Tag: house dance london

  • Dance, discomfort and making mistakes

    Lots of dance activities going on lately and wanted to take a moment to reflect on the journey.

    Choreography volunteer as a dancer for video shoot promotion

    Last week, Francesa messaged me over Instagram, re-sharing an Instagram story, where Vi (an elite dancer from Japan currently located in London, teaching House and Locking and Hip-Hop) requested volunteers for dancers to come learn his choreography that would be filmed as a promotional video for his upcoming class:

    I received this message late on June 7th, the night before the shoot itself. First, I really appreciated Francesa sharing this with me and the fact that I was even on her radar. Second, I experienced mixed emotions, excitement, joy, anxiety. Excitement that I could be involved in something as cool as this, given that I just entered the dance scene about two years ago. Young Matt would’ve been so elated (I myself now, at 37, am elated). And as far as anxiety, I had thoughts like:

    “I’ve choked before during choreography, what if it happens again?”

    “I’ve never taken a class for Vi … what if his choreography is beyond my level?”

    “Should I just hide in the back? But what if only a couple people show up and there’s nowhere to run?”

    Despite having these thoughts, I not only signed up, but forwarded the screenshot to a couple friends, one of which (Aubrey) enlisted herself as well. Part of the reason (a big one), right around the same time of seeing Vi’s announcement, I had read a series of Jo-L’s stories on Instagram. In a nutshell, he basically stated that while we all know that discomfort and mistakes are part and parcel of growth, despite recognizing that reality cognitively, we tend to make decisions (unknowingly) that keep us in a state of comfort. Though I do believe that I am growing and putting myself out there, I definitely knew that signing up for Vi’s choreography was putting myself in discomfort.

    Not only that, but I had somewhat other anxiety reducing thoughts such as:

    • Even if I choke, so what? You are still whole
    • Everyone messes up sometimes
    • The pros (challenge, learning, growth) outweigh the cons (embarrassment)

    In the end, I did it and thrived and nailed the choreography. Not only that, instead of lurking in the back, I positioned myself up front, no where to hide. Finally, even if I did flop, I would’ve been proud of myself either way.

    Some takeaways

    • Starting the loose legs on on the “2” (instead of the “1”) – Almost always, I start the loose legs at the start of a bar. It’s quite common for us (house) dancers to begin our movement on the first downbeat. However, Vi started the choreography with performing a little hop on the “1” and the on the “2”, starting the loose legs. This change of timing is something I’ll take away as a learned lesson
    • Tilting torso to the left while hopping on the right before the shuffle – this was an unusual move for me, one that I’ve yet to perform before. When he demonstrated the move initially, I could not at first identify what I was doing different when comparing my figure in the mirror to his. Eventually, I paused and watched carefully and noticed that he was not rotating his trunk and instead, facing forwards and only ever so slightly stretching the top left of his body
    • Applying a different variation to the tic tac toe movement – I took away a new rhythm and a variation that I like and will drill and incorporate into my freestyle (I did already actually, during Kev’s Kitchen a couple days ago, which I’ll blog about shortly)

    Challenges during choreography

    • Salsa step and then hop
    • Additional “stutter” steps between pas de bourree transition into the salsa step
  • Created my first YouTube playlist for House Dance Class Recap videos

    Created my first YouTube playlist for House Dance Class Recap videos

    Creating YouTube Playlist on my channel serves multiple purposes. First, doing so in a way for me to practice my organization skills. Second, a playlist enables me to chronologically view my dance journey. Third, playlists help viewers (subscribers and non-subscribers) paint a better picture of what dance classes in studios look and feel like.

    Now, I do have a backlog of edited house dance recap videos that live on my iPhone and Instagram (stories), not yet uploaded to YouTube. How many? If I had to guess, probably in the range of 50 videos or so. Will I upload all of them? Although I’d like to, probably not. Perhaps a select few.

