| To Do |
[Aug. 27th, 2006|10:16 am] |
- Revamp my dance website. It's hopelessly out of date, and says nothing about my teaching. I'd like the page to include information on classes and workshops I offer, and it should also have a gallery, a bio, and a listing of my students who've gone on to become teachers/performers.
- Finish my second costuming book, and reprint the first one. Get an ISBN for both so I can start selling them on Amazon and the like.
- Quit my fast food job.
- Get myself in top shape so I can teach this fall's floorwork class with ease (my legs are really feeling last night's performance. Ouchies!).
- Host a house-warming/welcome party once ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) f00dave and I get settled in our new place. You're invited!
- Work on my accented rising backbends. The dropping ones are a piece of cake, now, but the rising ones? Fighting gravity makes an ENORMOUS difference.
Last night's dance performance went over very well. A couple of my dance instructors from Haft Vadi were there. I know that in class, they see me as just another student who's not quite grasping what they're teaching, so I'm glad they got to see me doing the sort of dance I'm good at. I was told by one that I "move exactly like Rachel Brice," which I don't agree with (for one, I didn't do any sort of Rachel Brice-like dance moves), but I certainly appreciate the sentiment. I may not move like Arbee, but I do have excellent strength, isolations, and control over my torso movements. Now, if I can just get my arms and hands to the same level, I'll be well on my way to being a supah-stah! Heh....
The floorwork didn't quite go the way I wanted it to. I was planning on opening with a slow-motion front kick followed up with a couple of yoga moves from the warrior series followed by a couple of T-stance steps and circling down to the floor, but that got truncated when I felt a slight case of the wobbles coming on during the balance bit. Ah well. I did get in a whole wack of backbends (easy as pie, now), a few accented descending backbends, and, for the first time, and, for the first time ever in performance, an accented ascending backbend. The latter is fucking hard, and my legs are still trembly. It feels like I have quivering slabs of salmon strapped to the front of my thighs. Boo-yah!
My poi routine followed, and wasn't as thrilling as I'd have liked. Although I like "Monochrome" by Covenant, it's not the most inspiring song to dance to. There really aren't any interesting changes in the music. It's straightforward four on the floor club stuff.
The audience must have liked it, though, because I had plenty of people sign up for information on poi classes. Although people loved my floorwork, I only had one brave soul sign up for more information on floorwork lessons. It's helluva physical demanding. I hope I get enough people to run the class, this fall. I've been wanting to teach floorwork for years.
Highlights of the night's performance were Khizmet's taksim beledi, Ishar's flamenco fusion, Halawa Dance Company's Afrah Kabira and Mohammed Ali Street piece, and one other dancer whose name I've forgotten. I was the only "gothic" dancer of the night. Most of the rest was Egyptian raqs sharqi, with a couple of North American cabaret acts and one Turkish karsilama/sword dance.
Photos are hopefully forthcoming. I saw a few pictures from my performance, and hope they make their way to me via email.
Afterwards, I checked out the Waterloo Buskers' Festival for a bit. I thought Pedro the clown and the swing dancers were very good, but most of the other acts were just ok at best.
And now I just got back from Troy's (my GM), where he just showed me how to use the club mixer board. I'm DJing on Wednesday around midnight at Club Rennaisance. You should come and check it out. I'll be spinning goth/industrial tunes right after work.
I won't be in my Tim Horton's uniform.
Now it's time for a few links. Enjoy!
Last Supper (Star Wars): Bizarre (thanks, gha5t).
Your Brain Boots Up Like a Computer: "As we yawn and open our eyes in the morning, the brain stem sends little puffs of nitric oxide to another part of the brain, the thalamus, which then directs it elsewhere."
Boiled bones show Aztecs butchered, ate invaders: Yum!
![[Expect more]](http://a.abcnews.com/images/Primetime/abc_kumar_060822_sp.jpg "[Expect more]") A Pregnant Man?: Technically speaking, he really was pregnant.
The Seeing Tongue: Very cool. "The tongue, an organ of taste and touch, may seem like an unlikely substitute for the eyes. After all, it's usually hidden inside the mouth, insensitive to light, and not connected to optic nerves. However, a growing body of research indicates that the tongue may in fact be the second-best place on the body for receiving visual information from the world and transmitting it to the brain."
Police Hunt 'Cable Guy': This guy's just aching for a Darwin Award.
Man arrested for 226th time in same town: And he's only the fortieth most-arrested felon in town. Lincoln, Nebraska appears to be quite the hotbed for crime.
My 6-year-old was traumatized: Funniest, lamest story, ever. It seems to me the parent is traumatised, not the daughter.
Sex-aid excuse bombs with airport security - Man traveling with mother says pump is a grenade: Most obvious misleading story for a while. Dude has a penis pump in his luggage while he's with his Mom at the airport. When the security guy asked what it was, he whispered, "It's a pump." He's not going to want to yell it out right by his Mom, of course. But due to his accent, the guard thought he said, "It's a bomb." Riiiiiiiight. |
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gotta pee!
busy
creative![[Hardcore kitty dancing]](http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c95/fredd4592/roffles2.jpg "[Hardcore kitty dancing]")
sore![[Blue Hour]](http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sctm/v203/120/49/511799863/n511799863_365256_7320.jpg "[Blue Hour]")
okay
tired![[Poi weave]](http://www.shanmonster.com/2007/shan001.jpg "[Poi weave]")
![[Backbend with poi]](http://www.shanmonster.com/2007/shan002.jpg "[Backbend with poi]")
![[Backbend]](http://www.shanmonster.com/2007/shan003.jpg "[Backbend]")
![[Not the most flattering...]](http://www.shanmonster.com/2007/shan004.jpg "[Not the most flattering...]")
impressed
megrim?![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}
sick![[Cybernetic hair curlers?]](http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/etg7000_1.jpg "[Cybernetic hair curlers?]")
![[Political pyjama party]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/RWBlackbird/partyleaders.jpg "[Political pyjama party]")
drunk![[Jesus is my backbone]](http://img.viacomlocalnetworks.com/images_sizedimage_235232914/lg "[Jesus is my backbone]")
thirsty
whew