Quarantine Dance & Fitness Resources

Quarantine, social distancing, shelter in place, self-isolating. Whatever you might be using to describe it, it's certainly dragging on at this point. While of course we want to protect ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities at large, this extended stay at home can't help but bring up uncomfortable and anxious emotions. If you're feeling like me, you're starting to feel pretty trapped and stir crazy at home. But one thing that always helps me: movement.

Moving my body to music, moving my body to break a sweat, moving my body to get out of my head, moving my body to free my spirit. Even if physically I have to remain in the same place, movement helps transport me. Movement helps me cut back on the intensity of the cabin fever, focus my concentration, and generally pass the time. Thus for this month, I've compiled a list of resources you might consider engaging with if you are looking for something new in the dance and fitness arena to try at home.

1. Studio Azul: a local Seattle studio, Studio Azul offers dance and fitness classes on both live classes on Facebook and on demand on Vimeo. Classes range from salsa and bachata technique, to barre and the sassy 305 Fit. There are a number of different commitment levels, including "drop-in" if you just want to try out one class. You can find the options here.
2. Carbon38: online retailer Carbon38 offers two to three free daily workouts live on Instagram. Look for the daily post for the day's schedule. 
3. Aziza: One of my all-time favorite dancers, Aziza, regularly offers online belly dance classes. She also offers one-on-one virtual feedback and coaching over Zoom. You can schedule both at azizaonline.appointy.com. Use the promo code MAY FLOWERS to get a 15% discount on private coaching.
4. Datura Online: the jack pot of on demand belly dance videos, Datura Online, offers either monthly membership options, or pay to rent options, to access videos by belly dance favorites such as Zoe Jakes, Rachel Brice, Sadie, and Sedona Soulfire.
5. Studio Tone It Up: the expansive fitness app from the Tone It Up girls, Katrina and Karena. The app includes fitness videos ranging from toning to yoga to HIIT to dance cardio, and even meditation. The app is free for the first seven days, and right now there are specials for 50% off an annual subscription and 25% off a monthly subscription. 
6. Alo Yoga: another athletic wear retailer, Alo Yoga, offers online videos from popular instructors ranging from yoga to fitness to mindfulness. The first 14 days are free. 
7. Mind Body Online: The ultimate virtual movement platform, you can use Mind Body Online to find all types of virtual classes, including dance, fitness, wellness, and beauty. Offered at all different times and all different price points. Just might be something for everyone. 

I hope within the ideas above you find something that brightens your day and brings a little joy to your heart. Stay safe. Stay sane. It's an incredibly difficult time, and we are each in our boat of mounting struggles, but I wish everyone well, and remember, that this too shall pass.

Another Year Closes

Wow, here we are again already! Another trip around the sun, another year almost closed and done. If you've been reading the blog for awhile now, you know that I always do a year in review post for December. So here we go again.

Overall, I have to say, I feel pretty blessed and lucky with how 2017 turned out for me. It was a year jam-packed with fun and friends, pleasure and pleasant memories.

Here are some highlights from my year:

As usual, I went to a TON of shows (in large part, thank you to my employer, STG). Let's see if I can even begin to remember them all: Rent, Cabaret, Aladdin, The King and I, Beauty and the Beast, The Bodyguard, The Sound of Music, Tash Sultana, Damian Marley, Matisyahu, Alice Merton, Two Cellos, Brene Brown, Sheryl Sandberg and Cheryl Strayed, Elizabeth Gilbert, The National Theatre of Scotland's production of Let the Right One In, Portugal the Man, Melissa Etheridge, Trevor Noah, Bassem Youssef, Moisture Festival Burlesque, Seawheeze Cabaret, Le Faux, Terror at Gaylord Manor, Shakespeare in Love, Henry IV Part One, Odysseus, and of course a wide smattering of belly dance shows. I'm sure there's a few more that I'm forgetting about. 

January started out with studying belly dance with Mercedes Nieto and Shahrazad, as well as performing in the showcase while they were in town. You can read about some of my takeaways from studying with Shahrazad here.

In February, we adopted a rescue malti-poo. He's the smartest, sweetest little guy and we are so blessed to have him in our family. And he gets to come to work with me!

In March, I performed in Lunaria Dance Theatre's first full-length production, Moon Over Manhattan. We performed to a sold out crowd and received some pretty awesome reviews afterward.

To see more pictures from the 2017 show, check out this post.

