Later this week in Survivor: Advanced Modern

I basically tried a lot and died of tiredness at the end, so, the usual.
Jeff (the instructor) picks on me. A lot. That, or he thinks I'm good and wants me to improve. Either way, it means I'm having a tougher time than anyone else.

My 1st pointe class

Advanced Ballet on Wednesdays is now pointe class.
We did 1 hour barre, then half an hour en pointe. I did it all on training wheels (holding on to something). It was quite difficult, and it will be a while before I get the hang of stepping onto a straight leg or rolling up, but I managed admirably, I think.

Earlier this week in Survivor: Advanced Modern

I was smart and brought socks today. Jeff was much more impressed with my sliding lunges, which were impossible to do beforehand in bare feet. We did the same hard running around stuff and I was tired halfway through as usual.

At the end we did the jumping and catching circle, which was fun. We did exactly what it sounds like - we got in a circle of nine, and one person was supposed to run at a random person, jump high, and be caught. Somehow.

Then, because that was only Level One of Fun, Exciting, and Terrifying, he made us get in pairs and catch each other pas-de-deux style. Difficult. But I lucked out - Rosie Handschy and I are comfortable enough throwing ourselves at each other. We made one spectacular catch in front of everyone. Pretty!

Then Dolo's flying elbow knocked Jordan in the face and BLOOOOOOOD . . . . . . . . yes, this is the Jordan&Dolo of Candycane and Cupcake fame from my dance last semester. Jordan had to get stitches and Vicodin, Dolo is very upset. The two are rather dance-lebrity partners-in-crime within the dance-community and I'm worried for their dance-lationship.

P.S. I feel an indiscriminate sense of hurting that I'm not familiar with, and it's lasting for days. It's the kind you can't describe much, I just ache everywhere.

Tai Chi routine

We might get graded on our Tai Chi form. Here's how I remember the routine (with help from Katie Ferguson):

You got a watermelon. Show off the watermelon to the right, to the left, to the right. Do they want the watermelon? They don't want it (wafting). Say PSSHH to them and run over the mountain. Come back. Then give them a pointy gesture - ghostride the whip. Go away. Come back a little... yeah, actually, go away. Be a robot. Beep. Boop. Fly away! Wave to your kungfu master. Push him away. Slap him, ha ha! Reach for the birdie. Get the birdie. Take him over the mountain (4 steps to the right). Let the birdie go, so your hands can be free to take your watermelon again, yay!

In other news, I was really tired today and decided to sit out of ballet.

Also, here are the Fall Dance Workshop pieces I have been cast in:
Cameron's experimental multi-media Seven Deadly Sins piece. Khanhsong and I are SLOTH.
Jazmyne's afro-caribbean hip-hop fusion piece.

adv. modern is hard

Technique class - Advanced Modern

Okay, I tried really hard today and I believe I did really well in every exercise and combination.
BUT I THINK I AM GOING TO DIE. I FEEL VERY STRONGLY ABOUT THIS.
Maybe it was fthat we did a few too many repetitions, or from the effort I gave in ballet, but I pretty much got to muscle failure right at the end of class.

I like the instructor from Taiwan, Jeff. But man, did I pay it all out. It wasn't that I was hungry or sleepy or particularly weak, I made sure I forced down a lot of calories today. I guess that's what true effort is. So....the better you get at dance technique, the harder practice becomes? I thought that that particular law of returns applied to things like XC. Speaking of which, I can't ever remember my legs being so tired except at the peak of Jesuit cross country season. Wow, I feel like I just ran a half marathon.

Mountain bike

I put Étaín together today, and took her to the store and on a pleasure trot. She runs fine and I am very happy.

hungry?

Now that I think on it, I have not been eating nearly enough for my activity level, but I have just been NOT HUNGRY. I do not want to eat, seriously it's like I don't like food anymore. This isn't good.

I should eat this burrito.
God, please send down an angel to help me eat this burrito.
With thy salsa and thy guac, awaken my hunger, or at least shoveth unto my throat tortillas, beans, and rice, so that I am nourished, for, yea, I do need protein like St. Brad needs chocolate milk, and speaking of that, Lord, bringeth me chocolate soymilk and thou art my savior for realz, for this non-dairy drink has the optimal post-workout carb-fat-protein ratio, and it is good. amen.

Bloooood!

Last night I sliced the top part of my pinkie toe. I was coming out of the bathroom at 2 in the morning and tripped over the doorframe. Blooooood!
So in Adv. Modern today, anything with tendues or releves or deep plies was particularly painful, and I looked dumb during said basic exercises at the beginning of class.

We improved at the end of class, which was excellent and fun enough to forget about my pain. We did stuff against the wall . . . . . . kind of pretending the wall was the ground . . . . . like Spiderman . . . . .

Block 1, 2009

Block 1 is DA 225 The Body in Motion: Anatomy and Kinesiology

First week: Anatomy. We learn all the important muscles and bones.
2nd week: Movement analysis & Injuries.
3rd week: Application of Somatic methods such as Tai Chi, Pilates, Franklin method, etc.

We do (almost) an hour of Tai Chi every morning.
I love Tai Chi!

Dance Workshop photos

School's over, and people are uploading their DW photos. I'm putting some from various sources into semi-coherent slideshows.
Dolo's piece, "Inadvert"

Make a Free Flash Slideshow

I just started this, so I don't know how to keep it from being weird and zoomy.

Hip-hop video

Dance Movie

Still working on editing my final project. I have a lot of takes to sift through.
Here are some still frames.

Tales of Victory, Tales of Woe

Tales of Victory: I finished deep-cleaning my room in preparation for moving out in a couple of weeks.
It was a disaster area to be proud of.
Tales of Woe: Doing so did not uncover my cell phone, which has been missing for a week.
I hope it's not wedged between my desk and the wall.

There goes my Saturday

Logan and Seth came with me to the mall to shoot a short dance for camera.
We found the perfect dress for Logan, and Seth looked great in his suit & tie.
I started setting up a shot of the escalators, and security was dispatched within a minute to kick us out.
Dillard's. More like Dullard's.

3rd dance film