Smoocherama here I come

Ow.
Last night the beginner's class was a lot of Egyptian hip twists and turns...and then the advanced class...where we practiced a arm florio turn (don't remember the name of it but it looks neat when we all do it in synch), some group work and then floor work - the start of back bends. Very cool, but by the end of it all my major muscle groups were used all up. It's hard work to dance. Having two 1 1/2 hour classes back to back is quite a bit when you're out of practice!
I'm actually not as stiff as I thought I would be and if felt great to do so much. I need to do more practicing I think, to get the muscles back I had in the spring. Plus there's a lot different in tribal style I'm still learning. It was good to know I remembered so much of it...for a while there I thought it had floated away into the fog.

Ah. Just a creaky busy day in the lab and I get to go home to spend the weekend with J. He shaves his mustache off today (WOOOOOO! YEAH!!!!) after his obliged 2 weeks of keeping his Tom Selleck 'stachio after the pledge drive, so I'm looking forward to a few kisses with no facial hair. It's been over a year since he's had no beard. And 2 weeks with the mustache. Me no likey mustaches...
Between that and making bread in the new breadmaker I'm so pumped about a relaxing weekend with my J. Can't wait!
Have a great weekend! :)

It's Over!

nataliedee.com

Well, the recital is over. It was possibly the longest recital in history (audio delays to start, and then some costume change delays...) but all the pieces went well, and my solo was fantastic. I was so pleased. Even the veil numbers went off pretty well. J recorded it all so I'll have a record of it for my parents who wanted to come but were down in toasty warm Nevada (lucky lucky...). Me hee...I am now officially a dancer :) As a bonus, my 2 sister in laws who came to see the show are curious about starting up the dancing too - that is very cool. The more the merrier! My one sister in law is on mat leave and looking for something fun to do to get back into shape and my other sis-in-law has a lot of health problems (she is a big girl) and I think moving more and feeling sexy is always a good thing :) I had a great time, and although I'll be glad to not have the crazy practice schedule I have had with the recital prep, I'll miss the girls in the group. I still have one tribal class left tonight, and then a few more classes in my regular belly dance class, but it'll be quite mellow in comparison to before.

Soon the great melt that began this weekend will be done and I can start running again - right when belly dance winds down for the summer. Perfect timing I think. I still have my 2 dance DVDs to keep up with things so hopefully come fall I can jump back in again -this time at intermediate level. My one teacher is moving away (sniff) so I'll have to find another Arabic style class to take...new and interesting...onwards and upwards. It was nice enough that J and I could put on the rubber boots and go for a long squishy walk on sunday - spring appears to finally have crept back into the world. You can see bits of dirt through the snow - I do believe this long eternal winter may actually be coming to an end!

This morning I got up and did my Dance fusion DVD workout...the squats and lunges part was tough today, but the rest felt great. The sun is coming up earlier and earlier - I got to eat my cereal and watch the sunrise out the window before I got ready for work - that was a fabulous way to start the day.

And now - worky worky me. Bye :)

Then Captain Marvel zapped him right between the eyes...ah!

All the children sing...


I have weird and strange stiffness today. I did 2 hours of bellydancing last night. The cats kept trying to help by sitting on my notes, so I have choreography taped up all over the wall and mirror now, but I got a lot of practicing in. I'm starting to feel the coolness of my solo...I hope I can pull it off, as I *love* the music. Having my iPod to dance to is great...I can restart and skip around the song as I need to and J isn't forced to listen to the same song dozens of times...

I ended up stopping at 10 when I realised I wasn't doing proper hip circles anymore, as my muscles were just used up...no more to give me. I couldn't practice proper technique anymore...so I stopped and did some proper stretches on everything...except my arms. You don't realise how much you use your arms...until you wake up with aching shoulders at about 3 AM. Eep.
Note to self: stretch your arms...
I'm feeling good today. I have to register for spring bellydance classes tonight...I can't decide between another basic moves class or a bellydance fitness class where you work the muscle groups together with yoga moves for toning and fitness...the classes are only $25 each...and one after the other on the same night. I wonder if I should take both of them?? I can't decide...

On the food front, I'm getting better. I really slacked off on the whole snacky thing over the holidays, and it's hard to get back to diligence again. I really can't eat after 8 PM if I want to maintain/alter my weight, and it's hard getting back to that. But, I'm trying. We just got groceries and I've tried to get tonnes of fresh ingredients and healthy snacks, and I'm determined to make good lunches for myself at work, so that I have the energy I need to not come home and devour tonnes of crap at the end of the day to silence the grumblies. Also - no more eating snacks in front of the TV, and only 3 drinks a week...I can hoover down immense amounts of food/liquor and not even taste it. Watching the empty calories...back to basics again.

You've got to keep the loonies on the path...

