Third week

Woo, third week now that I'm working on my dancing :)! Today's practice was extra nice because I had company. I was joined by my former ballet friend Clara, who's owned a pair of tap shoes for, say, two weeks? But she's super musical, has danced ballet for decades and understands rhythm, so we had a really enjoyable catch-up and beginner technique-class-slash-improv session. :) We did that for about an hour before she left me to my devices (literally, as in the video camera). 

So for this week's tap improv I got it into my head that I needed to work more on lightness, since my style is normally kind of heavy. So off I went... and I'm not sure I succeeded at keeping it light all the time (perhaps a song including elephant references was a very poor choice), but even with lapses and all I think there's a noticeable difference in "tone" between this and my last videos. For some reason, my speed picked up quite a bit in some steps... not always for the better.  ;)

There are some mess-ups in there, as my facial expression reveals, and that silly stern face seems to still be plaguing me. Maybe I should stop listening to music featuring vocals by grumpy men?

I took a break for some non-tap dancing this time too, but unfortunately my phone died so I had no music... Just as an experiment, I tried freestyle dancing in silence, imagining a Haim song ("Go Slow") for a bit of tribal fusion (=belly dance) improv. It's actually my first belly dance improv ever on tape, so be kind... Granted, it was a bit spontaneous so I didn't bother with adjusting my attire to something more belly dance-appropriate. I'm not sure I can stomach that yet (hurr hurr) ;P
But when I got home and started editing I happened upon an entirely different song (thanks to a random playlist) that fit the moves uncannily well, so this is how that turned out:


Not good, not bad, but  I'm kind of pleased that I've gotten over my mental hurdle of recording a tribal improv - of all the dances I've tried in life, it's one of the ones that I'm least confident about, even if it's meant to be done with assurance. It makes me feel a little more self-conscious than usual. I don't know if it's because I started learning it after 30, but I hope I get better at it, because it's also one of the most fun, intricate and musical dance forms I've tried, plus you get to discover muscles in your stomach you never knew you had! Maybe there'll be more of that in the future if I feel brave enough... no promises. :)

More dance! And a sterrrn face.

Sometimes things go easier than expected - I wasn't expecting to feel quite so enthusiastic after posting my first tap improv video, but it got me really motivated to improve (and some friends gave me encouraging feedback, thanks guys! :) so I ended up back in the cellar a week later, again with the camera, and successfully recorded more improv dancing!

This particular session got interesting, because I'd been watching a lot of hiphop dance videos from Urban Dance Camp prior to it and felt a bit inspired and nostalgic (hiphop is one of the things I took classes in as a teen).
As promised, here's the Dr. Dre song (which my tap crew and I use for warm-up). I got a good laugh at my fantastically stern hiphop-face that I was completely unaware that I had... bahaha, so G ;) This is why video is a powerful teacher.

But what was more interesting was that in between tap takes - where I honestly wasn't feeling so free in my movements - I decided to goof off with some hiphop improv too. And honestly, I kind of like the hiphop better - my tap shoes are super slippery, so I feel kind of limited with throwing my weight around too much (falling with metal-soled shoes somehow feels more dangerous than other ways of being shod). So it was a relief, and quite liberating, to feel some traction in my sneakers, and just concentrate on the dancing and expression - even if I was worried that I'd forgotten how to do it. I had been a bit worried that my body wouldn't have the stamina I had when I danced hiphop last, about 12+ years ago... Keeping up the energy for a whole song is actually pretty strenuous. But it worked, and something that makes me glad is that I see that I've been influenced by these last few years of tribal fusion belly dancing, it's done wonders for my 'lyrical' and 'popping' :) I see things that I want to improve here too, but performance-wise, I'm obviously happier! ;)


I think it shows in my face, too.

Voilá, some tap improv!

For various reasons, here's a video of me doing some improvised tap-dancing in a cellar at the university I work at. It's not perfect, sometimes it's not super interesting, and I was sweaty and near the end of my stamina... but it's a fair idea of how I do improv as of now.

I've been inspired to do this by Anna, a very cool dance friend of mine, who just finished a year-long project where she recorded herself once a week doing belly-dance improvisation, in order to learn, become more aware of her movement vocab, to mess up and survive anyway, and (in my opinion) just be generally badass.

I'm not sure I can make once a week fly, but I'm going to start using video to start looking at and hopefully improving my dancing (in whatever form feels right for the moment, I have a few to choose from ;) and figure out what's working and what I can/want to do differently.

Tap has been in my life for 21 years (yikes I'm ancient!) and I still love it, especially improv. Although I have fallen off the practice wagon royally the past few years, with months in between practices :P... But every little now and again when I practice, I think "Ah, not bad, still got it! (...  ...  ...) Aaaah eff, now what the h*** was that! Blech.".

Inner monologues aside, I had fun messing around but I see a ton of things I want to work on already... Which is strangely motivating. :)

So here y'all: Lousy camera angle, some sloppy moments and a face that is only sometimes in "performance mode". And the sound of the "drumming" in my head just baaaarely getting translated into footwork.

(Next time, I'll probably do a Dr. Dre song :)





tap improv, mar 10th from clickfoot on Vimeo.