    What other playlists will I want to create? Off the cuff, here are a few ideas

    • Stretching and flexibility journey – I started stretching on May 16, 2024 (162 days ago) and similar to my dance, I’ve been documenting my flexibility journey
    • Daughter and dad recap videos – Whenever I watch videos of Elliott and me, I feel joy and love. It’s yet another way to remind myself that I am living a life that’s both worth living and living a live that’s aligned with my long term values
  • U.S. friend visiting me in London: weekend reflection

    U.S. friend visiting me in London: weekend reflection

    My Seattle based dance friend named Mateus flew in Thursday evening and stayed at my flat (goodness I’m so British now) with me until Sunday morning, when he flew back and returned to the states. These past days, I felt a lot of joy and love and gratefulness. Now, I just rode the bus with him to Wimbledon, dropping him off at the station and I’m now cozily posted up in the Starbucks located across the the street, sipping on my earl grey tea + soy milk + honey and writing this little blog post.

    Here’s the main squeeze

    • Less anxiousness compared to previous instances when guests stayed with me in the past – Historically, I’d have a lot of worry thoughts leading up any guest staying with me: “Gosh, I need to clean up around here; I’m so messy” ; “Is there enough space in the house?”; “Are we going to get along; what will they think if XYZ”; “What if we both need to take a shit at the same time”. Nowadays, thanks to all the dialectical behavioral therapy training I received, along with me current work on eliminating (or reducing) fear of opinion of others (FOPO), I’m finding that I’m spending less time preoccupying myself with worry thoughts and spending less time anticipating what others may (or may not) think of me
    • Increased confidence that getting a divorce was the right decision – I’ve said this and I’ll say it again: the divorce has been the most painful and yet most awakening, profound, spiritual experience of my life, giving me a glimpse into not only the true nature of people — I admit that the criticisms of me have been true: I often give people too much the benefit of the doubt. With certain events unfolding over the weekend, I feel it even more in bones that I’m on the “right” path, my own path, practicing what my daughter says to me: “just being me.”
    • Experienced feelings of pride after two instances of sober dancing – I used to get crippling anxiety out of fear of embarrassing myself when dancing in front of others. Actually, digging into this deep, it was probably also (unjustified) shame about who I was. Fast forward to present day, I’m finding my ability to dance in social contexts without over-indexing on “what are people thinking of me”. This in itself is a victory and in Kit Laughlin’s words: “no victory too small to celebrate”

    Highlights of the trip

    Dance on Thursday Night: Class ➡️ Caravan

    Me dancing in the middle of the dance floor at Caravan, a monthly jam where DJs, dancers, musicians, singers all perform under a single roof
    Despite dancing in a studio and participating in battles and jams, getting pulled into a cypher consisting of people (dancers and whatnot) in a new space absolutely terrified me and I enjoyed it because there were moments where I drew in multiple deep breaths to relax myself during the performance Credit: @lishaatretton

    Every time a (dance community member) friend from Seattle visits me in London, I invite them to join me at dance classes.

    So far, I’ve the following individuals have visited me:

    • Kennedy – Stayed in my flat with me for about a week
    • Will – Went to two dance classes with me on Tuesday and Thursday and grabbed dinner and tea at Vauxhall’s Tea House Theatre
    • Pat (and Chandler) – Attended Jevan’s class with me on Thursday and then three of us ate dinner at Vauxhall market place
    • Mateus

    That’s a total of 5 people in 5 months!

    Each and every time I’m visited, my energy and spirits are lifted.

    Vauxhall, dance class, being offered a churro and Caravan

    And this past Thursday with Mateus: no exception. The two of us were able to survive one of the most physically demanding classes on Thursday night – the instructor Kashmire who was subbing for the instructor, Jevan — and following the evening, him and I (along with a new London dance friend named Aubrey) grabbed some dinner at Vauxhall marketplace.

