what is this sorcery?!!??

Dragon House!

Changing eating habits, or, remembering what I know

The temptation of turrón

One of my favorite Wellness resources starts off with the step "Remember what you know."  So much of making positive changes is not about learning something new, but remembering and applying knowledge you already have, often by overcoming the inertia or other obstacles that have arisen around patterns of behavior. Until I had a child, I never had to diet to keep to a sensible weight, nor did I own a car until I was 34 so I was in reasonable shape just form walking and biking, even after I stopped playing sports like volleyball or softball in college.

After last two weeks of truly heroic holiday feasting (Spanish food is so good!) I was--am-- more than ready to make some changes. I crave salads, greens, vegetables, and feel no appetite for sweets. My new year's resolve to try new recipes and start dancing again are a good start to getting back into my previous good eating habits. From experience, I know that I have to find a new set of habits to latch on to so I don't drift back into bad habits.

The U is on a big Wellness campaign, and has provided some serious incentives this year: if you accumulate 300 points by carrying out a set of wellness activities from their offerings, you can get $300 of your health care plan costs next year.
Comparing my responses to the annual Wellness survey, from over the past few years, I see I have done better at managing the symptoms of my depression AND my back pain.  But I have gained weight and become more sedentary, and I don't like having a menopot. I'm also having a recurrence of the frozen shoulder on the left side, so I need to do some active pain management: this was an incentive to sign up for the phone health coach, and I know that exercise (the right kind) will be key.

My two downfalls, ever since I started taking anti-depressants, have been nervous impulse eating, especially right before bed, and portion control.  I also eat too fast. So, remember what I know: don't skip breakfast; protein with every meal; no refined carbs or empty sugar (no pastries or alcohol); five small meals a day works better for me than three big ones.  In fact, I know that if I plan my food buying, prepare food on Sunday, pack my Mr. Bento, and record my eating for a month or two, I'll be back on track. I also know that returning to my former level of physical activity is possible, but I'll have to take is slowly to not go into a fibro flare.

The "MyFitnessPal" app gives me a way to record what I'm eating and get fairly quick calorie/nutritional information because it draws on a huge database of both commercial products and home-made recipes entered by users. I set a weight goal, get a calorie threshold that will allow me to lose weight slowly and steadily, and then record what I eat and my exercise; it shows me the calorie readouts combining calories eaten and calories burned, and makes predictions as to what I will weigh if keep up with a given day's pattern. So far, it has not been hard to use, either on my phone or on my laptop, and it was free. I want to see how well I can do with this for the Spring semester.

It also warned me on the first day that I was eating too few calories, which might prompt my body to go into "starvation"mode and defeat the slow weight loss purpose. I want to become more fit, not lose weight fast. So I could have had that second piece of 12-grain toast with peanut butter for breakfast, and still kept to my calorie goal.

Paying attention to health eating goes very well with saving money (don't eat out or sit around in coffee shops), so I get to pat myself on the back.

Misheard lyrics: "Faster than my puppy"

The band Foster the People has had a huge hit with the incredibly catchy song "Pumped up Kicks.' We've been listening to it on the car radio and singing along, even though we couldn't really decide what they were singing in the chorus. We got the first part:

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks, they'd better run, better run, faster than....

but then what were they singing? faster than my brother? faster than my puppy? faster than my puppet? What does it sound like to you?




Turns out that the song is really a dark little psychodrama. Ann Powers has a brilliant take on it posted in her NPR blog The Record, where she compares it to The Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer." (but Talking Heads made paranoia a musical style while this is shiny).
I looked up the lyrics, and it's "faster than my bullet."
Note the discussion of the lyrics' meaning in the comments to the lyrics post.

This dubstep remix is great, the dancing is, too.

"Goat on a Cow"

A spell-binding story from the radio show RadioLab, called "Goat on a Cow", is given a new form through dance and performance.

GOAT ON A COW from andrew palermo on Vimeo.

Movies in 2011 #4: Simone Signoret in Casque d'Or

(Inspired by Fresca, who is reading the memoirs of Simone Signoret).

One of Jean Renoir's most famous paintings is this scene of a Sunday afternoon open-air dance, "Bal du Moulin de la Galette" (1876).
A scene like this was recreated in the 1952 film "Casque d'Or." In one of her signature roles, Simone Signoret instructs us in the "le coup de foudre" (the thunderbolt), or how two people are magnetically drawn to each other in the space of two waltzes at le bal. Marie, knows as "Casque' d'Or" because of her blonde hair, is the girlfriend of an "Apache" (the name given to Parisian gangsters who frequented Belleville during the Belle Epoque). He doesn't have to treat her well; she's his possession. But watch how Simone "spots her turns" during the first waltz so she can check out the new arrival. Then see how holds her with one arm as they move perfectly together, looking in each other's eyes.