Oh well, it's the little things that help me stay on track...and last night I made some blueberrry oatmeal muffins and a big pot of potato and leek soup. It's thick and yummy and very low in fat - a healthy supper and good lunches the rest of the week. I'm going to start cooking up a pot of low fat, filling soups once a week to use for my lunches. I used to do that back when I was actively losing weight and I somehow fell out of it, once I had to start making lunches for both J and I, as he's not much of a soup guy, and it was easier to just make double lunches the next day. No reason why I can't make me soup and him something else...extra work is OK when it means good health right? Yessiree.
I love soup...next week is curried cauliflower soup...yum...my subscription to Vegetarian Times is such a good thing :) So many good recipes. I'm curious...it has an apple in it. Sounds yummy.

Anyways...I'm woolgathering.
Off to the lab to listen to the White Album and get some serious science done.
Buhbye...

Hips Don't Lie...much

Soo...yeah.
Practice practice....I'm getting to know a few songs really well.
My solo song is Ancient Ruins (link to song, but not me dancing it or my routine). The other group routine is Tamally Maak. Pretty songs and nice routines... No problem. Another group routine I'm not in is Brooklyn Baladi (again link to song, but not routine). It's a beautiful routine I wish I was in, but it's very tricky and I just don't have time.

But a song that I really am having issues with...that I must listen to over and over...and catch myself humming to myself is Hips Don't Lie by Shakira. The routine is fun and pretty, and the song has energy, but the gawdawful harpish squeak of a song...that I must listen to over and over...and learn the lyrics for motion cues to. Ick. I've never liked this song when it was on the radio.
Yet so help me...the more I listen, the more fun I have...and I find myself starting to like it, despite my best efforts...

My mind rejects it...yet I am powerless to stop it :)
Curse you Shakira.

Procrastination 101

So here's the thing...back in November I agreed I'd be in a bellydance recital. I would be in 2 group numbers, and in a fit of insanity I said, "why sure, I'll do a solo too. And hey - given a choice between a short veil piece and a longer dance piece I'll take the longer one, as I like the music a lot more."

Heh heh.

Last night it occurred to me, that despite all my best efforts of thinking about rehearsing and dancing and practicing at home, I have, in essence practiced less than 5 hours total for this recital, not counting the group rehearsals twice a week. That is really sad...and so last night I panicked, realising that the recital is on valentines day...and that, my lovelies, is almost 1 small month away.

That's not a lot of days people

So last night my brain kicked in - I was on a mission...I went on iTunes, spent some of my birthday $$ and got the tunes I'll be dancing to, along with a Djinn album to practice other moves to. I was almost distracted by download errors from the iTunes store but I managed to just walk away after I'd gotten the songs I needed and put them on my iPod (I'll figure the rest out later).

Then J and I morphed our rec room in to a studio for me. Sounds impressive, but we really just took an old 3 X 3 mirror from an old reno and propped it up on some chairs so I could see myself do moves and then he left me be for 2 hours while I bumbled my way through the 2 group routines over and over again...trying to remember everything I'd forgotten over the holiday and get things going in my head again. I have the routines printed out and I tried to follow them when I lost track. I didn't give up...just did it over and over...restarting and redoing, trying to get the basic order down. Once I get that, I can work on refining the moves. I even went through my solo a few times...and remembered why I liked the song so much...but I panicked, as I still feel very leery - I do not even know the whole routineyet.

I have a lot to do.

I was stiff from jiggling this morning, and altho I will try and fit in some cardio every other day, the bellydance will definitely be my priority this next month - 1 hour a night minimum...and since I have my iPod with me at work, I can even go through each routine once at my lunch break. Once I have the order of movements down it will be a lot simpler...

I am determined...instead of whimpering and simpering and giving up I'm going to see just how kickass I can do these routines by the end of January. If the solo is still substandard, I'll cancel it and do the 2 group pieces, but I am now getting past the "oh when I practice I feel bad as I can't do it perfectly" roadblock in my head. And I figured this out...

Practise is practise.
It's hard work.
It's what you do when you don't know how to do something right.

It is also what makes you not look like a panicked deer caught in the headlights when you perform...makes you not look like someone who didn't practice, expecting themselves to be a natural perfect dancer "just because" without the hard work.

Image Source

This may seem obvious to all of you, but it never seems to sink into my brain. Time and time again in life, I've wondered about what I could have done if I'd actually tried harder. So many times I thought that I just couldn't do soemthing, and didn't give it the effort needed...as I would be too dissapointed in myself if I really tried hard and failed anyways. Running is one of the few things I persevered in...and that went well. So I know I can do things if I only try...but only when I want to.

So I'm going to try harder. I'm wishing this had sunk in last month, but I'll take what I have and go with it now.

And so - from this point on:
I am Zahira.
Hear me jiggle...:)

Neato

My Bellydance group has their website up and running.
Lahdedah.

It is my goal to be one of the TwoLeftHips dancers...I'm just an alcoyte at the moment...but I have a dance name - Zahira. :)

Say it with me:
Oooooooh....