(no subject)

[alonewiththemoon]

Lovely show last night at the Athenian Corner, with the Jewels of Jamal crazy tag team routines.  I had fun as always doing cane, and the band gave me an actual saidi and not debke or even baladi.  My drum solo went pretty well; I had momentary flashes of really working with the drummer and I have a better feel for how that all works now.  I'm still too shy, I guess would be the word, to really collaborate with the drummer, but I'll get there.  This was a good step in that development.  The whole band really is so welcoming, and we've come there often enough that they can joke around with us and we have a sense of camaraderie.  Then in the final set, two other dancers and I sat on the stage with the band and played zills as somebody else danced--that was so much fun!  We felt very old school up there, back in the day ("about a hundred years ago when I was a young man," one of the violinists said), the dancers who weren't on stage at a given moment often played zills with the band.  I suppose that's one of the reasons why the older generations of dancers in the US are so fabulous with their zills.  And it gave me some insight into the musician's side of things, how it feels to be supporting the dancer and working with her to create something bigger to give to the audience.  All in all, last night was both a good performing experience and an excellent learning experience.

Today I got myself out the door with the lure of my monthly Quebrada scone.  I am allowed one per month, except in case of dire emergencies, otherwise I would eat them all the time and then I would look like one.  My feet are killing me, but in a good way--I know, only I would say such a thing, but they hurt as though I'd been pounding the ground with them all night, not as though things are going to break and tear, which is actually very heartening.  I think I managed to resolve my left index toe/metatarsal problem on my own by concentrating on using the big toe part of the ball of my foot when I walk and by trying as hard as I can not to let my ankles bow out when I go up on pointe.  Just a few days of doing this made a huge difference.  Got to find some ankle-strengthening exercises...

Comments

[firefly124.livejournal.com]

Ankle exercises, did you say ankle exercises? Heh. Most of the stuff they had me do in physical therapy for my back was also ankle-strengthening stuff. One of the best, imo, was when I had to stand on one foot on a piece of foam. Just something softish but not excessively soft is the idea, so the muscles and everything have to work extra-hard for you to keep your balance. If you don't have something like that, then really just any balancing postures like "tree" or "little dancer" (or, if you're insanely flexible "lord of the dance").

[alonewiththemoon]

Oh, I remember doing something similar to that when I was doing physical therapy for my plantar fasciitis--I'll have to look around the house and see what I can find to stand on.

I have one yoga DVD that I love for the simple reason that during the tree pose, the narrator says "it's all right to sway. trees sway" in the most soothing voice ever and makes one feel much better about wobbling all over the place :-)

[firefly124.livejournal.com]

That's true! And as I understand it, the wobbling is exactly what you want, in order to strengthen everything in there.