letting go

[gilana]

We're working on something new in tap class. Up until now, all of our brushes and spanks and shuffles have been controlled from the ankle. Now we're learning to work by letting the ankle hang loose and controlling the motion from the thigh; you can tap much faster that way. But for me, the tight controlled motions are easy, and letting everything go is incredibly hard. (I know, go figure.) I understand the theory, but I just cannot get my body to do it. And the more frustrated I get, the more I tense up, and I have to try to just let go and be ok with doing it badly and just keep trying. But the teacher assures me that everyone gets it eventually, and I think it would be a great thing for me to learn for more reasons than just tap. Besides, she showed one of the steps that we'll be working on in level 2 tonight. What we're doing now is fun, but it's not really what I thought tap would be. What she showed us tonight -- I can't imagine how I'm ever going to be able to do it, but I get a little glow just at the thought.

In case anyone's interested, we're going to have a little open house on Sunday Sept 21st at 3 pm. Our class is going to do one piece along with a zillion other people who have done it before, and I think some other classes will do a piece or two, and then she's going to do a little open class for everyone there. Should be fun. (This is at the Dance Complex in Central Square.)