That's it. The rest of the film will play out the rivalry between the men, but the greatness of this scene is how the dance communicates without words.

Casque d'Or - La guinguette
Uploaded by RioBravo. - Classic TV and last night's shows, online.

Here is the description of the clip:
"Film de Jacques Becker (1951). Musique : Georges van Parys (et Antoine Renard pour « Le Temps des Cerises »).

"L’histoire d’un amour impossible et tragique à la Belle Epoque, dans le quartier parisien de Belleville. Ce film culte est inspiré d’un fait divers réel. Le plus beau rôle de Simone Signoret, dans tout l’éclat de sa beauté.

Jo Manda (Serge Reggiani), voyou repenti devenu charpentier, retrouve, dans une guinguette de la Marne, son ami Raymond (Raymond Bussières), membre d’une bande de mauvais garçons accompagnés de ces dames. Entre Manda et Marie, dite Casque d’Or (Simone Signoret), c’est le coup de foudre. Mais ce n’est pas du goût du protecteur de Marie, Roland (William Sabatier). La rivalité se termine par un duel au couteau, à l’issue duquel Roland est tué. L’idylle champêtre qui suit, entre Marie et Manda, est de courte durée. Le chef de la bande, Maxime Leca (Claude Dauphin), qui a des vues sur Casque d’Or, s’arrange pour faire arrêter Manda. Mais celui-ci parvient à s’évader et se venge à coups de revolver. Il finit guillotiné.

L’une des premières scènes, celle de la rencontre entre Marie et Manda. Parmi les mauvais garçons : Paul Azaïs, Roland Lesaffre, Jean Clarieux. Parmi leurs amies : Dominique Davray."

Movies in 2011 #1 Black Swan

New Year's resolution: blog the movies I see this year!
Technically, I saw The King's Speech on the last day of 2010, so I'll start with #1 Black Swan. Warning: this film has a high ick factor if you have any skin issues (and I do), but I do love overheated melodrama.



I was fortunate enough to see Cynthia Gregory dance in Swan Lake in San Francisco before she retired. She was so exciting!

Roberto Bolle and Svetlana Zakharova showcase the character of Odile:


Does anyone have a favorite ballet movie? Billy Elliot? The Red Shoes?

Dance dance

The dancers featured in Janelle Monae's "Tightrope" video

The great dancers we have been seeing perform with Janelle Monae on "Tightrope" are Ladia Yates, Charles Riley, and Marico Flake (Dr Rico). They are based in the Memphis jookin scene.
Ladia Yates is AMAZING! watch her!

Dr Rico is ASTOUNDING!

Charles Riley (Lil Buck) soloing to "Tightrope." BEAST!
Here is Ladia teaching us the moves.

Learn How to do the "Tightrope" dance like Janelle Monae. For more Trendy How-To Videos & Articles, visit WonderHowTo.

Gene Kelly

Listen to Christopher Walken talk about the great Gene Kelly. I wish we could see more about his observation on dancing ahead of the beat.

Step-Up 3D dancers on Jimmy Fallon's show

I must watch this a million times!

Li'l C (red pants,"king of krump" as seen in RIZE, and SYTYCD judge) Twitch (black jacket, glasses, "bendy girl" is Tamara Levinson (Argentine, former Olympian rhythmic gymnast, Cirque de Soleil performer and Madonna dancer), endless head-spin is by ? Bboy Daniel Cloud Campos (who also danced with Madonna on tour and in this Shakira video) apparently did the jackhammers and double flip at the beginning, and is NOT Harry Shum as I misidentified him... and others unnamed but amazing. I wish I knew the name of the woman in black and white stripes, I LOVE her dancing! I have to see this movie now even though I know the plot, dialogue and all elements not actually involving dance will be filler.