And to snag your seat at our sure to be sold out 2018 show, Oh My Goldness!, you can purchase your tickets here.

In April, I died by hair purple and immediately fell in love with it. I feel more like myself and may never go back!

In May, I headed to Denver to celebrate a friend's 40th birthday and hang with two of my best friends. We cemented our friendship bond in our early days of public accounting in Big Four.

In June, I had the opportunity to travel to Peru and spend 2.5 weeks touring various parts of the country, and finally culminating in the three-day Inca Trail hike that ends at Machu Picchu. Definitely the highlight of the trip and a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

To see more pictures from my Peruvian overseas adventures, check out this post.

In July, I did an amazing beach belly dance photo shoot with the talented photographer Chris Yetter.

To see more pictures from the shoot, check out this post.

August was the month of road trips. First, it was a weekend spent in Ashland, Oregon with family taking in the performances of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

And then two weeks later, it was back to Oregon, but this time to Corvalis to watch the total solar eclipse. And yes, it was completely worth the 10.5 hours it took to get back to Seattle!

September was back to settling down, focusing on fitness and fall routines. I ran a 5K and ended up getting 6th place overall. I also went to the Tone It Up tour event, with my fitness icons Katrina and Karena and Jillian Michaels. FYI, it's thanks to K&K that I lost 1.5 inches off my waist this year. If you been thinking about upping your fitness game, their program really works!

October was photo shoots and a month-long celebration of Halloween, my hands-down favorite holiday.

Photo by Marice Goodson

Two portrait photos by Cliff Lenderman

To see additional pics of Halloween festivities, you can check out this post. 

In November, I debuted my new belly dance skill: dancing while balanced on a drum. I also joined the Board of Directors at Velocity Dance.

And for December, it looks like between the time I post this blog and the time the clock strikes midnight on December 31st, I will have finally finished writing my novel! All 20 chapters and approximately 65,000 words! Yasss! Only one more chapter left to go, so it's looking completely doable. I've also already done two photo shoots this month, two more to go if things go as planned, so will have some fun new pictures to share in the near future, both belly dance as well as some other fun, creative concepts.

In general, 2017 was a year of fun. It was filled with good times spent with friends. I'll be taking lots of happy memories with me into 2018. I'm so blessed to have so many kind, talented, smart, and generally bad-ass women to call friends!

Overall, this last year was focused on a lot of fun and festivities. I'm usually a bit more goal-oriented and ambitious. I guess I needed a break from being so responsible and some more time to socialize and enjoy life! For 2018, I think I will need to get back to being a bit more focused. Or better yet, finding the balance between the two.

I hope 2017 was as good to you as it was to me. See you in 2018!

Cross-Training for Belly Dance

Ready to take your dance to the next level? Do you have a desire to deepen your body awareness, strengthen your muscles, and shape your overall physique? Then mixing some cross-training into your weekly dance practice might be just the thing for you. What is cross-training?  Cross-training can be just about any other type of dance, sport, or movement.  But if you really want to sync up your exercise with direct benefits to your belly dance practice, you'll want to keep reading for my list of recommended forms of dance and exercise for belly dancers.

Ballet: There is a great deal of cross-over in movements and posture between belly dance and ballet.  Don't believe me? Read my last blog post on Badia Masabni to discover how she fused the two dance forms to create modern belly dance.  Ballet classes will lift your posture, promote grace and fluidity, increase flexibility, and tone major muscle groups. I take weekly ballet classes at the Pacific Northwest Ballet School and I recommend in-person instruction.  However, there are also two at-home DVD options from the Cheeky Girls DVD line, Ballet for Belly Dancers with Brianna and Ballet Blast with Sherena, that are tailored specifically for belly dancers.

Yoga: A big component of any dance style is flexibility. Want to slide down into the splits while balancing your shamadan? Then regular stretching needs to be on the menu. Yoga is a great low-impact way to enhance flexibility while building muscle tone.  Plus, there is also the added benefit of working on connecting movement to breath, a key component of performing.  These days yoga comes in a variety of forms: vinyasa, Bikram, hatha, heated, cardio-fusion, restorative, and kundalini to name a few. Just about anyone kind find the yoga class that appeals to them. If you can't find a yoga studio you like near you, I would recommend the DVDs Daily Energy - Vinyasa Flow Yoga by Shiva Rea for a more traditional approach to yoga, or Yoga Inferno by Jillian Michaels for a yoga-cardio fusion approach.

