Been enjoying myself this morning with another round of tidying up while dancing. Music and dance make me so happy, that if I could, I would be dancing all the time.. I'm glad to have a work, that allows me to dance while working... But only when noone sees it. I always carry my ipod with me at work. Sometimes I feel like listening to radio and sometimes I listen to my music. Music just make the work seem to go faster. Since I rarely get a day with no plans, I decided to put on a movie. Inspired by my salsa instructor's latest party theme, I'm watching "El Cantante" or as it's titled here in Scandinavia "King of Salsa." My salsa instructor and his new dance company started hosting salsa, bachata and Foró partys every Saturday. Since none of my friends are interested in salsa, I never found my way to one of the partys. Maybe someday. The salsa I go to once a week, is salsa freestyle, We dance salsa, bachata, bachanga, cha cha cha and... something I would describe as show dance. It's a lot of fun. We dance solo, so I never danced with a partner and quite frankly, I don't think I would be any good at it. So that's another excuse for me not to go to those partys. I simply wouldn't know how to dance with a partner.
So anyway. as the days go by, I stick to my dance fitness. That means latin mix, dance fit, salsa freestyle and zumba.
January 28th. I attended an African dance event. I love African music. The right music always makes me wanna dance... So I just added 40 new African songs to my ipod playlist. Including this one
Anything that has a nice beat, I will dance to. And African music always sounds so happy to me.
In salsa freestyle, we're practicing a dance to this song...
The more we practice, the more it comes clear to me, that it's a show dance routine. It's fun. Our instructor calls us "Advanced dancers" by now. But after only having danced in 6 months, I still consider myself as and "advanced beginner." Salsa is still new to me. Had it not been for my zumba instructor being a profesional Brazilian dancer, I would probably not have known more than the two basic steps. I don't know if I'll ever learn how to dance regular salsa, but I kinda like this show dancing thing, too.
I noticed that the old gym I used to go to for my zumba, had launced a new type of dance fitness called "Latin Funk." It sounded like fun, so I decided to give it a go. It was strange being back in the old gym, after being away for 6 months. I was back in my old corner spot, but looking around, I didn't see any familar faces except for 3 that I had heard were coming, from my old zumba class. Most of the people were older than me. The instructor was a lot younger than me. It was easy to see that she had been dancing at dance schools before. When I was a kid, I swore I would never join a dance school. Why? I remember the youth club I went to. Seeing how stiff the girls were when they did their dance routines. I didn't think it looked good. At dance schools, they teach kids exactly how to copy a routine. Which is fine. But most of these kids don't know how to put personality or their own touch to the routine. That's why I have always been my own, freestyle dancer. Well, the latin funk instructor was stiff. The music she chose was not that good either. And at one point, she told everyone to lay down and do push ups. I could see everyone else enjoying themselves.. But I decided not to join that class again. It's fine cause I also have another dance class on Tuesday nights now.
Last Tuesday I met for my very first Cuban Ladystyling class. We were only 4 participants and the instructor told us that they normaly wouldn't have the class unless more people signed up. We're crossing fingers that the class will continue, cause I already learned a lot. I'm very bad at making the proper movements with arms and hands when dancing. It's a bad habit I have when dancing. I always let lose and never think about what my arms are doing... Yes, that has sometimes gotten me into trouble, hitting people by mistake, but that's just cause I'm so much into my own little dance. Salsa is all about body language and the arm and hand gesture is very important. Hopefuly the Cuban ladystyling combined with salsa freestyle, will one day make me dance better. Whenever we make salsa turns in zumba class, I practice making a pretty arm and hand gesture cause in zumba I can let go and not think about what other people think as we're often 30 zumbanistas dancing together. In salsa freestyle we're only 4-6 which means the instructors eyes are on everything we do. Well, in the Cuban ladystyling class, the instructor taught us how to move our torso from side to side. I never thought about that. But now that I know, I can totaly see that I have been doing it somewhat, without knowing it. Now that I know about that detail, I will practice more.
Today I went on the scale for the first time in a couple of weeks. I'm so happy. Turns out that I'm getting closer to another weightloss. After I lost the 30kg. pretty fast, I started putting on zumba muscle weight. I got more toned, put on 6 kg. and the weightloss stopped. Well, it's now been some time, and the way I see it, my body has finaly adjusted with the new muscle weight and letting me lose weight again! I'm happy the way I am now. But I still have a lot of fat in various areas, that I would like to say good bye to. Now that I know I'm able to lose weight again, I know I can lose some again. kg. by kg. I don't know if it was the Cuban ladystyling or what it was, but I can definitely see a change in my stomach area. My belt has become lose. I love it! I know I'll be able to maintain. It's all about the dance :) My Brazilian zumba instructor also annouced that he will be back to give us intensive zumba classes (which means hard core zumba every day!!) in May. Whenever he's back, I lose weight. That's why it's so sad that he now lives in Brazil. Atleast we know he still wants to help us all out whenever he has the chance!
Tonight I finaly bought my ticket to a Zumba Masterclass with Steve Boedt. I heard a lot of good things about him, so I decided that I would go.
Keeping busy... Oh yeah! 2012 is all about the dance and being happy!!!
