Excuse Dancing.

You know the feeling when you are supposed to do something not that exciting, let's say study for an exam, you always find out other things you "have" to do, like doing dishes or cleaning your apartment. Lately, I must admit, I've been doing some excuse dancing. You see, since my rental contract runs out in the end of this year I still have one “small” task to do before my Christmas holidays: to pack all my belongings and take them along with me to my mum’s place in Jyväskylä.

Lots of dancing things happened last week even though I was super busy with finalizing my studies before the exchange, the most significant being of course the Zouk show in salsa school Baila Baila’s Christmas party.  Even though my performance wasn't the best I could have done, I'm still really happy how it went. No performance can be perfect, there is always something to improve. I’ve got some feedback that it stood out in a positive way from the other shows and that it looked professional. The best feedback I've got have been, however, that we were able to express the feelings strong. One of my friend even said that she almost cried when she saw the video!

What comes to ballroom dancing I spent my Thursday evening last week in HOT's classes: first two hours of free dancing followed with a two-hour class of Lindy Hop. Geez, swing dances are so hard for me! I almost gave up in the middle of the class but then I reminded myself how important it is to step out of my comfort zone every once in a while. That paid off and in the end of the class I was finally able to get a small hang out of the dance. After the class I even got a surprising question: "You must have been dancing Lindy before, right?" Also HOT's Christmas party on Friday was great, as expected. This time it was held in Otaniemi and we had a live band, Hurma, playing music for us. The evening went as usual: I went to the dance floor and five hours later I noticed it was already time to go home. So unfortunately I don't have any pictures from the party this time.

Last Sunday then again, we had the last Zouk practica for the year. We had a reason to celebrate not only because how great the year 2012 was zouk-wise but also because F&A had been granted a permission to stay in Finland. I am so happy for them! And happy for all the Zouk dancers in Finland! It is amazing to have these professionals here to teach us. In addition we had a Jack and Jill competition that was super fun!

Cheers!

The tough judges.

The finalists...

Who all became winners! Congrats!

This week... well, I was supposed to pack but I haven't even started! Somehow I managed to book dance practices for each evening: CI/Zouk on Monday, Tuesday Zouk practice with Carlos, Wednesday leading and ladies styling with Gaga and Thursday practice first with Mr A. and then with Big O. Uupsie! And soon I'm heading for last ballroom dance party for the year. Its going to be a busy day tomorrow!

No regrets though. Dancing is the best excuse there is.

I Do Everything The Man Does, Only Backwards And In High Heels!

When I was encouraged to practice leading, first I didn't get excited about the idea at all. I thought that there was enough to learn with the following already, and since following was something I simply enjoyed doing why would I want to do something else, I thought. In a way, I kind of wanted to keep it old fashioned: it was a man's job to lead and lady's task to follow him. However, it was something like the end of summer  when Big O pushed me to the world of leading by insisting me to lead him in our Zouk practices every now and then. I was so unsure about everything in the beginning but after getting the basics I gained some confidence and started to lead some others too. A nail in the coffin was when I started practicing different figures with Gaga. Now I must admit that I have become quite enthusiastic about leading!

The other perspective to couple dancing has been quite interesting one. Actually it helps to realize some things that make someone a good follower and that is a good lesson to learn for all of us who want to improve out following skills. Leading practices has also made me listen to the music different and more careful way, not only when I dance but whenever I listen to Zouk music. What bothers me though, is that I still need to concentrate so much to the leading I can't focus to my own dancing at all. I'm also quite impatient to go to the level where I could interpret the music better. However, I've already got some good feedback from my leading. I was so happy to hear that it feels really nice, gentle and pleasant. This kind of feedback is exactly what I need at the moment. Something to keep me motivated to keep on going.

I remember wanting to write a post about leading ages ago and I started writing this "ten tips how to lead a girl" posting but I never finished or published it. Now I had to go back to the draft and check those ten things I thought were important for leader - and how do I see those requirements now that I’ve tried leading myself.

