Mysterious Beech Party
Spooky, yet unexpectedly colourful impressions from our latest forest walk.
Category: Movement
Stillness in Motion
A quote I heard on a great podcast interview today: The Music lies in between the notes. How apt this is in a world that seems to be moving ever faster.. Just as the silence between notes is where the music is truly found, it‘s in the pauses between movements that a dance comes to… Read More Stillness in Motion
— Martial Arts, Movement —
Meet Paper Cut
Jong-I Begi, or paper cutting, is one of the main testing (and competition) disciplines of Haidong Gumdo (Korean Sword Art). It may seem simple, but it takes skill, mental discipline and practise to achieve a clean, even and precise cut across the full width of the paper at each attempt. Paper cutting is used to measure… Read More Meet Paper Cut
The Mighty Kettlebell
This post is an ode to the Kettlebell, the portable iron gym. As posted yesterday, for the past year Pavel Tsatsouline’s excellent ‘Simple & Sinister’ Kettlebell workout book has been my go-to functional strength (and cardio!) workout method, combined with rope skipping. I was inspired to educate myself on Kettlebells after completing Monika Volkmars Dance Stronger program… Read More The Mighty Kettlebell
— Flexibility, Movement —
Drink Water, My Friend
Water, or as Mr. E and I call it, Mountain Juice(tm), is one of the most precious elements on earth. Without it, life as we know it would not exist. We need it to live. Incidentally, being sufficiently hydrated is one of the most simple (and often overlooked!) way to enhance/support our (mental as well… Read More Drink Water, My Friend
— Inspiration, Movement —
Retaining the Work
Experiences are stored in our long-term memory the moment we try to retrieve them. Next to that, visualising ourselves performing complex (or simple!) movements with great focus will activate the very same parts of our brain that light up when we DO execute that movement. I have found that creating notes AFTER I’ve taken a… Read More Retaining the Work
If the Shoe fits..
Today’s post is all about pointe shoe sizes. I’ve received a few questions about which pointe shoes I dance with currently. At the moment I use Grishko’s ‘Dreampointes’, size 5 1/2 XXX MF for class. For the very curious: I wear them in with Grishko gel toe pads model 2, and a smidge of silver spun lambs… Read More If the Shoe fits..
— Martial Arts, Movement —
The Way of the Sword
This weekend Mr E and I were lucky enough to participate in our very first Haidong Gumdo (Korean Sword Art) Geup/Kup (Coloured Belt) test, held in Cologne, Germany. It was an interesting, tiring, yet uplifting, exciting and deeply enriching day. The testing itself was preceded by an in-depth 3-hour seminar by ‘our’ GrandMaster Seung-Eun Chae. We… Read More The Way of the Sword
Wearable Strength
Do you practise with ankle/wrist weights? If not (yet), I highly recommend it! I occasionally use very light (0,5kg) wrist weights for practising ballet port de bras (arm pathways) as well as for working on fluid arm and wrist movements in bellydance. I use them in the warmup of my streaming/ downloadable bellydance instructional DVD… Read More Wearable Strength
Classical Ballet Technique
Good dancers possess strong bodies, courageous hearts, and intelligent minds. Classical Ballet Technique – Gretchen Ward Warren. This book is an absolute treasure for anyone learning or teaching ballet. 416 pages filled to the brim with technique tips, explanations and crystal clear pictures of every possible ballet movement, transition, position and jump. It helped me figure… Read More Classical Ballet Technique