Wonder Where I'll Be Sore Tomorrow...

If you’ve ever danced, or worked out, or exerted any physical effort ever, this thought may have crossed your mind.  For me, it has become a constant question running through my head after a dance practice.  

Whether it be bruised knees, bruised shoulders, sore butt, sore calves, sore random muscles I didn’t know existed, these past few weeks have been painful.  It has actually become customary that dance team members share our tales of aches and pains through our snapchat group message the day after each practice.  You don’t get much better bonding than that.  

If you’re just tuning in, basically what you have missed is a lot of deep breathing, rolling on knees, rethinking every body movement, being propped up on our own shoulders, and my general lack of interest in ballet.  Well, guess what we did yesterday… ballet class.  Oh yeah.  My fave.  

Once again, yes, I do realize that ballet is arguably the most important foundational discipline of any dancer.  So I can’t complain too much.  It helps me focus on extending, building muscles, working on balance, core strength, and all that fundamentals a healthy dancer needs.  If you need further convincing, check out this post.

So to give you a sneak peek into how ballet class went I’ll let you know what is sore… my calves.  Crazy enough that is it! For now at least.  But let me tell you, we WORE OUT our legs in ballet class.  I also do not think I have ever sweated that much in the first 30 minutes of a ballet class ever.

_________________________________________________________________________________

So here is where I tell you about what we did.  But while you read it just imagine pointing your toes till you feel like your foot will fall off, focusing on breathing while also extending up, while also pushing through the floor, while also relaxing your face, while also engaging your arms, and whatever else the dance director tells you to focus on for that specific exercise.  Phew.  Overwhelmed yet? Cuz I sure was.  

So here we go (I have included links and photos for reference for the non-dancers)

First, we releve.

Second, we plie.

Then tendu.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeSVHYSMItg

Then rond de jambe.

Then fondu.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j-L3c4hLz8&list=PL6C03988A3EA6D500&index=14

Then grand battements.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgKXn1Evj-o

I probably got that order wrong, but you get the picture. Lots of legwork.  Pointing. Extending. Etc.

---

I think one of the biggest things I have been learning about dance is just how much there is to think about while dancing.  As dancers, we take it for granted that our bodies just know all of this stuff.  However, I have been finding that when you start to question how you do one thing, you question how you do everything.  So those small movements that I have been so comfortable with for 14+ years of dance are becoming jumbled, confused, unsure in my mind.  

What?

I thought I was getting better not regressing!

I know how to develope… why is it so hard now?

How can I not be satisfied with a simple plie?

Now I’m thinking.  I am pushing.  I’m maturing.  

Part of me hates it.  It is comfortable to just keep doing what I have been.  I am in my last year of dancing at LC, why do I have to start growing as a dancer now?

Part of me loves it. I am finally growing as a dancer.  I’m not in that same place I was when I stopped dancing after freshman year of high school.  I have always wanted to learn and grow in different forms of dance.  This new director is so different than any dance teacher I have ever had.  

Okay, most of me loves it.  But, it's hard.  It hurts.  

That’s what it takes after all.  

---

After the basics, we worked on turns.  But not the turns really, the preparation for the turns.  ...don’t wind up… fully plie… pull up… connect…

Then fouettes. Oh My Goodness y’all, I did some fouettes! These are a challenge for me, always have been. (I also did not know how to spell it until just now.)

So I guess it is paying off.  Breaking things down.  Rethinking the fundamentals.  Focusing. Breathing.  

Now, my challenge to you, if you have made it this far.  Think about something you love to do. Think about when you learned it.  Think about one part of it that you always wish you could do better.  Then go after it! Research, ask, practice; whatever it takes! You’ll be glad you did!

I breathe, you breathe, we all breathe.

This post will primarily reflect on the most recent modern class, however, I want to give a brief overview of the ballet class last week.

Now, my tendency is generally not in favor of ballet.  Don't get me wrong, it is beautiful and an incredibly difficult form of dance.  However, it is not my first choice of dance forms to participate in.
Having said that, I have done ballet for my entire dance career so I am pretty used to it. But not like this.

This ballet class was the bare basics.  The stuff that once you have been dancing for a few years, you don't really think about anymore.  But that's just it.  We were supposed to think about those things.  The connection with the floor, fluidity, aggressively pointing our toes, keeping our hips square, etc.  It really made me think, "When did I stop thinking about these key parts of dance?"

It definitely made me check myself... and kind of overwhelmed me with everything you have to think of in one instance.

But back to modern.

Breathing.

We all do it.

Everyday.

Dancers especially.

But have you ever really thought about it? Thought about the parts of you that your breath moves? thought about the depth of your breath? Moved with your breath?