My requirements were quite tough actually, and I can’t even say that I as a follower would fill all of those. I had some good points though, like Dance with a feeling or Dance with your partner, not with yourself. These are surely important but takes a certain level to accomplish. Or do they really? I've danced with beginners who put great feeling into their dancing, so at least I could relax a bit and try to dance with a feeling also when leading. It's all about the attitude. Adapt your leading to the different dances then again is something that I should take care of whenever I dance. Zouk has started to dominate my dancing so much in every other dance styles that it is getting irritating really. One tip I wrote especially caught my eye: Never blame the girl. Really, dancing doesn't include blaming anyone! Everyone dances with her/his own level and style. This would be a better tip: never blame myself. My dancing level is different when leading so I just have to be patient. It will get better with practice.

Anyway, leading has given me some new perspective to dancing so I'm glad that I was encouraged to give it a try. And I really do love the challenge and opportunity to put my own ideas to the dance. Finally I must say: damn everything is so much easier for us followers!

Seize The Moment.

There is one more thing to add to my most memorable dancing moments.

Thank you Michaelo for sharing the beautiful moment with me. You are the best dancing partner I could ever wish for.

It's Official - Finally!

It was more than an year ago when I decided I wanted to go study to Australia. During the last couple of months it has seemed, though, that someone has something against to the plans I've been making.

What have been happening is that I applied to my university's exchange place to Melbourne, but got rejected. I had such a strong feeling that I would get the place that the short rejection email got me so upset I ended up crying in the university library in the middle of the day. Well, I didn't let that discourage me but, after sorting out my financing, applied to couple of Australian universities through Kilroy Education. In a short period of time I did get a conditional offer from Griffith University but they required me to do an English proficiency test. Well, all the tests were fully booked. Okay, I can still go to the university in Perth, I tried to clam myself, but in my mind I had already seen myself living (and dancing!) in Brisbane, so I send an email to Griffith asking for an exception for the language test. So finally I got an unconditional offer! The last hindrance in the process came across today when I was trying to transfer the student fee and I realized that the euro's exchange rate had dropped down dramatically. If I just made the transfer couple of days earlier I would have saved hundreds of euros! Damn. Anyway, I am finally on the right way of fulfilling my long-term dream, and actually I have to leave already quite soon since my courses will start in the middle of February!

What will happen to my dancing then? Well, one of the reasons I chose Griffith was that Brisbane is a pretty good place for Zouk dancing and one of my favorite dance teacher couple happen to live there! I haven't yet found out if I could take their classes but that is one big thing in my to-do-list, right after buying the flights and applying for the visa!

Today I had my first bursts of excitement and those came so strong I couldn't help writing something here. Seriously, in just two months I'm going to be dancing on the other side of the world! So, if you want to dance with me before I leave, don't worry: I have the whole January in Finland and I'm not going to be busy at all. I wish nothing but lots and lots of dancing from my last month in Helsinki.

Save Me.

Thank god I have dancing. The time before Christmas is so busy at university and work that without it I wouldn't be able to stay in my senses. So even if I try to use all of my time as efficient as possible to studying I just have to organize some time for dancing too. Most of my Zouk friends have been spending their weekend in Spiral Dancer's Zouk congress (for which I'm, of course, super jealous!) but ralistically I wouldn't even had time to go there. Gosh, I just wish to get my final courses done and find some time to relax.

So, this week me and Michaelo have been having our final choreo practices. The performance is going to be already next Saturday! I still need to find the clothes for the performance though, otherwise it looks pretty good. What we want to do is to tell the story forcefully and communicate the feelings to our audience. I just love the choreography and I'm really looking forward on the show. You'll come to cheer us, will you?

Last Friday I went to this awesome ball held in the city hall. I didn't know what to expect from it but it made my week. There was a big band playing amazing music and the dance floor was full of people from all ages. The floor was perfect for dancing and everybody were having so much fun. Wow, can I have more of these, please!

I also had an interesting dance practice with a contact improvisation dancer yesterday and CI went really nice with Zouk. I liked the continuous and flowy feeling of CI and all the new possibilities it can give to Zouk. Hopefully we'll find some time before the holidays to practice some more.

So just a short update this time. I'll be back after my super busy week to come. If I survive.

I Dance, Therefore I Am.

What do you do if you can dance only couple of days in a week? Do as much dancing as you can in those days of course!

The problem with this thinking is that since I have other things I have to do, like studying and working, I have to cut down from something to have enough time and unfortunately that has come down to sleeping. If my practices finish around 11:30 pm, I can’t possibly be in bed in time to wake up early the next morning. So basically I have been struggling through my office days with the help of caffeine the last couple of days. I guess I’ll stop this nonsense only when my body says stop.Well, its going to be a non-dancing weekend to compensate this.

