Haha wow I agree with most of this. Except minus the catch up lunches. I really do like seeing people and hanging out. I think it only applies for acquaintances that you barely knew. And you guys??

To New Beginnings

Chuc Mung Nam Moi! Chinese and Vietnamese New Year’s. I can’t believe how fast time flies. Where did 2011 go? Normally each year, I write a blog looking back on my experiences of that year. I haven’t been able to do so yet mostly because I’ve been trying to let my hands, wrists and elbows heal. It seems typing and computer usage exacerbates symptoms and therefore I’ve been trying to avoid using the computer altogether. I’m actually composing this using voice recognition software called Dragon NaturallySpeaking which I bought off group on for $40 instead of $100. It works pretty well but it doesn’t always get everything correct. If I speak slowly and enunciate very well it gets almost everything however if I speak at my normal pace, tone, and volume, there are mistakes.

2011… I can’t believe the year has passed by already. I began it by first moving home from San Diego after graduation. The month-long stay at home was almost unbearable before my excursion to Mexico. On January 13 of 2011 I embarked on a journey to Cuernavaca, Mexico for an intensive Spanish program despite all the news of the dangers of all the drug cartels and the violence. For the first time I did not have the comfort of going with a group or a predetermined program through my university. I actually found this program through the Internet two years before while I was studying abroad in Singapore. My thought process was at the time that because of neural plasticity, it would have been a really big shame if I never got to a conversational level of Spanish. Language really is more easily acquired the younger we are and I knew that if I wanted to acquire this thing  more easily and more efficiently I would have to acquire  it as soon as possible.

That was when I found the program in Cuernavaca, Mexico at Universidad Internacional. I enrolled for a semester at this Mexican University while doing a homestay with a Mexican family. I stayed with a family for one month before my friend and I got our own apartment and lived like locals in Mexico. This was one of the most challenging abroad experiences that I have ever had and also one of the most rewarding. I got to immerse myself in the culture and the language and during my time there I have reached a nearly fluency of the language. I had some pretty interesting times there for example losing my wallet my first week there, hearing a nearby shootout, learning how to surf in Puerto Escondido -one of the world renowned surf destinations, climbing up old archaeological sites of the indigenous people that lived there hundreds and thousands of years before, swimming in blue and sparkling waterfalls, walking through old jungle ruins like Indiana Jones, observing ritual sacrifice of live chickens in one of the indigenous villages, visiting tiny little pueblos in the middle of nowhere by invitation of Mexican friends that I met their who graciously let me stay with their families, and so much more.

Coming back to the states in May was a very difficult thing to do because I knew I needed to begin my adult life. After the recuperation stage I began my hunt for a job. At the same time I enrolled into summer classes, beginning hip-hop and also health class. This was a really difficult time because after years and years of independence and freedom I now had to live under the roof of my parents once more. I also got to hang out with friends that I had not hung out with a very long time which was a plus. I also finally was able to get into dance which is an amazing form of exercise because it’s so fun.

Right as my classes ended I got a job offer for G. It seemed almost too good to be true and I thanked the fates of the world for aligning in such a way where I could get a job with such impeccable timing. I felt like the luckiest guy alive. Working at G was an amazing experience. The culture is nothing like anything you’d find anywhere else. It was a good dose of the real world when I quickly realized was that work could be complicated. In a way it was a study abroad experience itself. I was exploring a new culture and a new lifestyle. Unfortunately however, I began getting pains in my hands, my wrists, and my elbows. Who knew that these pains were the beginning symptoms of carpal tunnel? After getting to the point where these pains were waking me up in the middle of the night and also when my weekends would just be filled with this nagging neuropathy, I decided that in the interest of health it would be best if I left. It’s unfortunate that entry-level work is filled with such tedious grunt work. Even if I took time off to heal the manner of work would have still been the same, thereby only recreating the problem once again. It was one of the hardest decisions of my life but after careful consideration I knew it was for the best. An amazing year filled with adventures, new experiences, and new cultures ended on a rather somber and morose note. The year flew by and I can hardly believe that it is already 2012. I feel a little disappointed that this potential easy path has been blocked off for me, however I see it as a way of narrowing down my choices of what I want to do.I hope for a fast recovery. 

Growing up is not easy however I’m ready to charge at this behemoth that we call the real-life and kick its ass. 

Big changes are coming soon. I hope I’ve made the right decisions thus far. We’ll see how everything pans out…..

