Well since the last post there's been the Gallery Crawl show 3 15min sets over 3 hours (the last set was 30min due to some confusion over start time). I was gassed. Many cool practices outside at 12th and Carson. Got alot of practice refining alot of the moves I've already had. Got my partner dance skills up a bit and really got loose at this house party. So now it's back to the lab at CMU.
Pretty good practice. Warmed up with some hollowbacks and throwing headspin in different combinations. My headspin from standing needs work, but I was able to hit mill > headspin (1x) > pose knees bent grabbing feet but I kept rotating so it was almost a 90. Taps are still elusive and even when I get three or four taps I can't control what do to do out of them. Really close to 90 > baby freeze. It feels like I've forgotten some of what I was working on previously. Just got to get it back.
Warren is back
Didn't think I'd practice today.
I thought it may have been just Devon, Kyle and I, but Warren came through later and so did Prabu. Warren consistently teaches me the value of more. Constantly adding complexity should be what we strive for. As long as it's on the music. Highlight: flare > mill > flare > swipe > mill > halo > baby freeze (clean).
I thought it may have been just Devon, Kyle and I, but Warren came through later and so did Prabu. Warren consistently teaches me the value of more. Constantly adding complexity should be what we strive for. As long as it's on the music. Highlight: flare > mill > flare > swipe > mill > halo > baby freeze (clean).
Thursday
Thumb still jacked, the plan for next practice is to work on one armed power going the opposite way. So only working: swipes, mills, headspins and halo if I'm feeling like a bboy deity. Might use my right palm for taps and steadying myself in headspin, shit's still dangerous.
Considering the hype, it was a pretty bum practice. I never realized how much I use the off-hand for power. Not too much energy for me that day. I left half an hour early because I was tired of being skiddish about doing anything on my right hand. Kind of sucked, kind of didn't really practice much. Was cool to see the crew hash out some of their differences. Sad to know that people will be leaving Pittsburgh to go on to better things. Just means that we need to use our time wisely.
Considering the hype, it was a pretty bum practice. I never realized how much I use the off-hand for power. Not too much energy for me that day. I left half an hour early because I was tired of being skiddish about doing anything on my right hand. Kind of sucked, kind of didn't really practice much. Was cool to see the crew hash out some of their differences. Sad to know that people will be leaving Pittsburgh to go on to better things. Just means that we need to use our time wisely.
Wednesday
How my thumb feels tomorrow will dictate whether I try airflares or elbow airflares. I should probably buy that lino tomorrow so we can get it in at Gymsport.
No Gymsport, regular practice in Rangos. More gimp styles. It is improving my one handed footwork and no handed steps. In addition I'm focusing more on endurance and the quality of my movement. Matt Limm was at practice and I realized fully that he makes sacrifice every time he comes out music-wise. I was glad that he put on some popping jams and Teena and I joined him for a little bit. I keep thinking of elbow airflares as being out of the question when I'm on a normal floor. Instead I need to man up, I'm starting to notice my crutches more in dancing and in life in general. Walking tall is my goal now in all endeavors. In dancing, for me, that means expanding in all directions at once and not sticking to one type or style of motion for more than two practices in a row. It means definitely not doing moves that I'm comfortable with and if I do those moves I should damn well be doing them in difficult combination. Also glad that Teena and I went over that commando I wanted to try, even though I ate it hard butterfly twisting under my extended arm lol.
No Gymsport, regular practice in Rangos. More gimp styles. It is improving my one handed footwork and no handed steps. In addition I'm focusing more on endurance and the quality of my movement. Matt Limm was at practice and I realized fully that he makes sacrifice every time he comes out music-wise. I was glad that he put on some popping jams and Teena and I joined him for a little bit. I keep thinking of elbow airflares as being out of the question when I'm on a normal floor. Instead I need to man up, I'm starting to notice my crutches more in dancing and in life in general. Walking tall is my goal now in all endeavors. In dancing, for me, that means expanding in all directions at once and not sticking to one type or style of motion for more than two practices in a row. It means definitely not doing moves that I'm comfortable with and if I do those moves I should damn well be doing them in difficult combination. Also glad that Teena and I went over that commando I wanted to try, even though I ate it hard butterfly twisting under my extended arm lol.
Tuesday
I hope to get a harder workout in today. Kind of been bullshiting my personal development to get with this Gallery Crawl choreography. I think I'll do power combos of three to a pose and focus on throwing airflares. When tired I can lay that routine I wanted to on Stealth and Teena. Also see what kinds of duo routines they have!
This practice turned to shit quick. Stealth and Teena got stuck in traffic and couldn't make practice. I started strong with the combos of three to pose, but I tried to just do an air thread after one combo and jammed my thumb against my leg. I tried to continue just doing one armed footwork but I got tired of that and left a bit early. Highlights: mill > flare > air turtles (clean); doing one armed swipes starting with the trail arm (hard but doable as a normal powermove)
This practice turned to shit quick. Stealth and Teena got stuck in traffic and couldn't make practice. I started strong with the combos of three to pose, but I tried to just do an air thread after one combo and jammed my thumb against my leg. I tried to continue just doing one armed footwork but I got tired of that and left a bit early. Highlights: mill > flare > air turtles (clean); doing one armed swipes starting with the trail arm (hard but doable as a normal powermove)
Monday
Practice in Rangos today.
