Wow! There is so much more to this than I could ever imagine! I am planning my first dance to do in front of family at our Christmas gathering this year. Two years ago, without any prior lessons other than some Shimmy fit DVD's, I found a teacher willing to teach me a VERY simple choreography that consisted of a couple turns with a veil, a shimmy and some side to side steps. I think there were like four steps in the dance to a 2 minute song that she even slowed down for me on her magic machine. I had 3 lessons with her, that pretty much destroyed my confidence in anything that I thought I had learned.
Last year, I was going to try to dance again and really did start working out a choreography with the ONLY local belly dance teacher. She is wonderful and I asked the impossible of her- help me work out a whole choreography in 3 hours- and by this time, I had 8 lessons in a real class. Christmas was super busy and we didn't do our show because we were missing key family members. But this year, we will nearly all be together again.
I am working on the same song I planned last year, but I can't remember what all the notations of the choreography mean. So, I am working it out on my own with last year's notes as a guide. There are many things that make this undertaking complicated for me.
Firstly, I don't yet understand music and often have to have someone else count out the beats for me. I will hear 6 or 7 when everyone else clearly hears that 8 count. ( I actually just learned about 8 counts last year). I am not yet comfortable with improvising at all, so I need to work it all out and memorize it. I don't know how to write the music or dance notes down. I am learning.
Secondly, I am learning that one can not just string together 8 count phrases because one phrase must lead to the next. I have to figure out how to end up where I want to be, that is, which foot, facing which direction in order to move to the next step. I have been working out the expression of the lyrics and know in my head what I want to do, but when I start practicing, I realize..oh, that doesn't work because in the last move I ended on DSR with arms in second. Wow! I can't believe that came out of my mouth.
Thirdly, my eyes are bigger than my belly. I mean, I imagine moving to the music like I saw in Rachel's DVD, but um, I actually can't DO sidewinder. So, the challenge is to either learn some things that are not yet in my scope ( that is what I say as a nurse practitioner, not sure what a dancer would say) or learn to express myself in a much simpler way, but with moves that are actually graceful rather than forced when I do them.
It is fun and challenging. My family will have no idea if I mess up. Well, one of my daughter in laws has taken up belly dancing, so SHE will know, but she will laugh with me, not at me.
Last year, I was going to try to dance again and really did start working out a choreography with the ONLY local belly dance teacher. She is wonderful and I asked the impossible of her- help me work out a whole choreography in 3 hours- and by this time, I had 8 lessons in a real class. Christmas was super busy and we didn't do our show because we were missing key family members. But this year, we will nearly all be together again.
I am working on the same song I planned last year, but I can't remember what all the notations of the choreography mean. So, I am working it out on my own with last year's notes as a guide. There are many things that make this undertaking complicated for me.
Firstly, I don't yet understand music and often have to have someone else count out the beats for me. I will hear 6 or 7 when everyone else clearly hears that 8 count. ( I actually just learned about 8 counts last year). I am not yet comfortable with improvising at all, so I need to work it all out and memorize it. I don't know how to write the music or dance notes down. I am learning.
Secondly, I am learning that one can not just string together 8 count phrases because one phrase must lead to the next. I have to figure out how to end up where I want to be, that is, which foot, facing which direction in order to move to the next step. I have been working out the expression of the lyrics and know in my head what I want to do, but when I start practicing, I realize..oh, that doesn't work because in the last move I ended on DSR with arms in second. Wow! I can't believe that came out of my mouth.
Thirdly, my eyes are bigger than my belly. I mean, I imagine moving to the music like I saw in Rachel's DVD, but um, I actually can't DO sidewinder. So, the challenge is to either learn some things that are not yet in my scope ( that is what I say as a nurse practitioner, not sure what a dancer would say) or learn to express myself in a much simpler way, but with moves that are actually graceful rather than forced when I do them.
It is fun and challenging. My family will have no idea if I mess up. Well, one of my daughter in laws has taken up belly dancing, so SHE will know, but she will laugh with me, not at me.
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ReplyDeleteYou have learned a lot in the last couple of years. So, it's more like choreahhhhhgraphy!
ReplyDeleteI never tire of your cleverness. It will be eventually. I have to let it process a day or two.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about me noticing any mistakes. My timing is awful. I did get a lot of compliments the last class on my form, but somehow I still end up completely off the count by the end of every drill.
ReplyDeleteTiming is tricky. I think the first few counts are okay, but then I concentrate on the move and lose the count. I figure that the timing will get better when my form gets better. When the move is in my muscle memory. Like we don't have to think about most of the hip moves now- and so I can keep the beat. But add chest? Uh.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of dance are you taking? Cabaret or tribal?
ReplyDeleteIts Cabaret with zills. I think I pretty much have the muscle memory down, but I just don't understand timing to the music. I just never know when the measure begins and ends. During class, I really try and listen to the music and watch to see when the teacher moves, but when I get home the music sounds so foreign even though its the same song.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see you dance at Christmas!
ReplyDelete