Dare to be stupid

Want to make a dancer with 29 years of experience feel like a complete novice? Put her in a ballroom class. After taking a few months' worth of classes in International Standard, I have a new appreciation for the 14 years I had to learn ballet when I was growing up. Thanks, Mom, for starting me when I was three! I know I can learn the ballroom technique, but I doubt I'll ever feel the same mastery of it that I feel of ballet. I'm not trying to say that I'm the world's greatest ballerina, just that I'm very comfortable with the movement vocabulary. And speaking of vocabularies, I'm having to learn a whole new one for ballroom. You've seen below my explorations of "telemarks" and "cortés." (I could go off on about five different tangents at this point, but let's not derail my train of thought.) My teacher recites the names of each step as he demonstrates it, but, as I'm discovering, it's a great deal more difficult to learn a combination when you have to remember the components of the steps (or "patterns" as they like to call them) in addition to the order. In ballet class, the teacher could call out "jeté, jeté, pas de bourreé, ballotté," and I would know what to do without having to think, "Ok, start by brushing my right foot to the side, jump off my left, and land with my right foot replacing it," et cetera. I'm not crazy about an art form that's been codified to the extent ballroom has, but one advantage of that, at least for blogging, is that I already know how to spell the pattern names from staring at the charts, trying to match what we did in class with "LF, backing LOD...." I had to look up spellings for half the ballet terms above! I suppose it helps that most of the terms are in English and not French. It's actually kind of fun to feel stupid in a dance class. I've always loved learning, and this gives me a chance to learn something entirely new about one of the things I love best, dancing. It may also give me new insight on teaching ballet to adult beginners. Ballet knowledge is definitely making it easier to learn ballroom, but more on that in a later post.

FLY in New York

It's nice to see a local dance company reviewed in the New York Times. FLY Dance Company was in the city (New York) to perform in the Lincoln Out of Doors Festival and got a nice write-up in yesterday's edition. If you want to see what all the fuss is about, go to the Miller Outdoor Theater this Saturday, September 3, where FLY is presenting a free show.

Waltz across Texas

Well, I finally found out what those funny-sounding waltz steps are. Turns out an Open Telemark is just a Closed Telemark that ends in Promenade Position. Does that clear it up for everybody? No? Note: The Cross Hesitation can be used from other positions and may be overturned, but only when the Supreme Court is in session. And a Hover Corte is really a Hover Corté. The Hoover Corté is a different step entirely and can only be done on carpet. One other comment on this old post: it appears that ridiculous amounts of feathers are no longer in fashion in the ballroom world (thank you, God). Just one more fashion disas... uh, I mean style to chalk up to the ol' Eighties.

My apple has no worm

August is something of a desert for dance performances. Ok, I missed a Flamenco show on Saturday at Talento Bilingue de Houston that sounded great, but Saturday night I didn't even have the energy to watch the movie I rented, much less go to a performance. I do however, plan to be at the FrenetiCore performance at Barnevelder this Friday. Boldly going where no other dance company goes, FrenetiCore is presenting Deviations on August 12, 13, 15, 19, and 20. If you think you know fairy tales, think again; poet Anne Sexton retells some of the tales collected by the Grimm brothers in her book Transformations. FrenetiCore presents its interpretation of this poetry set to music by Two Star Symphony and Robert Thoth of FrenetiCore. It's powerful stuff:

If you danced from midnight to six A.M. who would understand? [...] The insomniac listening to his heart thumping like a June bug, listening on his transistor to Long John Nebel arguing from New York, lying on his bed like a stone table, would understand.

Sounds like some rehearsals I've been to. By the way, if you've ever asked yourself, "Self, how did the Barnvelder Movement/Arts Complex get its name?", the answer, a quote from the link above, is, "Barnevelder is a Dutch breed of big range of chicken and a city in the Netherlands." Ask a silly question....

You go, girl

I'm pleased to announce that my dog Gretchen has started a blog. Check it out at dogsdotooblog.blogspot.com: Blogging the Binkie.