divine chaos

End of the session

Sophia Ravenna

Day 293 of practice.

Tonight was the last Thursday class for the session at Plaza de Anaya. Sadly, this means no more DC Skirt for the time being… just when I was starting to get the hang of it! But in its place there will be Anaya Sword, so that’s awesome.

Lots of drilling and practicing tonight, to make sure everyone remembers what they learned over the past 8 weeks. We did learn two “new” moves in Anaya class, but they were ones that I already knew. Mostly we worked on zills which of course I always need more work on.

Now I’m quite tired and sore, so it’s time for some stretching/yoga and sleep!

All by myself!

Sophia Ravenna

Day 286 of practice.

None of my awesome carpool buddies were available tonight, so I had to drive all the way to Phoenix by myself. I took advantage of this by heading up a little early, which allowed me to meet my friend Meghan’s adorable new dog and actually eat dinner before class! Of course, traffic was so bad that I got in so late that I missed the first class of the night, but whatever. PUPPY AND RAMEN! What more could I ask for?

Well, actually, I could apparently also ask for a new bustle skirt and a veil because I acquired both of those tonight.

But there was also dancing! We practiced formation changes in Anaya Tribal, and in DC Skirt we learned the last move on the syllabus and practiced a lot. I’m quite tired from all of the dancing and the driving!

New session!

Sophia Ravenna

Day 244 of practice.

Tonight was the start of a new session, which meant lots of fresh faces in Anaya Fundamentals, and starting over with DC Skirt, which also had some new people. And one of those newbies is none other than frequent (only?) blog commenter SaraBeth. YAY! For a long time, the running joke was that we were never at the same dance events, so it’s really awesome to be sharing a class with her. Amusingly, we both wore the same black iris sparkle scarf, so we had matching butts.

It was a really fun night. We did lots of zills in advanced class, and I enjoyed having my friend Amanda keep me company on the drive, allowing us to catch up with each other. Next class may find me with a FULL car for the drive up. I love having carpool buddies :)

New pants!

Sophia Ravenna

Day 209 of practice.

Tonight Dawn and I went up to Tempe for class, as usual, and we had fun, as usual. It was a good night of classes, with lots of practice and review and some new moves, too. I’m really honing my Anaya Tribal moves, and getting comfortable with DC skirt and fan. Over all, I’m happy with my progress right now.

But wait, didn’t I say “New pants!” up there? Why yes I did! There was a bunch of great new merchandise at the studio, so I decided to treat myself to a new pair of dance pants, because it’s been far too long since I fed my addiction. I picked up a great pair of ruched, ruffled brown capri-length pants. They’ll be great for steampunk, great with boots, great to transition from Anaya Class to DC class by throwing a skirt over ’em… really, a good investment!

The power of practice!

Sophia Ravenna

Day 202 of practice.

Tonight I was once again struck by the power of practice, as I was not lost in DC Skirt and Fan class tonight. The time that Dawn and I spent working on the combos Tuesday really paid off!

Anaya class was also a lot of fun because we relearned some moves that I hadn’t done in so long that I barely remembered them, and we spent a lot of time doing slow.

Now I’m totally beat. I think it’s time for chocolate and sleep!

Two hours on day two hundred

Sophia Ravenna

Day 200 of practice. Yes, that’s right, TWO HUNDRED!

Whew! Just got done spending a couple of hours practicing with my friend Dawn Sehar!  We worked on the DC Skrt and Fan combos we’ve learned so far, and the infamous Anaya Tribal Oojam Bomb (complete with zills, much to the dismay of all of my pets). It was a lot of fun and it felt great to really dance hard and work on learning things instead of drilling basic skills or goofing off like I’ve done for a lot of my practice lately. It’s also nice to have a friend to keep me company and laugh with me when I screw up and help me puzzle out combo notes.

Now to relax for the rest of the day… unless I decide to go to the park for more practice tonight!

Whoops!

Sophia Ravenna

Day 195 of practice.

I was so out of it after class last night, and then I got distracted by catching up with an old friend on-line, so I completely forgot to update my blog! Shame shame!

Classes were good! Dawn and I enjoyed a nice carpool, catching up with each other’s dance lives and daily lives, too. At class, my Anaya classes really helped me refine some moves that I had learned before but haven’t practiced enough to get into my muscle memory. And skirt and fan broke my brain, but I had a lot of fun with it! Shannon posted videos and write-ups for the combos we’ve learned, so I should be able to practice more this coming week, especially since Dawn is going to come over for a practice session.

I’m feeling really happy and excited about my dance life right now!

Skirt + Fan

Sophia Ravenna

Day 188 of practice.

Skirt! And fan! And skirt! And fan! No, I’m not once again talking about oscillating fans or ceiling fans that interfere with my dance. I’m talking about Divine Chaos Skirt and Fan combos, the class that started tonight. I’m SO excited about it! I love skirt, and I love fan, and now I love them together!

And I also had fun in Anaya Tribal class, because I finally learned the Oojam Bomb. This combo is so ridiculously long, and I’ve never had it broken down for me, so every time someone would cue it in the “fake it til you make it” section of class, I’d stumble around like an idiot. Now I’m still confused, but least I have an idea of what I should be doing.

Getting ready for recital!

Sophia Ravenna

Day 160 of practice.

Class nights are so much more fun now that I have friends to carpool with. I find myself much less tired when I get home now, because my brain hasn’t been numbed by a boring drive. Thanks, Dawn and Amanda!

Anaya Tribal was all about review and recital prep tonight. The recital is next weekend and I’m looking forward to it. I simply don’t get to perform often enough, so it’s really nice to have performances two weekends in a row.

In Divine Chaos skirt class we learned one new combo, did some review, and then played freeze tag just for fun. Good times.

Carpool!

Sophia Ravenna

Day 153 of practice.

Yay, I temporarily have a second carpool buddy! Amanda is staying in Tucson for the summer, but she didn’t want to miss the rest of the session, so she’ll be coming up with Dawn and I for a bit. It was a lot of fun to have two friends keeping me company tonight, and of course we all saved on fuel. Win-win!

Class was a lot of fun. Went over some Anaya Tribal moves, learned more Divine Chaos skirt combos, ruined my tabi socks. An eventful night.