Clumsy Duckling

[ellenmillion]

It's a bit of a humbling experience to take bellydancing classes. Probably this has much to do with the fact that I'm taking classes with girlz who have been taking classes for years and years and dancing professionally for longer than I've known what a shimmy was. The instructor sent out a nice 'you guys are doing great!' email, and I keep envisioning 'except that Ellen' at the end of it.

I'd never used zils before, so that was something new to keep track of while I was still trying to figure out what my feet were doing and where my hips were going. I practiced the Egyptian last night and feel okay about that, but could not figure out what my feet were supposed to do for the half turns or how to turn doing a Taxim (though I may actually have figured the Taxim out). I'll have to drop in on Jennie and beg her to enlighten me on the turns, because this class is one where we are supposed to do the old moves each subsequent class (an improv ATS class) and, while I could just get used to being completely humiliated and ending up with my weight on the wrong foot, it would be nice to stay SOMEWHAT in tune with the group. They're all so nice about it, but I don't want to hold them all back and knock people over doing backwards turns. :P

The Fantasy Babies calendar came in and looks fantastic, I'm terribly tickled by it: http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/fantasyart/emggroup.php?id=31



Also, holy moly, I LOVE delegating. There's something magic about just waving my hands and making other people do things.

Got some webwork done for work this morning, and am tickled at how well this site has come together. The realtors love it, and I've learned so many tricks I can apply to my sites. Very useful stuff.

Lunch now!

Comments

[uminomamori.livejournal.com]

I have no idea why but your "show detail images" link never seems to work in Safari.

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

There aren't any details for this one! But I'll have to troubleshoot it, if it's not showing details for anything... I would like it to be a Safari-happy site!

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

Does the 'show big thumbnails' button work?

[uminomamori.livejournal.com]

That doesn't do anything either.

So is there no image of the calendar back/inside?

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

I'll upload it now - I've been slackerly!

[uneide.livejournal.com]

Or on firebox, boo...

Darn, I missed this project altogether. I'll have to snag one though! :)

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

Rar, I always hate taking out the zils. That's just one too many things for me to keep track of and not have my brain eventually stall out on me. On the other hand, I adore veil, even though it presents the same problem, because veil work is basically playing with Grandma's scarves only for big girls.

[laken-steeljaw.livejournal.com]

Wow, I've heard the belly dancing is actually very physically taxing. If you're taking classes, you're in better shape than me! Good luck with it. :>

[metasilk.livejournal.com]

Me vs. Deadline. Deadline wins. I can't believe I forgot this totally. Oh well! More chances to practice. (Just look at those berries! Watercolors. Wow.)

Jenny Heidewald here...

[(Anonymous)]

I love the picture with the girl and the dragon, in purple.:)

[wyrdwriter.livejournal.com]

VERY cool!
Do you have cards with the baby dragon and the little girl?

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

I do indeed! http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/fantasyart/emgproduct.php?id=1493

[faebyl.livejournal.com]

The calendar looks wonderful!
I want to try belly dancing too, I want to try not to be so shy and it looks like so much fun! that is awesome that your doing it! soon you can be a pro at it:)

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm glad you're learning to bellydance, but ... that setup is not what I'd call optimal, for the reasons you describe. Ideally, beginners should be grouped in a class together with one or more experienced dancers as instructors. That way you're comparing yourself to other people at a similar level of skill. Also, you should learn one or a few things at a time, not a bunch of stuff. Zills are easy to play, but they're usually introduced at late intermediate or early advanced stage, because they are musical instruments and take skill to play. Playing while you're learning to dance is really hard. Beginners usually work on mastering one move at a time, then combining what they've learned into a short routine.

If you get FIT TV look for a show called "Shimmy." It does a wonderful job of presenting first basic moves, then more challenging moves, and then combining them.

[pixiewildflower.livejournal.com]

Aw, that'll be a sweet calendar!