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
Today’s book is a digital one, ‘Simple & Sinister by Pavel Pavel Tsatsouline. It has been my go-to resource for strength work for the past year. It covers a simple, but extremely effective (and fun – to me!) program/routine using kettlebells, about which I will write more tomorrow. PS: Check out this fascinating podcast interview with… Read More Simple & Sinister
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
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
I haven’t been able to get out into the woods yet this week, and I already miss it dearly. To tide you (and me!) over until next week’s forest pictures, here is a post on my favourite book on trees instead. It was written by Peter Wohlleben, a bestselling German author who has dedicated his… Read More The Hidden Life of Trees
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..
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
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
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
I’ve always considered myself extremely lucky in the teacher department. To each of the teachers in my life I owe parts of my current Self. They have contributed to my growth, happiness, knowledge, skill set, inspiration, love of learning, love of movement, love of music, love of language, and love of life. Their teachings as… Read More Free to Move
