Medieval life lives on!

Today's post is by guest blogger, Brian Beaman.  Brian is a member of the Lost Nomads (Like them at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lost-Nomads/124885607564856) and Blue Moon Dance Company (www.bluemoonbellydance.com).  Enjoy!

 

Imagine yourself during medieval times walking through a market, shopping for supplies or looking for a place to rest from your travels and partake of food and drink. As you make your way through the crowed marketplace, you are surrounded by other shoppers and travelers. Some of the other people are dressed like you in familiar clothing and others are dressed in a variety of clothing that is much less familiar. Gypsies, pirates, warriors, and barbarians with no clothing on except for a loin cloth from animal skin are just a few of the people you notice. The local shop keepers are busy helping their customers to purchase a variety of items from clothing to armor and weapons to musical instruments. Just beyond the marketplace, clusters of tents with banners indicating the names or heritage of the different clans stretch out as far as the eye can see. As the day turns to night, the sounds of drums can be heard echoing thought the encampment and you slowly make your way in that general direction. Along the way, you marvel at the variety of tents and other structures that are used to make each of the makeshift groups feel more at home within their own separate space as well as a special part of the entire community. When you arrive at the encampment where the drumming has originated, you find it crowded with people. Like you, they have been drawn by the sounds of the drums and the bright lights from the many torches surrounding the encampment. There are musicians playing familiar melodies and dancers moving to the music with sensual grace and beauty. The host of the party greets you and welcomes you to their celebration with plentiful food and drink. The festivities continue late into the night until you finally make your way back to your tent for a few hours of sleep.
This place that you have imagined is not a fantasy or a magical dream world. This is a place of reality called Pennsic. It exists every year for the past 40 years at a little camp ground north of Pittsburgh. 10,000 people come together every year for the first two weeks in August to create this real life fantasy world. Talented musicians and dancers share their knowledge with other members of the community and provide a source of inspiration to dedicated acolytes. While there are many wonderful benefits that Pennsic has to offer, there are also many challenges and it takes a special kind of person with dedication and desire to find a home at Pennsic. Do you have what it takes?
To be continued ....

Can't wait for our new classes starting next week!

While we have always offered fabulous classes at World In Motion, we are especially excited about the new classes that will be starting next week!  Several of the offerings are as a result of your suggestions- so keep them coming!

The complete line-up can be found on our website at http://www.worldinmotiondance.com/classes.html, but here are some highlights:
Lunchtime Zumba, Mondays and Wednesdays, 11:30 -12:30 AM: For those of you who want to move to that Latin beat during the daytime
Tribal Level 1 Belly Dance, Mondays, 7:00 - 8:15 PM: These classes are presented in the exciting Tribal Style (lead/follow) format.  If you love to dance, you will love this class!
Bellygroove, Tuesdays, 10:00 - 11:00 AM: This is a fun and funky way to get great exercise and get your belly groove on!
Kids' Hip Hop/ZumbAtomic, Tuesdays, 5:45- 6:30 PM: A series that your kids are sure to love!
Adult Hip Hop/Bollywood , Tuesdays, 7:00 - 8:15 PM: 3 weeks each; take them separately or as a series of two
Discover Bellydance,  Wednesdays, 7:00 - 8:15 PM: This is an ongoing series- no breaks.  Drop in anytime! 
Performance Incubator, Wednesdays, 8:30 - 9:45 PM: This session will focus on performance technique and stagecraft as a means of dancing your dreams!
Nia, Thursdays, 9:30 -10:30 AM: Julie, our black belt Nia instructor, is phenomenal
Cabaret Belly Dance Level 1, Thursdays, 5:30 - 6:45 PM: Featuring the incomparable goddess of shimmies, Amara!
Children's Belly Dance, Saturdays, 9:00 - 9:45 AM: What a fantastic way for the girls you know to learn performance technique, stagecraft, and group cooperation as well as a beautiful art form - all while improving self-confidence and fostering great body awareness

Plus many more!

We have lots of options that make taking classes at World In Motion affordable, from pre-registration discounts to a generous referral rewards program to new students getting their first class free to our work/study program to our Unlimited Class Pass option- there is sure to be something that will work for you.

It's like being a kid in a candy shop!  Which one will you treat yourself to?  Why stop at one??

Feet- the unsung heroes of dance and movement

This Friday, August 12, Grace Tang of Strive Physical Therapy is coming to World In Motion to give an interactive lecture on foot and spine health.  Personally, I am really looking forward to this event because my tootsies ache a lot lately!  But if they aren't bothering us for some reason, how often do we actually think about our feet and how crucial they are to our everyday life - let alone our dance and movement activities?

