So Ass My Psoas

My plague has calmed down to a dull roar, and I'm feeling somewhat energetic for the first time in a week or so. I decided to go and work on one of my dance DVDs, but alack! It will not work. You see, the DVD player is hooked up through the VCR, and the VCR is dead. I'm not sure where to change all the wires around, and the way everything is set up, and the way my balance is, I'm sure I'd send everything crashing to the ground if I try. So I guess I'll have to wait until f00dave gets home sometime tonight. I think it's a two-person job.

The VCR died about a week ago during a power bump. For some reason, this killed the VCR, and it refuses to turn back on. I have a dance tape stuck in there, and the only way I'll be able to get it out is by disassembling the player. Once again, I have no way of watching my dance VHS tapes. This is highly irritating.

Even more irritating is what woke me up at 4:00 this morning: arse cramps. Do you ever get those? Every now and then, in the middle of the night, I'm awoken by painful spasms of the colon. It's really painful. It feels like I have to go number two, but nothing happens. My arse just screams and gasps and convulses. Eventually, the spasms go away on their own, but while they last, I'm having as much fun as Job.

Three hours later, the sun hadn't yet risen, but I had. It was time to go to yoga. This was the first time I was to seriously exert myself in several days, and I was apprehensive. I took a couple of hits off my asthma puffer just in case, and then boogied on down to the yoga studio. The instructor, Ruth, took me right to the very edge of what I could handle, and then, just as I was about to collapse in defeat, we went on to some less demanding asanas. I found the class very educational. I learned how to isolate my psoas.

To isolate these deep-down muscles, lie on your back with your legs out straight. Raise one leg so your heel is just off the floor. Now, while keeping this leg in position, completely relax through your abdomen. If you're like me, you'll feel an engaged band of muscle running around where your leg joins on to your trunk, running from your groin and up around your hip. Try it with the other leg, and then try it with both legs simultaneously.

Although I'm more flexible than your average person, I'm stiff through my psoas and lower back. I guess I know what I'll be working on, hmm?

We Have the Technology

Three cheers for Little André for offering to lend me his old VCR. Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!

I will be able to watch my dance tapes again. Oh goody!

It was awfully cold at class today. I'm happy the studio has an electric space heater. I had it on full-blast, and it was still pretty chilly. My feet are still cold.

Before the class began, I had the opportunity to try out a few things. I tried out a few of the suggestions I've received regarding on-my-belly floorwork. Unfortunately, since I'm on the floor, I can't see what it looks like in the mirror. The crawling on my guts manoeuvre felt pretty ridiculous, no matter how I did it. I can't imagine ever incorporating that into a routine. It's just too subservient-looking, and that's not at all my schtick. But the other suggestion, where I lie on my stomach with legs together and extended, then raise my feet off the ground and drag myself along with my hands for a little bit, may actually have some merit. Siobhan was there and said it had potential. I know it felt like a strong move, so I'll just have to find a way to see myself doing it.

I also practiced with double veils. I used to to play around a lot with dual rectangular veils, and had some pretty interesting combinations worked out. However, since I no longer have a large space in which I can practice with any regularity, my skills have atrophied. Although I can still do the two-veiled tricks, I have long and awkward set-up stages. I can no longer transition between the various movements without awkwardness, and there's no way I'll be using any of this stuff in performance until it all looks good. I wonder if the Y will let me use one of their classrooms....

( Meow )