I MISS MY FREEDOM. 

we keep it moving: Beginning Blues

Great post! 

movementlifestyle:

 

~ Dedicated to Tracy Seiler, Bianca Vallar, Jay Vaughn, and Keone Madrid for having countless and endless conversations about this very important subject. ~

I’m sure nobody believes me, but one of the first dance moves I ever learned was a top rock.  Not a double turn, not an eight count of choreography.  A top rock.  With a break beat playing off the speakers, most likely it was “planet rock.”   Yeah I learned it in a studio, so shoot me, I grew up in Boulder, Colorado where urban street culture was virtually non-existent.  But I learned it from a teacher I greatly respect and who taught me so much when I was so young.  Thank you K.O. My first teacher Kevin O’Keffe.  He sat us down, explained where hip-hop came from, showed us basic steps, taught us how to listen to music, how to six-step, slide, wave, and try our best to find that groove in our soul that is the essential ingredient.  

12 years later, I still feel like I am just starting to find it.

There is so much to say. There are so many people who can probably say it better, but with what I have gathered, and from what I have learned so far, I feel the call to share.  I know I am absolutely not alone and have had so many conversations, discussions, and listening sessions on this subject, and look forward to many more.

With the way dance has changed, it’s almost hard to keep up with what is available now.  Things are accessible in this world we live in.  We are becoming accustomed to getting what we want almost as soon as we want it.  Call it impatience, social change, bourgeois culture, technological advance, gluttony, evolution, I believe there are probably all of those things smacked in there somewhere.  We see, we want.  I know cause I’m like that too.  But we need to remember that we must earn things, we must work toward goals.  If we don’t put hard work in, we miss out on so much. We have to pay attention to the journey to the goal, not on only the goal itself.  That’s something our old director Emmett taught us to live by on Cookies: it’s not the final product, it’s the process that we love. By the time you get to the show, if you didn’t enjoy the time in rehearsals with your teammates putting together the set, then what was the point of all the effort?

Something I understand is people love dance. They are excited, they are hungry, they want to absorb everything they can.  That is wonderful, and it is vital.  But we cannot be great dancers, teachers, choreographers, etc. without having a base.  Please don’t be turned off by my reference, I’m a Bible-thumping gal and it’s a clear illustration. In Matthew 7:24-27 Jesus uses a metaphor about a man who builds his house on rock vs. a man who builds his house on sand.  A storm comes, the house built on the sturdy foundation survives, the house built on sand falls apart.  We need to care about our base as dancers.  We need to pay attention to the rocks that built what we do now.  We need to take beginning classes and foundation classes, before we move onto intermediate classes and advanced classes.  We should strive to build on solid ground.

I went to college at an art school (and no, not for dance.)  Something so valuable that I took from school was that you had to learn the technique first before you broke the rules.  You have to sit and do thousands of still life drawings to master the way you shade with a pencil vs. charcoal vs. ink vs. paint vs. whatever medium you use.  They are all different mediums, but you learn them all and become better at using each.  Then when you begin to create your own style and you know how to use a pencil to shade, or charcoal to deepen a rich shadow, or use flashes of color to highlight or mute. You become better at bringing your picture to life.  Then when you finally make something you love, you don’t forget about the thousands of okay drawings, on multitudes of paper, that are still in your sketchbook, that you needed to do first before getting to your masterpiece.  

It’s the same with dance.  If we don’t care about learning the techniques then we will be limited to the scope in which we can express what we want to say.  mL loves, appreciates, and thrives from the support of the dance community, but you can only go so far when you only learn choreography choreography choreography all the time.  Especially if you haven’t even mastered a two step, or a basic rock, or understand your own body where you can keep on rhythm and on beat.  Your muscles have to be physically trained and strengthened so you can hit those low levels quickly, so you understand what it feels like when a teacher says to extend your body.  To know when your muscles are engaged, what it means to contract them and hit, what it means to relax without being noodle.  To go further, if you have no idea where what you do comes from and what came before, you are missing out on so much with your relationship with dance.  The way I learned was by technique first and I’m just thankful that I plopped in to the right hands at a young age.  I learned basics in breaking, house, locking, popping, jazz, and hip-hop choreography.  I wish I pushed myself to freestyle more in the beginning instead of just taking class and now realize how incredibly essential that is to hip-hop and also how much it feeds your soul, no matter how good you are at it.  Now I’m learning and delighting in paths I haven’t walked down yet.

