Last Week of Feb: A Marathon

I am wondering where did the month of February go. The flu robbed most of the month and I'm still not 100% well. I am on my second course of Tamiflu and looking at the prescription bill eat away my scholarship money. It has been a hectic month trying to keep everything together and getting well. I thought I was caught up on all my stuff as a teacher and of course, mid-term grades had to be due. I spent most of Friday staring at my computer entering 130 grades.

Other than learning to walk in my freedom, the good news is that my lecture topic was approved by the graduate coordinator. No nitpicking :) I had prayed for a topic because I was so stuck and the same night, an idea hit me. I went online the next day, did some research and submitted all my interlibrary loan requests. All the articles came within the week and all the books I needed were at Gorgas. This is frankly amazing! The better part is I have six of sixteen pages of text as of Saturday. I am waiting to hear back from the rest of my committee members before scheduling the lecture. I intend to give this lecture sometime within the next two weeks. After which, it's one down two to go.

"Dance to the Music" will be this Friday. It will be my official first dance recital. I found an outfit which is a little out of character (Meg, you'd be proud!). If I'm wearing a spaghetti strap dress on stage, the audience better be paying ;) I'm involved with a group swing dance routine. Since my partner has been so busy, we have not been able to practice together. Gosh, the jokes about this are still going around and they are rather funny. Hopefully we'll practice soon. As for Friday, I'm the official tech person during the day. For the dress rehearsal, I did get my hair and makeup done in 10 mins, so I'll stick to the record. I've got to figure out how I'm going to change and get ready for the evening showcase.




Saturday is Birmingham Music Club auditions.. so it means no sleeping in. In the evening, there will be a swing dance.. so it starts all over again. The group swing dance routine will also be performed here and I think my friends will be there.

And Sunday.. maybe I won't be playing with the praise team on piano. If I get back on the tambourine, it still means getting to church at 8:30am. On Sunday afternoon, there is a recital honoring my former teacher. I should be there but my presence will not be very welcomed. If I'm exhausted by then, I'll politely stay in bed at home than force myself to stay awake at a recital.

Anybody willing to slip into my shoes this week? :) Back to writing my lecture...

Dance and I

I have been thinking about this subject for the past few months. I wonder how directly or indirectly dancing has influenced my piano playing. I finally had the chance to review the video recording of the last recital in Winfield. I couldn't help but notice the motions and timing of the phrases. Of course, they have been consciously (theoretically and historically studied) planned but often times the actual performance is not what I intended. For the first time, the outcome matched my intentions. Certainly in the playing the piano, I could take on another character but often times I am unwilling to let myself do it.

I wonder whether the long hidden extrovert is finally coming alive again. I think I have suppressed that side of me for sometime now. I know for sure dancing has given me a great outlet and enlarged my circle of friends here in AL. It has improved my coordination and keeps me in better shape. It takes a certain amount of self-confidence and courage to get on the dance floor when it's not contra! If my former roomie is correct, I love attention but hate to admit it. I guess if I do enjoy performing, it means about the same thing. :)

I don't really have a favorite dance. I really enjoy contra because it involves a whole group and it is not exclusive. You end up dancing with everyone and it doesn't matter whether you're a beginner or an expert, everyone has a great time. I like a good partner who can swing properly, I don't mind a fast twirl. Even though it looks like everyone is doing the same thing, a lot of us improvise within the dance. When it gets close to recital time, I wear my wrist brace to contra since some people don't allemande properly. I like Celtic and bluegrass music for down time so it's my cup of tea.

I would love to dance some more international folk. I know it would help my sense of rhythm when it comes to changing meters and assymetric rhythms. I finally feel comfortable with 5/8 and 7/8 time signatures after the sessions with Daniela Ivanova. This would definitely help my sight-reading at the piano. Hopefully, I can teach some of these to my world music students.

Ballroom is a different game .. I like it for different reasons. It's more ... like my former dean said.. "even your leisure time is structured!". I guess I'll get to wear my recital dresses more often, although at times I just don't want to be dressed up. I have found out that people watch other people on the dance floor. Scary! Half the time I don't know what I'm doing. Oops.. I'm not allowed to say I don't know how to dance anymore. I get asked often so maybe I do know how to dance. I have been blessed with the opportunity to dance with good partners. Most of my lessons occur on the dance floor. One thing I know, if he leads, I'll follow. (It would be frustrating to dance with someone who doesn't.) It's been a good experience coming out of my shell.

In the meantime, I'll have fun turning every pair of shoes upside down to find leather soles ;)