Ow

You heard me...ow! Samaar (aka Mom) and I practiced on Wednesday, for over an hour I think. We did veil work to warm up, then pilates, then some basic moves and actually our old drum solo when the song came up on the CD we were listening to. It was amazing how much we remembered.

Yesterday I got stuck in this 2 hour meeting at work, in the conference room where the chairs are horribly uncomfortable and the table is too high to rest your arms on. So after that my back was sore. I've got a muscle over my right shoulderblade that causes problems all down my back due to a carr accident in July 2004. It usually doesn't give me much trouble, unless I do too much mousing or typing or drive too much...you know, overdo it.

So yesterday...I overdid it. We practiced again, starting with a bit of veil and going through all the pilates, and basics and our drum solo again (we screwed up part of the beginning, but I remembered the part we'd missed of our solo on Wednesday). Afterward, my back HURT. The moment I stopped moving it started stiffening up. Today my whole right arm is sore, and my little finger and ring finger keep getting tingly (I think when the muscle in my back gets irritated, it pinches a nerve).

Then again, I'm going to see my fiance this weekend, and what are fiances for if it's not for massages? On Ajmaani's board she talked about the same thing, actually it's kind of creepy that we're both having right shoulder/arm issues. So maybe I'll be lucky on Sunday and she'll go easy on us.

'Course, by Sunday I'll probably be better, and I'm not very likely to go easy on myself at that point.

Anyway...two practices this week, and real ones too. Full-on dancing. Hooray for keeping up on my resolution/idea/plan thing!

This week in bellydancing

I have actually done something every day this week, so far. I did pilates on Monday and Tuesday, and yesterday Mom and I did pilates and practiced a bit. Basically, we both need to get into better shape to be able to do the moves better, and we need to practice the basic moves so that when we put them together into something complicated, the result doesn't look sloppy.

Personally, I need to shimmy a lot more. I can go full on for less than a minute...that's bad! I should be able to do it for 2 or 3 minutes at the very least. I don't want to be doing a performance and get tired before the end of it.

So...

Monday - pilates

Tuesday - minimal pilates

Wednesday - pilates + dancing

Here's to continuing trends, woohoo!

And there you have it, folks...an idea!

Class yesterday was good, if a bit lacking in energy. Most of us were fairly tired from various weekend hijinks, so there was a bit less sweat than usual. We played around with formations, which can get pretty interesting. With five people there are a lot of different things we can do, because we don't have to worry about space so much as some of the bigger groups. In tribal, formations tend to be the one thing planned out beforehand. Many groups will plan where they will be at any given time, but what move they are doing depends on the dancer leading at that time.

Occasionally in our group, we get to talking about ideas and come up with a really good one. Yesterday Samaar (or as I like to call her, Mom) had an idea about all of us coming onto the stage holding the same veil. My brain took that another step, with the idea that there would be one veil (sort of bunched up and rope-like) between each pair of dancers.

Something like this:

X - X - X - X - X

Where X is a dancer, and - is a veil.

Anyway, I wasn't really getting my point across, but Zhael seemd to get what I was trying to say. Even more than that, when we each took hold of one veil to sort of demonstrate it, inspiration struck. Zhael is very good at ideas and specifics, whereas I tend to be very general in my thinking, but it was neat what we came up with. It's hard to explain, but a lot of it involves taking in and letting out slack, and two dancers doing moves while holding on to either end of a veil, or something like it. It can be used standing up, or for floor work, or for various things, and may end up being something we do as a duet.

Very, very neat! I think it would be awesome to have a 'signature move'. That, and I think it will be very entertaining to watch when we're done with it.

Yay!

Mission not so impossible

I practiced yesterday! Well, I did a little practice and a lot of pilates. About half an hour, total, which is what I'm aiming for. That makes twice a week, two weeks in a row. This is some kind of new record for me, practice-wise. Sure, I've practiced more during the week in the past, but usually it only lasts a week to a week and a half. I am going to be so psyched if I can keep up practicing just two or three times each week. Even twenty minutes twice a week would really help.

On a related note - Ow! My legs are sore, and my abdominal muscles are a little sore. This I see as a Good Sign. I don't want to be so crippled that I no longer want to do pilates at all, but a tiny bit of soreness now and then just lets me know that I'm pushing the limits of what I can do, and when you push the limits...the limits move.

On a not-so related note - I've got an icky, scratchy throat and a sniffly nose today for the second day in a row. Getting sick is definitely not what I need right now to add to the cocktail of crazyness that is work. But I shall soldier on, in spite of adversity, and practice!

Probably.

Close, but not quite

I was going to practice yesterday, really I was! I did my pilates Monday, about 20 minutes worth, so I figured that yesterday I was due. I usually practice right when I get home, which was a bit delayed yesterday due to my being challenged.

In the morning, my new routine is to drive to the nearby park & ride and meet up with my carpool partner. Yesterday I did this, and as I got in her car I put my car keys in my coat pocket. So, naturally, when we arrived at the park & ride after work I realized that something was missing...my coat. So there I am with my car, but no keys. Fortunately I called home and Dad was able to bring me my spare keys.

So I got home...finally...but then I was hungry. So I ate dinner, it being about 6 by that point. Then, a while after dinner, I almost practiced.

But instead I had some chocolate cream pie.

Like I said, it was a close one. In any case, today is Wednesday and I am going to go home and practice my stuff! Pilates, maybe some yoga...and a whole lot of shimmying. I practiced twice last week, and if I can keep up to even that I know it will help a lot. I'm very determined.

That, and there's no pie left.

Whee Doggie!

Yesterday was so much fun! Practice started out well, with each of us taking turns leading the others in three predetermined moves. But then we got to pick our own moves at random, as long as they were simple and easy to follow, and...just, wow. It was so amazing how each one of our five dancers thought of something unique, even when we were keeping it simple. This lead-follow stuff is really helping me see what everyone's strengths are. Some are better at the specific moves, some at doing complicated things, others at moving with the music. It's just great to see all of our individual personalities coming out like that.

I absolutely can't wait until we've gotten enough practice in to be able to perform this! It is going to be beyond fun.