Who Me? Shimmy?!?
This entry is brought to you in significant part by moonborn, who, when I mentioned a week or two ago that I was going to start a Tribal Bellydance class, immediately responded with "Welcome to the sisterhood!"
To tell you the truth: without that, I might not have dragged myself away from the computer this evening, where I had been having a marvelous time wandering through this marvelous collection of LOTR and other films/stars photos. (Seriously, if you are an LOTR fan, or a fan of any of the stars, go there. There's a lot of stuff there I've never seen before. I must have right-clicked on 50 images! There's a whole series of pages on the different films.)
But I decided that I really did need to get up and go, since this class is supposed to do several things for me: contribute to my improving fitness, help re-awaken my sensuality, and give me something interesting to talk about. I've been feeling very boring again lately.
What a pleasure to get there and find an old friend, who also - it turns out - is on LJ as pathdancer.
The class itself was a challenge. I have enjoyed square dancing and contra dance, but that's all. I was a hopeless ballet student, worse at jazz, and have only had fun "free dancing" when tipsy. That has happened twice in my memory. (raptures_Shadow and Gothic_coop were there for that memorable night at the Vogue. stucco33 and topherius were there for the "Our Pomona" cast party. In fact, it was probably Topherius who was mixing the drinks that night!)
How hard can it be to swing your hips back and forth while gracefully moving your arms and walking forward? Don't ask me! I felt like I was trying to rub my tummy and pat my head at the same time - while not tripping!
But it was fun, and by the end of the hour we all found ourselves doing an improvised combination, following the teacher's cues, and actually knowing what we were doing - even if some of us were far from perfect in our execution. (First night, first night, I have to keep reminding myself. Yes, I tend to be a perfectionist. It's damned inhibiting!)
But, like I said, I had fun, and having pathdancer there makes it even more likely that I'll end up going back next week.
I need more new experiences.
There was an amazing moment early on in the class. We were in two circles, one inside the other, just stretching and moving gently to reach one arm up and then the other - and I suddenly felt a thrill of wonder to be in this circle of women and moving like this. It is a completely different experience from my other fitness activity: the one-on-one weight training with a very masculine trainer, striving to be tough and strong. It's hard to put into words how wonderful it was to experience that moment this evening. Neither experience is better than the other; I feel so fortunate to be able to participate in both.
To tell you the truth: without that, I might not have dragged myself away from the computer this evening, where I had been having a marvelous time wandering through this marvelous collection of LOTR and other films/stars photos. (Seriously, if you are an LOTR fan, or a fan of any of the stars, go there. There's a lot of stuff there I've never seen before. I must have right-clicked on 50 images! There's a whole series of pages on the different films.)
But I decided that I really did need to get up and go, since this class is supposed to do several things for me: contribute to my improving fitness, help re-awaken my sensuality, and give me something interesting to talk about. I've been feeling very boring again lately.
What a pleasure to get there and find an old friend, who also - it turns out - is on LJ as pathdancer.
The class itself was a challenge. I have enjoyed square dancing and contra dance, but that's all. I was a hopeless ballet student, worse at jazz, and have only had fun "free dancing" when tipsy. That has happened twice in my memory. (raptures_Shadow and Gothic_coop were there for that memorable night at the Vogue. stucco33 and topherius were there for the "Our Pomona" cast party. In fact, it was probably Topherius who was mixing the drinks that night!)
How hard can it be to swing your hips back and forth while gracefully moving your arms and walking forward? Don't ask me! I felt like I was trying to rub my tummy and pat my head at the same time - while not tripping!
But it was fun, and by the end of the hour we all found ourselves doing an improvised combination, following the teacher's cues, and actually knowing what we were doing - even if some of us were far from perfect in our execution. (First night, first night, I have to keep reminding myself. Yes, I tend to be a perfectionist. It's damned inhibiting!)
But, like I said, I had fun, and having pathdancer there makes it even more likely that I'll end up going back next week.
I need more new experiences.
There was an amazing moment early on in the class. We were in two circles, one inside the other, just stretching and moving gently to reach one arm up and then the other - and I suddenly felt a thrill of wonder to be in this circle of women and moving like this. It is a completely different experience from my other fitness activity: the one-on-one weight training with a very masculine trainer, striving to be tough and strong. It's hard to put into words how wonderful it was to experience that moment this evening. Neither experience is better than the other; I feel so fortunate to be able to participate in both.