Tag: 108daysofdance

108 Days of Dance: Insights from the almost halfway point

Posted on by Sandy in bellydance, Mindful movement, Torontobellydance, torontodance

 

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108 Days of Dance

It’s day 47 of 108 Days of Dance, my own personal challenge to dance each day. For a few reasons: general enjoyment of dance and movement aka FUN!, also to up my practice game, to work on technique refinement as well as improvisation. I had intended to document at least once a week on my blog via video, and write my insights along the way. Yet here I am at almost halfway, having done the practice, foregoing the documentation. Begging the new cultural question, if it wasn’t posted online has it really happened?

This challenge for me has been a mostly solitary process, though much of my dancing is just the opposite: for and with other people. Filming oneself practicing is a strange thing. See, I practice to practice (and perform to perform)…I mean, I’m already looking at myself in the mirror which is in and of itself a type of performance. But enter the camera, recording for the purpose of sharing through social media, and another layer of awareness inserts itself into the process. Case in point: yesterday I posted a poorly-shot video of myself doing sun salutations to a favourite community radio show: Groove Concept Radio. Grainy and ill-framed, I wobbled sideways in my transition from downward dog to warrior…immediately my mind wandered to the edit, or maybe I should re-shoot that sequence? Instead, I left it as is. Yoga as any other form of dance/movement is imperfect, as we struggle through visceral experiences of this mortal coil (aka the meat suit) and the fluctuations of the mind. Not to mention the emotions that arise through movement, for better and worse!

So all of this is to say that I mostly prefer to be alone for my movement practice(s). Or at least with others who are focused internally yet also fully entrained in our collective experience (aka dance class).

In conclusion friends, I have in fact been dancing each and every day for this 108 Days of Dance. A few insights have been around the power of solitary practice, like the solitude of most creativity and innovation (at least the root of a new idea or creation, even if later collaborative, happens for most people in a solitary moment). During this time I have added a new class at Dragonfly to my schedule, tofu-ing (no beefing for this vegan!) up my home practice (mostly tribal fusion and cabaret styles) and weekly troupe rehearsals (shout out to my Serpentinis!). I guess what I’ve realized so far is that its not too far a stretch from my regular practice to dance each and every day. Though, it has created a new level of discipline, with the goal of maintaining a daily practice with this challenge, as I did with yoga in the wake of my teacher training a couple of years ago.

How about YOU? Do you prefer to practice movement alone or with others? How is it helpful (or not) to post your practice on social media?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rainy day dance drills

Posted on by Sandy in bellydance, Uncategorized

Day 16 (earlier this week) was all about small isolations. Sharing dance drills footage is a little intimidating because, well, it just doesn’t look much like dance. But dance drills are a crucial element of well rounded practice and are not as free as dancing. Working with layering upper body movements over ongoing and well timed hip shimmy can make the lips purse and the brows furrow. Maybe a little angry dancer face happening in this clip…

How could you ever talk about dance without also talking about music?! The same day I filmed this little clip, I later on had the pleasure of seeing The Specials at the Danforth Music hall and though we were waaaaay in the back, we found room to dance in the aisles.

 

 

 

 

108 Days of Dance

Posted on by Sandy in bellydance, Mindful movement, Torontobellydance, torontodance

IMG_5921On this lucky 13th day of 108 Days of Dance, I’ve decided to share my personal practice challenge with you all: to make dance a daily practice for 108 days, with the intention of upping my dance game.

My experience of 108 days of yoga after completing my 200- hour yoga teacher training in 2015, was such a profound experience that I am giving it a whirl with dance!

Dance has been an important and regular part of my life for many years now, and often longer term practice needs a boost, whether its a new class, a new teacher, a new challenge of sorts. I’ve decided my new challenge is 108 days of dance –so yes, dance every single day! Ideally, as with the yoga challenge, it is to be at least an hour per day. But more important than the time is the consistency, and as with any physical practice there is an adjustment period.

The first week was fine, fueled by the excitement of the challenge and opting to keep it to myself in the beginning. The second week was a little less pleasant in my body as its also the week I returned to commuting by bike. From a winter of walking and transit, I began two hours of cycling per day, in addition to the usual yoga and now the daily dose of dance. Counting toward this daily practice of course are the regular classes, troupe rehearsals, performances and nights out on the dance floor. I hope to change the timing of some of my practice as well to be able to do more yoga and/or dance in the morning before work. As a not-so-morning person, this may prove the most difficult part.

Each day of dance brings a unique focus and challenge: lastnight’s practice was specific to arm and hand isolations, with a soundtrack of Bach, while today was all about tribal fusion drills including chest figure eights over hip locks and traveling hip work. Other times I freestyle to classical Arabic music, ragtime, downtempo world electronic music, broken beat, vintage reggae or classic house.

Stay tuned for more updates on my 108 Days of Dance!