Dance Blog

Tuesday I was really out of it, and didn't feel like I got too much out of dance class. In my brain, I know that moving around is good for me, but in my body, I was tired and disoriented. balmy_fool had to drive me to and from class, because I was feeling so out of it.

Wednesday was much better. I was able to drive myself to and from class, for starters. There were a ton of new people at the class, so we had to switch places with the other class and move to the bigger studio to avoid collisions during class. After warm-ups, we shimmied again, for about 10-15 minutes. It was exceedingly painful, but I feel like maybe my shimmies are getting better. The new steps in the choreography are pretty hard, but only because they're so damn fast. Hopefully with repetition will come speed and precision. :)

Dance Blog

Last night, we started warm-ups not with a routine, but with .... miles and figure 8's. *dies* My back hadn't recovered from the previous week's drills, and starting right off with that was... singularly painful. After that, we went through the normal warm-up routine, stretching, isolations, etc. The instructor had been mugged by a sushi bar on her way to class, so every time we did ab exercises, she got this adorably pained look on her face and quit after just a few repetitions. It was terribly cute. XD

Since we had a new person in class, we did introductions again. When we got to the new person, she drew a breath, and very calmly stated that her name was "----". I blinked, parsed, and was happy, but the instructor had this hilarious blank look of astonishment. After staring at the new person for a few heartbeats, she very tentatively asked the new person how to spell the name. How is it that every face she makes is so darned cute? It's driving me to distraction.

When introductions were done, we drilled tiny hip circles. As the instructor put it, the difference between this and other dance styles is that in other dance styles, you want people to look at your hip circles, whereas in this style, you want to pretend to be shy, hide behind your hands, and be all like "Oh noes! Please don't look at my hip circles! *circle circle circle*". >.>;;;; Well, at least it was adorable when she demonstrated. ^_^

After drills, we moved on to choreography, by which I mean, we did shimmies for-fucking-ever, and then the instructor forgot about 4 measures of choreography in the middle of the dance. Tonight I think we'll "relearn" that part of the dance. Maybe we'll even get to move on. We're really close to the end, so I'm pretty excited for that. :)

All in all, I'm finding that doing the moves superficially is not too hard, but looking good while doing it is damnably challenging. I am having a fabulous time with this. :D

Dance Blog

Phew! Tonight was a hard night. In the first class, we did a really tiring arm drill, and a really challenging choreography. I felt like an uncoordinated and gawky kid again, which I haven't felt like in a few years. The moves are difficult, and need to be quick and precise to look good. I can do quick XOR precise, not both. :p Oh well, I hope in time I'll improve. :)

In the second class, we did the other kind of figure 8's (which are actually just called figure 8's, as opposed to the kind we did last night, which are called miles). Man. This stuff is really hard. I'm starting to appreciate its difficulty more after seeing some new girls really struggling to get the hang of the movements. I'm also extremely thankful that I seem to have some innate muscle control abilities to help me through. :D

The instructor ran off in a hurry at the end of the night to go perform at a 1-year-old's birthday party. I don't get the point of showing a beautiful dancer to a baby, but whatever. I guess the parents are super bored. XD Her costume, which she put on before she dashed away, was very pretty. <3

Dance Blog

<3 Squee! Warm-ups are a reliable source of sexiness and endless amusement. Also torment, pain, and difficulty isolating muscles, but that's a small matter.

Last night we drilled vertical figure 8's (miles). My lower back feels like a solid mass of anguish right now. I'm not very good at it yet, especially with the whole keeping-upper-body-still part. Walking and doing 8's at the same time is hilarious. There's a trick to it, where you figure out the optimal timing to move your feet, between doing parts of the 8. I think I got that part okay, but the 8 itself is still taking a lot of thought and concentration.

Choreography was really hard last night. I'm not sure if it was because I'm possibly getting sick again, or if I was just tired, or what. The spins made me really dizzy, and I lost my balance in places where I've basically never lost my balance. It's disconcerting. I also felt slower and clumsier than usual.

Amusing discoveries of the day include learning that the instructor is afraid of cockroaches, and is concerned that the roaches will sneak into her car and attack her. XD

Dance Blog

Added another dance class to my schedule. It's also very different from anything else I've done. Now I have two classes that are almost but not entirely unlike each other!

New instructor is short, fuzzy (his hair is cropped at about 1 inch, and stands straight up), and cute in a silly sort of way. After doing some basic exercises, he showed us a bunch of videos of people dancing in this style so that we could get a feel for how it looks in all its glorious variations.

First instructor is still sexy as all get-out. I don't think I'll ever get over that one exercise. It's so cute. :3 She also made us drill shimmies for five minutes straight. Gawd, that was painful. Towards the end, I stopped being able to really feel my legs. :< But! I got better at shimmies. I think. :D

Today, I can't really lift my arms. If I keep up this schedule, it ought to give me some nice muscle definition. :D