So just what exactly is your motivation behind your commitment to the "365 Days of Belly Dance?"
Today Lisa Zahiya wrote a blog post about her snow driving adventure and asked "What motivates you? Does accountability help?"
I say, "Hell, yes!" Accountability does help.
I've been blogging and posting on FB about my commitment, so just knowing that you all know keeps me motivated. My troupe mates are also routing for me and I don't want to let them down.
I don't want to let me down either.
Some other things that are urging me on are the desire to be a better dancer, lose the last of the baby weight I gained about 3 years ago, tone and tighten some of the jiggly bits, and well....to put it bluntly, bragging rights.
But the biggest motivating force in my life is my daughter. My own mother didn't provide much for me in the way of a role model which makes it over-the-top important for me to be a good role model for her.
So now I'm asking what motivates you? Does accountability help?
Yes, folks! Tomorrow is the first day of the 365 Days of Belly Dance commitment started by Lisa Zahiya.
In case you're wondering what this is all about, well, I'll tell you. It's a commitment to practice belly dance for a minimum of 30 minutes every day in 2011.
I decided to give my 365 days a trial run by starting on December 14th. In the past 18 days I have experienced a cold, a few migraines, holiday craziness, a funeral, publishing deadlines, assorted Mommihood duties, and I still managed to squeeze in 30 minutes of belly dance, as well as a home yoga practice every single day. I'm so proud of me!!!
And if I can keep it up for 18 days solid, I can do it for 365.
This trial run also gave me a chance to fine tune my practice. For the most part it is going to center around classes and performance schedules. And because I'm passionate about all forms of dance, and believe that one type of dance benefits another, I've decided to include any dance class I take in the coming year as part of my commitment. Princess Farhana wrote a wonderful article about the value of cross training for all dancers which you can read about by clicking here.
A few belly dance instructors like Ansuya and Suhalia Salimpour offer on-line classes, and may give those a try this summer when there aren't too many belly dance happenings going on here in sunny Arizona.
Of course dancing for the sake of dancing and letting it be it's own reward did cross my mind. Manicures? Pedicures? Chocolate? New practice clothes? Those are all so tempting, but decided to take a page from AJ Reardon's book and reward myself monetarily. I'm going to put $2 a day aside for every day that I practice and put it towards an extra special costume. I already have a general idea for it in mind, but I'll tell you more about that later.
So, are you ready to join me and shimmy on into 2011 and beyond? It's going to be a fabulous journey!
The 365 days of dance started by Lisa Zahiya is picking up steam. Some of my belly dance buddies and a few more of my troupe mates have signed on. Lisa has also started a new blog devoted to her commitment. Reading the comments has been fun. It's interesting to see how people are taking this commitment and making it their own.
There are so many different ways to create your own commitment program: Studio classes, DVD's, on-line classes, video drills, troupe rehearsal, improv dancing, combinations, a whole choreography, technique and drilling, ballet, modern, flamenco. The list just goes on and on!
I've you're looking for some fun video drills, then shimmy on over to Samantha Bordelon-Karim's Inner Dancer website. Or click here to go directly to her video drills. You can also search for her on Youtube under "samanthabordelon."
P.S. That's not me, that's Samantha smiling at you.
What in the bleepity-bleep happened to October? It was September, I blinked, and then it was November. And this month is going to be so crazy busy.
This coming weekend end the belly dance troupe is going to be learning not one, but two different choreographies; one tribal by Heidi of Plaza De Anaya, and one hip-hop by Lisa Zahiya.
My experience with Tribal Style belly dancing is minimal. I took a beginner class a few years ago and was throughly bored with it. Doing 'Hip, hip, hip, 1/4 turn." over and over again just didn't work for me. But, since this is a dance routine and not a class I imagine that it will be a little more complex and interesting.
Hip-Hop belly dance fusion. Ha! Modern, Lyrical, Broadway, Fosse, Luigi style jazz....no problem. Hip-Hop, Techno, Funk style jazz....big, big problem. I'm just not a Hip-Hoppy sort of gal. Oh yes, and we'll be learning the entire routing in 2 or 3 hours.
This weekend is going to be intense and challenging.
Then, the following weekend is the Faerie Festival followed by learning the 2nd half of the Tribal routine.
After that the focus will be on getting the house in order before Turkey Day.
During the week I'll be practicing yoga & belly dance on a daily basis, working on my Spring & Summer 2010 color report projects, finishing a few Christmas presents, and an afghan for my daughter.
As much as I hate to work by a schedule I think that's what I'm going to have to do just to get through this month.
If I'm not insane now, I will be shortly.
