Starting a couple weeks ago, I changed the way I approach dance training, particular when training by myself.

• Sometimes I used the mirror, sometimes I do not – I have mentioned this to some others that the mirror can become a crutch, could end up maladaptive, where we are overly relying on the mirror, which of course is not always available
• I perform a “warm up” before
• I’m able to train longer before – my physical endurance has improved. I’m not talking about cardiovascular. I’m talking about my muscles (particularly leg muscles) sustaining longer amount of time dancing. There have been sessions where I wanted to train more but was hitting limits on my physical ability
• I find it sometimes lack the motivation to start the training – but as soon as begin, I’m locked in … in the zone.
• I enjoy watching back the footage, often surprised that my creativity lead to something that I consider beautiful
• I’ve been reviewing my footage with the hopes of using it as input for future dance sessions – whenever I see something (e.g. right arm stiff) that I want to work on, I’d like to write it down and feed the feedback to future dance trainings
• My body is getting stronger and I’m able to train longer and longer
• Leg muscles hate the exercise of quickly

December 04, 2024

What did I work on?

What are my areas of growth?

• Staying on time when performing loose leg with toe tap – Loose leg to toe tap and then was initially struggling to catch the next beginning four count

December 06, 2024

What did I work on?

• Some moves from Jevan’s choreography from this past Thursday

I started uploading my entire dance trainings onto YouTube (as unlisted, since they are primary for my own eyes).

Although I keep a dance journal (using Obsidian), it’s not well maintained. I’d like to keep an online dance journal primarily for myself, and secondarily for anyone who finds the act of practicing as enjoyable as performing.

What are some things that creativity sparked something beautiful?

• 3 counts of 1/16th cross step with an 8 count pause to the other side
• Transition from dodger into swirl – totally unexpected and felt awkward but when looking back at the footage, looks quite aesthetic
• Dodger on one side repeatedly
• Musicality with pas de bourree with a hop – still struggled with initially translating what I heard into what I was moving
• For the setup, I cut some piece of it and repeated it, jumping two half circles

Where are my areas of growth?

• Right arm a bit stiff when dancing
• Stiffness in arms asymmetrical when dancing
• Continue practice holding the count longer, especially for pas de bourree and cross step, the standard groove I tend to rush past
• When performing head isolation left and right, chin is sometimes too far out, pull back towards center (which looks like the appropriate resting position though it feels like I’m pulling back too far despite the positioning looking more aesthetic and correct)
• My shoulders are quite stiff, hunched forward