Not my writings....

At the moment, I have no new words for ya...  However, I wanted to make sure that I shared this, with all of you.
As someone I look to as both a friend and a mentor, her words in this blog are just priceless.  They are the words that all dancers need to hear.
So, with great pleasure, I am sharing with you, Tempest's Blog. 

Tempest's Blog

Summer has arrived....

I think.

Since my last post was all about caring for the feet, because without them we can't dance.
I figured I might do a little more regarding caring for the body too.

Summer for many dancers means very simply... Outdoor performances.  Which brings a challenge to every dancer.  Sunburns and dehydration.

Sunburns are easy enough to handle.. We all know to slather on the goop that is sunscreen before putting on the costumes and to wear our coverups and seek shade and shelter while waiting our turns.

Dehydration is another matter entirely.

We've all been taught to not let the audience catch you eating or drinking.   Since it tends to blow them away that we are human.
While I agree that we shouldn't be caught falling down drunk, because we have opted to lube our nerves with alcohol....  I can't say that I agree with not having a bottle of water close by.

We are human and some of us have costumes that are full of dark and heavy fabrics, they weigh a bit more than street clothes and some of us do employ the wearing of turbans, which in truth just adds to the overheating factor.

It's smart for us to keep water handy...  Not always convenient when it comes to finding a non busy restroom to recycle the water, but...  water serves a purpose in allowing us to stay cool and not get sick before or after a performance because we are hot.
So... if you are really serious about not being caught drinking...  keep your water somewhere you can escape to, just so you can have a drink.
But, don't forgo the water.

Fajera's Feet -- Your Feet

Think of the magic of that foot, comparatively small, upon which your whole weight rests. It's a miracle, and the dance is a celebration of that miracle. -- Martha Graham

I have always been in awe of feet.  They have a very thankless job.  

Back several years I worked as a licensed professional nail technician, in a salon.  One of my jobs was also pedicures.  It was there that I really began to develop and appreciation for feet.
During this time, I remember reading somewhere, that during the course of a day, our feet carried the weight of a full grown elephant.  (sadly, I cannot site the source, even with trying to find the quote on the internet)

Since becoming a more serious dancer, I have come to the very clear understanding that a dancers feet are incredibly abused.

If our feet as dancers are not cared for, we kind wind up with all kinds of foot injuries and ailments.  

One of the biggest is Plantar Fasciitis.  Which is defined as irritation and swelling of the thick tissue on the bottom of the foot.  Sounds painful, right?  Imagine having your feet hurt so badly that you don't want to walk, let alone dance on them.

(dancers and athletes are no longer the only people who suffer from this problem...  many full time heel or flip flop wearers are reporting this type of injury)

My goal with this blog is to get you to look down at your tootsies and take notice of the miracle that is the human foot. 
I have said many times since retiring from the professional nail care profession, that there has been a huge plus side to the number of Mani-Pedi salons that have popped up.... (besides putting many professionals out of business, by the business practice of undercutting prices.... We're dancers, we know all about undercutting, right?).  That plus-side is the fact that more women (and men) than ever before have taken advantage of getting regular pedicures.
They have taken it from a luxury item to something affordable and instead of an hour with a pedicurist, you can get in and out in record time.

However, there are a few things that any person, but most importantly a dancer should know about their feet before ever dipping them into the water.

• There is a right and wrong way to trim your toenails.  Just ask anyone who has ever had an ingrown toenail.  Not everyone's toenails can bet cut in the same manner. Just like finger nails, the way I wear mine and the way you wear yours are not going to be the same.

It is highly recomended that you leave your toenail a little on the long side and trim them straight across, not in a round shape.  They should be trimmed when dry, never when they are wet, because the nail itself can and will tear, creating an environment for problems.
Since most nail trimmers are in a round shape, the best way to get them straight across is with a nail file.

However, if you do need to trim them...  doing it in small cuts and sections is much easier. 

Never, let anyone cut down in the side of the nail..  Those grooves are there for a reason and a bad cut down the side.... you are just begging for an ingrown toenail.

