I just finished collapsing after an hour of the first flow, which I did end to end today. Moves are definitely improving. So is speed and sharpness.
You can take a “baby” move like 3 hip circles traveling and one in place totally for granted. But do you stop the final circle abruptly? I didn’t before this and that’s no good for a drum solo! I also watched my head level and tried to make sure I didn’t bounce, specially on saiidi moves. As a bonus, I found my deep reverse undulation looking quite good! I do with with a bit of a backbend and it no longer felt strained.
I very much wanted to do the flow (about 40 minutes of it) both with vocal cues and then without, making a good 80 minutes of work. But hey, I got tired out and am most disappointed with myself. Am I losing my stamina? Tomorrow I’m definitely going to try it twice in a row.
I found that the tireder I got, the more apt I was to forget moves. I forgot the simplest of all moves and one which I’ve done a lot because the first combo from any DVD gets my maximum attention. I actually got foggy enough to go back and check what move it was I was forgetting! I also became a bit fuzzy about the last few moves, probably because those have got the least practice yet.
This is working well and I refuse to go on to anything else including the second flow yet. Let this settle in thoroughly. I will also experiment with using these moves to improvise. Maybe not for a drum solo, but for a pop kind of song. I’ll use these moves as “single units” as has been suggested by Nadira in her Movement Recall video. She says to keep 3 key moves ready to use and these are to be anything you see as a single unit. Well, let me try what happens with a handful of moves from Rhythms.
I noticed a nice thing I didn’t know about earlier. During the rhythm pattern repetitions, Raquy whoops out and I was wondering why she kept doing that. it indicates the last move and cues you to get ready for the next! I don’t know if that’s usual — but it’s most useful! I like to work with this routine so that I’m exactly with Neon rather than lagging behind by a second or two while she cues. So this helps.
Good fun. Oh when when when will I get thin!
And here’s what Neon says about stamina and getting tired with this flow:
“it’s totally normal if you are exhausted after 1 hr – you are in an excellent shape to keep going for so long - the better you know the material you work with, the deeper and stronger and sharper is your movement, and it will certainly exhaust you much faster than if you are following a program like this for the first time, or just trying the moves on your body, or not really focusing on perfecting them.
I am often wiped out entirely after 1 hr of practicing and not ashamed of it – when you give your all to these moves, it’s not low-impact stuff any more, it really works your body no matter how simple or involved the moves are.”
Your photo is so funny
I love it how you let us be part of your practice I think I need to get myself the rhythms dvd real soon!!!!
oh the sympathy (and admiration for your persistence and determination!) are all yours!!! dont worry about stamina – it is unusual exercising. i mean how many drum solo flows are there out there? i guess no real one so far right? and i bet it s quite some time you ve worked with shamira s choreos or jenna s heartbeat.. so for sure unusual strain.
Well, Neon seems to think it’s understandable getting tired. I added her quote to my post. But of course, I still want to work up to a point where I don’t get tired out. So let’s see how it goes. Or I go, as the case may be!
I don’t work with any of Shamira’s choreographies these days. I think because they’re so a part of my absolute beginner days, they don’t excite me at the moment. And the two drum solos from Heartbeat are too easy. I didn’t yet learn the third! That’s a good long one.
thanks for all your reviews Mala!
you’re getting me very interested in this dvd, i might have to buy it
how do you find the time to do so much practice AND write about it?
Hello Linda! I think I totally steal the time. I can’t help myself — I need to both work with it and write about it. And then I love discussing it as well, so if you do get this video, tell me what you think of it.
I’ve had a gap from dancing because of all that’s been happening in my country and because I’ve had a spot of flu. I’m going to get back to this video today – if I make it past the warmup with my extra-cold muscles.
i think my problem is i watch too much television and spend to much time browsing the net!!
having two children (one is 2yrs the other 4 months) doesn’t help either
Well, now I can’t figure out how you’d ever get the time to belly dance! I’ll bet the two kids couldn’t even be sleeping at the same time. I guess it wouldn’t be safe to shimmy while changing nappies, now would it?
But seriously, here’s where my weird method of recording the audio and taking it to my iPod would help. If you feel you need to do moves in bits as you go about your work, instructions and music in your ear helps. But I suppose many would find the whole procedure cumbersome. I’ve just got used to it.