The classes were just as good as I'd hoped they'd be too. We're starting new routines, which is good - it felt like we'd been doing the last ones for ages, going over and over and over. It's good to learn routines, but I get a bit bored if we go over them for too long - more than a term and I get bored. I don't mind doing it every now and then to get the practice, and to keep it in the memory, but seriously, we went over one routine every week for a year last time. We're also learning new moves in my Saturday class, cos we've got a teacher we don't normally have. It's good to learn new stuff. :) And I discovered that all of my tribal moves have disappeared from my head. Gone. Nothing there. So I'll be practicing them again this year, well, learning them again to be honest.
And . . . we got swords!
A close up of the handle:
I've been looking forward to dancing with swords since like, forever! And now I have one, yay!! It's so hard to balance it though! :) I thought I had pretty good balance, but I get it on my head, and just go absolutely rigid, terrified to move. I don't know why, it's not even sharp at all - I guess I just haven't got used to the feeling of it. It's a lot heavier than I expected, but it seems easier to balance it with a scarf on my head. But somehow that feels like cheating! :) I just want to stick it on my head and dance away! I guess it's just one of those things that I'll need to practice until I get comfortable with it.
2 comments:
The key is to relax your neck. If your neck is rigid, all of the motion of your body travels right up to your head, when your neck is loose and relaxed, your head can stay steady while your body moves.
Also, the better my posture, the easier dancing with the sword is. If I really concentrate on keeping my pelvis tucked and my shoulders back, I can almost dance like the sword isn't there. Especially once I've been going for a few minutes and the weight of it has put a groove in my head. (yes, that's a good thing)
I pull at least the crown of my hair back, since if I don't, my hair will slide under the sword. But beyond that, I don't put anything on my head, or notch the sword or anything. I just don't think it's necessary. I mean, I can see why a dancer with slippery hair might use some hairspray or pomade for the same reason I pull mine back, but beyond that, a quality sword should not need any tricks to make it balance.
Have fun!
Thanks for the advice! Yeah, I think my neck gets really tense as soon as I think about putting the sword on my head, but that makes sense about keeping relaxed to stop the movement! I think my hair was loose last time I tried, I'll try tie it back and see if it's easier. Thank you so much!
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