Stacy Rose, Dance Instructor
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Stepping it up for Stockton!

6/23/2014

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It's T minus 4 weeks!

On July 20, I'm attending Stockton Folk Dance Camp. It'll be my first time at dance camp. Now in its 67th year, Stockton is the motherlode of dance camps. I'm excited and petrified -- I'll learn tons of new material, and with opportunity to purchase teaching DVD and music CD I'll be able to share LOTS of new material with my class. 

Petrified because it will be a physical challenge unlike anything I've ever known. The camp runs for 6 days. There will be multiple teachers. Classes start at 8:00 am; dancing goes throughout the day and into the wee hours! There will be a LOT of dancing, and I'll want to do it all.

When I've attended an all-day dance event, I've put close to 30,000 steps on my pedometer. My ambitious training plan (I've never had one of those before!) is to put 12,000-15,000 steps on it every day this week. Next week, I plan to increase to 15,000-18,000 steps every day. By T minus one week, I'll need to be comfortable with 20,000 steps every day. Today I accomplished the goal. We'll see how this training plan unfolds.   

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Geared up for summer

6/16/2014

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The background picture on my website is an original drawing given to me by the daughter of one of the dancers' in my class. I like how Kat always draws the men in the class with straight hair and the women with curly hair. I especially love that she draws a smile on everyone's face. 

I've approached summer 2014 class with the same care and trepidation that I usually have when selecting dances for a new session. I like to select a balanced blend of fast and slow dances; a variety of circles, lines and couple dances. Typically, I like to select dances from a variety of regions. But this summer, I'm doing something new. 

Starting tomorrow, the class will be a 5-week focus on Israeli dance - 12 Israeli dances in 5 weeks. There will be a variety of aerobic dances (Haro'a Haktanah, Od Lo Ahavti Dai) and slow, beautiful dances (Yedid Nefesh, Ma Na'Avu). There will be classic dances and modern dances. Sapri Tama will be our 4-wall dance; Ba La and Ve' David, our couple dances, and Machar, our 3-person dance. Jacob's Ladder and Shav El Admati will round out our circle dances. Terrible pun. Hora Agadati and Cumbia Semena will complete the dozen. 

I don't know if we'll learn anything in particular about Israeli dance, if we'll come to any conclusions from dancing these dozen Israeli dances. I'm just striving to replicate Kat's picture - people happily raising their hands into the air with smiles on their faces.    

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Dance teachers' exchange

6/2/2014

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Sally Jenkins is a knowledgeable and skilled dance instructor, currently living in Creswell, OR. She is the founder of the community and family dance 
"Moveable Feet" held in Creswell. http://moveablefeet.weebly.com/ 

For the past two springs, Sally and I have gotten together for the purpose of sharing dances with each other. I learn so much from these session. Among other things, this time I learned these dances from Sally: Yesh Lanu Tayish, a cute kids' dance from Israel that could easily be included in a future "Dance Around the World" curriculum; Do Mar Ciften, a groovy Albanian dance; Kune, a Bulgarian dance; Inaduna, a super fun Turkish dance taught at this year's Veselo Festival; and Tritie Puti. 
Sally learned these dances in our exchange: Amos Moses, a song made popular in the US in the early 70s; La Plongeuse de l'Ouest, a fun French Canadian dance for 5 couples; Waves; Roata Femeilor, a beautiful dance from Romania with lush music; and Israeli dance Adama ve Shamayim. And together, we practiced and practiced and then practiced some more the challenging sixth step of Bucimis.

Expanding my dance repertoire is valuable, and I'm grateful for this wonderful outcome. But what is most valuable about these teachers' exchanges with Sally is the connection and support from spending the afternoon with someone who has the same passion and drive to share traditional dance with others. Same time next year!  
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    Dancing give me SO many things to think about...

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