    The Vauxhall marketplace was surprisingly packed. I had walked up and down the market place several times searching for an empty table. In the end, I found a rather long table that was partially occupied with two groups, one group consisting of a young man (probably about 20 years old) eating in the corner by himself. I had noticed he was eating churros and commented that “I love churros! How is it? I’m probably going to go grab one myself.” His face lit up, said it was tasty, and then offered me some of his churro. Initially, I said that was so kind and thank you but I’ll purchase my own. However, in the moment, I had interpreted his offering as a gesture, a bid for connection. So I remained curious and followed up, “I really appreciate your offer and not sure if you’re just being polite. You sure I can have a piece of churro?” He quickly nodded. I thank the DBT skills that I’ve developed over the years to remain mindful, to check in with my emotions, and my (increased) willingness to sit with uncertainty and discomfort. After scarfing down one of his churros, that opened up the channels of communication between the four of us — me, my two friends, and this total stranger — and ultimately had a lovely conversation before he took off to head back towards South London.

    Favorite moments at Caravan

    Caravan is a monthly event curated by artists. The event itself attracts predominately dancers, musicians, singers — artists. I enjoyed going this particular evening especially since I attended along side Mateus and Aubrey.

    In addition, all three of us — at different times — got pulled into the center of the dance floor, each of us dancing and freestyling. I loved witnessing both of them dance and can say that I was in both awe and proud of Aubrey because that was the first time (in about 5 months since I’ve known her) see her break a smile on her face while dancing. Whether or not she was feeling it or not, she conveyed a sense of joy during her performance. I felt it.

    As for me, I was both anxious when I got called and drew in a couple deep breathes and “let go”, turning off the left side of my brain. I even was able to express musicality and hit the drums that were kicking in. Even though I dance in a studio, battle, the environment was different. Strangers. New Space. The environment completely changes the vibe and ultimately, it felt unfamiliar. I’m not the first to admit that the environment itself can alter the way one moves. In fact, I stumbled on an article describing catching the ghost and that academic paper talks about how other (very experience house dancer experts) share similar sentiments, that the space and crowd (i.e. “civilians”) play a role in one’s dance.

    Clubbing at Fabric on Friday Night

    (Re) Discovering I fail to whisper quietly

    Apparently, I cannot whisper (quietly) and increasing self-awareness of my loud whispering voice. On Friday evening, Mateus and I were sitting next to one another on a bench located outside the night club (Fabric), each of us eating a sandwich. Then a group of beautiful women walked past by us and I wanted to signal Mateus to look and (in my head) thought that I was being subtle. However, Mateus burst out in laughter letting me know that my “yo yo yo” was the antithesis of being subtle and that I practically shouted those words out and if I was trying to be inconspicuous, I had failed.

    There’s a discrepancy between what I sound like versus what people hear and this difference is a good example of self-awareness (or lack thereof).

    Stopping by my daughter’s birthday party hosted by her mom

    I experienced joy seeing Elliott light up at her birthday party. I experienced some grief. And ultimately, the visit itself served as a strong reminder that getting divorced from my ex was/is the best thing for me.

    My ex had invited me to attend my daughter’s birthday that was going to be hosted by her and her family, the party taking place at her mom’s house. I had mentioned a numerous amount of times to my ex that I feel uncomfortable being in the same space as her, especially since (almost a year later since our initial official separation) we’re in the midst of a rather contentious divorce. Moreover, when the two of us are confined in a small space together, old behaviors and patterns and interpersonal interactions flare up, part of the reasons that drove us apart. I can only speak from my perspective that I want little to not interactions between my daughter’s mother however there are rare instances where I’m willing to be co-located in the same space, for my daughter.

    I didn’t want to mask while I was attending at the party and at the same time, I had emotionally and prepared myself (to the best of my ability) for stepping into a situation where my ex is present with her new partner along with all my ex’s family members (e.g. brothers, parents, grand parents).