But hey, I was there, as a pimply teenager, practicing my waves in my bathroom mirror, trying to figure out how to isolate my arm muscles, and how to fresno without hurting my knees. Trying to remember all the terminology for the locking moves I was learning: Uncle Sam point, Leo walk, Pacing, Strong Man, Scooby-doo, Lock.  Trying to jack even if I only had one song to try and house to, and if I only knew 2 steps, I was going to practice the bejeezus out of em. Trying to keep my flexibility I gained from 8 years as a gymnast, and to be able to still point my toes just as hard. To push my desk chair aside to make room to be able to practice spotting and controlling a single turn, or lifting back my leg slowly to drill arabesques.  I’ve had my fare share of knocking things off my desk trying to bring my leg around while keeping it straight and pointed, but hey, I needed that, I still do.  And now I do not consider myself an expert at these styles, and I don’t believe that what I do is hip-hop; sometimes it is, sometimes it’s not.  However it is where I came from, and I did learn these styles; they are my base, and I am so thankful for that.  That is why I love to dance to all different types of music, cause to me it’s all an empty sheet in your sketch pad that you fill.  The music guides you.

Now here’s something else.  No matter how good you get, it’s always good to go back.  Always.  One of the highlights of my summer this year was taking Henry Link’s class.  Just following him as he drilled us with a smile on his face, and here we are sweating, loving the music, and just finding that groove in ourselves reminded me of why I love to dance.  Of why it feels so good to move.  That’s ALL I was thinking about in his class.  It was so nice to not worry about six and seven and eight and just repeat the same thing for a little bit so I could get it.  So I had the time to try and understand my body in a different way.  And that was a valuable lesson not just as a dancer and student, but as a teacher.  Now his class ain’t no beginning class, but there’s so much of a root in it that you can’t help but walk out with a stronger base.

I think it’s important for us to remember that we need to take the time to know our bodies. Sometimes we see and we get so anxious to get there that we jump in when we’re not ready. And people say that there’s no resources around them, and I feel for you who are limited by geography.  Hey, I grew up in Boulder and who would’ve thought you could find hip-hop dancers at the bosom of the Rocky Mountains? But you can find something if you really look and you really want it. And if you only get few opportunities to learn from people and they’re only around you for a short time, then ask questions.  Ask where you can go, drills you can practice, things you can watch, things you can read.  I’ve learned so much from just listening to people talk.  People who have watched dance evolve and grow, have seen styles pioneered, who have pioneered styles themselves, people like Link, Gary Kendall, Archie Burnett, Mr. Wiggles, Buddha Stretch, Moncell Durden, you fill in the blank. There’s so many ways you can learn it’s insane!  I learn when I pay attention to how I feel when I watch Gene Kelly dance.  You can learn so much about body control by breaking down a wave and drilling it.  You can do so much with a two step by repeating it and changing the flavor when the music changes. We just have to care about taking the effort to do so; we have to care about our craft otherwise why should anyone respect what we do? And I mean respect us as artists, not as merely entertainers.

If we want to be our best, if we want dance to evolve the right way, and to grow to our full potential, we don’t have to be in such a hurry.  Keone always likes to say you don’t go straight from kindergarten to high school, you have to do everything in between.  If you’re still a beginning dancer THAT’S OKAY!  Don’t rush it!  Enjoy learning your body!  Take beginning classes until you are ready for an intermediate class.  Don’t skip to advanced until you have built up your solid rock base.  Everyone’s base is different, but no matter what style you do, it comes from somewhere.  I distinctly remember Archie’s deep and endearing voice say, “you gotta spend your time in the pit.”  Meaning you have to work to get there, you have to start at the beginning, not in the middle. You have to earn it.  

Don’t be the person that builds their foundation on sand, or even on just choreography, you will be so limited in the future or will eventually flatline.  Dance is so so so rich, and it’s history is incredible.  I’m at a point where I’m beginning to understand that the more you look back,  the further you will be able to move ahead, and the more your relationship with dance will thrive.  I don’t think I stepped into an advanced class until I had been dancing 3 years. That means I had 3 years of beginning and intermediate in my tool belt first.  Then I still was learning new styles and was a beginner at those, I still am!  But I needed those first three years of understanding my body in a simple way before I moved to the next level.  And that’s me, everyone paces differently, but please at least slow down to think about it before you drive or fly over to Debbie Reynold’s and throw yourself into the lion’s den.  When you walk in an advanced class, you are expected to know your body already, you are expected to have a base that’s been developed.  Remember it’s not just getting there, getting to that advanced level, but how you get there.

I feel like there could be so much more to say, and more avenues to go on, but not today. I’ve already talked your ear off.  If you made it this far, thank you for reading!  Hope none of this stings, but whenever I write like this it serves as a reminder to myself, and trust, I am far from perfect and have sooooooooo much to learn as a dancer, teacher, artist, and person, sheesh. I rejoice in it. Ninety-nine percent of the time having your pride challenged is a good thing. Remember this is just my opinion that is based on what I’ve experienced in my life. People’s journeys are different, but if you can gather anything from this, if the cogs in your brain are turning, then I am thoroughly happy.

Love,

 Mari

p.s. If I see you in my class, you better be able to two-step your little buns off.  

:)