Athlete in Rhinestones

Kill it!

Wed, 30 May 2012 06:38:06 -0400

Kill it!

Atlanta Open Dancesport Spectacular: May 2012

Tue, 29 May 2012 18:50:00 -0400

Atlanta Open Dancesport Spectacular: May 2012:

This link opens to a gallery of super-short snippets of dances. To see my partner and I in the Bronze Pro-am championship, scroll down to the categories Pro-Am Standard B Bronze Final and Qtr. In Final, numbers 2, 5 & 8. In Qtr, number 18. Look for the red dress!

The Goddess Project (dance & fitness training log)

Mon, 28 May 2012 12:35:45 -0400

Friday-Monday, May 25-28, 2012

Friday

Some movement involved, but pretty sure club dancing doesn’t quite qualify as a fitness activity… I haven’t done this in a loooooong time. Kind of fun, with the right person, but not really fantastic, being bumped into by drunks who do remember the lyrics to “Sweet Home Alabama” but can’t find the beat to save their lives. Well, I can’t do anything too intricate on 5-inch heels, but I’ve still got rhythm!

Saturday

*Ballroom dance practice: 1 hour. Ooof, takes a crazed kind of discipline to get up super early, after only four hours sleep, and go practice alone. Yes, crazed. Yes, me.

*Ballroom dance lesson with M.S. 2 hours. Teacher had a slot open up today, which was good because Friday’s usual lesson didn’t work out. Big concentration on types of sway in Standard. Teacher’s metaphor for depth of sway: the curves in various types of crockery. Deep sway like the sides of a coffee mug. Medium sway like the sides of a bowl. Slight sway like the sides of a pasta dish. At times, partners match direction of sway, sometimes there’s and over-and-under quality to hip connection. Hmmm, kind of hard to describe— I can be in a deep sway, moving backwards, at the end of a pattern like running finish, and my hip is still tucked upward under his, but in the next step my hips need to level out. Too soon with leveling= problem. Too late with leveling = problem. Then some Latin and the key word was “contain.” Contain energy, stride. Inward pressure with all leg muscles. Got a massive bruise on my instep by banging it with the side of the heel cup of the other shoe from being so in. Ouchie! Still, everything looks much more controlled and balanced, and, by contrast, the softness of hip settling stands out a lot and the elaborate arm movements of a rumba look fab-u-lous.

Sunday

*Ballroom dance practice: 1 hour and 30 minutes. Breaking in new practice shoes and new Latin sandals. Good focus today.

Monday, Memorial Day

*Ballroom dance practice: 1 hour. Used shoulder rack for some of this practice so I could isolate my focus onto lower body. It’s actually a pretty heavy piece of equipment, so didn’t use it the whole time. Also, sometimes you just gotta express yourself with arms and hands for Smooth and Latin!

*P90X: Arms & Shoulders. 1 hour. Killin’ it! Yes, my triceps are “diamonds of gold,” in the words of the inimitable Tony Horton.

Mambo! Desi Arnaz and Ann Miller - Too Many Girls (1940)

Sun, 27 May 2012 11:21:56 -0400

Mambo!

Desi Arnaz and Ann Miller - Too Many Girls (1940)

"Age is not important unless you’re a cheese."

Sun, 27 May 2012 11:17:37 -0400

“Age is not important unless you’re a cheese.”

- Helen Hayes (via pyrrhic-victoria)

Time to bellydance. Even without a massive mane of hair to toss...

Sun, 27 May 2012 11:16:24 -0400

Time to bellydance. Even without a massive mane of hair to toss about, it’s fun!

Work it. There’s no other way. via muffintop-less: <3

Sun, 27 May 2012 11:14:34 -0400

Work it. There’s no other way.

via muffintop-less:

<3

The Goddess Project (dance & fitness training log)

Thu, 24 May 2012 22:00:48 -0400

Wednesday-Thursday, May 23-24, 2012

Wednesday used to be my Rest Day, but I hereby declare it Fun Day. A day to keep moving and try new things, maybe not as strenuous as ballroom practices and regular cardio, but engaging and active. Keeping too quiet and still makes me nutty!

*Hip Hop: 35 minutes. “Pussycat Dolls Dancer’s Body Workout.” Actually highly rated in a reputable fitness magazine. I have never done hip hop before, so early attempts were more comical than anything. Had to make use of the pause and back functions on the dvd player over and over to begin to learn a small section of the choreography for “When I Grow Up.” Finally got it down, but not quite to time. Yes, a bit slow but very loosened up and having a blast. It seemed to start to come together when I paused the dvd and put on some dark red lip stain and gloss. Hmmmm, attitude counts!

*Bellydance: 35 minutes. “Bellydance for Beginners” with Leila of Egypt. Sections on basic hip shimmies, basic camels and part of working with arms. So much easier to shimmy legs than my top … d’oh! The undulating movement of camel is fun and feels like a small piece of the hip hop body roll in the dvd I used earlier today.

I’m hoping all the sinuousness and body isolations and sexy attitude of hip hop and bellydance will translate into better movement in the more posture-oriented style of Latin dance. Fingers crossed!

Thursday

*Ballroom dance practice: 45 minutes. Smooth: Waltz & Tango. Latin: Rumba & Samba. (Abbreviated because I had to go do intern hours at the gym to complete certification for personal fitness training.)

*P90X: 1 hour. Chest & Back. Yikes! I am not a push-up machine any more… chest muscles significantly weaker. Back still pretty darn strong from dancing. Gotta keep muscles balanced. As for strength, yes, you must move it or lose it.

