Recital Video!

Ah ha! This time, the video of my recital is just short enough to actually upload on Blogger! So here it is. I actually messed up a lot this time around, but oh well. We learn from our mistakes, right?

I'm performing with my fellow Anaya Tribal classmates, from levels 2-4. We're dancing to Mausam and Escape by A.R. Rahman from the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack. And it was my first time performing ITS with zills, and my first time performing in a 25 yard skirt (well, unless you count the one song that Ghazaal Beledi pulled us on stage for at Ren Faire).

Anyway, in other news, I am more or less on vacation from my store, Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs for the rest of the year. I had a customer (ok, my mom!) over to purchase a couple gifts for co-workers yesterday, and I may work on some jewelry to get ready for Valentine's Day, but for the most part my focus is going to be on creating last-minute gifts for friends, working on Wings of the Morrigan, getting some dance practice and tidying up the house. I'll try to keep updating the blog, but I will be in Vegas for most of next week, so I might just pre-schedule a few fluffy posts.

Recital Number Two

So, the recital this weekend was fun but crazy. The drum solo performance was canceled last-minute, so I only danced with two classes, which was actually better for me in a way because it meant one less costume change. We had several people just not show up, which threw off our formations, and there was some confusion on exactly what we were doing for zill class... but in the end, it all more or less came together, and if any mistakes were made, well, we all made the same mistake, so only we know that it wasn't supposed to be that way :)

Even though there was a bit of stress involved, I found myself feeling really refreshed as I drove home to Tucson. There's something about spending the entire weekend with my dancing friends and classmates that just makes me happy. I get a real sense of community, especially as we all help each other get ready and congratulate each other on a job well-done (and convince each other that the audience didn't notice that little misstep).

Video is forthcoming. My parents loaned us their nice camcorder, which should have taken some nice footage, it just needs to be transferred to the computer and such.

Gone for the weekend

I'll be up in Phoenix all weekend, for a friend's birthday party and the Plaza de Anaya Spring Student recital. I am not taking my laptop with me because I want to focus on friends and dancing. I will also be gone all of next weekend, so I should probably just give up on weekend blogging, since I'm always gone or busy.

Today was exciting because we bought a new car, a 2010 VW Jetta TDI. I would love to gush about it, but I need to finish packing for my weekend away, so gushing will be postponed until next week.

Quick Recital Report

I am all tired out from a day of errands and the gym, but I did promise to talk about the recital today, so here goes!

My Dad stealth-snapped this picture of me while we were talking after the performance. Check out my crazy-awesome bindi and the cute corona of flowers that my classmate Bea put into my hair! I'm really happy with how I ended up looking for the night, stupid teeth aside. I'll get a good picture of my necklace later this week.

Of course, I'm sure that what you really want is the video. This version was taken by someone named Chase -- I think he was the staff-spinning teacher. He gave it to my classmate Shari who uploaded it and shared it with us on YouTube. Major thanks to both of them! I know it's pretty dark, but luckily I'm wearing a shiny silver skirt, so it's easy to pick me out.

The funny thing about it was that the performance itself passed by in a blur. It seemed like we were on the stage and then poof, we were off! It's nice to see the video and actually see what everyone was doing, and how I screwed up ;)

I really enjoyed it, though, and am looking forward to future chances to perform!

Awesome time

The recital tonight was great... lots of beautiful dancers in gorgeous costumes performing amazing routines. Unfortunately, I'm suffering the after affects of an adrenaline rush and I am so so so so sooooo tired. It will be a miracle if I get all the makeup off of my face before collapsing into bed.

Need more practice!

My dance class recital is one month from yesterday... Our teacher brought it up last night, we picked out our costume, and we're supposed to think about what song we might like to perform to, so we can choose one in two weeks when class resumes (no class on Thanksgiving, obviously!). I'm excited, but I also realize that I need to practice a lot more if I'm going to be ready -- especially the moves that I never officially learned. So on top of my two bits of assigned homework, I need to continually go back over my vocabulary of moves and really polish them.

We learned two new moves last night, although one of them was just a variation on something we already knew. Still, it's exciting to be moving forward into Intermediate, and to be challenged with some more complicated footwork, which I'm now supposed to drill for 8 minutes a day, minimum. Practice, practice, practice.