I was not expecting this, but we have moved back to the pacific northwest. I've had a lot of physical/mental/spiritual challenges these past few years. I'm focusing on healing myself. Dance is going to play a part of this, I'm sure. I don't feel like performing at the moment, but I hope that will change.
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Time to say goodbye to the Pacific Northwest; we are moving to Florida! I hope to teach dance and/or perform there at some point. Subscribe to this blog for updates.
2020 has been a very difficult year for the world and for me. I had a spine and foot injury. Performances and in-person dance classes, which had been a huge part of my life, were prohibited because of Covid-19. The dance community began fighting over "cultural appropriation" and other issues. I decided to take a break from dance, and I would return to it if the time was right. I hardly danced that year.
My family decided to move to a more rural area. I needed an outlet for my creativity, so I started teaching myself to play the ukulele and paint. It just wasn't the same. Like many people, the lockdowns affected me adversely. My health declined. My body began to have more aches and pains. Although it hurt, my body needed to move and stretch. Regardless of what anyone else was doing, I needed to dance for me. The dance I learned was mine and no one could take it away from me. I started doing yoga, walking, and dancing more regularly. I began to feel better. Now I want to share this healing dance with others again. I know I'm not the only one who needs it! I'm going to start teaching again. See my instruction page for more information. I'd love to see you in class! It has been over a year since the last Skinny Dip show was cancelled due to the Covid lockdown. I've decided that I no longer want to produce the show, even if things do go back to some semblance of normal.
I've decided to leave the webpage and youtube site up as an archive to all the fun we had and art we created together. Here's a link: http://skinnydipseattle.weebly.com/ Thank you to everyone who participated for the good times we had over the ten years. I'll remember you all fondly and wish you well. - Pandora I am feeling recovered from my ruptured disk in my spine. I have my Chinese medicine doctor to thank for that. I was skeptical of Chinese medicine at first, but I'm so glad I gave it a chance. Now it's time to rehabilitate my body. My left arm is pretty weak, but I'm confident I'll be back to normal soon.
I have a spinal injury. There was no car accident or anything; it just crept up on me a little at a time over what my chiropractor says was probably "a long time." I have pain radiating down my left arm, and pain in my neck. I'm seeing a chiropractor and I think I'm going to add acupuncture soon. I've seen some improvement, so I'm hopeful.
I haven't felt much like dancing. I can hardly find a sitting or lying position that isn't painful. I'm walking daily, though and cooking a lot. Facial expressions are so powerful when performing dance. This is easy to see if you watch a dancer perform in a mask. While you can appreciate the dancer's skill and movements, it's unlikely that the performance will make you feel much. The audience feels what you feel when you perform dance, and your face expresses that emotion.
It can be really hard to remember to do anything with your face when your mind is so busy thinking about what your body is doing. A great place to start is to simply part your lips. That alone will give you a more pleasant facial expression. As you get more comfortable on stage, a more authentic expression of what you are feeling will show on your face. Be sure that your face expresses the mood of the song. If you're dancing to music with lyrics in another language, be sure to find out what the song is about so that your body language is congruent with the song. Here's an excellent article on this topic: https://www.dancemagazine.com/onstage-facial-expressions-2641306770.html I love this video. What she's showing is similar to how I hear music. I hear patterns in music that fit well with dance moves that I know. I hear different parts of the music as being more featured than others at different times. I can dance to whatever I want throughout a piece of music, but I often like to focus on the part being "featured." Sometimes I like to follow the pitch of the music by going up or down in space with my body. As a dancer, I want to be a visual representation of the music in space, but first I must really hear the music is "saying."
I'm not sure what I think about this article. I know that touching my toes and rolling up to standing position feels really good, and I'm not likely to stop. I think it's smart to use your stomach muscles (engage your core) when doing hard work, but I also think it's important to work the full range of flexibility (use it or lose it). So I kinda agree. What do you think?
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Pandora
A fusion belly dancer Archives
September 2022
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