When I have the house to myself (as I do tonight), I think, “oh well I’lljust try to quickly…” and then I realize that hours have passed and I’m late, late, late in getting to bed.

It’s always something that’s such a little thing, but it becomes completely absorbing and time disappears. It’s a combination of love and challenge. These are tricky things or I wouldn’t be trying so hard to master them, and/or I love them (which is why I get lost trying to master them).

So I’m going to tell you my list of loves and challenges that keep me up at night. Then you can tell me your list. Hey, they’re obviously worth losing a little sleep over, so pass them along for the rest of us.

Here’s this week’s list:

Passionate Saidi Shoulders
Online costume browsing
Listening to Hisham Abbas
Learning to play Tabla
BackBends
Feeling the music
Watching classics on youtube
Sewing more cut glass beaded fringe on my costume

and yours?

Have you ever had the experience of not knowing what to do or say to a friend who’s going through a bad time? You can’t think of anything helpful to say or do. Your mind is blank and your hands flutter by your side like birds in a net.

Do you remember the last time you saw someone care for a child who had hurt themselves? Or maybe remember back to when you were a child. What did the comforting person do? They said, “oh you poor thing,” and “Come sit by me and you can cuddle until you feel better” or “I’ll get a bandaid” or “how about I kiss it better.” Why is that so powerful? Do cuddles, or bandaids or kisses actually make the hurt go away? Well no. But something about the exchange provided comfort, and that was the attitude of mastery adopted by the adult. If they were to limit themselves to what was strictly true or what would actually fix things, they’d only be able to say things like, “crying doesn’t make it better” and “do you want some painkillers?”

Though bandaids and kisses are a kind of elaborate lie, a child given this care will feel better because the right attitude of sympathy, calm and mastery tells them that someone else is prepared to take responsibility for them and their wellbeing for a bit.

It’s what we do in dance. We take care of the dance experience for the audience. And it’s not what you do, or the truth or purpose of what you do. It’s how you do it; with calm and mastery. Every movement can be as much a fantasy as the idea that bandaids fix bruises, but if you deliver it with the calm and compassion of a parent comforting a child, it will be exactly right.

Dancing on your toes requires balance, ankle strength and core muscle strength. But if your balance is good when you’re flat-footed, and your ankles are strong, yet you’re still having trouble, check your posture.

1. Don’t straighten your feet 100%. If you’re up too high, then most of your weight is literally on your toes. Lower yourself a little bit so that the balls of your feet make better contact with the ground, maybe 70-80% straight. This also makes sure that in addition to using your ankles, you can use the muscles in your feet to correct your balance.
2. Tuck your pelvis under you. This will prevent you from locking your knees and hips and it will keep your center of gravity more over the balls of your feet.
3. Keep your ribcage forward (ie, centred over your hips) and your shoulders back.

Another advantage to making your neutral position only half-off the ground, is that it makes it easier to vary your height in order to add texture to a move.