Well, that was our challenge this week.  Do not stop thinking about your breath. If you do, stop and start again.

Enhancing our dance through breath.

So what is it like to move with your breath? Well, it starts with taking some REALLY deep breaths.  I recommend you try it now.  Breathe as deep as you possibly can and make it last.  Now do the same, but expand your abdomen, your chest, and under your armpits in that order while you breathe in.  Now do it again, the same, but reverse it as you exhale, armpits... chest... abdomen. So that's what we did and what we thought about.  And then we added movement.

Now this part was honestly not my favorite.  We started out with your basic leg swing.

(If you aren't sure what that is, watch this video.)

Then we added arms.  Then we added knees.  Finally adding standing up.  Now, you might not know this but I really hate being on my knees for dance.  I'm like a pretty bony human being, so it is pretty painful to roll around on my knees.  And then to add standing up?!?  Yeah, I wasn't really about that.  But this was more about the breathing than the movements so I guess I can let it go.

From there we did another combination that was supposedly focused on breathing.  But I'll tell you a secret, I might have thought about breathing all of about 5 seconds.  This combination was less painful though so I was happy. :)

Then we started more of the seemingly (if being viewed by an outsider) random movement.  This began with tapping into different emotions, then was more of what we did last week (tempo, shape, architecture, etc.) or what is known as the viewpoints technique.  If you want some idea of what this looks like, check out the video below.

From there, our director started pulling people out to watch and see what stories might be going on.  This was especially cool to see when she yelled freeze and those dancers sitting out would talk about what dancers could be telling a story with how they were frozen.  I really enjoyed this exercise.

This really got me thinking about choreography and how I could incorporate this type of improv movement or frozen movement in a dance piece.

I guess we will have to wait and see... choreography proposals are due next week! For now, I will just wallow in the intense soreness I am experiencing all over my body.

Your First Steps

Maybe some of you grew up dancing or took one class one time because your mom dragged you, or maybe dance is your passion and you can't imagine life without it. Well, I have danced on and off for about fifteen years now and I love it and my current dance team.  But regardless of your dance background, I would like to think that this blog can extend past the world of dance and into anything you have known for most of your life, or at least lead you to rethink the norms of your life.  

Anyways, I'm getting ahead of myself.  You're probably thinking, wait, I thought this was about dance.  Well, it is, and it's not.  You'll see.  

So today marks the first official meeting of the dance team season.  Since we have a new director, we needed to work some things out. Establish norms, get our emergency contacts in line, exchange phone numbers, the usual.  

For starters, for those of us who grew up in your typical jazz, tap, ballet dance studio, this new director of dance is way out of our "comfort zone." (You'll see why I added quotations later.) But she is welcoming us into this new journey of dance and into her view on this vast art form.  

So after working out the details, we started with an exercise where we discussed the question "what is dance?" From that, we got a nice list: expression, fun, ideas, community, etc.  Then we began to move...

Grab the golden ball.  Throw it around. Feel its weight.  

Now swallow the ball. 

Roll it around your head. Neck. Shoulders...

Now let your head lead you. 

Up and down. Side to side. 

Now let it move you out of this space.

Now speed it up.

Vary your speed.

Now think of something that pissed you off recently.

Where do you feel that in your body?

Let that part of your body lead you around.

Now interact with the other people around you and their movements.  

Interact with the architecture... the lines... the curves... tempo... repetition...

(Note: that was not a poem.)

That is what we were told. What we did for the rest of practice.

If you cannot picture it, just think about one of those exorcism movies but with the constraints of normal bodily limits. But also a little bit of what it would look like if you gave a kindergarten class an endless supply of candy (minus any fighting or crying).  Also, note that there was roughly 18 of us in a dance studio doing this.

I know what you're thinking. That. Sounds. Amazing.

Well, you're right.  It was great.

I have never had a dance class where I had to step so far outside of my dance "rules."  Where I didn't care about what I looked like because I was so caught up in the moment, in what I was doing.  It didn't matter what I looked like because that is just how my body was interpreting the directions I was given.  We were able to move through the space in a way that only we could do.  That only we knew how.  Somehow this felt like taking the first steps into my comfort zone, not one I've ever known before though.  

Now, if someone walking past had stopped to look in, they would have thought we were insane.  They'd probably say "did you see those weirdos in there?" But that's fine, because they have probably never experienced such freedom in movement, or maybe their free movements just look different. 

No judgment.

So that is the start of what I can tell is going to be a very beautiful journey of discovering dance and what all that means.


If you want to learn more about this crazy modern dance thing, check out this post.
Also check out some Martha Graham because that is pretty crazy.