The Flamenco Diaries: Crazy

I was practicing turns in the garage until 2am last night. I woke up the next morning at 7:30AM and practiced footwork on the backyard deck. I probably woke the whole neighborhood up too.

The Flamenco Diaries: Week 6- Vueltas

I thought flamenco class was cancelled today. I walked up to the studio and discovered that it was locked. The lights were off and nobody was there. I was not thrilled at all as I had to travel into the city to get here and it was a complete waste of my time. If class were cancelled, the teacher would have emailed us. I checked my email, and no email from teacher.

I decided to walk out to the corner on market street and wait. About 20 minutes later, I saw my teacher leave a cafe nearby walking to the studio. Phew! Class is not cancelled. I followed her. She too discovered the door was locked and she didn't have the access code. She called the studio owner for the code, all she got was a voicemail.

More students were showing up as we were waiting for the call back. The teacher jokingly said (or maybe not jokingly), "If we can't get in, we'll just have class outside. The concrete will do wonders for our knees."

The owner finally called and we were able to get in the studio.

There are some days when you are having an "on" day. You're in the zone and everything just clicks for you. Today wasn't one of those days. Talk about being humbled. I felt like a downright idiot. The teacher introduced us to vueltas (turning). She broke down the turn for us and showed us how to spot. Spotting is where you focus on a "spot" in front of you and when you whip your head around you go back looking at that same spot. This prevents you from getting dizzy and from being off balance.

I hate turning. Turns are my major downfall. Even back then when I was taking flamenco 5 days a week, I still had trouble with turns and would get intimidated when we had to do them in choreography.

So she made us travel across the floor doing vueltas, switching sides after a set. I don't know if I was psyching myself out or what, I just couldn't do them. And these beginners who've NEVER taken flamenco before could do them. This makes me lead to believe, either I've picked up a bad habit or it's a mental thing.

My teacher approached me after class and said, "I notice when you are turning you are using your head as momentum to get around. You need to use your core." I told her that turns were my weakness and the other teachers I took classes from never bothered to break it down. They just had me do them without proper technique. She goes on to explain that some of her advanced students don't even know how to do turns for this very reason. And she said my spotting is perfect and to stop psyching myself out. I'm guessing she saw my frustration and felt the need to approach me after class.

After class, I wanted to kick myself. I hate it when I don't get something. Anyways, now I know what I'm doing wrong. It took years for someone to point this out to me and I'm so thankful for it. Every week my teacher proves to me that she is an amazing teacher. Most flamenco teachers can't be bothered.

I vow to practice every day until it becomes second nature. I'm going to get it, hopefully by next week when she makes us go across the floor again.

The Flamenco Diaries: Week 4 - Zapateo y Marcaje

We did footwork which is getting a bit more complicated and faster pace. She has finally thrown arms into the mix.

She's also had us do some marking to Allegrias.

Everything was a piece of cake and I felt good about everything.

After class, I hung around to observe Beginning II class, where you start doing choreography. It doesn't look that complicated and I would have probably been better off starting at that level. I notice that some of the people from my class stayed on and are taking that class. I think by the end of this session (which ends in June), I would have enough review of basic techniques to move on to Beginning II. Usually, it takes at least 6 months to a year in Beginning I to move up to Beginning II. Thank goodness my muscle memory has kicked in and I don't have to wait that long.

The Flamenco Diaries: Week 3 - MISSED CLASS!!!

No flamenco today, I have to study for finals. :(

The Flamenco Diaries: Week 2 - Footwork and Coordination

Today we did hand and feet coordination. Piece of cake! I think my muscle memory kicked in because I had no trouble at all and it felt natural.

We did our favorite exercise, zapateado! I have no problems with this area at all. I love making music with my feet.

Um...I think my teacher could tell by now that I'm not really an absolute beginner. She didn't correct me on anything.

This whole week I'm going to drive the whole house bonkers because all they will hear is the sound of stamping feet.

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!