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I woke up again this morning feeling like someone's sitting on my chest. Bah.
Last night's emergency belly dance class went over pretty well. There was a hiphop class scheduled, and the instructor was stranded in Toronto, so I was begged to come in and do a free belly dance class for any disappointed hiphoppers. I worked on movements which I thought would translate well into hiphop: articulated undulations, hip raises, vertical figure 8s (maya and fish), chest lifts and drops, Egyptian shimmies, and a quick and dirty introduction to kneeling backbends. That was a lot of material for one class, and I know they were left overwhelmed, but from my experience of hiphop classes, students expect to be given a flurry of movements (without necessarily getting a lot of technique).
A few of the students looked at me with blatant dubiousness, but when they started the exercises, I saw a lot of surprise. "Wow," said one girl. "This isn't nearly as easy as it looks."
No shit.
By the end of the class, I think I'd won most of them over, and a few were asking about when my classes were offered. Maybe I'll have a few new students. That would be nice....
I teach again tonight: the seniors' class. I'm still working the kinks out of my teaching methodology. Several of my students have hip/knee/joint issues, so getting up and down off the floor is tricky. I've worked out a few compromises involving sitting backwards in chairs, but I still need to shuffle up the order of my warm-up exercises to minimize the getting up and down again.
What am I teaching them tonight? I'd better check....
Aha. Chest lifts/drops, pelvic tucks/releases, and belly pops/tucks. I doubt I'll get through all of that, because they still need to review a few basic movements (hip/rib slides and circles), but we'll get some new stuff in there for them. It's a pretty huge class (about 25 people), and I am constantly on the move, checking posture and alignment. I wish the class were broken into two. Twenty-five people is too much, especially when there are issues with joints and brittle bones. I think it's especially critical to give one-on-one attention to the aged. Just one sudden hyper-extension could end very badly. Yikes.
That being said, the older classes are a lot of fun. These ladies crack me up. And they often have a lot more energy and tenacity than students forty years younger.
...
Time for links.
Ex-Cop Sells Pot Tips on DVD: "Barry Cooper sells a DVD on how to stash pot in your car without getting caught. This fall he will release a second one on how to keep police from raiding your home for marijuana. Now for the kicker: Cooper is a former narcotics officer once considered among the top cops in Texas, where more marijuana is seized each year than in any other state."
A portrait of Alzheimer's: "An artist's self-portraits, as he battled against Alzheimer's disease, have given doctors a remarkable insight into how the condition affected his brain."
Xenomorph in Lego: H.R. Giger in Lego (thanks,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tdj).
Asthma Story: "A friend of ours who is a pharmacist then found fascinating new research by Dr. David Hahn in medical journals about the bacteria Chlamydia pneumoniae (and mycoplasma) and the interesting link it has to being a possible cause of asthma. These studies indicate this research may be of benefit to 50% or more of adults and children diagnosed with asthma."
Johnny Depp's tasty opening: Ha!
alli: Miracle diet pill with teeny-tiny side effect: It's the return of Olestra and the joy of shitting one's pants (thanks,gha5t).
Last night's emergency belly dance class went over pretty well. There was a hiphop class scheduled, and the instructor was stranded in Toronto, so I was begged to come in and do a free belly dance class for any disappointed hiphoppers. I worked on movements which I thought would translate well into hiphop: articulated undulations, hip raises, vertical figure 8s (maya and fish), chest lifts and drops, Egyptian shimmies, and a quick and dirty introduction to kneeling backbends. That was a lot of material for one class, and I know they were left overwhelmed, but from my experience of hiphop classes, students expect to be given a flurry of movements (without necessarily getting a lot of technique).
A few of the students looked at me with blatant dubiousness, but when they started the exercises, I saw a lot of surprise. "Wow," said one girl. "This isn't nearly as easy as it looks."
No shit.
By the end of the class, I think I'd won most of them over, and a few were asking about when my classes were offered. Maybe I'll have a few new students. That would be nice....
I teach again tonight: the seniors' class. I'm still working the kinks out of my teaching methodology. Several of my students have hip/knee/joint issues, so getting up and down off the floor is tricky. I've worked out a few compromises involving sitting backwards in chairs, but I still need to shuffle up the order of my warm-up exercises to minimize the getting up and down again.
What am I teaching them tonight? I'd better check....
Aha. Chest lifts/drops, pelvic tucks/releases, and belly pops/tucks. I doubt I'll get through all of that, because they still need to review a few basic movements (hip/rib slides and circles), but we'll get some new stuff in there for them. It's a pretty huge class (about 25 people), and I am constantly on the move, checking posture and alignment. I wish the class were broken into two. Twenty-five people is too much, especially when there are issues with joints and brittle bones. I think it's especially critical to give one-on-one attention to the aged. Just one sudden hyper-extension could end very badly. Yikes.
That being said, the older classes are a lot of fun. These ladies crack me up. And they often have a lot more energy and tenacity than students forty years younger.
...
Time for links.
Ex-Cop Sells Pot Tips on DVD: "Barry Cooper sells a DVD on how to stash pot in your car without getting caught. This fall he will release a second one on how to keep police from raiding your home for marijuana. Now for the kicker: Cooper is a former narcotics officer once considered among the top cops in Texas, where more marijuana is seized each year than in any other state."
A portrait of Alzheimer's: "An artist's self-portraits, as he battled against Alzheimer's disease, have given doctors a remarkable insight into how the condition affected his brain."
Xenomorph in Lego: H.R. Giger in Lego (thanks,
tdj). Asthma Story: "A friend of ours who is a pharmacist then found fascinating new research by Dr. David Hahn in medical journals about the bacteria Chlamydia pneumoniae (and mycoplasma) and the interesting link it has to being a possible cause of asthma. These studies indicate this research may be of benefit to 50% or more of adults and children diagnosed with asthma."
Johnny Depp's tasty opening: Ha!
alli: Miracle diet pill with teeny-tiny side effect: It's the return of Olestra and the joy of shitting one's pants (thanks,
gha5t).
