ATS General Skills
Yaaaaaaaaay.
So, I've been home one night, and I am still completely brain dead. Like, just totally wiped out, stumbling about in a daze, barely makin' it through work. It's not so much the physical exhaustion, though that is considerable, but the brain hurt that comes with a massive information dump. I am sure I will have more eloquent thoughts later, but in the meanwhile, here are some of the thoughts I can properly articulate:
-- I am glad I did this for one main reason: I can pretty much follow anything. In fact, the a good chunk of my dance vocabulary came from being in an improv situation where someone did a move I've never learned, but my brain went "but you've seen this in a video once!" and then just did it. So going in, I had a decent idea of the gross movement of about 80 - 85% of the ATS canon. Having this knowledge really helped me focus on refining the movements and then learning how to properly cue and lead them, which really diversifies the performance I am able to lead. I had several "BINGO" moments where what I knew and what I added on really synergized and suddenly the movement made total sense, both in my body and in my brain.
-- Y'all! I managed a real "aliens in the belly" bellyroll! Carolena put on a 6 min taqsim and was like "just tell your body to do it." And about 2 mins in... boom. There it was! A smooth bellyroll down and then that freaky alien baby release. And I kept doing it. LOVE IT. I also managed a few brief baby flutters. I am proud and want to drill them until I can do them at will during solos.
-- So. The double back. Easily the hardest move for me. I could either get the arms and the zil pattern, or I could get the hip and footwork. Putting them together was entirely problematic... until Megha started to drill it with music, and I took Carolena's "don't think about it, just do it" advice, and boom. I started to do it. I don't think it's a move I'm comfortable with yet, but I'm gonna keep at it.
-- Leading a dance formation in front of Carolena Nericcio? Um. Yeah. Terrifying. She just stands there with this intense scrutinizing expression on and it's like AAAAAAAGH. I did make a few mistakes, but that's why we were there, right? By the end, I was much more comfortable and our group looked really great. We even got a smile and a nod, which I will take as my own personal tribal Gold Star.
-- Also? Carolena is so short. Way shorter than I was expecting, so which strangely and unexpectedly helped me a little. I have a tendency to drop my eyes during my lead. Having her right at that dropped eye level FORCED me to keep my eyes up, so they'd graze over her head and I would not freeze up.
-- Flissy pulling out the ghawazee shimmy with a fade in the last circle was the best. It was just like aaaaaaaagh yeeeeesss.
-- Floorwork: Berber walk, check. The zipper? I'm gonna keep working on it, but I think my externally rotated bones are just not gonna allow that. Plus I have really high arches. Overall, it was like JESUS CHRIST QUADRICEPS. I consoled myself with a much technically improved layback.
-- I am now further convinced that Carolena has muscles that we mere mortals do not have. I have seen them up close and let me tell you-- it's like whaaaaat.
-- I am very proud of my posture right now. It has not always been the best, but it's been a consistent work in progress for me. I was able to keep my elbows up, rotated, and engaged the entire workshop-- no easy feat considering we zilled a good portion of every day. As for personal goals, I feel like I met them quite well, and so it was an overwhelmingly positive experience for me.
-- My kitties, they were so happy to see me omg. Kisses all over, let me tell you.
Megha & Carolena
A very happy Verve Tribal