TribOriginal

Woo hoo!  Gotta love learning intensive-crazy topic-no cares dancecamp weekends!  I registered almost a year ago in their super-early-bird deal with the thought that I'd just wait and see where I was when the camp rolled around.  You all know I haven't been bellydancing as much, and was debating whether I should even go, or stay home since I knew I'd be gone a week later on another trip.  I'm so very glad D demanded that I go regardless of my work schedule.  I had a blast, learned a ton of new things, and am inspired to work harder in my dancing, drumming, and playing.

Ironically, I only took 1 dance class, but had classes every available session.  Mornings started with yoga with Jaia, which was transcending.  She did energy imagery and pranamaya and by the end our hearts were open and ready for the day.  I had drumming classes at various levels and am back to drumming on tabletops and my steering wheel.  One of the teachers was Jeremiah Soto, who I had no idea was as famous as he is until after the classes. He was great, but definitely asked more than I could really handle at times.

Hanging in Pike on the way down after a move.

I really used the class list as an opportunity to try new things and to face down some fears I have.  My fear of falling & inversions and concerns over my upper body/shoulder strength were met head on in Aerials and Acrobalance.  Dangling from a hoop suspended from rafters and flipping yourself up into it took a lot of nerve.  Acrobalance - Cirque du Soleil style partner balancing & support - actually pushed me to my edge.  I kept doing the moves - including headstands (scary for me) - trusting that I wouldn't get hurt.  I even fell once when my base supporter lost her grip and was fine.  But the final move took it a bit too far. In it the base lay down on her back with knees bent and arms straight up in the air.  Standing straddle I put my hands on her thighs, shoulders onto her waiting hands, and my feet on her knees.  Then, supported by her arms and balanced by my hands, let go with my feet and curled into a ball.  I don't think I could breathe without conscious effort, I was so scared.  The next step, to point my legs straight up into a handstand, just couldn't happen.  I tried a couple times but accepted that my bravery was used up for the moment.  I know this sounds silly to all you normal people who have been able to dive, do cartwheels, or inverted balances since kidhood.  But inversions are my biggest physical fear and even baby steps are a big thing.  I'm really glad I did, these 2 classes were the  most memorable and exciting in retrospect.

The further back you lean the easier it is!

The other great part was my cabin-mates. They were all a lot of fun, and one of them mentioned she was an immunology/microbiology PhD.  So we started chatting and it turns out she applied to TL (my old job) years ago and knew Bob and some others!  She's thinking of moving back to B'burg so I gave her my contact info.  She's got a great personality and would be a good addition at TL - wouldn't it be crazy if she ended up there!