What a dancer does with her downtime is just as important as her active time ~ Me
Anyone who knows a dancer, knows that we rarely have real downtime, where we do nothing... We are always working on things.
That said, there really is no such thing as true downtime for a dancer. There are costumes that need repair, music to be reviewed, photos to be looked at, videos to be watched.... Business cards and flyers that need work... new creations that have to come from somewhere. The list goes on and on.
It's just that the downtime is much slower... with any hopes, things move at a less frenetic pace.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Tracking Progress
I have come to learn that I am not the only dancer who keeps several journals or notebooks on the kind of work I do in practice.
It seems to be a trend in the last while that I set up some new yearly goals every Aug/September.
I write them down in my practice journal to help me keep track of what I am doing to see if I can reach that goal.
Aside from that I also write down what I want to work on for the month and as I conclude a practice session, I make notes for the things I want to do the next time and what I feel that I need to revisit each practice.
It was last year that I decided that I wanted to on top of my dance practice to really start pushing my stage make-up, up and over the top. So, in those notes, every time I sat down to do my face for stage, I made careful notes on what I used, brand, color, etc.....
In the last five years, especially losing the weight I have lost. Having this habit has really made me more aware of how my body moved at each stage of the loss. Making notes on having to now work harder on my shimmies... which used to come to me very easily. I know how they felt on my larger self and how I have had to work with my new body to make them feel the same way.
It's a way of tracking all kinds of progress and help me to stay on task and not blow off my practice or spend lots of time pondering what I should be doing.
I also keep notes and journals on costuming. Where I bought the fabric. How I made the base...etc. These things have also helped to show me on paper the progress of the size changes, the alterations and the general information on how things have changed tremendously over the course of time.
IF you haven't started to journal your own progress, what's keeping you?
It seems to be a trend in the last while that I set up some new yearly goals every Aug/September.
I write them down in my practice journal to help me keep track of what I am doing to see if I can reach that goal.
Aside from that I also write down what I want to work on for the month and as I conclude a practice session, I make notes for the things I want to do the next time and what I feel that I need to revisit each practice.
It was last year that I decided that I wanted to on top of my dance practice to really start pushing my stage make-up, up and over the top. So, in those notes, every time I sat down to do my face for stage, I made careful notes on what I used, brand, color, etc.....
In the last five years, especially losing the weight I have lost. Having this habit has really made me more aware of how my body moved at each stage of the loss. Making notes on having to now work harder on my shimmies... which used to come to me very easily. I know how they felt on my larger self and how I have had to work with my new body to make them feel the same way.
It's a way of tracking all kinds of progress and help me to stay on task and not blow off my practice or spend lots of time pondering what I should be doing.
I also keep notes and journals on costuming. Where I bought the fabric. How I made the base...etc. These things have also helped to show me on paper the progress of the size changes, the alterations and the general information on how things have changed tremendously over the course of time.
IF you haven't started to journal your own progress, what's keeping you?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)