Taking ATS at LAST!!

I am really excited to be taking lessons with Nandana http://www.nandanabellydance.com/ .  I have wanted to take lessons with her for a while, but can't because I can not drive to Durham on Sundays.   I love Tribal style & ATS is my very favorite of all tribal styles.   

I asked her about private lessons after returning from Tribalcon (& 2 workshops with Megah from Devyani) in Feb & it grew into a group of 6 of us from Sara's class taking a group private lesson once a month.  We had our second class on May 23 & it was AWESOME!!!  It is especially great because all of us are at about the same level, so we are really moving in the class.  We also have a group to dance with!

In just 2 2-hour classes, I have learned several new moves & patterns that are SOOO fun!   We did fading and the circle transition - I love both transitions.  Fading is a bit confusing but worth the effort to learn.  I wish I had a group here to practice with! (soooon.... :-)  The circle is really neat too - the dancer interaction is much more intense & fun, because of the eye contact.   We learned a variation - the grapevine spin - which looks AMAZING and is fun to do too.  Of course, there's that pesky getting-dizzy thing but I am working through that :-)

I have been taking lessons with Sara Beaman http://www.sarabeaman.com/ - who I LOVE!!! - on Saturdays too for maybe a year & a half.  Sara teaches 3 classes now (so on Nandana class days, it's a really long day :-)  I am the TA in her Core class and then I take both the Flow & Mega Challenge classes.  I have learned a huge amount of info on technique & conditioning, plus several cool choreos, lots about musicality, tribal fusion improv, & all kinds of other stuff.  Her classes are always fun & challenging. 

I have been taking regular classes with Daliana http://www.dalianadance.com/ for about 2 years, except in the summer when she takes a break.  I HATE that!!  :-(  I was taking only the Creative Expressions class on Thursdays, but since I am only 15 minutes from her Monday Advanced class, I started going to that one too.  I love both of the classes & Daliana as well.  She is fun to be around and has more energy & stamina than anyone I know.  Really.    REALLY!  She has given me good advice & feedback when I asked for it too, which I like a lot.  I really wish she was doing classes this summer.  I forgot to mention - her other regular students are really nice which makes the classes lots of fun.

Last but not least, I take continuing classes with Carmen at Studio 318.  I have been taking classes with her for several years.  As far as technique, there is not much more she can teach me but she is still teaching me a lot.  She is an excellent performer and knows how to dance to a crowd - something I'm working on.  She has come up with several clever exercises for our class to teach us performance skills.  We also work to hone our swords, veils, & zils.  And we have fun. 

I'm not even going to start on workshops, but I will say I have taken lots & lots of them.  LOTS and lots.  I am known as the Workshop Queen in my troupe, Torque  :-D  Some were not too difficult, some were so far above my level I barely understood what they were talking about, but they have all been lots of fun and worth attending.   I can't think of one that I wish I had not gone to.  The next biggie for me is going to be Triboriginal in Oct.  I went once before & it was fabulous, amazing, incredible,.... I loved it!   I can hardly wait to go again. JILL PARKER will be at this one!  Yow!

Thoughts at the Beach

I'm sitting here at the beach, looking out at the ocean from the inside of out cottage. The wind is blowing like mad. I came in an hour or so ago, covered with sand & quite chilly. I am a hard core beacher but not that hard core! Tomorrow we head home, on my birthday & my mom's birthday AND Mother's Day. I wish we could stay another day or 2.

I missed Sara's classes today, which is killing me! I am very happy to be at the beach, but I wish I could have somehow worked in both. She taught a new move - several - in Core class today, along with practice in trios. I did get to practice with her in the prep class but I would have loved to have been there for the class. I also missed the second part of the new choreo in Flow. Argh. The music went from slow to fast today too. I have no idea what I missed in Mega. Hopefully someone was able to film it.

I have been making good progress in my dance in the last few months. My isolations are good & my leg & core strength is improving. My memory for choreographies is improving too. When I first started this stuff I couldn't remember 8 counts withough repeating it a zillion times. I can now get down many counts of 8 before I start losing it. I was also told recently (by a dancer I respect very much) that my hands are looking really good now - a compliment! I have worked very hard to improve that aspect of my dance, because it is so important.

I have so many things I want to improve that I have not been able to develop a good practice routine for myself. I've been hopping around. Other than attending lots of classes, which I love to do, my practice is kind of choppy. I added in Diane's Monday class, esp. since the Thursday class is done until next Aug. Dang. The Mon class only goes until June 1 too. I am glad that Sara is keeping her classes going.

I am using feedback to develop a plan for myself. I got some good feedback from Diane recently that has helped me quite a bit. Sara also gave me some good feedback and provided me & everyone in the Flow class with a fabulous opportunity to get feedback. The Flow series was on how to do solos and during the last class each of us performed a solo in front of the class and recieved feedback from everyone else. The feedback was written on a form Sara developed, so the feedback can be reviewed.

I am very hopeful that the Tribal Improv classes I am giving in Greensboro will take off soon. It is SUCH a fun dance style! I am looking forward to having a regular group to dance with. It is so difficult to show people what it can be without a group to perform it with. I do not like doing solos, as I prefer group dancing, but I believe I'll have to start doing solos with tribal improv moves just so people can see it. Torque doesn't have time to work on it enough to show what it is. I can hardly wait to get a local group together!!!

The Benefit show for Triad Health Project is a definite go, which makes me so happy! We have invited every BD performer in W-S & Greensboro to be a part of the show, along with performers of other dance types in the area. As of this moment, we will have African dancers, Salsa dancers, and Indian Fusion dancers. We invited hoop dancers & a breakdancer that is said to be amazing, but they could not make it. We also have invited several dancers/groups from the Raliegh/Durham area.

Well, off to read my non-BD related book & goof off for the rest of my last day at the beach.