogether not nearly our best or most effective practice, but at least we got one in.  I'll be at Seattle Star Ball starting tomorrow so we're done for this week.  Wish our friends luck this weekend!

"Are you a Dancer?"

Part: Follow

Dances: Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Quickstep

Hovers: 1

I was in for a rude surprise yesterday when Jeff informed me that the weight routine for the day involved not only arms and back (which I can sort of do), but also chest and shoulders, which are always the worst for me. This was because he wasn't going to make it on Friday night, so that meant extra work Thursday. Jeff doesn't seem to understand sometimes why I even bother with the whole workout thing at all when I don't get excited about it or actually enjoy it as he does. For me it's just one of those things you have to do...not the most fun thing ever, but worth the trouble because of how much better you feel when you do, plus how much it helps the dancing. It's like taking your vitamins or eating your salad when you're a kid so you can get dessert; working out is very much a proximate end for me.

As I was entering the practice room, two Indian guys were leaving and one of them approached me and asked, ever so politely with that awesome accent,

"Excuse me...may I ask you a question?"

"Yes, of course!" I replied.

"Are you a dancer?"

I hesitated for a second. This is something I've had mixed ideas about from the get go...when do you get to call yourself a dancer? For me it's not as simple as being a person who dances, or even who is taking the time to learn. I wouldn't feel right calling myself a dancer until at least I could do something that looked like real dancing. Yet the question forced me to answer this question about myself, and I found myself nodding and saying, "Well, yes...yes, we are." I had suddenly realized that we aren't beginners any more, and that I really am a dancer, albeit one with far to go, yet one who has enough skill at this point to have earned that classification.

Again, very politely, "And...and...may I ask another question?"

"Why yes...of course."

"Are you getting ready for a competition?"

Jeff walks into the room. "Eventually, yes...but not a specific one at the moment."

"Well...I've seen you dance somteimes and it is very beautiful."

I thanked him.

Sometimes amid all the frustrations and doubts, these moments come that drive home that it's not just about me, about us and our goals. It's also about sharing something beautiful that we've found with others, to bring joy, beauty, and inspiration to the world, as with any of the arts. And so although I was tired and frustrated...somehow that exchange changed my entire frame of mind going into practice last night.

Since we finished up with the workout kind of late, we ended up practicing a bit shorter than usual and maybe were less focused. We did a bit more tango bar work, as we continue to see steady improvement there. Jeff is straightening out all right. I noticed too that our fallaways aren't bouncing up anymore, which was a problem we'd been having in tango...definitely a big no no.

We also attacked quickstep again, with the metronome and slowly. The troublesome parts were much smoother slow, so we need to do more slow practice and gradually work it up to full speed, just like we used to do with piano pieces that are supposed to be fast but tend to run together unless you learn to isolate the notes to some degree for clarity by practicing at painfully slow tempos. It's the same idea here. One thing I'd like some feedback on and will probably ask about in our next lesson is how my shapes are matching up with his. I know in quickstep I've often kind of overdone my shaping or broken it from the lead's; causing a disjointed look in the frame. I've been thinking about it, but it's a hard thing for me to feel.

Foxtrot we just danced to music, and I continue to love foxtrot the most. It feels amazing; our coach was right when he said once that while foxtrot is not the most impressive looking dance, it's definitely the most awesome feeling one of the lot. We still need to work on that connection though; we're gaping pretty badly in the hips and arching backs at some parts; I'm thinking particularly of the natural twist turn and the fallaway-reverse-slip-pivot. I love the reverse wave, if I have not mentioned that before, though Jeff sometimes unintentionally reverses the shaping, which can be pretty funny.

That was essentially it for practice; we did run the waltz once, I think, but didn't really practice it per se. This weekend is one of the largest, if not the largest, Seattle area ballroom dance competition, Seattle Star Ball, which was actually my very first competition last year. We're not competing yet, but I might stop by to cheer on our friends, especially our daily practice buddies. They've worked so hard for this. If any dancing happens between us over the weekend, we'll post another update; otherwise, we'll be back to the drawing board on Monday.

Leveling the Tango Playing Field

Dances:  Quickstep, Tango
Part:  Lead
Workout:  Legs at the gym.
Food Bonus:  Pho with Sarah and Shaoshu!

Leg day at the gym!  Honestly it's one of my favorite workout days.  It always seems like the workout gets done quickly and I get a great amount of exercise.  As mentioned before though, the downside is going into practice afterwards.  I just don't feel like moving, let alone dance.  Sarah tried to convince me to actually do my workouts AFTER practice.  I told her no way.  If I move to to after practice, chances are I'll get lazy and just skip it.  Lucky for both of us, we both know where our main lazy pitfalls are and work hard at counteracting them.

Tonight was more Quickstep.  We worked on the same trouble spots.  The Tipsies and the Rumba Crosses.  To be honest I think we've actually regressed in Quickstep.  Time to just buckle down and do it, and that's exactly what we did today and hopefully will continue to do.

After Quickstep we worked on our Tango briefly.  I'm happy to report that the recalibration of this crooked Asian is going well.  Our Tango is much more level (at least according to the bar it is).  Sarah says it's easier to dance now so that's a good thing.  So now that we've re-calibrated the first half or so of our routine, it's time to fix the other half.  Hopefully it won't be as hard.

