So far, so good

So yesterday I didn't get time to full-on practice, but I did make sure to do my pilates. I also managed to practice the steppy shimmy thing, which I can now do to the right for a while (when I get tired it gets sloppy, yet another reason to practice more) but to the left it's a bit...challenged. Once I started getting into it a bit, I realized how much fun that move is going to be.

It takes me about 20 to 25 minutes to go through our whole pilates routine, usually with 10 repetitions or so of each exercise (I say 10 or so because I usually lose count and have to estimate). I try to do all the ones I can remember, which for our class means a lot of things having to do with stomach muscles because bellydancers need to have a strong core. So today my tummy is sore, and so are my legs, but in a good way. I feel like I'm actually accomplishing something, but without being so sore I can't move.

When it comes to things like practicing, I have a tendancy to get all excited about it, do it for a few days and then burn out. I'm hoping that won't be the case with this. I want to get in better shape for numerous reasons, bellydancing only being one of them. Hence the blog, which will hopefully keep me more honest with myself about how much I really am practicing, and thus motivate me to practice more. Anyway, so far so good...

Practice Record

When I was in school I did Band Class. Yes, I was a bona fide Band Geek. Note the capital letters. You get those after your 5th year, kind of like a letterman's jacket for football players.

Now, when I was in middle school band we had these things called Practice Records. We were supposed to practice something like an hour each week, which added up to about 10 minutes every day. We had to take these little slips of paper home and write down how much we practiced each day and then have our parents sign it.

Now we need to get something straight.

I. Never. Practiced.

I loved being in band, and I was actually first chair of the clarinet section, but I could never seem to practice. I'd forget to bring my instrument home, or I'd bring it home and then have too much homework, or a multitude of other reasons. By the end of the year, I would bring home a stack of practice records which my mom would sign, and then I'd just fill in enough to get credit.

I lied, you see. I always thought it was silly, because who needs to practice when you're already the best in your school at something? And to a certain extent, that's true. If all you want is to be THE best, sometimes you can get away with that sort of thing. But if you want to be YOUR best, which is all anyone can ever really hope for, then practice is mandatory.

In bellydancing, as in band class, I do not have a great practice record. This was okay at first, when we were just learning. I practiced enough to learn the choreography and get through our routines (mostly at class on Sundays and one other day a week) but that doesn't mean I did it well. Actually let me rephrase that. It means I didn't do it as well as I could have.

Now that we're getting more serious, really delving into what kind of troupe we want to be and what type of dancing we want to eventually do, I'm beginning to realize that this is going to take a lot more commitment on my part. Not to mention a lot more sweat.

Right now I'm working on learning what we've been calling the "stepping shimmy." For lack of a better way to explain it, it goes like this:

You stepp forward and back with one foot, the other one stepping in place. As you step, you shimmy your hips. In my head it goes - RIGHT left RIGHT, LEFT right LEFT, RIGHT left RIGHT, with the capitals standing for the bigger accent.

It is, needless to say, not easy. I can do it now, albeit slowly, but in order for it to look good you have to...well, you have to rock it. You really have to be like 'THIS is my ass, look at me shimmy and walk at the same time! Ba-BOOM!"

And no, you don't have to say it out loud as you go.

Aside from that I've been doing pilates. We have a certain routine we do before class, and I do that but with more repetitions.

- Monday I did pilates and worked on the steppy thing, practicing for about an hour.

- Yesterday I just did pilates. I know from prior experience that if I try to commit to doing an hour of practice every day I will burn out quickly. So I'm thinking an hour at least twice a week (probably Tuesdays and Thursdays) and maybe just pilates the other days. I'm not likely to practice Friday or Saturday, just because I'm usually not home, and sometimes on Monday I'm too sore from class to do much of anything. But even if I was to practice Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday it would be huge.

So...here goes nothing.

In the Beginning

In the beginning, there was a dancer. Or maybe, in the beginning there was dance. That's a good question...which came first, the dancer or the dance? I suppose you could say the first dancer created dance, but maybe dance was just there, waiting to be discovered.

In any case, dancing is all about expression. In that regard, it's never been something I'm good at. The reason, I'm starting to realize, is not because I am spaztic (although I am, trust me) but because I'm overly self-conscious. This past year, getting up in front of the entire audience at MedFest and performing our cabaret piece with the 3 other dancers in the troup at that time...well, it was a big step for me.

You see, I never really used to dance, even at parties, for fear of looking goofy or weird. But I've come to a realization recently.

EVERYBODY LOOKS GOOFY WHEN THEY DANCE!

Now, this is not to say that dancing can't be beautiful, or emotional, or fun, or seductive, or whatever adjective you want to add here. It just means that to dance, you have to be free, and freedom, well freedom looks goofy sometimes.

This year, with the formation of our new Tribal group (tribal being more an American creation than actually being from any particular tribe) Kala Rawahney, the dancing is more about freedom than ever. Freedom and self-expression, and most importantly...FUN! This, my friends, is going to be so much fun I can hardly stand it.

That said, this journal will mostly be about dancing. There's already a page about the main group, so this will be more from a personal perspective. I want to chronicle my own journey, everything from creative ideas to keeping track of when I do and do not practice (maybe if anyone ever reads this, we can call that accountability) and eventually my experiences with performing.

Of course it will feature stories about Ajmaani, Samaar, Zha-el and Khalisa, but primarily it will be:

One Dancer's Journey