    What I didn’t expect from the experience was bursting out into tears when her younger brother, Alex, asked me “How have you found the move to London?” I answered honestly and said, “It’s been so hard leaving friends and family behind. While I do love it here, I’m doing this predominately for Elliott.” Then I just started tearing up. It was a mix of how much I love my daughter so much and a moment of brief grief and sadness for the friends and family I left behind.

    I really appreciate Mateus attending my daughter’s birthday party with me. After the party, I was still feeling emotional and his presence and validation that the energy in that space was “off” was validating.

    I also recognized during the birthday party that after being with my ex for 6 years, I’ve formed and developed relationships with other people attending the birthday party, including her brothers, their brothers partners. Despite wanting to distance myself as much as possible from my ex, I became aware that I miss the relationships that I had formed with those others. I don’t maintain contact with them for various reasons. Chief among those reasons is that during the early stages of the divorce process, my ex would bring up my Instagram stories during our mediation despite me blocking her on social media. I figured she was getting her information from our mutual friends and family however I recognize while that is possible, the more likely scenario is that she was (or is) periodically checking my public Instagram (and YouTube) page.

    Rest and Recovery (sort of) and visiting tourist attractions

    I’ve lived in London now for 5 months and somewhat embarassingly admit that I have yet to tour any of the major tourist attractions. Seeing those landmarks are definitely beautiful and at the same time, I’ve never been drawn towards seeing those landmarks. Regardless, I did enjoy briefly visiting them with Mateus, the two of us seeing:

    • Buckingham palace
    • The London Eye
    • Big Ben

    I threw in the towel at around 6pm and headed back to the flat before Mateus, allowing him to do more tourist things while I get some down time. When I had gotten home, I walked the dogs and then heated up a pizza and then baked us some vegan cookies (many folks who try out my cookies tell me that it’s some of the best cookies they ever eaten and that they don’t taste vegan: score).

  • Daily Review – Thursday – September 19, 2024

    Like many others walking this earth, I am currently in a state of transition. The divorce (which started last November) is almost coming to an end (won’t be diving into it here since the topic itself deserves its own post) and I’m finding myself constantly asking the following two questions:

    1. What do you want to do?
    2. What do you NOT want to do?

    As Kit Laughlin shared in his podcast interview, the latter question is just as effective. By practicing asking yourself daily, I believe that I’m inching myself towards (for lack of a better word) actualization.

    At the moment, here’s what I don’t want to do:

    • Go back and work full time in technology – whether the role is a leadership role (VP of Engineering) or senior software engineer, I’d like to (if possible) work part-time, anywhere between 15-20 hours per week. With the remainder of time, I’d like to work on my own projects

    Yesterday

    • Elliott after school pick up
      • “Dad, this is a great place to do a pistol squat” – this brought me so much joy because sometimes, when I’m out and about with her, I’ll practice a pistol squat and cannot believe that this stuck with her
      • She asked me to tell her (almost every day) more spooky stories
      • Proud of her when she used the word “bittersweet” – When I touched her hands, I noticed her skin was softer (she had what we thought was a genetic skin condition) and she told me that the medicine she’s taking makes her feel bittersweet and I was so proud of her usage of language (as a almost 5 year old) and asked her where she heard that word and she said, “You taught me Daddy”. I felt proud for both myself and her.
      • I fell asleep while watching Netflix with her – While watching Netflix Super Kitties TV show that I projected onto the ceiling, I fell asleep while laying next to her and woke up about 45 minutes later, just in time for her mom to pick her up
      • Continuing practiced teaching Elliott how to ride her (her words: adult) bicycle with two wheels. I’m treading the line between encouragement and pressuring since I do not want her feel like she “has to” learn how to ride a bicycle since I consider the activity right now a source of joy
    • Dance practice
      • Drilled the last 8 count steps from Ani’s class – heel toe, pivot heel toe, toe tap
      • Practiced Pas De Bourrée variations that I came up with, looping the certain parts of the movement, achieving a sort of flow state. I’m starting to feel more comfortable with leaning into my own creativity

