Oh and
FASA's CULTURE NIGHT is THIS SATURDAY at 5:30!
I'm superexcited and I hope everyone else is too.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Everyday
Oh, I forgot.
I think we should have a hugging mixer...
I really think you get to know and trust people more through physical intimacy. But shaking hands is just too formal, so I think hugging would be a happy alternative.
Plus it would be funny.
I think we should have a hugging mixer...
I really think you get to know and trust people more through physical intimacy. But shaking hands is just too formal, so I think hugging would be a happy alternative.
Plus it would be funny.
Double whammy
I'm liking this class more and more with each session. Loveloveloveeee.
I wish I could have a notepad or piece of paper with me each time I go to class because every time there's something that challenges my perspective on things and I want to write it down to think about and debate over with myself later. I feel like going to class is like going to sleep. In a good way--let me explain...
You know that point when you're trying to go to sleep, comfortable under your covers, but then your brain doesn't stop whirring with ideas and recollections and questions that come from the day or out of nowhere? Going to class is like that. Except I can't decide which I prefer, for the brain whirring. Because even though it interrupts my sleep, at least I'm an arm (or a step down and across, since I'm on a loft bed right now) away from a notepad and I can wake up and have it there, solid. In class it's always on the surface of my brain, with the constant threat of vaporizing out through my ears or something.
That's the convenience of having stuff written down. Given that last class I was out-of-it-tired, I could this time absorb the information at my own pace. That's why this class is different. If you're absent, you're absent. You don't have it, you missed out. You can't just do a make-up on the steps or the re-telling. Not just because of the material, but the way in which it's presented and the environment and tone in which it's presented.
So was writing (or just printing, that's less contestable) a tool of convenience, efficiency? Do we lose intelligence at the expense of efficiency? I mean think about it. All those people who write computer programs and invent machinery and whatnot are freaking geniuses. And they're the only ones that are, since we take their genius, skip their genius in order to make things easy for ourselves. (That's why I ultimately decided not to pursue math and stuff....) The way that we're learning, you've got to be quick and attentive. Maybe we've lost that agility or transferred it somehow to writing over time? Over human evolution? Over a lifespan/through growth?
I thought it was interesting how Francis mentioned that we learned how to speak the language and communicate with it before we ever learned to write it. So it's like in this class we're going back to basics, going to the simple and organic, the essence of animal and baby and child. Which is cool and completely different from how we're used to. That's what I was going to mention in the entry that I didn't have time to write--that I'm used to writing and visual and this is all physical and auditory.
---
I'm constantly thinking about the contrast between individualism and the community and/or conformity in this class. It's almost counter-intuitive for me. Like when we were outside in a line in a narrow hallway and in order to figure out what we were supposed to do, you had to look at what the people immediately in front of you were doing. And I saw the people in front of me doing the foot motions and for the briefest of a second I thought, "Just because they're doing it doesn't mean I should be." And then I had to think, of course, I'm in a class, I'm supposed to be copying what others are doing because it's how I'm supposed to learn. So it's such a different mindset, going back to fundamentals with which then maybe later on you can do you own thing...
And then there were CAK CAK CAK's. There was this weird point when we were learning the different beats/sounds and Francis just came in with new sounds and it was interesting to observe whether or not people changed their BONG's to PONG TIT's or CAK's. It was an odd sensation: to follow what Francis was doing, to be the first one to follow what Francis was doing, to be the one who followed what the person who followed Francis, to follow what everyone else seemed to be doing. It's almost like a thin comparison between leadership and learning, if that can be compared at all to individualism and the community and/or conformity.
Shady.
---
I got chills when Francis was talking about being in the middle of the circle. I wonder if it's real. The feeling, and the feelings that he sensed by being in the middle.
---
I didn't write an entry about Tuesday's class, but I wrote notes for it:
"eyes never in other dances (major multitasking)" : It's weird because I feel like I'm all right at multitasking, but not in type of task (i.e. physical/body). In addition to eyes, during today's class, we added an awareness and liveliness of toes! in Balinese dance.
"i'm bad at languages" : but that's okay because I love them anyway.
"met bobby and tom" : Today I met Jen. I should make it a goal to meet at least one new person each day. I wonder how many classes it would take for me meet everyone (probably a while, since I feel like I know people but they don't know me or I just don't know them very well).
---
Francis told us to write about our experience with the Ramayana...
I reallyreally like it. Well, now I do. In the beginning it was all intro and I didn't know a lot of the terms and it was boring and difficult to read. But now the pace has quickened and I feel like I'm actually reading a good story with emotions and histories and it's enjoyable. Perfect for bedtime reading.
Sam said, though, that after the part that I'm at it slows down again, which I'm not anticipating. And apparently the ending goes that Rama is a douchebag to Sita and she ends up in the earth because Rama didn't appreciate her as much as she appreciated Rama, which makes me think that the Ramayana is really unfair and sexist and I would really like to see how it continues to keep Rama as a god-figure because he's not acting as much of a man the way Sam described it. I was starting to think that Rama was only revered as he was revered (this is to page 192 where I am right now) because he was a reincarnation of god which made people gravitate towards him. I mean, for the length of the book (again I haven't finished it yet so I have to see for myself), they don't give THAT much evidence as to his awesome hero characteristics. It seems that it's always like, "Rama was loved, Rama was respected, Rama was a great man, etc. etc." but they never really give many instances outside of flat description to qualify him as such a hero. Him not trusting Sita's fidelity (when, really, she was, extremely) and banishing her for 14 years and throwing her into the fire and into the earth seem like pretty strong counterexamples here. This could be a premature bias speaking. I really have to read the rest of it thoroughly to decide for myself...
