Musings on Dance, Food, Geek Stuff
I have no idea who Daniil Nikulin is, but I’m already a huge fan. In this video Daniil performs some ridiculously creative, eccentric and breathtaking solo jazz at the Jazz Roots festival in Paris last weekend. Apparently he’s a dancer living in Moscow. I can’t even wrap my brain around all the different kinds of…
I'm starting to feel stronger doing the jazz splits, a foundational move both for vernacular jazz / tap and street dance. I've been able to do the drop part for awhile. But getting the mechanics of pulling myself up after the drop has bedeviled me until fairly recently. Here's a recent video of me practicing…
Sorry how can I NOT do this? I'm sorry. (Not really.) Via Powerpuffyourself.com.
March so far has been a great month health-wise. I've been keeping active, staying lean, and eating clean. Here's my current health activities and progress: Exercise: I'm still running at least 2 miles 3-4 times a week and dancing about 5 days a week (house, lindy hop). I wish I had time for more biking! I've actually managed to do…
For the month of February, I decided to challenge myself to be able to hold a handstand for 10 seconds. I was inspired by this instructional video by Bay Area dancer Onisha that she posted at the end of January. You can see how I did in the video below. Enjoy! Now I'm thinking…
I've been thinking hard for the past month or so about this quote from the dance legend Martha Graham about staying true to your own personal voice in whatever you create. Blogger James Clear recounts a story about Agnes De Mille, another dance legend in her own right in the 1940s, who was confused and troubled…
About a six months ago, I went to a street dance performance and thought to myself, “I should do this.” It was called “Diggs Deeper,” a unique dance performance series that is now in several cities around the country. Six months later, I did it. Here’s how I got there. Diggs Deeper is a non-profit whose…
I've been thinking a lot about this article by neuroscientist Michael Graziano on the psychology of eating and "feeling full." There's some great points in there about the how the experience of "fullness" is a psychological state that has a complex set of triggers and associations. One thing he doesn't address is the anticipation of fullness when you…
This morning, I woke up early, did a 2.5 mile run, took a cold shower, and felt really great. I realized that, health-wise, I'm the best "me" that I can be. It's a great feeling, one that I can't remember the last time I experienced. The food and diet choices I'm making are smart ones, including cutting…
I love this video of a dance jam breaking out at the Bootlegger's Ball this Saturday that I participated in. The band is the "Bootlegger's All-stars" — a mash-up of some of our favorite swing musicians in San Francisco. They are tearing up the song "I've Found a New Baby" and us dancers are going…