Every Tuesday, I devote one good, solid, uninterrupted hour to practicing the dance. The focus varies, from a specific footwork combination to general arm/hand technique and placement. Tonight the focus was letra 2 of my solea por buleria.
Rina recently asked if I was sick of this dance yet and I said, “NO! I can’t be sick of it until I can do it perfectly!” I mean, right? Perhaps I’d be sick of it if I’d performed it flawlessly, both technically and artistically, over or over again. Alas, that is not the case. This four-minute challenge is still, well, a challenge, and I have miles to go before I can claim mastery.
What I AM sick of is seeing the current version of myself perform it. What I want is to see is the version of myself that lives in my head: the one with the killer footwork, graceful body and impeccable timing. The hot, kick-ass girl I see when I close my eyes and picture myself performing this dance. Yeah, I wanna see her. When is SHE coming out?
Unfortunately, kick-ass girl isn’t quite ready to come out and play yet.
This is why independent study time is so important. It gives me a chance to not only practice steps, but to focus on the technique and figure out ways to improve it. And it could be the smallest thing, but fixing it could make the biggest difference. For example, there’s a particular step that’s always bothered me because I think I look awkward doing it. So tonight I watched myself do it repeatedly, until I finally figured out that waiting two counts before turning makes all the difference in the world. That seemingly insignificant little discovery made me so happy!
Yeah, I feel good about what I did tonight. I got my little victory and now I can rest easy. Good night.
Married to the Dance 