#sweatspot

We were all dancing together.

I felt such happiness. 

Nathan Kim’s Sweaty Sunday class began with an upbeat, almost taebo-style warm-up and led to walking around the room, saying hello to fellow classmates. Acknowledging classmates made us (me) feel more connected. As we went across the floor our emotions steadily rose, and by the time we learned the combination, everyone was dancing in a safe-space: freely, full-out. In a reminder of the power of collective energy, the dancing ended in a circle where everyone runs together and rushes back out. It was a joy and in some ways, a relief. Being in it together removes much of the individual pressure (I often feel) to succeed.

The class was so alive and powerful it felt like a dance historian might have stopped in to observe. The coming together of bodies in a shared space, listening to music popular in local culture and dancing in a perfect sync of emotional energy made our dance feel very important. It sounds silly, but it felt important. 

Jess and I were exhilarated after class. Despite what we looked like on the floor, we felt like dancers. Despite that we don’t yet know what will happen when we ask our bodies to ‘body roll’, (actually, we do know; we filmed it! It’s just hard to watch,) we felt oh-so-unbelievably good.

Some dance classes have the theme “work hard, have fun.” That seemed to be the case at Nathan Kim’s Sweaty Sunday’s. A fun, aerobic warm up led to hopping, sashaying, turning across the floor and climaxed to a routine to Beiber’s Sorry.

Dancing to a familiar song gives such confidence! It makes you feel as though you know what’s coming next, even if you only just learned the steps. Kim’s choreography was a little seductive, and very fun. We split the large class into just two groups, which allowed for as much dancing as possible, but made it hard to watch different interpretations of the dance; it was a little crowded. I wish all dance classes were 90 minutes so we could have divided into smaller groups without sacrificing the amount of times we were able to do the routine!

In this class I wanted less focus on how things look outside, and more on how the body feels. As an adult dancer, the act of dancing is less focused on pleasing an audience, but on one’s own pleasure. How does moving feel in my body? How does movement nourish my body?  I’m only beginning to explore this idea, but am looking forward to finding the ‘feel good’ sensation in every class. I am still remembering how my body works and reacts to choreography.

I left the class feeling absolutely elated. DANCE IS THE BEST! I had forgotten how dance inspires me, reminds me of my strength and desire for beauty. What is dance but making beauty with the body?

-Catherine

Sweaty dancers packed in a large room stood focused on one man, saying “Let go, let go of your thoughts, let go of your body, let go of your heart.”

The song we danced to that night was full of sorrow and regret, but for every sorry, there was a bright, hopeful wail. The crowd was wild with excitement as we hit, touched, turned and let go.

Let go of your heart.

The heart carries everything important to me: my dreams, my attachments, my fears, courage, my love. If I let go, what would be left?

This past weekend, my stress levels around work were at an all-time high. I couldn’t ignore that I was not in control. My heart felt anxiety, regret, anger, disappointment. But dancing and staying in the moment made me feel alive, calm (er), capable.

I carry a strong ego, a desire to improve the world around me, fantasies of career success, a yearning to be contributing part of a community.

Letting go of the heart is being open to any opportunity. It’s releasing a hardened grasp to expectations. I’m a firm believer that the world is better than I can imagine. Harder, difficult, surprising, but also more beautiful and connected than I could ever know without first-hand experience.

If I can release my expectations about my dance, it is entirely possible that it will be better than I imagine: honest, pure, true, twirling, light, floating, and beautiful!

-Catherine

Almost 7 days ago I (Jess) took my last dance class @thesweatspotla. What?! I can’t believe it’s been that long. But I was out of town (at Sundance Film Festival) and now I’m back. 

Last Sunday before I left I took both of Ryan Heffington’s classes. When the second class ended I wanted to do the combo one more time. I knew I couldn’t but I was getting it into my body and it just felt SO GOOD. Like I was free. 

I thanked Ryan for such a wonderful class and told him I wanted to do the combo again. I was trying to articulate what was going on and he looks at me and says, “you had a break-thru?” and he summed it up perfectly. I 100% was having a moment. The choreography felt amazing in my body and I was starting to make it my own. 

dance: expressing inner reality through movement  ??

Jasmine’s choreography was the first time I understood what I was dancing about (the pain of a cheating husband) and it felt so good to feel inner emotions flow through the body. Dancing is quite theraputic; it’s honest. It’s hard to hide in dance. 

on to class!! things that normally drive me bonkers: 

1) not explaining the meaning of the choreography

2) Starting class will start with the music blaring and the teacher saying things i can’t hear, so my neck is in a constantly craned position and it is difficult/uncomfortable to do the warm up. 

Luckily Jasmine explained the dance, and since the warm-ups are largely repeated week to week, so now that I am familiar with the sequencing, I can anticipate the next motion.

Turns out a linear verbal connection to the choreography helps me pick up combinations quickly!!  I find it’s helpful if I mouth the dance steps as they are shown and we mark through them. 

I missed Sunday due to other commitments and a very tight calf muscle. Building off of the strengthening of the upper back goal from my last post, I found a rubber exercise band that I’ve been using at work to activate those upper back muscles. WOW. Suddenly my back isn’t in pain anymore. I’m starting to increase my shoulders’ range of motion, and hopefully I’m on track to a relaxed, agile upper back.

Tonight we get to take Experimental Contemporary and Wet Wednesdays. I AM SO EXCITED. Especially since we are going to be building off the same choreography from last week, so maybe we can start to let go and … feel free in the movement.