Last Wednesday I had my last Voguing class. I must say that the twelve week long course gave me a lot of ideas for dancing. It was great, for a change, to focus all my energy just to myself. I have to most definitely take some more single dancing classes in the time to come, and why not even some more Vouguing classes. All of the classes I went were so much fun and the dance style absorbs so much from other dances that it is hard to get bored with it. I think Vouguing is a great way to learn how to move in a feminine way, find a strong attitude and use hands in a more diverse way. Our Vouguing teacher was motivating and super friendly, and made every single class unique form each other. It was so worth every euro spent (not even mentioning how low-priced the course was and that my employer practically paid half of the course fee)! It feels great to know some basics of runway, hand performance, dips, spins, duckwalk etc etc. what Voguing consists, and I think I can easily connect some of those techniques to couple dancing. Tip: the same classes continue at UniSport after the Christmas holidays, I highly recommend!

Before Voguing I had my second practice with Gaga. I was delighted when she asked me to practice Zouk with her couple of weeks ago. It was great fun trying to figure out together how we can lead some figures we both know as a follower. Every time after pondering how it was possible to get the follower in a certain position and finally getting the clue, we both screamed this cheerful “Aaaaaa!!” followed with bursts of laughter. In the end of the practice we also got some curious audience from the starting HOT’s beginner class. After the Voguing then again, I had a late night practice with Big O after a long long time and well… it didn’t go as smooth it used to go.

Thursday then again I went to HOT’s advanced class about dance technique and realized that Zouk dominates all my dancing. A long break from ballroom dance classes has not done me any good! All the other then again have improved so much, wow. I also realized that I have to start practicing spinning and turning after my hopeless attempts in the class. For some reason our teacher constantly picked me as his partner to demonstrate how to lead the spins – somehow embarrassing and flattering at the same time. The evening ended late with a pleasant Zouk practice with Carlos where I tried to focus on my basic stepping. What I really like about his dancing is that he really listens the music carefully. A leader to pick when a great and rhythmical song is about to come.

Last but not least, the obligatory picture partof the posting. These are from yesterday's POT Christmast dance party. Good food, great dances, warm atmosphere.

And finally some pictures from HOT's fancy dress dance party from last month.

Dancing And Dating Equal to Problems?

One thing that always seems to wake opinions is dancing and dating. Many of my female non-dancer friends say that their boyfriends most probably might not like them to dance couple dances, and use that as a final argument for why they can’t even try couple dancing. My answer for that is that I would never even date someone who would forbid me dancing! (My male non-dancer friends' argument is then again that dancing is too gay - how mature of them...)

My girl friends might have a glimpse of truth in their thinking though. Since I have been single most of the time I’ve been dancing, dancing has been kind of a boyfriend for me. You see, closeness is something that I need regularly or otherwise I’ll get anxious and restless, and this need is easy to satisfy simply by going social dancing. Just to make clear, by closeness I mean only physical contact with someone without any romantic or sexual connotations. Sure, there are other ways to fill the need, but dancing is a really easy one, I’ve found. However, even if dancing as a boyfriend can fill up the need for closeness, it can’t anywhere near replace a real one. I wouldn’t even talk about replacing, actually its a really bad word to use in this context. The boyfriends most likely weren't worried about replacement anyway, but the actual closeness.

What comes to dancers then, I’ve noticed that some of them act interestingly when they start dating someone. Some try to hide the whole thing as like they were thinking that other dancers wouldn’t dance with them as they used if they found out s/he wasn’t single anymore. The other opposite is that the dating dancer completely change the way s/he dances. Some might change the way they dance only when their new partner is around. Some might just disappear from the social dancing scene. Excuse me, but why would I be interested of someone's marital status in the dance floor? What interests me is the moment of dance.

Most part of me don’t really understand why you would have to somehow change your way of dancing when dating. I wouldn’t change my behavior towards my friends either, for example. Being physically close to someone is just part of couple dancing, and that’s all. It’s like... kissing as part of acting in a romantic play: there’s no other meaning to that “fake” kiss, even a passionate one. The original meaning of the kiss is gone. Sure, there are limits to the closeness in dancing and yes, there can be only a fine line between what is appropriate and what is not, and maybe that is what’s making the dating dancers confused. How close can I dance? Is it okay to have a passionate dance with someone else? Am I allowed to or should I get jealous when seeing my partner in a really close and passionate dance with someone else? It must be even more confusing for non-dancers. I remember feeling quite disconcerted when I stated to dance some closer-contact dances. I guess that for majority of people a physical contact could mean some sort of an interest from or towards to the other party.

