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. :)