    Today

    • Mavinga responded to my inquiry regarding 1:1 private dance lessons and she stepped through my Google Document that outlines my dance goals
      • She said (in a kind way I feel) that she’ll train me military style, the same way she trains with her Belgian friends. I’m all in and excited at the opportunity. We are working out logistics right now
      • When she vocalized (in her own words) my goals, she said so you want to dance at a professional level. At first I felt a bit embarrassed, took a deep breathe in and, actually, yes, I do want to dance at a highest level: for me I’m not forcing or pushing myself. I am building a relationship with dance and curious as to if I can actualize the visions I have of me dancing
    • Stretched for about 30 minutes
      • Worked my lats
      • Yamuna ball for my chest and shoulders

    Plans

    • Take a scheduled call with a tax attorney
    • Take a scheduled call with some executives from White Space, a company that I’m considering consulting for on a part time basis as a VP of engineering
    • Delete AWS Resources for my Crossbill account since I’ve seen bills come in at hundreds of dollars, resources that I’m not using. So just tearing down various resources that have been neglected
    • Attend Dance Class with Jevan at Base Dance studios at 5:30pm
    • Pick up groceries in Wimbledon (from M&S) since I have Elliott this weekend and she loves (just like me) bolongese with pasta

  • House Dance Reflection and Review: Jevan (August 15, 2024)

    House Dance Reflection and Review: Jevan (August 15, 2024)

    Took the class yesterday night and while still fresh in my mind, brain dumping.

    Best part of the class for me was witnessing my freestyle classmate light up with joy midway through her freestyle round when she went for a move, caught a groove, and her face beamed up.

    Note: As usual, I’m recalling the choreography from memory and there are details missing including the counts, how the moves relates to the music (big component), and so forth.

    Right kick and slide back
    Left kick and slide back
    Right kick and drag to the right
    Left kick and drag to the left
    Cross step variation to the left
    Cross step variation to the right
    Cross step (no variation) to the left
    Cross step (no variation) to the right

    Right kick and slide back
    Left kick and slide back
    Right kick and drag to the right
    Left kick and drag to the left
    Cross step variation to the left
    Cross step variation to the right
    Cross step (no variation) to the left
    Cross step (no variation) to the right
    Misdirection to the right
    Misdirection to the left
    Misdirection to the right
    Jump and step to the right
    Step on to left foot and rebound
    Roger Rabbit like transition to the left and rebound

    Areas of growth

    Below are areas in which I felt challenged and would like to drill a bit more

    • A little bit of dinosaur arms during the kick and slide – felt tense in the anterior part of shoulder and forearm(s) when sliding back and sliding side to side
    • Foot steps for the misdirection – was unable to land the prescribed landing
    • Rebound – was unsure if it was just the shoulders turning or the entire torso
    • Cross step variation – cross step variation differs in two ways. normal cross step (when going to the left) is left leg step to the side, right leg step back, left leg cross over in front to the right. For the variation (to the left) left leg step to side, right leg step forward (NOT back), left leg step BEHIND

    Takeaways and observations

    • Jevan’s back leg bent and knee tucked behind one another during cross step
    • Increase awareness of torso positioning difference between cross step vs cross step variation (i.e. stepping forward) – Jevan had pointed out that center of weight is slightly leaned back during the variation, whereas center of weight slightly more forward during non-variation
  • House Dance Class (August 13, 2024) – Review and Reflection

    House Dance Class (August 13, 2024) – Review and Reflection

    Below is a short review and recap of Ani’s house dance class (beginner/intermediate) that takes place in London every Tuesday night at 6:00pm over at Pineapple Studio. Though I enjoy taking this class every Tuesday, this instance of the class was special because my friend Will (from Seattle, who was visiting London) joined me and I felt so much joy to dance with a friend who I trained with back home.

