(no subject)
You know it was a heck of a dance class when your feet still hurt the next morning.
Last night was the last class of the winter session. (What the hell? Didn't the session just start, like, two weeks ago? It feels that way.) We made our final attempts at mateixis (no, I never nailed it, but I got closer than I expected), and then in the final half-hour learned an entirely new little dance that only has two different kinds of steps and a few tricky arm movements. In addition, we had a guest, a student of flamenco guitar who uses our classes as an opportunity to practice playing with dancers, so we did exercises that would work with what he knows how to play. We did fewer castanet exercises than usual, but the footwork, paso de vasco and vueltas were much more intensive than usual. I was almost completely wiped out after 45 minutes, which was only half the class. But oh, was it a good a workout.
To go with the new dance, we had to do some new exercises: basic flamenco marking (step-touch-push off) and arm and hand exercises to get that iconic flamenco positioning. After doing those for a minute or so, I realized they weren't new at all; they were the drills that we did in the first session I took, last summer. So it was just a matter of refreshing my memory on how they worked. The arm/hand exercises are all about tension and isometrics, and they are excellent exercise. I'm adding those into my morning workout--they're much more effective than the basic braceo (arm position) drills, though I'm keeping the braceo to make sure I maintain good form.
Next session starts on April 9 (which is a shorter break than usual). That's immediately after Norwescon, the day that I'm scheduled to do final layout on our current project, and a week and a half before Kevin leaves the military (and we have no ideas yet what his job situation will be). I intend to be there (particularly since it will be sevillanas again), but whether life will permit that is still up in the air.
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I have Things To Say, and a whole lot of them, about the military-medical situation, and no real time to say them right now. All I will say for the moment is that this shouldn't be news, in the sense of it "suddenly" coming to light. Salon has been reporting on this crap for at least three years (some of you might recall me ranting about it back when Kevin was still in Afghanistan), and people associated with military have known about the poor and infuriating conditions for years and years now.
I just ask everyone to keep this in mind--to see that this is how we "support" our troops.
Last night was the last class of the winter session. (What the hell? Didn't the session just start, like, two weeks ago? It feels that way.) We made our final attempts at mateixis (no, I never nailed it, but I got closer than I expected), and then in the final half-hour learned an entirely new little dance that only has two different kinds of steps and a few tricky arm movements. In addition, we had a guest, a student of flamenco guitar who uses our classes as an opportunity to practice playing with dancers, so we did exercises that would work with what he knows how to play. We did fewer castanet exercises than usual, but the footwork, paso de vasco and vueltas were much more intensive than usual. I was almost completely wiped out after 45 minutes, which was only half the class. But oh, was it a good a workout.
To go with the new dance, we had to do some new exercises: basic flamenco marking (step-touch-push off) and arm and hand exercises to get that iconic flamenco positioning. After doing those for a minute or so, I realized they weren't new at all; they were the drills that we did in the first session I took, last summer. So it was just a matter of refreshing my memory on how they worked. The arm/hand exercises are all about tension and isometrics, and they are excellent exercise. I'm adding those into my morning workout--they're much more effective than the basic braceo (arm position) drills, though I'm keeping the braceo to make sure I maintain good form.
Next session starts on April 9 (which is a shorter break than usual). That's immediately after Norwescon, the day that I'm scheduled to do final layout on our current project, and a week and a half before Kevin leaves the military (and we have no ideas yet what his job situation will be). I intend to be there (particularly since it will be sevillanas again), but whether life will permit that is still up in the air.
===============================================
I have Things To Say, and a whole lot of them, about the military-medical situation, and no real time to say them right now. All I will say for the moment is that this shouldn't be news, in the sense of it "suddenly" coming to light. Salon has been reporting on this crap for at least three years (some of you might recall me ranting about it back when Kevin was still in Afghanistan), and people associated with military have known about the poor and infuriating conditions for years and years now.
I just ask everyone to keep this in mind--to see that this is how we "support" our troops.