( I do indeed use a file on mine and happen to prefer a bit of a free-edge instead of being level with the tip of my toe)

• The next thing that you need to understand is callouses.  The callous of your foot is there to protect your foot from damage.  The skin is supposed to grow thick in the areas in which your feet touch the ground, which for most of us, is the heel, the outside edge, the ball of the foot and the toes.  (One has only to get their foot wet and make a foot print to see where those areas are).

 The goal of a pedicure is to soften the callous so it does not look, dried, cracked or thick.  Do not under any circumstance allow a pedicurist to "remove" the callous.  As a total removal or, removing too much of that thickened skin will cause the callous to grow back with a vengeance. 
Remember it is there to protect the foot.

It is often frowned upon for anyone other than a Podiatrist to use a metal implement on the foot.  This includes metal rasps and razors. (and yes, even that god-awful "Ped Egg. Cheese grater looking thing.)
The best way to soften callous is with a pumice "sponge" (which is not the stone, style) or a foot file. 
A little bit of exfoliant or soap will give it a hand.

• Go easy on the toe cuticle too... again, there for a reason!!!!

To polish, or not to polish.... Totally your choice.
Me, I like polish.   Love it, actually.  I may not polish my fingernails regularly, but, you can bet I have color on my toes. 

As we all know, some of us like to be barefoot, wear mole skins or sandals, ballet/jazz flats or heels.  That it completely and utterly dancers choice.  There is no wrong school when it comes to foot wear, unless of course your choice of footwear is ill-fitting.  Certainly, this is an aesthetic that is dependent on the dancer. Some styles look best with shoes, others, look best with bare feet.  Some venues call for covering the feet, some do not.

If you choose to dance in your bare footed glory, remember to care for your feet post show.  This may mean a scrubbing and a self-massage post show.   We have all come home from a show with "Mystery Black Gunk" on our feet.    Dancing in heels may require the same kind of post-show rub down. 

We are only granted one pair of original hardware from birth to death.  So, it is our job to care for them for as long as they keep us upright and moving.

Take care of them and they will care for you.

..... 5, 6, 7, 8......

Since I did the last one on Improvisation.  I thought that I would comment toward the fact of Choreography.

Choreography is a deficit for me.  It's not that I don't like it, but it is a skill I don't have down.

There is something about a well planned piece that looks just amazing.  There is so much time and planning that goes into it.   You listen to the music with a different kind of ear than if you are improvising.

There are so many ways to choreograph that it boggles my brains.
There is the style where you have no music and the moves in sequence just come to you, then you find a piece of music where you tie it all together, adjusting the speed of the movements to match the musical phrasing.

Then you have the style where you listen to a particular piece in segments and match the movements to that, linking these increments together

If that doesn't blow your mind....  you have another where you have combination's of movements that you have already written down and then you string those together making adjustments and new combination to go from move A to B and so forth.

I have no doubt that choreographers have many other ways to put this stuff together that I haven't listed.  Since, I am sure that no two dancers do anything the same way.

Any way it gets done, is a time consuming and very rewarding way of putting together a performance. 
But, we cannot forget the kind of practice that goes with choreography.  The time that goes into making each part of it just perfect.  The drilling, the counting, the linking of one segment of music to another. 
You've created something reliable, something you can count on.
A sense of satisfaction that you have started and finished a piece and can go back to it time and again.

The time that goes into this style of working with your dance and music, marks a very well organized and shows a marked kind of professionalism that leaves me, as an audience member in awe of what they have created.  Inspired to watch and understand that they have heard a piece of music differently than I have.

I am not just talking about a solo artist, this kind of awe also goes with troupe directors and troupes that have mastered this kind of style as a whole. 
I imagine that as a troupe director you have the additional pressure of being patient with your dancers.  Working with them to get them on board to your vision of movement and then helping them to practice again and again to make sure that everyone hands, feet and heads are all on the same angle, the same distance apart and encouraging them to get all on the same page at the same time.
I also imagine that as a soloist, you have a little more room to wiggle, since you only have yourself to worry about even a bit of room for error.  Since it won't be as obvious to the audience if you turn left, when you should have gone right.