Barre: A fusion of ballet, pilates, and isometric strength training, the right barre class will have your muscles literally shaking before it's over. You will see and feel the difference.  I've tried most of the major chains and Pure Barre is my favorite.  Classes can be a bit pricey, so if you are looking for an at-home option, I like Xtend Barre: Lean and Chiseled with Andrea Rogers, which infuses a bit more ballet and cardio than most studio classes.

Other Forms of Dance: Ballet deserved it's own category because it's so fundamentally related to belly dance.  But that being said, just about any other style of dance will aid your belly dance, as it will increase your mind-body connection and promote the development of muscle control and emotional expression.  A few other styles in particular to consider delving into are jazz for rhythm and choreography, modern for level changes and extensions, lyrical for turns and emotional gravitas, burlesque for saucy and sassy stage presence, hip hop for intensifying pops and locks, and samba and other Latin dances for footwork and hip articulation.

Pilates: Is another fine-toning based movement approach that combines strengthening and stretching, and was developed predominately with dancers in mind.  Pilates can be done on a mat, or with the assistance of a reformer machine.  Another great option for preparing your body to execute belly dance technique.

Those are my top cross-training recommendations for belly dancers.  However, whether your personal cross-training choice is on this list or not ultimately doesn't matter. The most important thing is to love and move your body every day.  Dance and sweat it out goddesses!

Photo Credit: Unknown

Power to the She

If you were anything like me, you were glued to the TV during the recent London Olympics. Staying up late into the night to watch just one more match, one more race, one more fight to the finish. But what you may or may not have noticed while watching, was that these games were marked by breakthroughs from women athletes, proving that women are a force to be reckoned with.  Here are some highlights:

• Out of the 104 total medals won by the United States, 58 were taken home by women. That's right, more than half were won by women.
• Illustrating that you are never too old or too young, of the 539 athletes on the U.S. team, the oldest team member was 54-year-old equestrian Karen O'Connor, while the youngest was 15-year-old swimmer Katie Ledecky.  Katie won gold in the 800 meter freestyle, becoming the youngest women to ever do so.
• Saudi Arabia sent 800-meter runner Sarah Attar and judoist Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani to compete in the London games, thus marking the 2012 Olympics as the first time in history that every single country represented had at least one female athlete competing.
• Gabby Douglas became the first African-American to become the individual all-around champion.  She also became the first American gymnast to win gold in both the individual all-around and team competitions at the same Olympics.
• Tunisia's Habiba Ghribi became her country's first woman to win a medal in the games.
• Women boxers made history by being included in the games for the first time.
• Seventeen-year-old Sadaf Rahimi became the first female boxer to fight for Afghanistan in the summer games.  This is quite a feat, considering the prevalent violence against women in Afghanistan and given the fact that that under Taliban rule, women were not allowed to work or leave the house without a male escort from 1996 to 2001.  Rahimi’s accomplishment registers as a hopeful cultural milestone.
• And this list doesn't even begin to include all of the world records broken during the 2012 Olympics, which you can read all about here.

And because men aren't so bad either, I just have to mention the incredibly moving and inspiring performance by Oscar Pistorius of South Africa, nicknamed Bladerunner, who became the first double below the knee amputee to compete in the Olympics. Proof that you can overcome any obstacle.

Since the Olympics have ended, I have been continuing to tap into the strength, flexibility, speed, and determination exhibited by of all these amazing athletes, and have been using their example to fuel my own athletic and dance goals. I've been using the inspiration of gymnasts, like Chrystalleni Trikomit of Cyprus pictured above, to work on my flexibility. And I have signed up for the Athleta 5K race here in Seattle on September 9th.

So whether you are competing on an international stage or dancing around the stage of your living room, remember this: you are powerful.

I would be honored to hear how the London Olympics impacted you, and what dance or fitness goals you are currently working on.

Photo Credit: olympics.time.com

New Year Goal Review - Part Two

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" - Mary Oliver

I've been a bit late in getting this blog posted, in part because I've been busy and out of town, but also because I have to admit, I've been having some indecision when it comes to selecting my new theme for the year and setting my related goals. Last year, as discussed in my previous post, was the BIG year, with a lot of large life-changing events. In comparison, 2012 is going to be a much more mellow year, which has forced me to look internally for what my goals are and what I hope to manifest in the new year.

