(no subject)

[alonewiththemoon]

The thermostat is turned up to 85, yet it is only a scant 66 degrees in my office.  I know this because I brought in a thermometer from home since I do not believe any of the thermostats or the guys who come to fix the heat.  I know now that I was correct in my disbelief.

Class was very good last night.  There were several new people, which is nice to see.  They weren't so familiar with Arabic/Egyptian technique so we spent a while just drilling some moves that I already knew, but that was fine with me because they were moves that I needed more work on anyway.  I can tell that my hamstrings are finally, finally starting to lengthen a bit as I am much more able to straighten my leg at the back of a hip circle than I have been.  It makes a big difference--last night we were working on single hip circles (where the working side of your hip creates a flat circle over the supporting leg), and straightening at the back completely changed the look of the move.  It makes weight shifts a heck of a lot easier too.  We also worked on--gosh, I don't know what to call them, single hip figure 8s, maybe?  One leg provides support while the other bears no weight at all, the foot of the free leg traces a fig-8 in front and behind the body creating a mostly vertical figure 8 with the free side of the hip.  That probably made no sense at all.  It's a move Nourhan Sharif teaches, I think for myself I'll call it a Nourhan figure 8.  Anyway, again I can tell that my leg muscles are lengthening and my tendons are stronger*, because I was much better able to support myself on one leg without wobbling.  I got a "Good!  That's it!" from Seyyide, so I must have been doing something right!

*can tendons get stronger?  I know they don't stretch.   Maybe I just have better support for the tendons now.

Very excited about some upcoming dance projects.  My next show will be Feb. 12 at the Zeitgeist as part of Kabarett 16-Bit--some of you may have seen me at it last year.  Same format basically as last year, bands doing short sets, me dancing, performance artists performing (hopefully with less bologna this time), entertainers entertaining.  M's new band will be performing too, which makes me happy--it's nice to feel like part of the same event.  I think the only time we've both performed at the same time and place was back when Scissorkiss played the Somerville Theatre and I danced to Moon Colony.  I will eventually get around to posting more details on this gig.  A big chunk (maybe all?) of the take at the door will go to the Zeitgeist to help support their continued existence, and that's a good thing to support.

Time to do some work before my fingers freeze up too badly to type...

Comments

[julishka.livejournal.com]

i'd say tendons can become more flexible only because if you happen to get laid up in bed in a hospital for a long period of time, you might get what is called foot drop. foot drop is the tendency for us to let our feet relax in bed kinda like pointing our toes. if this goes on for long continuous periods, the tendon is not taught & atrophies out of lack of use. it then becomes difficult to flex your foot because the tendon stiffens/shortens or somesuch. the remedy to an extreme case is surgery and casting and physical therapy to learn to walk again.

so, if you keep your feet/ankles/achilles tendons exercised, i'd say that yes, you can improve their function, just as if you don't you'll lose function.

this brought to you by experiencing my mom's severe foot drop when she was in an infection induced coma one summer. she did get foot drop, and they did the surgery. it was only marginally successful, but she never was able to walk again.

[alonewiththemoon]

When my plantar fasciitis was bad, I had to wear a boot thing at night to keep my foot from pointing. I was never sure whether it affected the tendons themselves or the muscles that move the tendons. But I could see the tendons getting stiff or brittle, so I guess I could also see them getting more flexible and mobile...

[nepenthedreams]

I love reading your dance posts!

[alonewiththemoon]

thanks--I'm never sure whether I'm just being self-indulgent or not, but I figure where else in life can you be self-indulgent if it isn't your own journal :)

promise

[sally-keith.livejournal.com]

i promise no dollar bills this time!

Re: promise

[alonewiththemoon]

I didn't mind you tipping me, it was just that then a gross guy decided it was ok for him to body-tip me, naturally while I was trying to do something precarious with the sword. Would have served him right if I'd dropped it on him! ;-)