    Class Recap

    • Warm up with foundational move (Jack) and other foundations
    • Practice several combos that are part of larger choreography
    • Freestyle Exercise (Rhythm based) with partner
    • Choreography – Difficulty for me was 6.8 / 10

    Freestyle Exercise

    In terms of difficulty, I found this exercise 10/10. I struggled and fumbled hard, since its really one of the first times I was consciously trying to dance to a different, prescribed rhythm. Normally, whenever I freestyle, I just kind of go rogue and do whatever I feel like. Of course, sometimes that’s totally normal, especially in a social dance scene (e.g. clubbing). However, consciously dancing to a particular rhythm requires a totally different set of skills. This deliberate practice of dancing to a specific rhythm (see below) tripped me up and for the first few rounds and all I was sustain throughout the exercise was more or less stepping in place and even that in itself overwhelmed me.

    The count itself was as follows:

    1 2 – +4 5+ 6+ 7 8

    Separately, as a result of the frustration I felt during the class, the next morning when I woke up, I ended downloading, installing, and learning Music Score to reproduce the rhythm (this in itself was good practice) and slapped my hands together (more on this in a different blog post).

    Choreography

    This section serves several purposes.

    First, allows me to practice my mental recall. I’m about 4 months into taking choreography classes and my retention is slowly improving. When I took my first choreo class back in April, I fumbled and could barely retain anymore than 2 eight counts and I remembering feeling so frustrating during that first class and a level of resignation.

    Second, when I want to refer back to this choreo and practice it, I can. Despite the written choreo below not being precise, I believe that I will be able to practice so as long as its accompanied with the video (below).

    So be forewarned, the choreography is not completely accurate and fails to include the counts. That being said, here it is:

    Shuffle variation (left side)
    Pow wow to the front
    Pow wow to the back
    Shuffle variation (again) left side
    Pow wow to the front – slight variation here and instead of kicking out right leg stick it to the ground and reduce the count
    Tap the right foot
    Drag – left leg around and hold for 2 counts
    Step left foot out
    Get into farmer position with right leg bent
    Tilt the right hip out and forward – at the same time, shift body weight leftwards back
    Return and neutral position
    Step right leg back
    Step left foot back and toe tap

    Transition into squat position
    Spin left
    Land in pas de bourree position
    Pas de bourree to the right but kick out with the left foot
    Land and transition into loose leg
    Loose leg with jump kick variation (right side)
    Loose leg with variation (see new moves section below)
    Loose leg with variation to the right
    Continue pivoting on right foot for rest of the count
    Jack for four bars (i.e. 2 eight counts)
    Heel Toe right side
    Heel Toe right side
    Heel Toe left side (with head tilt)
    Heel Toe left side

    Areas I want to practice

    • (Continue to) Increase Hip Extension mobility – I felt tight in this line, especially when kicking the leg behind me
    • Spin move itself – When Ani was spinning, I noticed how her left leg (right leg was the base we were spinning on) was bent at a clean 90 degree angle and left knee cap was tucked behind her right knee cap
    • Spin transitition into the pas de bourree position
    • Heel Toe with head tilt – could not land this during class and could line up the counts
    • Loose leg variation with pivoting on base leg – this was a variation I’ve never seen before and I really enjoyed the smoothness and aesthetic of it
  • House Dance Class Recap – Review and Reflection

    House Dance Class Recap – Review and Reflection

    Class Details

    Location: Base Dance Studios (in London, by Vauxhall station)
    Date/Time: August 08, 2024 @ 5:30pm-6:55pm (85 minutes)
    Overall class difficulty: 5 out of 10
    Combo difficulty: 6 out of 10
    Freestyle exercise? Yes

    Overview

    This blog post serves multiple purposes.

    First, it helps me experience gratitude. Attending this class is one of the ways I squeeze in (my low desire of) socializing with folks who share similar values (e.g. physical activity, curiosity, social contact)

    Second, the post may motivate someone to take the class and perhaps they are on the fence and want to gain a little insight into what will be learned.