P.E., fitness, and getting back into shape

I'm thinking about my relationship to my body and fitness as something that I didn't engage with consciously until very recently, despite the fact that I have been very fit for most of my life, if not terribly athletic. If you are old enough, you'll remember when P.E. was subject in school. This was before sportswear was acceptable street clothing, before everyone "worked out at the gym," before Jane Fonda started her second career as an workout guru, and before Title IX was enacted in 1972 and girls began to have the opportunity to become athletes as children. I don't think young women are aware of how different their experience and the expectations of their bodies in relationship to sports are today compared to the experience of women in their late forties and older. Yet, although most of my P.E. experience was of the separate and vastly inferior kind that was provided to girls in the late sixties-early seventies, we did have to change into special clothing and do exercise or a sport, even if it was only kickball, every day in Jr. High and three times a week in high school. I learned how to play kickball as a prelude to softball, how to serve at volleyball, the rules of flag football and field hockey. We also played badminton, I think. In the name of the President and his physical fitness goals, we were taught how to do push-ups, sit-ups and jumping jacks, made to run laps and throw a softball. We climbed ropes and were taught the basic step of the waltz. Oh, and square dancing, we did that in sixth grade. I remember our gym teachers, all women, made us do something called "squat thrusts," (aka "burpees" but a true burpee has a pushup and a jump in it). In Jr. High, the girls' P.E. outfits were a dark blue, short- sleeved one-piece shorts thingie with elastic around the leg holes for modesty, with a belt. This outfit had a special name that I cannot remember. It wasn't bloomers, but it was something like that, and if you did not have it on for P.E. you got into a lot of trouble.

My mother signed us up for swimming lessons, and I even was on a swim team for one season, but I was never very good at the crawl or the butterfly, and mostly did the breast stroke or the back stroke when I swam laps as an adult.

Despite this level of activity, I was always of the "last picked for the team" crowd, partly because I was myopic and refused to wear my glasses so I couldn't tell how far away a ball was. I was also painfully shy after sixth grade, mortified if anyone looked at me. I longed to be invisible. Yet, somehow in college, when I was 17-18, I ended up being recruited by my P.E. major roommate Natalie to be on our co-ed volleyball and softball teams because, I was told, they needed one more person to be able to sign up the team. Again, I was always the weakest link, but some of the guys took pity on me and actually helped me develop a few skills at throwing and catching the ball, even if I would occasionally just lob it in some random uncontrolled direction. Although they purported not to care, I knew my teammates were terribly competitive and I was alternately ashamed and resentful that I didn't measure up, but also thrilled in a puppy-like way that they included me, the dork, in their group. It was a mixed experience, to say the least.

Once I finished college, my main form of exercise consisted of not having a car: I walked, biked, hauled stuff, and generally tramped all over town for hours everywhere I lived, whether it was in the U.S. or Europe. I also started having the symptoms of fibromyalgia (fatigue, pain) but didn't know why or what it was. I was fit, but I hurt all over and all of the time. Because nobody could tell me why, I just lived with it. I would finally get a diagnosis at age 32 and start doing things like yoga and stretching to help manage the pain.

Walking and biking were my primary ways of keeping fit in graduate school because I no longer hung out with people who played organized sports, the whole world was not yet "going to the gym" and my stab at running proved to me that I would never stick with something I found boring. I had been told by the doctor when I had my first of many childhood sprains that I had "weak ankles" and he told my mother not to let me dance (curse him forever!!!). In my twenties, I did join some friends at the pool from time to time. They were dedicated swimmers; I was not, but I was used to being less competent at sports than most people I knew.

I took two P.E. classes in college: British Isles Folkdancing (loved loved loved it! why didn't I continue?) and the very first weight training class offered for women. Actually the women's section was filled, but they let me and a dorm mate into the men's class. The instructor was a woman, a track coach I believe, and I could tell the guys were not willing to grant her any authority as we gathered on the first day. She didn't say anything, just whipped off ten pullups to the back of the neck with some kind of reverse grip that were clearly of the kind that only Wonder Woman could do, and I saw all the guys visibly adopt a submissive posture. She had proven that she was as tough or tougher than all of them. My supercute friend had lots of guys "helping her" with her weights, but I was happy enough to be ignored. My goal for the class? to be able to do ONE regular pull-up. I never achieved my goal, but I did develop some actual muscle definition and a new relationship to my body. It was very satisfying.


After two years of walking and biking around Minneapolis I finally got a car, and my level of activity dropped precipitously. Walking around the lakes didn't quite replace it. But I also started taking an Afro-Caribbean dance class taught by an amazing teacher, who gave us a 45 minute workout before we even started dancing combinations. It took about a year of taking class from him, first only on Saturdays, then on Tues/Thurs/Sat, to finally overcome the body shame and shyness, get the level of confidence and fitness to finally feel as if I could use my body to express myself. It was a revelation that I could actually be good at something that involved moving my body through space. I owe that dance teacher so much. I stopped taking his class when I was five months pregnant, and then he moved away.