The ones who know me also know that I like dancing close. The ones who know me even better know that for me the closeness is just part of the dancing. I have never asked anyone to dance with me or gone to a dance party with a hidden agenda. I find it really tacky if someone is trying to hit on me in the dance floor. Please guys, that is not the right place at all! Besides, even if you tried I wouldn't most probably realize you doing that. I'm not saying that flirting should be prohibited in the dance floor, no way, that can also be part of the dance. But really, what happens in the dance floor stays in the dance floor. And just for the record, closeness in the dance floor has it's limits too.

Another related topic is that should a dancer date only a dancer or would it be wiser to take a non-dancer instead. Many seem to be in the standpoint that only a dancer can understand the similar passion of the other. Dancing changes you and it changes your life. Maybe only a dancer can understand how much dancing can really matter to you? Many, then again, say that only a fool would interfere with someone from the same dancing circles. Surely, the circles are small - too small oftentimes - and small circles means difficulties, awkward situations and uncomfortable feelings if everything doesn't work out as planned. But hey, isn't a perfect couple, in and outside the dance floor, everybody's dream?

Whatever the case might be, one thing is for sure: no-one stops me from dancing!

Dance Dance Otherwise We Are Lost.

I've mostly been writing here about all the positive and wonderful things dancing makes me feel, and that is because most of the time that is the case. Sometimes, like today, it can be quite the opposite though. Well, I couldn't fall asleep and I thought that maybe it would help to write down those feelings here.

It is weird really, it seems to come so suddenly, without warning. I was having a great day, didn't even feel unbalanced or anything, and headed to the practica with a good spirit. But after dancing a while some small details in my dancing started to irritate me. I finished my moves weak, my posture in preparation was out of line, I jabbed messy with my hands, I missed leadings, my spins were out of balance. I recognized all the mistakes, got irritated, tried to fix them and got even more irritated when failed doing so. My shoes felt too sticky for the floor. I tried leading, but after getting couple of those thanks-but -never-try-to-lead-me-again-looks, gave up on that.

When in an emotional state like that, I tend to over analyze everything others do. When I got home I had created this idea in my head that no-one like dancing with me and that I must have done something to cause that. Why didn't he want to dance with me more than once? It must have been something to do with me not dancing good enough. There must be a reason why no-one said anything positive about my dancing. Why can't I just be a better dancer?

Two words: over analyzing.

Then my thoughts turned into my own behavior. How did I respond to the others? How much positive feedback did I give? How often do I give a negative impression? What kind of vibes do I give to other dancers? Do I seem like accessible and open for anything or maybe arrogant and cold?

My dance classes end next week. What do I do after that?

4th Brazilian Zouk Festival in Finland.

Wow, last weekend... I don't know how to put it into words... was like a Zouk heaven!

Seriously, I knew the Zouk festival was going to be awesome event but it still exceeded my expectations. I had no idea that it was going to be that big and that so many dancers from so many countries would come to Helsinki to dance Zouk. And I had no idea how clearly I could feel my personal improvement in my body! On Sunday's party I felt like I was invincible, like I could do anything, that my body didn't put any limitations to my dancing. And I had no idea how amazing dance connections I was going to find during the parties. Wow.

I don't know if the dance festivals and congresses (or at least the parties!) keep on getting better when my dancing is getting better, but that is what I'm feeling now. Even though Helsinki's Zouk festival was smaller than the others I've been and there was maybe relatively more beginners, it gave me the best dance feeling since far. Maybe the smaller scale also made the atmosphere more relaxed and intimate and that way made me feel more comfortable and confident. I felt like it also enabled to dance more dances with those who I enjoyed dancing the most with.

