Contents.

So I yet again have to graduate to a bigger dance bag.  I'm now carrying around Latin heels, jazz sneakers, half-sandals, character shoes, a suede sole brush, knee pads, assorted coined hip scarves, matching veils, Turkish zills, Oriental zills, a variety of practice pants, tops, and skirts, rubber bands, bobby pins, hair clips, headbands, hair spray, Band-aids, medical tape, NuSkin, clear nail polish, deodorant, breath mints and gum (necessary for partner dancing), and directions from each and every dance studio and practice space to the other, for days like today when I have back-to-back lessons or rehearsals.  It's easy (for me at least) to get hopelessly lost trying to get from one area of Manhattan to the other, especially down in the Village.

My lesson with Michael went well, I think, as we reiterated the choreography Tony gave us last week.  At one point when he and Tony were dancing it out, Michael said, "Tony - it's not for Karina," which cracked me up.  A nice way of saying make it easier, she's just starting, and still sucks.  The choreo is definitely complicated, super-twisty and turny and, I felt, very fast.  Then we put the music on and to my horror it's even faster than we had been practicing.  Michael assures me that I'll be ready by showcase time, so I'm putting my faith in that.

Then ran (literally at points) off to Reyna's advanced Friday night class, where we're working on technique and new choreography for upcoming performances and gigs.  We did a lot of cabaret-style work to warm up and then worked on a veil routine, which I really like because it highlights my ballet-trained arms and distracts from some still-messy technique.  I'm working so hard to get my ability up to where I want it to be, because I'm the newest girl in the performance group and I still feel like I have to prove myself.  But I'm also starting to really have fun and feel that sense of play when I'm dancing, which I think means I'm FINALLY starting to get it at that next level.  It's hard for little old OCD me to not be clinical, and want to know where to put every finger, each cock of the head, but Reyna keeps saying she wants us all to have our own flavor, and I'm doing my best to be delicious.

Comments

[tonya]

Hi! I love the new site! I tried to post a reply to you on the Winger m.b., but couldn't get it to go through ... I'll try again later. That's so great that you and Michael have your choreography all done -- now all you need to do is practice. I know -- Latin is so fast (at least cha cha and salsa) -- that's one of the hardest things I find about this style of dance, having good technique while moving as fast as you're supposed to. But you have plenty of time to work on the routine and build up to the pace it's supposed to be at. I can't wait to see it!

[SalomeJustitia]

Thanks, Tonya! Your blog is an inspriation; I hope to get this page up to that level.

So excited/nervous for the showcase; I'm sure we'll both have plenty to say on the topic for the next few months.