Monthly Archives: April 2007

An Evening at the Spa

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My wife was kind enough to surprise me with an evening at the Spa. I was a bit hesitant, but seeing how happy she was in wanting to share the spa experience with me, I couldn’t turn it down. I arrived at the spa after dinner and signed in for my appointment.

The evening began with a 1-hr facial that included a hand and foot massage. The room was dimly lit colored painted in warm neutral tones.  New-agey opera-like music filled the ambience alongside the flicker of candle lights. This was my first time getting a facial and I was pleasantly surprised by how relaxing and soothing it was. No too much chatting from my end as I wanted to just enjoy the experience. Numerous facial creams and exfoliating agents were applied while I relaxed under a steam bath.

After the facial, I drank a bit of water before heading over to my 1-hr massage. I inquired about the type of massage I would be receiving.  The therapist told me she’s a clinical massage therapist and the type of massage would greatly depend on my body and where she felt tension. I described to her my endless hrs at a computer desk, so she began with the neck, shoulder and forearms.

A couple of times during the massage, she would inquire if I felt tender in certain areas. I said no, and she noted I was really tight and perhaps my body was no longer receiving pain signals in the area. She used various part of her hand, fingers, elbows and arms to perform the massage. It was rather enlightening as I realized how much tension I carried with me throughout the day. The muscles between my shoulders and back were extremely tight as well as my calves!

At the end of the evening, I left the spa very relaxed and calm. Walking to my car, I realized how much further I have to go in terms of relaxation in my taiji.

Joe Le Taxi

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In our last ballroom lesson class, we focused on the Cha Cha dance. We got into the details of how to properly perform an open break by sliding on the toe and then transferring weight onto the front foot, at an angle.

At the end of class, the instructor put on a Cha Cha song for us to incorporate what we learned. The music he played was great and had a very happy and cheer vibe about it. My wife and I instantly smiled when we heard the music and just began dancing.

At the end of class, we inquired as to the origin of the song and the instructor said: Joe Le Taxi. This song has been in my head for the last 2 days!  Joe Le Taxi was released in 1988 by french singer, Vanessa Paradisa, who was 14 at the time of release!   

Enjoy:

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yCsReOId1k

The Waltz and Taiji Connection

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My wife and I are getting into “Bronze” level material in our ballroom dance lessons. Bronze level mainly focuses on technique for given dances. For example, we got some detailed correction on the Waltz frame.  Basically, the wrist must remain straight, yet the palm of the hand should be on partner’s shoulder blade. The only way to really do this is adjust the height of the elbow and to compact the frame.

As we held the frame and received corrections, I got flashback of my taiji days feeling the burn.  It is hard to keep the elbow at shoulder level, while the shoulder is relaxed and extended back, while keeping the palm of your hand on your partner’s shoulderblade. I kept getting blasted for my shoulder not being relaxed enough!!  Then during the dance, I kept on getting blasted for letting my elbow drop!  I tried to cheat a couple of times by resting a bit during the crossover breaks or underarm turns, but once again, I was blasted. Keep the elbows up throughout all movements!

All of this emphasis on elbows and shoulders reminded me a lot of my own zhanzhuang training. I’ve been taking it easy and doing mostly chen style zhan zhuang where the main posture is to keep the hands at heart level or lower, depending on one’s ability to relax. I’m gonna kick it up a notch and go back to yiquan postures for zhan zhuang. There are a couple of postures where hands are kept at shoulder level and then transition to hands at eye level. A bit more variety in the yiquan positions. Also, I’m gonna practice doing zhanzhuang holding the waltz frame!

Next, we were introduced to the concepts of “soft legs” within the waltz. This means, no locking of the legs, keep the knees bent. Ahh.. something I connected to :) This actually made the ‘side-together’ steps of waltz basic much easier to do. We were much more mobile and were able to quickly move and change directions. I started going a bit lower and got blasted for not going too low! The instructor said I’ll lose mobility if I go too low. Just keep the knees slightly bent.

Hmm…. agile footwork concepts? I think we can all see the connection to taiji.

The hardest part of the evening was working on leading, partnering and combinations. To mix things up, the instructor had us move a little closer to another couple in a lesson. They threw on some waltz music and had us go at it. I had to really work on leading and being assertive and slightly aggressive as the instructor thinks I’m a little too nice :) While dancing, I had to maintain awareness of my surroundings at all times. While spinning and leading, making sure I don’t run into the other couple or the instructors walking around. We worked on footwork and how to get out of corner and binds by MIXING AND MATCHING elements of the steps we’ve learned. Note the word ELEMENTS… This is about combining movements together based on patterns of the basic footwork.

If an underarm turn begins during the back-side-together of the basic pattern, what other steps can we go into from this position? This is where you can mix say an underarm turn into a 5th position open break and changing it into balance steps. The idea is to be aware and have the ability to adapt to changing conditions.

One of the funnier things is while we’re dancing, the instructor would start talking to us to try and distract us from our steps. He said dancing is all about feeling it. Once you begin to feel the music and feel the flow, you no longer have to think. If you try and think too much and plan too far ahead, it’ll be too late.

Below is a clip of the 2005 World American Standard Waltz Final. Note the frame of the male lead, especially the right arm! :)

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaU0nzfkNBY