Ming and Kyle were already there, heads are hungry. Ming told me so as well :) Pretty light practice today, just drilling handstand walkovers and those stab things that Prabu does. Devon showed up so we got a chance to run through all the routines we have. We hit all of them perfect a couple times despite a good number of foul ups. Also Devon came up with most of the choreography for a new routine bringing the total number of ideas to 4. We are making good progress on that front, but there needs to be much more done in order to be ready how I want to be for the gallery crawl. I know I wanted to have both popping and bboying interchange to eat time, but I'm not sure if house should be added. Right now I'm thinking no and I think maybe we could add that for a longer showcase. All in all a good productive practice.
Ming and Kyle were already there, heads are hungry. Ming told me so as well :) Pretty light practice today, just drilling handstand walkovers and those stab things that Prabu does. Devon showed up so we got a chance to run through all the routines we have. We hit all of them perfect a couple times despite a good number of foul ups. Also Devon came up with most of the choreography for a new routine bringing the total number of ideas to 4. We are making good progress on that front, but there needs to be much more done in order to be ready how I want to be for the gallery crawl. I know I wanted to have both popping and bboying interchange to eat time, but I'm not sure if house should be added. Right now I'm thinking no and I think maybe we could add that for a longer showcase. All in all a good productive practice.
Friday
Practice in Rangos again.
Sike naw, shit was apparently reserved for Aerobics Rm. Win! Practice was hype as hell. Anytime Devon and I are at practice together it will be hype shit. We both really want to get good, period. As for the actual practice, I got there on time so I changed my warm up. Started with handstands, trying to work on my balance so I can utilize freezes more (not chairs and babies). I got invert elbow poses back on my left side. Inverts on my right side are still shit. Devon got a camera so we took a few vids. We need to post those joints! My headspins are getting better, but it's not a move that I can do readily. Really the only power moves I can do on command are swipes and windmills :P Mainly because it's hard to fall out of them. I came up with a new way to drill airflares: 1. start in handstand with legs open, hips down and head not looking at the ground 2. do the normal whip whilst keeping your push off hand on the ground 3. Place your other hand on the ground then release the push off hand whilst keeping your legs spread and head in place. This is so I can drill airflare like windmill: 1. maintaining an idea of your body's relationship to the ground 2. doing a motion from zero momentum and returning to the starting point. At least now I have a plan, instead of just throwing myself around.
Sike naw, shit was apparently reserved for Aerobics Rm. Win! Practice was hype as hell. Anytime Devon and I are at practice together it will be hype shit. We both really want to get good, period. As for the actual practice, I got there on time so I changed my warm up. Started with handstands, trying to work on my balance so I can utilize freezes more (not chairs and babies). I got invert elbow poses back on my left side. Inverts on my right side are still shit. Devon got a camera so we took a few vids. We need to post those joints! My headspins are getting better, but it's not a move that I can do readily. Really the only power moves I can do on command are swipes and windmills :P Mainly because it's hard to fall out of them. I came up with a new way to drill airflares: 1. start in handstand with legs open, hips down and head not looking at the ground 2. do the normal whip whilst keeping your push off hand on the ground 3. Place your other hand on the ground then release the push off hand whilst keeping your legs spread and head in place. This is so I can drill airflare like windmill: 1. maintaining an idea of your body's relationship to the ground 2. doing a motion from zero momentum and returning to the starting point. At least now I have a plan, instead of just throwing myself around.
Thursday
Practice in Rangos 3.
Not too much going on here. Still fucking up mill > 90. I slow down waaay too much when doing mill > headspin > 90, but my feet aren't touching anymore. Practiced poses on my right hand a bit. Did some taps that felt good but it was 2/6 so I need to make that automatic. We stopped practice early, but I got a sweat on so it was cool. Highlight: this one run I did elbow > 2000 x2 > footwork > swipe > mill > headspin x3 (halo start) > chair freeze (no feet touching).
Not too much going on here. Still fucking up mill > 90. I slow down waaay too much when doing mill > headspin > 90, but my feet aren't touching anymore. Practiced poses on my right hand a bit. Did some taps that felt good but it was 2/6 so I need to make that automatic. We stopped practice early, but I got a sweat on so it was cool. Highlight: this one run I did elbow > 2000 x2 > footwork > swipe > mill > headspin x3 (halo start) > chair freeze (no feet touching).
Tuesday
Practice somewhere? My memory is horrible, gotta keep writing these right after practice.
Oh this was the one where Teena, Stealth, Kyle, Chuck and I did this ad-lib circle exercise. So there's one person inside the circle dancing and all the people on the outside are calling out moves. It's super fun! I think the idea is to do things you haven't done before and in different combination. It was fun because we called out themes instead of moves and got to see people act them out while dancing.
Oh this was the one where Teena, Stealth, Kyle, Chuck and I did this ad-lib circle exercise. So there's one person inside the circle dancing and all the people on the outside are calling out moves. It's super fun! I think the idea is to do things you haven't done before and in different combination. It was fun because we called out themes instead of moves and got to see people act them out while dancing.
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