After much debate, I've finally decided my intention for the year is on entering this new decade of my life full of health, vibrancy, and energy. Having had a number of health issues recently, ranging from mild to potentially quite serious, it's time to focus on further developing a holistic lifestyle and making daily choices that are honoring my body, mind, and spirit. Thus my theme for the year is Thirty & Thriving.

Specifically, here's what Thirty & Thriving looks like to me:

1. Giving up gluten for a minimum of six weeks and potentially indefinitely, depending on how I feel after those first initial six weeks. Right now, I'm one week in and already feeling positive about the change. And yes, this is even after having to pass on office cupcakes. As a little secret between us, cupcakes are one of my favorite food groups.

2. Make (and keep) those doctors appointments that I've been putting off. I almost didn't want to list this one, because once it's written down and posted, it's there reminding me to hold myself accountable. No more pushing it to the back burner until a day when I have some free time, because we all know those days never arrive.

3. Go on a yoga or other health/spirituality/creativity centered retreat. The last three years I've gone on some exotic foreign vacations, so this year I'm ready to stay in the country, relax, and hand the itinerary reins over to someone else. Currently, I have my eye on Kimberly Wilson's offerings.

4. Ramp up the workouts. I've always been a regular exerciser and I get in a workout six days a week. But I have to admit that I'm not always pushing myself. So it's time to really challenge the status quo, stretch my limits, and try new things. One of the ways I hope to accomplish this, is by joining the group Sweaty Betties, a 20 - 40 something women's only MeetUp group that focuses on being active and convenes regularly to do everything from 5K runs to snowshoeing to salsa dancing. Additionally, I also subscribed to Self magazine for some more doses of inspiration.

5. Get more sleep. I pretty much always get a minimum of 7 hours of sleep per night, otherwise I just don't function. However, the current recommendation by doctors and health professionals is that 7.5 hours is really the optimum amount, so I'm aiming to squeeze in that extra half hour. How am I doing now that I've had 37 nights to practice this habit? Hasn't happened yet. That extra half hour never seems to materialize! Good thing I have another 328 nights to practice.

6. Give up alcohol for four weeks. And actually this one is already done and checked off the list. After all the back-to-back parties in December, I really felt like my liver needed a break and my body needed to detoxify, so sober January it was.

7. Compete in an athletic competition. Growing up, as a state championship swimmer and co-captain of the gymnastics team, competing in sports was a big part of my life. However, I believe the last sports competition I did was the Danskin Triathlon back in 2004, so I'm definitely overdue for signing up for an event. Haven't decided which one or what type of event yet, but I'm ready to stoke my competitive fires!

And since health, is not purely about the physical body, I also have a few goals to address healthiness and thriving in other areas of my life, specifically focusing on spiritually, finances, creativity, and relationships:

8. Meditate for 10 minutes every day. I used to always do this and then started slacking off through the end of 2011. Thus I am recommitting to this habit. So far in 2012, I've been back at my meditation altar every day.

9. Write my damn book already! Ever since I was a child, I've always felt I had a book in me. It's been percolating inside me for three decades now, waiting to be born. It's one of the few things I've wanted consistently through my whole life. And now, in this year of less commitments and events, it is ripe with perfection to sit down and put pen to paper. Since this is a pretty big undertaking, and overwhelming when I think about it, my goal is at a minimum to have decided on what book it is I'm going to write and to have outlined it by the end of the year. Any further progress than that will be extra sprinkles of kudos.

10. Set a regular date night. Le beau and I can at times be rather sporadic with getting together regularly during weeknights. With demanding jobs, my teaching and performing schedule, and the daily grind of life, sometimes we, and probably myself in particular, aren't always making couple time a priority. So it's time to set a regular night of the week as date night and stick to it.

11. Plan my wedding! And to ensure it's a day of celebration and not stress, my goal is to make choices that honor who we are as individuals and as a couple, and to stick to a price tag that's within our means.

12. And speaking of means, my final goal for 2012 is to spend less. I've had enough self-control with money to currently have zero debt and a decent amount saved in 401(k)'s and Roth IRAs. But as far as having a rainy day fund, it's pretty much non-existent. I've already flushed out my budget for the year, so here's to willpower!

There is it - an even 12 for 2012. Et toi? How is your new year going? What joys are you hoping to bring into your life? As one of my favorite poetry lines of all time, written by Mary Oliver says, "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" Plan it now. Begin today.