Dance! - The Road to Heavies, summerstop 2014. 28th of June - 21st of August
I manage to get myself to do some strength and stretch-exercises each day. Althought I don't feel like I'm doing a good job, my feet stay warm better the rest of the day. The cramp-attacks I sometimes have in bed are gone as well.
Irish dance on the telly
On television, I discovered the BBC-series 'Jigs and Wigs' just before the end of the dance-season. It's a short series about Irish dance and all it's oddity's, which gives a rather deep insight into the world of Irish dance and a few dancers for 30 minutes every episode.
It's in this series that my dad sees an exxagerated dancer with so much make-up it's close to ugly. She also wears a wig and now my dad finally understands what I mean with 'A walking Barbie-doll'.
Lost my practice-floor
Unfortunately, I lost my floor to practice on since July. As my contract at work ended and the floor I practice on is the floor from the shop I work at, I can't dance there anymore. I can't practice at home, as much as I'd love to, so I dance on my sneakers from time to time, as far as that works.
A work-around is buying so called pondliner, a rubber like mat to shape ponds with.
It's my idea to make a small dance-floor out of it, with a supporting floor made of wood. That way I can practice on my heavy shoes at home as well.
'It's not thát loud now, is it?' (words from my dad)
My dad, who finds building a dance floor is a little bit nonsense, thinks I can practice in the living room. I'm pretty sure I can't do that because of the nuisance for both my parents and the neighbours in the rest of the block of homes.
If nuisance isn't the problem, I run the risk of damaging our wooden floor.
He isn't convinced nonethelss and wants to see if it's possible. After moving some furniture and putting down some of the pondliner, I can go ahead with some practice. Without warning I start a series of trebles. My dad puts on a painfull face. That's a lot louder than he expected!
He immediately asks how deafening the sound must be at dance class (and indeed, sometimes the noise is great).
When it comes to strength, things are improving near the end of the summer-stop. I'm able to stand on my toes for real far more often. Also the stretching starts to pay off. I can slowly manage to grab my toes with my hands, something my mom looks at in awe, who can only wish she could reach that far.