So much for the diet. I was so tired from the day sitting in class & then 2.5 hours of dancing, I stopped at the first taco bell I saw & ate 2 tacos & a burrito :-) Blast!
The Awalim classes were FAB! I learned a lot of new stuff!!!! The students all seemed in good spirits & the ladies in the troupe were amusing to listen too. Only one dark spot marred the evening, but more on that later...
www.awalim.com/
First - Tribal Basics: Learened a new drill for working the lower abs - pull in the belly button & push out the lower back, almost like a standing lower abs crunch. Used both alone & as back part of hip square! Also, new perspective on snake arms - on the down! upper arm, lower arm, wrist, hand. Looks very cool andis approached totally different from what I've ever tried before. We did paddle turn practice: set=F-B-F-B-F-B-all-the-way around, reversing direction after each set. First slow, then fast; reversing direction kept me from getting dizzy! There was LOTS of undulation practice, up-to-down, down-to-up, then lower undulations only - over, then under. Practiced each back-to-back & in every combination. THEN we praticed walking with undulations, which I do not recall ever doing before. It was a really good class! Ziah is an excellent teacher. There was another lady in front to make it easier to see & at the end of the class we were asked to mix it up. Ziah walked around & offered advice. I liked that too, though I got no advice...
Anyway, on the Drills & Zils! Wow, that was a workout. My zilling really needs some work. We did a warmup & drills much like the one in class 1, except faster & zilling the whole time. I was sweating like crazy & lost control of my hands several times. Ziah had us layering hips with snake arms plus zils, & other stuff that was a major challenge to me. Wow.
We also did some significant traveling practice with zils & without. Everyone got into a line & we did a big figure 8 across the studio. The traveling involved layering of some type, like zilling while doing an Egytptian walk with chest drops. And that was the easy one :-) I thnk we did 3 or 4 different traveling layered 8's, then put the zils away & got into some even more interesting footwork + moves. The last one, which was quite challenging, was the arabic 2 plus hip twist, traveling to the side. Ack. Ack, ack!
Class finished out with some really cool combos & moves that Ziah was teaching for the choreo they are working on. Did not get the name of the song or the artist :-( She was using stuff I've never seen, and really interesting combos of stuff I know. I just love seeing different people's choreographies! Everything is so unexpected! I got most of it written down, so I can mess around with the new moves & maybe incorporate them into something later. woo hoo!
I also really enjoyed the cool-down. It involved a lot of stretching & yoga moves.
The dark spot on an otherwise very happy evening was at the very end. I was worried about walking to my car in the dark, because I had to park on a quiet street next to some bushes & an empty lot. I asked a few of the ladies at the end if they could either walk me to my car (for a ride back to theirs) or give me a ride to me car - no one wanted to do it! I got some significant waffle-speak, and obvious don't-want-to-do-it feelings. I made it clear that I was in town on business, I was afraid to walk to my car alone at night. Finally, a really nice lady said she'd be happy to take me. I was just so amazed that it was even an issue! The whole thing was most distressing!
I do recommend this class to anyone in the area. If I lived here, I'd be going every week. Definitely park close to the studio & on well lighted streets, even if you have to drive around & around, late for class - you may be walking back in the dark alone!
I am SOOO glad I have been able to check out these classes. I was unhappy about the trip, then I realized it could be something totally cool instead of a week of sitting in a hotel by myself!
Haala - I did not see Majida Anwar, so couldn't say Hi for you :-)
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