In my very humble opinion (and I do think that other more illustrious people in the world of dance agree), the foot is the most important part of the body for a dancer.  You might say, "Duh" to this concept (it is hard to dance without using your feet.  But not impossible.  I have taught wheelchair-bound folks to bellydance, and they were fabulous at it. But I digress.) But how many of us are conscious and deliberate about what our feet are doing when we dance?  Or how we treat our feet before, during, and after a workout?

The next time you watch a phenomenal dancer, take a few minutes to really examine what she/he is doing with her/his feet.  Watch how they place them in space- odds are, it will be with purpose and grace.  Look at how their feet are an extension of their entire movement, characterization, mood and musicality and not just a means for getting them from one spot to another.  The next time you practice or are in class, try to be aware of what you are doing with your feet. Are they parallel?  Is the weight evenly distributed between them and across each foot?  Are your knees aligned properly with them?  Observe what you do with your feet when you travel across the floor.  Are your movements smooth, controlled- beautiful?  Be sure to warm up and cool down your feet and ankles before and after class.  And think about giving your hard working feet a nice massage after class and practice!  Massage between your toes, over your arch and around your heel and ankle.  Your feet will thank you for it later!

For more extensive information about how to treat your feet properly, be sure to come to this Friday's lecture as well as the one on August 19 when Aaron Marco will present an interactive program which will include an awareness exercise centered around feet and how they relate to the ground.  But in the meantime, be nice to your feet- the unsung heroes of dance and movement.  You might be surprised at how much better you feel- and move- overall if you are!

Body Image

This Friday, August 5, is the first in World In Motion's Health and Wellness Lecture Series.  The speaker is Natasha Crawford of Nia Wellness Solutions, and she will be on hand to talk about overcoming psychological barriers to and setting realistic goals for weight loss. How many of us have struggled with this issue? Or perhaps you are someone who has tried unsuccessfully to gain weight.  What marks have these struggles left on your psyche?  

My personal story is that I have had a "weight problem" since puberty.  Not a day has gone by in my teen and adult life that I don't think about what I weigh and either how to lose weight or how to keep from gaining any.  Despite this obsession, about 12 years ago I hit my all-time heaviest, weighing in at 235 lbs.  I was miserable, loathing my body and my seeming inability to control my eating.  (Eating has always been -and continues to be - a source of comfort and release for me in times of stress, boredom, anxiety and worry.  Ironically, the happier, busier and more relaxed I am, the less I feel compelled to eat.)  

But it wasn't the number on the scale or the breathless feeling I got just climbing the stairs or even my father's quadruple by-pass surgery due to complications from diabetes and high blood pressure that compelled me to change my lifestyle and relationship with food.  It was my mom's knee replacement surgery that did it. You see, the doctors told her that she probably would never dance again- at least not the way that she loved to.  That stopped me in my tracks.  My knees ached terribly (as did my back and feet) whenever I walked very far or tried to exercise in any significant fashion.  But I loved to dance, and the thought of getting to the point where I wouldn't be able to do that was frightening - and eye-opening.  I took a long, hard look at how I had been treating (mistreating) my body (and my soul), and knew it had to end.  

So I embarked on a complete lifestyle make-over. It was not a diet per se (although I did write down and count everything that I put into my mouth.  Boy was I shocked when I really was honest with myself about what I had been eating!) It was a total commitment to eating healthier, exercising,  and being conscious about negative self-talk, as well as determining my triggers for eating, becoming more involved in things that were good for me- and just for me!- that encompassed the change in my life.  That is one of the reasons that I got involved with belly dance. It was a way of getting exercise, having a social outlet, doing something I absolutely loved, and having time for myself away from family, house, work, school and societal expectations.  (Of course, my family ended up following me into the belly dance world, but that is a subject for another post!)  In the course of this transformation, I found my true self along with a whole new world of possibilities, options and, most importantly, passion for something other than food.  All because I didn't want to lose the ability to dance!

That isn't to say that I haven't had my set-backs and that everything has always been magically better in my life since then.  I still eat emotionally at times (sometimes more than others!), and owning a studio has ironically cut into my exercise routine.  I still am conscious of what and how much I eat, and I doubt I will ever stop stepping on to the scale most mornings, but I at least now feel that I am controlling my eating rather than it controlling me. Actually, it is more as if I am in control of my life in general because I have learned how to be strong, powerful, connected and happy (albeit admittedly stressed a lot of the time.  A new business is hard!) I don't think I could ask for a better body image than that. 

What have been your body image issues?  Have you found a way of life that has helped you to come to terms with who you are and how you look?  If you still are wrestling with this issue, then please consider coming to Natasha's lecture on Friday. She has also been there, and can surely relate to where you are now and how to get you where you want to be. And if something has worked for you, please share it. Either way, we would love to hear from you!