The Goddess Project (dance & fitness training log)

Tue, 22 May 2012 22:43:00 -0400

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

*Ballroom dance lesson with M.S. 2 hours. American Smooth Bronze & Latin. Day of epiphanies. So many, my head is reeling trying to remember them all. Except the one about Smooth Foxtrot’s grapevine being like a playground swing — my body simply refuses to believe it. Will work to jot down the other highlights tomorrow when I’m not so tired. A wee bit hard to concentrate in the lesson, as my teacher’s wife is due to have a baby quite soon. I think he focused better than I did!

*Yoga: 20 minutes. Ultimate Power Yoga with Rodney Yee dvd. Power restoration section. This routine flies by. Nice end to a very busy day.

Salvatore Todaro and Violeta Yaneva, Bulgarian amateur, Standard...

Tue, 22 May 2012 22:37:12 -0400

Salvatore Todaro and Violeta Yaneva, Bulgarian amateur, Standard couple.

The Goddess Project (dance & fitness training log)

Mon, 21 May 2012 22:28:50 -0400

Sunday-Monday, May 20-12, 2012

Sunday

*Ballroom dance practice: 1 hour, 50 minutes. Smooth, Standard and Latin. Focus on use of knees in Smooth and Standard, on body isolation in Latin.

*Cardio: Elliptical machine, 40 minutes. 2:1 Interval program at Level 8, with high resistance of 75, low resistance of 45. Covered 1.34 miles. Had to slow down several times to discuss a missing bottle of Advil; tried to push all the harder to make up for the temporary loss of pace.

Great laughs in the car on the way home, but my abs are sooooo sore it actually hurt to laugh! Guess who has been neglecting her ab workouts for way too long? Mmm-hmmmm. Dance certainly works the core constantly, but it’s also good to isolate those muscles and push them in their own workouts.

Monday

*Yoga: 50 minutes. Warrior Yoga dvd with James d’Silva & Trudie Styler. Challenging workout physically and, unlike a lot of yoga dvd’s, it also addresses spiritual aspects of the practice. Lightly, but, for me, effectively.

*Cardio: Exercise bike, 45 minutes. Rolling hills program, Level 9 for 40 minutes with Level 1 for 5-minute cool-down. (OK mostly Level 9; legs were a bit tired from warrior yoga, so the 7-minute peak for the biggest hill was too hard at 9 and I knocked it back to 8 temporarily.) Covered 12.34 miles.

No dance today. My schedule may be a bit unpredictable the next month to six weeks as I work to complete the internship portion of my personal trainer certification.

They can fly! via themafucage2: Robert Doisneau - Cours d’adage...

Mon, 21 May 2012 18:14:11 -0400

They can fly!

via themafucage2:

Robert Doisneau - Cours d’adage à l’Opéra

Paris, France, 1950.

Just wow. Makes me glad I worked on flexibility...

Mon, 21 May 2012 18:11:52 -0400

Just wow. Makes me glad I worked on flexibility today.

via d-a-n-c-e-b-l-o-g:

Alex Wong

Move it or lose it. Age is only a number! This 86-year-old woman...

Mon, 21 May 2012 18:01:00 -0400

Move it or lose it. Age is only a number! This 86-year-old woman is incredibly strong and flexible in this gymnastic routine.

86-year old Johanna Quaas demonstration on PB - “Turnier Der Meister” Cottbus 2012 (by LieveDaffy)

The Goddess Project (dance & fitness training log)

Sat, 19 May 2012 18:02:44 -0400

Saturday, May 19, 2012

*Ballroom dance practice: 50 minutes. Directional use of knees in American Smooth. Hip action in Latin rumba and cha cha; upward pushing action in Latin Samba.

*Yoga: 50 minutes. “Serpentine” video with Rachel Brice, renowned tribal bellydancer and accomplished yogi. Section on Yoga for Bellydance.

*Bellydance: 20 minutes. “Bellydance for Beginners” with Leila of Egypt. Hip pushes section. Difficult to keep glutes relaxed while abs do almost all the work of lifting and dropping the hips.

Atlanta Open Dancesport Spectacular, May 12, 2012.

Sat, 19 May 2012 18:00:43 -0400

Atlanta Open Dancesport Spectacular, May 12, 2012.

Sat, 19 May 2012 17:56:00 -0400

Atlanta Open Dancesport Spectacular, May 12, 2012.

Sat, 19 May 2012 17:54:37 -0400

Atlanta Open Dancesport Spectacular, May 12, 2012.

Photo

Sat, 19 May 2012 17:39:02 -0400

The Goddess Project (dance & fitness training log)

Fri, 18 May 2012 19:26:27 -0400

Thursday-Friday, May 17-18, 2012

Thursday

*Ballroom dance practice: 1 hour and 45 minutes. Smooth, Standard and Latin. Particularly curious to see how the new directions from yesterday’s Latin lesson changed my movement. Slowly, slowly, it is improving. Always thinking pulled-down clavicle in all dances. Also thinking it may be time to take a ballet class again to help with this. Or, given my schedule, use the NY Ballet workout dvd. Not trying to become a ballet dancer, just to cement my shoulder line down.

Friday

*Ballroom dance lesson with M.S. 2 hours. A return to American Smooth, after not practicing it with teacher for several weeks leading up to the Atlanta Open, where I danced only Standard. Steady consistent power through feet and moving “chi” of hips. Not too explosive — fighting my nature here… Lots of consideration of high and low sides of body. Latin: head snaps; and, the lifting motion in Samba. Fun to exaggerate the forward hip posture of Paso Doble, ironic given I’m constantly fighting to keep my hips from tilting backward or tipping forward in other dances. Must really need to strengthen low back and low abs. Ahem.

*P90X Ab Ripper: 15 minutes. Yes, I have been neglecting you, darling abs. I’m back. I need you. I’ll take care of you. Tony Horton will help us.

*Yoga: 25 minutes. Warrior Yoga, express workout, with James d’Silva and Trudie Styler.