SalomeJustitia

New direction.

So, it looks like I'm going to be needing a new title for my blog ...

After much soul-searching and discussion, I have made the decision to withdraw from law school and return to the working world - where, I'm not sure yet, but now is the time to move on.  I know!  I'm feeling a lot of things right now, but mostly excitement to start the next phase of my life.  In my heart, I have known for some time that I didn't actually want to be a lawyer.  But I have so many things I am passionate about, and now I need to figure out how to incorporate the things I truly love and am good at into my working life.  I knew that if I didn't go ahead and take this jump (with no safety net!) I would simply stay out of habit.  So big changes are afoot, and I'm sure I'll have plenty to say on the subject in the upcoming weeks.  As for now, my dancing is going to stay the same - maybe I'll even get to take a few more classes now that I have joined the ranks of the unemployed!

In the meantime, how about nominations for new blog titles?  I think I'd like to keep the Salome, but maybe incorporate a ballroom element.  SalomeSamba, in a nod to Tonya?  Or something with a Shimmy in it?  That covers bellydance and Latin - hmm, I like that a lot, maybe I'll run with that.  Who has ideas?

Gearing up.

Reyna is ON FIRE.  I'm in awe of artists in a creative stage, and Reyna is definitely having one of those.  She always has interesting combinations in class, but choreography is just pouring out of her recently, and it's so fun to watch her cock her head just a touch to the side, listen to the music, try a series of steps with us, shake her head and rewind, and then come up with the perfect moves.  Moves I would never think of, both hitting the beats perfectly and finding the syncopation.

Tonight we continued with the Amani el Omr veil piece which has some balletic elements I just love, but focused on an incredible Zambra routine.  Zambra is flamenco with Middle Eastern rhythm, and the music we're using is flamenco mixed with bellydance music.  The whole opening has our entire upper body enclosed in veils (such a cool effect) and then there's a lot of wrapping of the veil around the body, sort of bullfight/cape style.  We've only just begun, but I think it's going to be my favorite piece she's ever done.

Reyna's on fire about getting us performing more, as well.  She's realized that we're her product, and she needs to market us (in a good way, of course) in order to market herself.  We have plans for Rakkasah West, and so we're going to do a showcase soon to raise money for our expenses.  Which means a solo (bites nails in terror and excitement!!) for each of us along with a few group routines.  I've always been a group dancer, and I'm used to the comfort of the corps, or the life raft of a partner.  Being out there, just me, is going to be a whole new world.  All that talk about expression and engaging the audience - even more important as a soloist; I'd better get practicing in front of the mirror.  But if all of this pans out, I'll be busy dancing these next few months: the gig on December 15, bellydance showcase in January, Rakkasah in March, and the bellydance show and ballroom showcase in April.  Plus five law school classes, work, and my appellate case!  I guess sleep is out (it's overrated anyway).

Overextended.

That's me in one word.  I truly think this is the busiest I've ever been in my whole life, but then again, I've only lived a little over a quarter century and most of that was in a tiny rural town without much to do, so maybe my busy-meter is off.

They say about law school: in the first year they scare you to death, in the second year they work you to death, and in the third year they bore you to death.  Well, I can't wait to be bored, because this 2L year is leaving little time for sleep (who needs it anyway?).  Between the Criminal Appeals Clinic, my upper-level classes, my journal, the two clubs I foolishly ran for executive board of, and the new club I'm starting, school is just a whirl.  Plus I stayed on as a law clerk at my summer job, where they are extremely flexible about my time, bless them, but commuting to Newark really takes a chunk out of those days.  If only I didn't get train sick and could do work while riding the rails!  But the job funds ...

Dancing, dancing, and more dancing!  I'm living in NYC during the week for school; so I'm away from my husband and have no one to come home to in the evenings.  I need something to fill my time other than hornbooks and case cites, so why not take advantage of living in the dance capital of the U.S.A. and take lessons with the great dancers and teachers working in NYC?   I was so lucky to find Reyna last year and she has made me realize that this ballet-beaten body was meant to bellydance.  I'm working hard to meet her standards and she amazingly asked me to start doing shows with the other girls recently, so we're constantly working on new material and performing.  And ballroom!  I obsessively watched those PBS ballroom specials in my teens and so remember Tony Meredith and Melanie LaPatin winning the national title in Latin.  They were always my favorite and when I found out they had a dance studio in the city, I knew I had to study there.  My teacher Michael is a doll and is being very patient with a newbie to partner dancing.  His biggest compliment so far has been "pretty not bad."  One day I hope to graduate to "not bad."  We're working on this crazy-fast cha-cha/salsa routine for the studio's showcase early next year (choreographed by Tony himself, who I still get nervous around) and I'm having a great time with it, though it's hard for a perfectionist like me to not be able to make my body do exactly what I want it to.  The good thing about partner dancing is, though, that I can't look at the mirror, so I don't actually have to see how much improvement is needed.

So, maybe overextended is the right adjective for the moment.  But so is striving, and it's never a bad thing to push yourself to the next level.