Saturday

I have caught a cold, probably from swimming in the freezing cold pools at the health club and not drying out. So I drank some mangosteen juice and stopped at an Indian restaurant for some garlic naan bread. But I did go to dance class, and then I went to see my friend perform in the afternoon.

The dance class was with Madame Lipinski, who is a great technician and has performed extensively, and really seen it all. Well, she has taken to correcting me and so I like and don't like this at the same time. I aim to please and it's hard to be torn apart, but I know it's for my own good. This morning she corrected my posture, telling me to lean into the barre a bit more so my weight would really be on the supporting side; then she came by and realigned my torso. It felt like I was really doing nothing and I think I am straining so hard to be straight that I'm not letting my carriage relax and hang down properly. Let your back relax, keep your hip down, don't shift sideways. Less is more, as they say...and later, when I went to church and tried to sing with my cold, I noticed that if I just relaxed my throat, it sounded much better than pushing it out...

Well, I tried to do the combinations accurately and there were several professional dancers in class who picked up the combinations automatically...when I watched the advanced class later, the teacher even commented about muscle memory. I don't have to think about reading the paper and chewing my gum at the same time, he said. Yes, if you keep repeating things over and over eventually they will become automatic. So, today I really focused on dancing the combinations and not mentally taking every step apart. I commented to a girl yesterday that, to me, technique is taking apart every movement, like teaching someone from outer space how to walk like a human...pick up one foot, transfer the weight to the standing leg, bend the knee and step forward...hmm, sounds like developpes!

Also, the teacher yesterday at Joffrey Academy "thinks" in phrases, not steps, so, we all know tendu en croix, we all know fondu, etc. We all know ronde jambe. Once the movements are learned, they are movement patterns in the brain, as another teacher said. Yes, it's all true. The center was very charming, and it is nice to have a female teacher who understands how a female needs to look feminine and pretty.

I saw my friend perform and watched her co-dancer/students in her choreography piece and I was very impressed by their technical skills and, most important, how they applied these skills to really moving with passion. It was a very good show and it reminded me of my high school days and being young and carefree, not to mention the fact that the school in which they performed was along the road back to my childhood home. A step back in time...