    Third, this post is a form of reflection, allowing me to contemplate what moves and exercises I want to continue practicing.

    The class agenda was as follows:

    1. Warm up – often my favorite part of the class and I incorporate the moves into my freestyle rounds
    2. Short combination – consisted of the chase, loose legs, dodger, former, tic tac toe (variation) and side walk (variation)
    3. Freestyle partner exercise – each of us took turns with the (above) combination
    4. Cypher – we formed a larger circle (still only consisting of 4 individuals) and exchanged with one another

    To get a glimpse of what the class looked like, here’s a little reel I put together that’s part and parcel of my dance journey log.

    Combo: Chase, Loose Legs, Farmer, Dodger, Tic Tac Toe, Side Walk

    Overall, I felt the difficulty of the combo was 6 out of 10. The reason for the somewhat higher than average difficulty is because I was unfamiliar with the tic tac toe and side walk variation. Outside of these two moves, I was familiar with the other foundational moves (e.g. chase, loose legs, farmer).

    Combo Breakdown

    Chase (right)
    Chase (left)
    Chase (right)
    Chase (left)

    Loose leg (right)
    Loose leg (left)
    Loose leg (right)
    Loose leg (left)

    Dodger (left)
    Dodger (right)
    Dodger (left)
    Dodger (right)

    Farmer (right)
    Farmer (left)
    Farmer (right)
    Farmer (left)
    Farmer (right)
    Farmer (left)
    Farmer (right)
    Farmer (left)

    Farmer variation syncopated (right)
    Farmer variation syncopated (left)

    Tic Tac Toe variation (right)
    Tic Tac Toe variation (left)

    Side walk variation (left)
    Side walk variation (right)

    Areas of growth

    As mentioned above, classes reveal what areas I’d like to work on (there are many). Here are the ones that I struggled with:

    • Tic Tac Toe – Not only was the positioning of the feet challenging, but the groove and body positioning felt foreign
    • Transition from dodger (last one) to the tic tac toe – while the dodger move itself was not challenging, theh transition out of this move INTO the tic tac toe tripped me up
    • The side walk variation – Jevan loves this move and it’s a variation that I haven’t been able to stick for months. In fact, I struggle with this almost every class in which this move is part of the combo. My body is accustomed to a familiar move: the pow wow. That move has been committed to muscle memory so my body wants to default to the pow wow.
    • The farmer – Though it is considered foundational and something I’ve thrown in rounds before, I’m not quite confident with the timing and feels a bit “off beat”
    • Syncopated Loose Leg – fan of this variation that he introduced, the first time I’ve danced the move

    Freestyle exercise

    The freestyle exercise was essentially partnering up with one other person in class and each of us taking turns to perform the freestyle.

    After each of performed our combo, our partner would then offer

    1. A positive comment pointing out what they liked out of round and
    2. An area of growth.

    For me, the positive comment I received was that my loose legs were the “loosest loose legs” and that it was sublime. For the area of growth, she pointed out my farmer. Though she wasn’t able to precisely offer feedback, I felt even within my body that I was not stretching out the entire downbeat.

    Closing – dancing for others AND dancing for self

    In a nutshell, you can BOTH dance (for yourself) and perform (for others) — at the same time.

    Most of the classes I’ve taken in the United States emphasize that house is a feeling. Instructors often encourage students to NOT perform and instead, dance … to be free. While this belief resonates with me, I find that this assertion can sometimes unintentionally invalidate another aspect of dance: performing.

    What I appreciated about what Jevan said was that freestyling is both dancing for yourself AND a performance. I believe the two — dancing for self and dancing for otthers — can (and do) co-exist.

    Sometimes I dance without the idea of performance and consider these times rare, consider them “catching the ghost”. Othertimes I’m a bit too in my mind and I find that I am performing. Often, it’s a combination of dancing for self AND for others.