How Am I Doing?

I'm doing just great!  I've been dancing for 35 days and 1192 hours.  I like seeing those hours add up, and hopefully, so do you.  I mean, you all know I've committed myself to 365 days of dancing so I thought I'd show the hours I've danced, too.  

So far I've been dividing my time between class & troupe "homework," videos, on-line video drills, and occasionally breaking my practice into 3 10 minute sessions.

When I'm facing a publishing deadline, or am having a day like today when I have the attention span of a goldfish, those little bites of belly dance come in super handy.

Getting back to those dancing hours;  plan on seeing them increase dramatically over the next few months.  The fearless leader of my troupe, The Black Opals, has called for extra rehearsals on Sundays and Wednesdays to teach us some Persian dances that we'll be performing in March and April.  I'll keep you posted as to some of those dates. 

I'm excited, and a bit scared, when it comes to learning these new dances.  As a classically trained dancer with decades of experience under my belt, I'm not worried about the technical end of learning something new.  I know I can learn and execute the moves without any problems.  It's the cultural aspects that have me a bit scared since some of the dates we have scheduled are for primarily Iranian audiences.  I'm really, really scared that I'll make some sort of cultural faux pas on the stage.  

And, from what I understand, the authentic Persian costumes we are going to be borrowing are very, very expensive.  *gulp*  

Oh!  And check back in with me in a day or two and I'll tell you how to dramatically improve your shimmy in less than 60 seconds.