The Flamenco Diaries: Week 1 - Muscle Memory

So the moment had arrived and gone in a flash! Recap of my flamenco class...

1) My teacher is nice and is isn't the type to yell or clown you for making mistakes. She is not intimidating at all.

2) Students in the class commented that they love my purple flamenco skirt and ask where I got it. Honestly, I don't know remember because I got it 6 years ago!

3) The teacher put me in the front because I'm "new".

4) She taught us Solea compas, the 2 types of palmas (clapping), posture, arms, floreo, footwork. This was VERY basic none of these took me by surprise and frankly, I wished she would do something more complicated but this is a beginning class, it's to be expected.

5) My coordination needs work. My body has forgotten to multitask. In flamenco, you do a lot of moves that are counter intuitive to your body. We did an exercise where we were doing footwork and arm work at the same time. Although, I can do it, it just felt really weird and unnatural. Nothing practice and a couple more classes won't fix. The old adage "if you don't use it, you will lose it" is very true in my case.

6) My teacher is a stickler for detail. She goes around to each and every student correcting the smallest things from posture, to how you hold your arms, to how you do your floreos. This is a good thing and right away I could tell she is an excellent teacher.

7) There is a live guitarist! Dancing to live music makes a HUGE difference!

The hour went by really fast! Although the class is way too basic for me and very slow, I'll stick it out for the entire session. I think it was smart to choose the beginning class, that way I won't be in over my head and never come back again! I could just relax and enjoy dancing instead of sweating bullets over trying to figure out crazy choreography.

I'm so glad I decided to take flamenco again. Flamenco has always made me feel so ALIVE! Today those warm, fuzzy feelings returned. It's wonderful!