After I was 40, and had a small child, I looked to dance agin for the exercise and pleasure that gym classes never gave me. Until a few years ago, I danced either in ballroom classes or socially at least 2-5 times a week. I was in great shape and it helped me manage my fibromyalgia. But when I had my episodes with rotator cuff impingement and frozen shoulder, I stopped dancing and playing the piano. It hurt too much to raise my hands or my arms above my waist. This coincided, not at all coincidentally, with menopause. Hormanal changes and loss of activity have meant that I rapidly gained weight, putting on close to twenty-five pounds in two years. So I'm both out of shape and
I had to give away my wardrobe. I feel sluggish and weak. My fibromyalgia symptoms are worse. I need to get back in shape, not just because I'd like to lose a few pounds but because my future health as an elderly lady will be better if I get fit again. So, despite my fondness for the YWCA, we have signed up at the new LA Fitness about a block from where I live, and I have plunked down the money to have the services of a personal trainer once a week for six months. I know I will not get back into shape unless someone stands over me and counts those repetitions, and I know that if I don't get back into shape, my health and morale will not improve.

The manager put us through our paces in the intake, and my thighs are feeling it, but I feel so excited to have made this commitment, and I want to return to feeling strong and fit again. Then I had an evaluation session where we took measurements and tested what my limits were with a variety of strength exercises: "Pitiful" (that would be my term, not the trainer's).

Dance in the movies

What a goldmine for dance lovers! Flavorwire has posted the videos of 35 favorite dance sequences from the movies. They got such a great response in the comments that they posted 25 more dance sequences in film. Yummy!

Mexican movies in the fifties had some amazing musica and dance numbers. The mambo craze was big, with Pérez Prado's band (and Beny Moré the singer), so films with mambo dance routines were popular. Here's a number called "El ruletero". Sorry about the sound, but it's a classic. The film is "La reina del mambo" (The Mambo Queen) with María Antonieta Pons dancing, one of the many Cubans who came to Mexico to work in the music business, and who became a huge star.


Here's the great Beny Moré singing while the dancer Tongolele combines classical dance moves with AfroCuban rhythms in the film El Rey del Barrio (1949). The music is pure AfroCuban country rumba; Beny invokes the orisha Changó in the first part of the song.


Here's another Cuban band La Sonora Matancera with the Colombian singer Nelson Pinedo.


The Havana sequence in Guys and Dolls with Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons shows a U.S. stereotype of the mambo.



Do you have a favorite dance movie? or a favorite scene of dancing in a movie?

The LXD at TED 2010

Standing ovation!

Lindy dancing

Last night, I went out dancing for the first time in way too long. The band was Steve Clarke and the Working Stiffs, a great band for dancing swing, lindy, west coast, and Balboa (if you know how, which I don't but I intend to learn).
Kurt Lichtman is on the swing dance faculty at Cornell! Yes, they have a swing dance faculty! His pages give very good historical overviews of the different regional styles and how they evolved. "Partnered Jazz Dance" is the way he describes swing dance, because it gives so much room for improvisation. Explore the Archives of Lindy Hop for more detailed stories of the styles, the dancers, and the Savoy Ballroom scene, where it all began.

Bboy Legacy makes a film reflection on contemporary dance

via sytycdism, one of my favorite blogs, comes this wonderful piece created by Legacy. It gives me a lot to think about. After the challenges of learning contemprary dance styles on the show, working with dancers and choreographers, in a milieu that identifies so-called contemporary dance with "dance" and his kind of dance with "tricks", this is a fascinating statement.

"Freak the Vogue!"-Pony and Dashaun teach basis of vogue to the fabulous Beat Freaks

Pony and Dashuan, two of the stars of Vogue Evolution (the crew I first saw on ABDC) teach The Beat Freaks how to vogue.

PART 1 OF Pony and Daschaun of VOGUE EVOLUTION teaching LindseyB, Rino, Maryss From Paris, and Keeley "LockN' Key" of the BEAT FREAKS how to VOGUE. Part 1 includes: Catwalk & Duckwalk.

FREAK THE VOGUE 1 from Beat Freaks on Vimeo.

Part 2 of Pony and Daschaun of VOGUE EVOLUTION teaching LindseyB, Rino, Maryss From Paris, and Keeley "LockN' Key" of the BEAT FREAKS how to VOGUE. Part 2 includes: Dip & Hands

FREAK THE VOGUE 2 from Beat Freaks on Vimeo.