Upon Sarah's insistence, we wrapped up our practice with a Foxtrot to music.  I still think it's our smoothest dance.  There you have it, a short blog post for a short but effective practice.  It is Wednesday after all.

My First Ballet Class and Ballroom Practice: Some Reflections

Part: Follow

Dances: Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Quickstep

Hovers: 2

Tonight I had an unexpected break from my usual choir rehearsal, so instead of hitting up the cardio machines, I decided to do something drastically different and attend my first ever ballet class with the Pacific NW Ballet school in Bellevue for their adult open beginner 1 1/2 hr. class. I always wanted to do ballet as a kid and never had the opportunity, and I know it can really only help my dancing, balance, flexibility, and strength...so, why not? Now I had been told that this was not a progressive class, but was more of a drop in session, so I'd be just fine to come to this particular class, even with no ballet experience whatsoever. Um...that wasn't quite accurate. After the more basic stretching type exercises, groups of dancers would take turns turning and leaping in intricate patterns down the floor, all of which they seemed to already know, and I could not figure it out. Then there was the fact that I stuck out like a sore thumb, being surprisingly the tallest girl there, and wearing all black, with my standard super erect posture and knees that kept going soft. Still, since I've started dancing I've learned to just laugh at myself in situations like this, so I just kind of shook my head at my lameness and admired how good everyone else was. I always respected ballet dancers, but now I realize even more what true strength and skill this discipline takes.

One thing I thought about after the class was a big difference I found between the mental frame of mind I think ballet engenders versus ballroom. To me, it seems like ballet is an almost meditative style of dance; it requires so much mental focus and a kind of internal presence...I felt like it really made me get deeper into myself as I focused all my mental energies on balance, poise, and my own body. In the dancing itself there's very littler interaction with others, if any...it's very much about finding a personal equilibrium. Very introspective, I would say. Ballroom, on the other hand, is about getting out of yourself and opening yourself up to others. As a follow, the focus should be on the other...your partner, and on how to make oneself more pliable and responsive to his directions and how to turn those movements into a beautiful whole. As a lead, the focus is more internal perhaps, but also ultimately outward as he has to translate those ideas into something that his partner can understand and respond to and develop. So as a partnership you're constantly trying to communicate, to give and take; yes, the lead provides the direction, but he's got to be able to get it outside of his own head and body so that it is communicated to his partner.

Ballroom therefore is much more communicative and social than ballet in that sense, and therefore might more deeply satisfy that human need for an interpersonal connection. I think that probably the mindset of the ballet dance style would have fit with my personality very well, if I had trained in it consistently from a young age, as I already possess a very introspective, focused, and internal kind of personality. I think now, though, that ultimately I much prefer ballroom dancing and what it has done for me personally. It has brought me out of myself in a lot of ways; taught me not to take myself so seriously, helped me to be more open to others, to be less afraid, and to open myself up more in general. Perhaps for similar reasons an more outgoing and people oriented person might find something like ballet very helpful, since it would help them find themselves again and kind of re-center.

In this vein, my personal approach to my dance practice has become more and more relative and less and less objective (as I believe ballet would be). My focus has shifted to how best to open myself to receiving the lead's communications and directions, how to make whatever he is doing look the best that it can, and how to complete his expressions, as it were. This is different than trying to make sure I am doing every little piece of my part objectively correctly. While I'm working on the same concepts, I feel that the approach is quite different. Instead of thinking about waiting a bit longer to take this reverse pivot step, for example, I'm trying to allow my leg to stick with his and see where he goes...instead of placing my head where I think it's supposed to go, I'm using it to make the turns he is leading more efficient. This is one thing that I could never have worked on on my own, and that several months of partnered practice have allowed me to begin to understand.

All philosophizing aside, we had a pretty good practice last night. Jeff unfortunately decided to kill his legs prior to practice, but we still worked on tango with the bar, and quickstep as well. The killer section of tango was remarkably improved, I thought, and the word that it brought to mind for me was "tight." I'm keeping my steps really beneath the body now on that portion, and as long as I do that and keep my frame rotating with him isolated from my hips, it's much smoother and we have less gaping and bumping. I think we're being a bit sharper with our steps too; delaying them slightly and taking them faster...less polite, if you will. Apparently I was leading part of the oversway (oops), but once I got called on it, I fixed it. Sometimes I don't realize I'm doing it until Jeff mentions it, so then I just have to make myself conscious that I need to really wait at that part.

Quickstep involved more slow practice on the tough parts, but I didn't feel that we made as much headway tonight as yesterday. I think we're doing better about leveling out coming out of the rumba crosses though.

Waltz and foxtrot were essentially run throughs. There was goofy moment where we started the foxtrot and Jeff took an unexpected heel lead coming out of a feather into the bounce fallaway and it felt like we hit a rock in the road...but otherwise it's been going pretty well. Those are most likely our two best dances right now. I think waltz is feeling pretty powerful these days, especially at the beginning with the turning lock. My focus in waltz right now (besides my stupid neck), is to be patient and stretch myself out as tall as I can...I just think about stretching into every corner as we "bank" into the sways.

Tonight, I expect we'll hit up quickstep once again, and will continue to until it can hold a candle to our other dances.