Life's Context » Dancing

Riverdance.

Periapex — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:11:06 +0000

Riverdance was back in Toronto earlier this year. Although the concept is the same as when I last saw the show years ago, they’ve added a few things (or at least I don’t remember them being in the show back then).

The most memorable parts of the show for me this time were the two flamenco numbers. The experience was just an awesome fusion of Spanish and Irish dancing.

Watch the clip to see what I’m talking about: Lines, movement, footwork — unbelievably clean and expressive. I could watch this over and over again (except I still don’t have a high speed internet connection at home).

A Chorus Line.

Periapex — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:03:02 +0000

We made it into Toronto last weekend to see this show. Enjoyed the dancing (much more authentic than the dancing we saw in the stage performance of Dirty Dancing), kind of enjoyed the music, definitely enjoyed the acting.

This show was on Broadway for so many years that it would have been a shame to not have seen it. It’s currently on tour.

What Not To Do When Dancing With Someone’s Wife.

Periapex — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:38:30 +0000

We’re in the process of preparing for the Pro Am “competition” in May so we’ve been doing some hardcore dancing over the last few weeks

At last week’s St. Paddy’s day party at the studio, The Girl and myself were paired off with different people to dance with (learning to dance with different people is a big part of learning to dance). She was paired off with Elio.

Elio is in his 50’s, owns some sort of fairly successful business, and he’s been coming to the studio for almost as long as we have. He’s a shorter Italian ~~gentle~~man. As I’ve gotten to know him (and his wife) little by little, I’ve been kind of creeped out by him. I get the dirty old man vibe from him. And of course, his favourite dances are the up close and personal ones like Bachata.

So as Elio and The Girl were dancing a swing, he did something that is a no-no when dancing with someone else’s (happily married) wife.

While he led a spin from a tuck-in with his left hand, he pinched her ass with his right hand…

Dirty Dancing.

Periapex — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 21:45:49 +0000

We went into Toronto 2 weekends ago to see Dirty Dancing.

The male lead ended up being the understudy, so I’m not sure if I would have enjoyed the regular actor better, but I actually enjoyed the movie more. The background ensemble did some decent dancing which I enjoyed more than the dancing from the leads. The male’s balletic background clashed with the mambo that he tried to perform and made him look rigid and lost in the music.

If chemistry and good mamboing are what you want, watch the movie instead.

Dancing With the Stars Again.

Periapex — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 18:05:00 +0000

We have to pick and choose our television shows (especially reality TV) because of our limited free time. We’ve watched the past few seasons of Dancing With the Stars but decided to forego it this year because the dancing, although good, is more flash and glamour than anything else. We prefer So You Think You Can Dance. On top of that Beauty and the Geek is currently holding our attention.

This all changed when I opened my mouth and mentioned to The Girl that one of my high school classmates, Cam Mathison, is on Dancing With the Stars this season.

“Who is he?” she asked. I showed her, her mouth dropped open, and now I am being forced to watch this season’s shows.

Cam and I took Calculus together and were in a tight competition for first place in that class. If memory is serving correctly, in the end he achieved a 99% and I ended up with a 98%. The curse of having smarts and looks–I know how he feels.

Please Don’t Look For Us…

Periapex — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 16:41:00 +0000

…in these Salsa videos. I have enough trouble staying on time to the music to look as good as these dancers.

Our Usual Busy Weekend.

Periapex — Sun, 13 May 2007 17:39:00 +0000

It’s been a busy but interesting weekend.

Towards the end of our yoga session on Friday, while in shavasana, some vivid imagery came to me. The imagery brought with it a strong sense of peace and serenity. I can’t remember ever having such a sense of contentment while meditating–and I’ve been doing directed meditation on and off for just over 15 years. I thought it was an interesting experience at the time and then forgot about it until last night.

That Friday night we went out to Famme Furlane for some dancing and to see a pro show (the pictures above). You might recognise the first couple as the winners of the recent show, America’s Ballroom Challenge. They also just performed on Dancing with the Stars. Both couples were incredible.

As an early celebration for The Girl’s upcoming birthday we went to The Red Violin with a couple of our friends. Our friends really enjoyed this restaurant in the past and suggested that we try it out. Afterwards we did some samba dancing. Unfortunately, there’s only so much of the same type of dancing I can do in one night before my interest wanes.

After we got tired of dancing we sat down and talked over some martinis. I briefly mentioned to the other couple that we’ve had a fairly busy, but nice weekend. I explained that we had our yoga thing on Friday and we’ve picked up a series of lessons on Yoga Nidra that we do on Sundays. L, our female friend, asked about the lessons and what sort of meditation it is.

L is a clairvoyant and teaches The Silva Method, or something similar. The Silva Method is what got me started in meditation and manifesting. L says that some philosophy changes within Silva’s stuff have led her away from being associated with it. I wouldn’t know about that.

Anyway, I started to tell her about my experience on Friday:

L, almost knocking her martini over as she moves closer to hear me better: What did you say?

Me: I said it was the most peaceful experience I’ve ever had.

L: No, no, what did you say you saw?

Me: An image of an *** appeared in front of me. It was pretty cool. I looked at it, it looked back at me. I felt like we could look at each other forever. There was no such thing as time in that moment.

L, now getting visibly excited: I never tell people this unless they mention it first, but there are 2 images that people who have clairvoyant abilities can see. The *** is one of them. Wow!

Me: Um?

L: I’m so happy for you, I could just hug you. Let me hold your hand. Wow!

Me: Um?

L: You’re probably going to notice things starting to happen in your life–things that are not negative, but out of place. Pay attention to them!

Me, discombobulated. Speechless.

So that’s that.

Here’s a picture of Sundance preening Tango’s tail.

Yay!

Periapex — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 12:28:00 +0000

The ProAm (professional/amateur) competition is over! We did our 48 dances, and now we can get our lives back to normal.

During our grueling practices:

Tony the Teacher: Ok, we’re doing rounds–all the open routines non-stop.

Music starts.

The Girl and I bump into one of the other students and stop.

Tony the Teacher: No, no, you can’t stop. Start again.

Music starts.

We bump into the wall because I misjudge our line of dance in the Viennese Waltz.

Tony the Teacher: No, no, no! You can’t stop. See, if you stop you’re out.

Me: But I don’t want to hurt any of the other people on the floor.

Tony the Teacher, voice raising: If you bump into someone and you stop, you’re done, if someone bumps into you and you stop you’re done. If someone bumps into you and they stop, they’re done, if you bump into someone and they stop, they’re done also. Get it? It’s last man standing. Keep going no matter what! Don’t worry about injuring anyone else!!

The Girl with her two cents: Yeah, don’t stop.

Me, thinking: Ballroom dancing–who knew it was full combative contact? And on top of that, there’s a peanut gallery.

During the competition:

Tony the Teacher was right. It’s like a sort of civilized free-for-all out there. I had to use The Girl as a shield. She got some hard elbows in the side of the face and the back of the head, I got kicked with a heal, but did I stop? No way José.

I wasn’t stopping for anything! Not even the peanut gallery that I was dancing around with.

An Argentine Tango.

Ameloblast — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 22:50:00 +0000

We don’t do Argentine Tango but I had to post this awesome scene. The essence of Tango is captured on so many levels here.

Dancing the Night Away.

Ameloblast — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 11:36:00 +0000

We’ve got so much stuff to do today but we’re so tired. We decided to go out last night with some friends from the studio to practise our ProAm routines in a different setting.

We went to bed much later than we should have.