So, for those who weren't there, the festival included dance parties on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, five hours of beginner and intermediate dance classes both on Saturday and Sunday, and on Saturday's party we were treated with four Zouk shows from the teachers. Talking about them, we had four amazing visiting teachers, Leonardo&Layssa from Brazil and Daniel&Leticia from Barcelona, plus our own local teachers Freddy&Andressa and Soile. I liked that the workshops concentrated more on technique than figures, and this time I was trying to get a double gain from those by learning also the leader's part. One memorable moment from the classes was when D&L commanded us who took part to their intensive workshop on August to come in front of everyone and do a Mzouk stepping technique practice - how awkward! My favorite classes, though, were from L&L where they taught body movements and how to lead them clearly. I'm not even exaggerating by saying that every leader later used those techniques in the parties, and Leonardo then again was constantly surrounded by a crowd of followers there (no wonder - I was part of that crowd!).

Here is some demos from L&L, D&L and F&A I took during the workshops:

The weekend showed once again that dancing isn't just moving to a music but there is a strong emotional connection to it. Dancing can put you to a highest heaven or in a worst case crush you down badly. I wasn't the only one to shed some tears during the weekend; mine were from happiness but I saw couple from sorrow too, something not that foreign also for me. The emotional connection is one of the reasons why dance though.

There would be so much more to say about the weekend but it is so hard to describe how great, warm and excited feeling I had there. All I can do, I guess, is to thank especially those who put me to the Zouk heaven in the dance floor. You know who you are.

Before the after-festival-depression was able to hit anyone, we had a special drop-in class from F&A and L&L followed with a practica last Tuesday evening. I must say that it was the most crowded and relaxed drop-in I've even been. Usually Freddy is always watching everybody with a desparate look and starts the feedback like "okay guys, you need to be carefull with..." but now he was just "okay, you all had your own timing but it was okay!".

Photos by Berg Chabot.

Going Out Dancing Tonight?

Today it finally starts! All the finzoukers have been waiting for this weekend the whole autumn. What am I talking about? The 4th Brazilian Zouk Festival in Finland of course! My weekend will therefore be dedicated just for dancing: days for Zouk workshops and nights for Zouk parties. There can’t be a better way spending a weekend than this!

I had big plans to let my sore body recover this week for the festival but, surprisingly, my feet are actually hurting from yesterday’s dancing practices. I finally went to HOT’s Thursday class to give it a try to Lindy Hop, a new swing dance for me. Swing dances aren’t really my strongest dances at all but I find it useful, and most importantly fun, to go back to beginner level and try to learn something different. After the class I had a practice with N Girl to recall some of that Mzouk technique we learned in Barcelona last August. The end result wasn’t that encouraging I was hoping for! I just might try to avoid all the mzoukkers in the festival… One positive surprise was (though not related to Mzouk) that I noticed my leading skills have improved quite a lot and I was even able to lead N Girl the moves we have been doing in the drop-ins! Yay for me!

Anyway, I got to get going to HOT’s dance party soon. It’s a fancy dress party so I’ll try to get some pictures to post here. I can’t promise you anything though, since I have only two hours dance time before running to an opening party of the Zouk festival! Please time; go slow for me this time, will you?

On with the dance! let joy be unconfined;
No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet
To chase the glowing hours with flying feet.
- George Gordon

I Want A Camera That Takes Better Dancing Pictures.

I noticed I haven't been posting any pictures here for a long time. Actually lately I have been forgetting my camera to my bag in dance events since I've been too busy dancing (I can't be blamed really, can I?). It is also quite challenging to get good pictures with my not-so-fancy-camera when everybody is moving all the time (they can't be blamed really, can they?). Anyway, today I decided to fix this flaw and took some shots from today's Zouk practica in Etnofitnes.

Here is also some random dance pictures I found from my camera.

And finally, something from my dance trip to Barcelona.

Coming back to the Zouk practica, I was delighted to see many persistent beginners practicing their moves there. Even couple of new-comers showed up! For me, the three-hour dancing session conveniently took my thoughts away from the matters that had been bothering me the whole day. My balance decided to stay home though I guess. Some days I just feel more unbalanced than the others. I was wondering that if your life is somehow unbalanced does it become concrete in a way that you feel unbalanced on the dance floor too? Hmm, or maybe I’m just overanalyzing my body’s unbalance. Anyway, the Sunday evening ended up my dance week perfectly and I especially enjoyed the couple of dances I had with F with who I haven’t had a chance to dance for a long long time. I just wish my balance would have been there to share those moments with me!