I was speaking with Abby last night, one of the girls I would have competed with at BluesSHOUT. Abby is a former model, ballet dancer, and comes from a missionary family in Japan (I believe.) Anyways, Abby proposed that she should start teaching me the basics of ballet, and after a little thought, I wondered why I hadn't asked her before. I guess it simply never occurred to me. So next week I plan to start working with Abby, and my goal for tonight is to build a portable ballet barre out of PVC, so I can practice at home. And go figure, but Abby dances Lindy Hop too... I never knew because I only see her dancing blues, but I think we'll start practicing our Lindy Hop as well.
I have a private lesson in tango tonight. I'm going to Carrie Whipple, one of the top instructors here in Portland. It will be my first tango private since I started dancing back in 2004 in Buenos Aires. I'm in a very different place now, and it will be interesting to have a private class with someone besides Brenda. I have grown accustomed to having super detailed explanations from working with Brenda, and let's face it, much of the partner dance world can't give you that.
Last night was my first night not dancing! I was fairly proud of myself. Of course, dancing stayed on the brain. I went walking around the slightly cool Portland night, naturally using this time to work on my posture and walking, trying to roll my foot flat through the ground, engage the inside muscles of my legs, use my stabilizing muscles to straighten my neck.. the list goes on. Each time I would come to a darkened store window, I would use it as a mirror to correct myself. After walking for 30-40 minutes, I found myself near the Lindy Hop dance where a Seattle band was playing that night. I decided to go in to take a look, not quite sure why or what was drawing me there. I didn't even have my dance shoes.
I started just watching people dance, noticing how the room bumped and moved to the music, and then I saw two dancers really moving well. It was nice watching them get sucked up into the energy of the music, and not only that, but creating a corresponding series of movements to the music- adding and layering on top of the music; making you hear breaks and riffs that you weren't noticing before watching them. It was rhythmic, and after seeing that dance, I knew that I had seen what I had came for, and I went walking home to eventually meet Abby and discuss ballet.