I have so much respect and love for these dancers! Here they talk about the knowledge behind the moves. There is a lot in common for these dancers who are keeping dance practices alive and innovating with them at the same time: take the moves and make them your own!

FREAK THE VOGUE: THE KNOWLEDGE from Beat Freaks on Vimeo.

Beat Freaks + Vogue Evolution = Love!

I keep writing posts and then not posting them because they dissatisfy me. I'm getting frustrated that blogging feels more like a chore than a pleasure. I briefly considered going on hiatus or even closing it down. But then I found this clip of the Beat Freaks taking voguing lessons from Vogue Evolution, and it made me very happy.

FREAK THE VOGUE Trailer from Beat Freaks on Vimeo.

Tonight's drinking game? take a shot every time you hear "best group ever"

(cross-posted at SYTYCD Social)
Hi, folks! I am doing my SYTYCD homework for tonight's "get to know your top 20" episode. I'm very glad the producers decided to give us this special show so we don't start seeing the dancers get eliminated until we have clapped eyes on all of them and seen them dance at least once! I'm not even bothered by the idea that the judges will do the first eliminations, because (repeat after me) this is a scripted reality show in which we are being told stories and led to believe things that are not necessarily true! I'm willing to kick back and gossip for a few weeks before I start voting.

So, I have dutifully watched all the audition episodes, even though I missed the accelerated rhythm of the summer-style audition frenzy. One benefit, to my mind, in starting the show this late in the fall season is that I got to enjoy America's Best Dance Crew and SYTYCD Canada before the S6's actual competition gets underway: fewer distractions.

Let's hear it for the show where dancers do their own choreography: I love how ABDC showcases the crews' responses to challenges. We Are Heroes and Vogue Evolution were my favorite crews. This season, DWTS is not even in the picture for me as a dance show, no matter how great my love of ballroom dancing is, because I feel about Donny Osmond just about the way I feel about Toom DeLay: both of them trigger the gag reflex. Cannot. Watch.

So, here's how I have prepared for tonight:

• Watched all the audition episodes and read all the recaps hither and yon? check!
  

• Watched the interviews with the Top 20? check! who do you think has the most annoying verbal tics? who is unexpectedly intelligent or charming? what is that "star quality" that the judges are casting for which means that some more proficient dancers didn't make the cut?
  

• Compared STYCYD Canada to U.S. version? check! Tara Jean was not my first choice, but any of the top four dancers was worthy of winning in my eyes, and I really enjoyed seeing different choreographers. Cat Deeley is still the hostess with the mostest for me!

• Mourned the departure of Mia Michaels from the show? check. Count me as one of the people who thinks this a huge loss, although not fatal. the show will go on, but I will really really miss Mia's contributions as a judge, a choreographer, and as an inspiration to the dancers themselves.
  

• updated my Twitter feed to make sure I get every gossipy tidbit from past and present contestants, judges, and choreographers, fans and bloggers? check! I'll be watching the live-blogging, tweeting, and the show at the same time.

Dance injury

see more Lolcats and funny pictures
I need to buy my daughter a trampoline. Or sign her up for dance classes. She likes to dance with her iPod in our tiny kitchen, but she keeps injuring herself. First a sprained ankle, now a toenail that has been semi-detached (OW! Ew! Ick!). she'll be OK, but I have prohibited kitchen dancing, and decreed that she must find a subsitute for getting her yayas out.

Doing the latest dance craze!

Do you love me/now that I can dance?

On America's Best Dance Crew (ABDC) the next challenge is to incorporate some of the latest urban dance crazes that are propagated by YouTube (AND use a trampoline, but that's another story) When I looked at the list, I realized I would need to do my research before Sunday nights show. Have you seen/heard of/danced any of these dances? Probably not.

"For their challenge this week, the crews will be incorporating the latest dance crazes (think updated Cabbage Patch) into their routines. And in addition to mastering their moves -- and giving 'em their own personal spin -- they'll also need to incorporate that big ol' trampoline ... without falling flat on their faces. Take a look at the songs and challenges assigned to each ABDCrew, and let us know which dance crazes are taking over your hometown!

AFROBORIKE "Swag Surfin'" Fast Life Yungstaz
MASSIVE MONKEES "Do The Ricky Bobby" B-Hamp
WE ARE HEROES "Stanky Legg" GS Boys
VOGUE EVOLUTION "Halle Berry" Hurricane Chris

RHYTHM CITY "The Jerk" New Boyz--this one is the most complicated!