Day 7

I borrowed Tsha’s camera and it’s so little and portable, I couldn’t help dancing with it in my hand. Take your motion sickness patches before you watch this one!

Day 6 Foiled – but not conquered – by technology.

Got to the studio this morning a little earlier than usual. Opened ms. macbook, fired up i-movie only to tell me that it doesn’t recognize a camera.  Hmmm… no camera, no video posts.  I danced anyway and I learned some new things about my self and my movements. I really hope to inspire you to dance more.  I feel much better since I’ve started this project and it’s only just beginning. This video is from Marky and my trip to Canada on Thanksgiving day – the airport was pretty empty so we decided to practice a little westcoast swing.

Dancing on the furniture…

I’ll admit I’m a bit obsessed right now. I’m sure it’s just because I’m just getting started – we’ll see.  I love the idea of getting better as a dancer and stretching into my potential.  Won’t you dance with me?

Day 5 -Happy Christmas, War is over – Dance with me!

I just typed “Holiday” into the search bar in my i-tunes library today and came up with this rendition of Happy Christmas, War is Over by Jaquie Naylor.  As I was dancing, the words “if you want it, war is over now” suddenly meant so much to me. There are lots of internal wars raging in me. I imagine I’m not the only woman who struggles with her physical flaws nor the only person who has internal conflicts.  But I get it! War is over, if I want it. And I want it.  Join me and dance!

Day 4 – In the Kitchen making bread pudding…

I wasn’t feeling well this morning so I didn’t go to the studio. I didn’t bother to look good for this, I just turned the camera on with a mind to dance in the kitchen, and ended up dancing my way through the preparations of a rather delicious bread pudding – really – I’m eating some now! (See recipe below) I’m usually a bit more careful about throwing food around, but when the spirit calls I have to move.

I guess many people would be thinking, “why?” and I imagine people think it’s crazy or stupid and I just don’t care. I’m not sure why I’m doing this 100%. It’s not possible for me to know yet, that’s one of the big reasons I’m doing it.

I had two poundcakes and one half loaf of cranberry bread given to me. I just couldn’t eat it all.

This recipe took 6 eggs and about 2 cups of milk (as you can see I didn’t measure)

I did not add any sugar, as the cakes were already sweet.

I added cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and at the end a little anise seed because I was curious what that would taste like.

I poured the eggs and milk over the chopped up bread and put it in the oven  for about 30 minutes.  I started checking it at 25 and the middle wasn’t quite set, so I let it go until it was. It’s so good. Now I’m going to freeze the rest until this weekend.

Day 3 – and you thought I wouldn’t last!

It was pretty cold as I got started in the studio this morning, so I kept on the gear for my first dance. San Diego IS cold sometimes. I suppose I may revise that statement once I experience a full winter in Kansas City. I never heard this song before and it was a lot of fun to “ride the rhythm”.  As we go along, I hope to expand my dances beyond the studio, but that is going to require a more portable camera than my macbook (I’m hoping one appears for Christmas – hint hint MG .

If you’re here, please leave me a note on Facebook, here or youtube. It’s great to get some feedback – I’ll take song requests or ideas!

Every day dance – day 2

Good Morning!  I almost sabotaged myself by staying up until 2am –something I rarely do these days– but I woke up just after 7 and asked myself, “if not now, when?”….

I don’t expect to have every day this year come from the studio, but it’s really great to have access to Dance North County in Encinitas where I’ve been a teacher for about a decade.  Time sure does fly. I want to thank Dave Tomko, owner of DNC, for his long time support and friendship.

This week is a kick-off, a beginning of something new and I can feel some of the crusty layers falling away – when I don’t dance often I seem to harden and get cynical. I can already feel some of that softening and even feel a bit of bursting in my heart as I write this – or maybe it’s the french roast coffee….

I can already see patterns emerging that I wasn’t aware of.  Perhaps I’ll discover my own natural dance vocabulary and document it.  I hope to expand my repertiore of movement and was conscious of the call (from my teacher Vinn Marti) to rearrange the familiar as I danced each piece.  Performance  sits delicately perched between letting go and holding a strong intention. This is not performance – well not entirely anyway. I guess this experiment is more a process on display like a performance in the hopes that I will perform better and more authentically in the process because I have an (as yet undiscovered) audience.   I also hope to develop my technical skills as this process unfolds.
If you’re actually reading this, thanks. Stop by whenever you can and just leave a comment here or, better yet on youtube.

Link to post

Everyday Dance – Day 1

I’ve been thinking about this project for a while and this post is the official beginning of – my everyday dance journal – which I intend to keep for at least on year. Today is December 13, 2009. So I have until December 12, 2010 at midnight to decide if I want to take it further. I have no real expectations of what will happen. I know I have some big moves and other projects that will make it challenging to post a dance every day, but I am comitting to doing just that. I’m excited to see what the process brings me. I make no promise as to what the content of each day’s dance post will be – other than a dance of some kind.

Today I was excited and full of energy as it’s my first day, so I recorded 3 full songs. I don’t expect that anyone will watch all of them or watch them all the way through, but I’m posting them here for anyone to see.

These are all totally improvisational. The second song “Try a little tenderness” by Three Dog Night, is the most familiar piece of music to me. The “choreography” is made totally on the fly. I hope to improve my technical skills (among other things) over the course of this year. But I am doing pretty much my own made-up style so – I hope you’ll forgive the strange technique.

Creativity is King

Lindy HIP HOPI just love the creativity and freedom these two guys are expressing here! I don’t teach lindy, but the same principles can be applied to West Coast, Jitterbug and even to a certain extent…salsa. (At least in my book).I’ve come to realize over the past year that my dance style is unique to me and that I teach what I love. I love helping my students find their unique style and be able to dance with many different partners too!

Special announcement

There will be no FreeBox session on Tuesday March 11, 2008. Please join us on Friday. The rest of the schedule remains the same.

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Thank you!