While I am in awe of those who can do this.  It won't stop me from continuing to try to develop this skill.  At the moment, it is all about baby steps for me in this direction.  A combination here and there, until I find a way to link them all together in a way that makes sense to me.

Until the dimmer switch in my head, goes blaring to full bright.  I will continue to watch and be awestruck by the dancers who do this and do it well.   My hats off to you and I will forever be grateful for the beauty you give to dance and will strive to better this skill.

Walking the tight rope.

In every dancers life, improv happens at least once. (this does not include ATS or ITS)
Whether it's live music with drummers or a band playing a piece of music you don't know very well or have had no say-so in what they play or it's in having music gremlins show up and you dance to someone else's music.

It doesn't always happen on purpose.

Either way, dancing in an improvisational style is not always easy it can be very scary. 

I am hoping with this piece I can take some of the fear away, since I happen to love improvising and being very impromptu with my own style.
There are a few things that you should have together when it comes to this.

The first and hardest thing to do is to Trust Yourself.
As I have said before (and will likely repeat) we all have an inner critic who is incredibly hard to deal with.  This critic can really jack you up in the head if you let it.  So, I highly recommend learning to ply this critic with chocolate a glass of wine and a good dose of  "Shut the hell up.".

The next thing to do is Let Go.
What happens when you hit the stage, is going to happen no matter what.  You can't stop this mad freight train.


Once you do those two things there are a few important things to remember.
You know the moves.
Chances are, you have been dancing for a while now. The movement vocabulary is strong with you.  You've been in class, practicing and watching LOTS of video footage of yourself and other dancers.
On your own, during improv you may actually move a little differently than you would in class, with your troupe or with your other dancers, you may execute these moves in a different order than you have in the past.   This is where letting go and trusting yourself are incredibly important.   Just because you are doing them in a different order does not make it wrong, it makes it yours.


You understand musical phrasing.
This simply means that you know what moves go where in music.  You know to move differently with both taxim and percussion heavy moments in the music.
When you are improvising with music you don't know very well, you may not know how long either of these portions will last.  This may make your movements a beat or two off...  While the ears hear it, the brain processes it and translates it to your muscles.   This synapse of movements is mere seconds.  Not enough that the audience will notice that you are behind the music. 
It's not like you are going to stand there dumbstruck while this happens.
You will probably recognize this if you were to see video footage of this performance, but again, give chocolate to your inner critic, trust and let go.

You have a great support system.
Any other dancer who is in the audience(or back stage), will understand what you are doing is impromptu.  Even if they themselves do not dance this way, they will have an understanding and and appreciation for the fact that this is not something for the faint of heart.
Any non-dancer in the audience who understands what improvisation is, will also understand and appreciate this, for the simple fact that what they are seeing is raw and unedited.
The adulation's that they will give to you at the end of the performance are NOT lip-service.
Again, trust and let go.  Let the praise stifle the inner-critic. 

 Even as I reread this, it seems like I have over-simplified.  However, that is really all there is to this kind of movement.
This does not take away all of the trepidation, it won't quell the worries or fears.   Words on a screen cannot do that for you. 
Just like riding a bike for the first time without training wheels, you have to actually do it to appreciate the fact that it does settle you down and can easily become something that you can do without thinking too hard.


I am aware that I have made this sound really simple and easy to do.  But, trust me when I say that the very first time I had to improvise to music that was not my own.... Was terrifying.  I had to admit to the producer of the show, that it was not my music. I was shaking and near tears after my performance, feeling very much that I had just made an absolute fool of myself.
At the time I was at the early stage of performing as a soloist and did not know that it was okay to stop the music then and there to say "Not my music.".
However, it was the praise that came afterward that I did such a good job with the performance that I was hooked on dancing this way.

To this day, most of my practicing is done improv style.  I find myself in a state of creativity doing this.  Stumbling on new combination's, making good friends with the combination's of movements that I have come to trust and rely on.
Improvisation is not for everyone, some dancers are not wired for it and take great comfort in carefully choreographed and well counted movements.  This is 100% okay. 

Remember, there is no wrong way to dance.   Dance is exactly what it is, no matter if you are exacting in your movements or if you are flying by the seat of your pants.