I think I'm just kind of disappointed that the Ramayana didn't end like it did in A Little Princess. I LOVE that film.
I wish I could have a notepad or piece of paper with me each time I go to class because every time there's something that challenges my perspective on things and I want to write it down to think about and debate over with myself later. I feel like going to class is like going to sleep. In a good way--let me explain...
You know that point when you're trying to go to sleep, comfortable under your covers, but then your brain doesn't stop whirring with ideas and recollections and questions that come from the day or out of nowhere? Going to class is like that. Except I can't decide which I prefer, for the brain whirring. Because even though it interrupts my sleep, at least I'm an arm (or a step down and across, since I'm on a loft bed right now) away from a notepad and I can wake up and have it there, solid. In class it's always on the surface of my brain, with the constant threat of vaporizing out through my ears or something.
That's the convenience of having stuff written down. Given that last class I was out-of-it-tired, I could this time absorb the information at my own pace. That's why this class is different. If you're absent, you're absent. You don't have it, you missed out. You can't just do a make-up on the steps or the re-telling. Not just because of the material, but the way in which it's presented and the environment and tone in which it's presented.
So was writing (or just printing, that's less contestable) a tool of convenience, efficiency? Do we lose intelligence at the expense of efficiency? I mean think about it. All those people who write computer programs and invent machinery and whatnot are freaking geniuses. And they're the only ones that are, since we take their genius, skip their genius in order to make things easy for ourselves. (That's why I ultimately decided not to pursue math and stuff....) The way that we're learning, you've got to be quick and attentive. Maybe we've lost that agility or transferred it somehow to writing over time? Over human evolution? Over a lifespan/through growth?
I thought it was interesting how Francis mentioned that we learned how to speak the language and communicate with it before we ever learned to write it. So it's like in this class we're going back to basics, going to the simple and organic, the essence of animal and baby and child. Which is cool and completely different from how we're used to. That's what I was going to mention in the entry that I didn't have time to write--that I'm used to writing and visual and this is all physical and auditory.
---
I'm constantly thinking about the contrast between individualism and the community and/or conformity in this class. It's almost counter-intuitive for me. Like when we were outside in a line in a narrow hallway and in order to figure out what we were supposed to do, you had to look at what the people immediately in front of you were doing. And I saw the people in front of me doing the foot motions and for the briefest of a second I thought, "Just because they're doing it doesn't mean I should be." And then I had to think, of course, I'm in a class, I'm supposed to be copying what others are doing because it's how I'm supposed to learn. So it's such a different mindset, going back to fundamentals with which then maybe later on you can do you own thing...
And then there were CAK CAK CAK's. There was this weird point when we were learning the different beats/sounds and Francis just came in with new sounds and it was interesting to observe whether or not people changed their BONG's to PONG TIT's or CAK's. It was an odd sensation: to follow what Francis was doing, to be the first one to follow what Francis was doing, to be the one who followed what the person who followed Francis, to follow what everyone else seemed to be doing. It's almost like a thin comparison between leadership and learning, if that can be compared at all to individualism and the community and/or conformity.
Shady.
---
I got chills when Francis was talking about being in the middle of the circle. I wonder if it's real. The feeling, and the feelings that he sensed by being in the middle.
---
I didn't write an entry about Tuesday's class, but I wrote notes for it:
I LOVE THIS CLASS!"I LOVE THIS CLASS!" : particularly that day, it was because of the beauty movement and of song and music and the words and language and shapes. Lovelovelove.
eyes never in other dances (major multitasking)
i'm bad at languages
met bobby and tom
"eyes never in other dances (major multitasking)" : It's weird because I feel like I'm all right at multitasking, but not in type of task (i.e. physical/body). In addition to eyes, during today's class, we added an awareness and liveliness of toes! in Balinese dance.
"i'm bad at languages" : but that's okay because I love them anyway.
"met bobby and tom" : Today I met Jen. I should make it a goal to meet at least one new person each day. I wonder how many classes it would take for me meet everyone (probably a while, since I feel like I know people but they don't know me or I just don't know them very well).
---
Francis told us to write about our experience with the Ramayana...
I reallyreally like it. Well, now I do. In the beginning it was all intro and I didn't know a lot of the terms and it was boring and difficult to read. But now the pace has quickened and I feel like I'm actually reading a good story with emotions and histories and it's enjoyable. Perfect for bedtime reading.
Sam said, though, that after the part that I'm at it slows down again, which I'm not anticipating. And apparently the ending goes that Rama is a douchebag to Sita and she ends up in the earth because Rama didn't appreciate her as much as she appreciated Rama, which makes me think that the Ramayana is really unfair and sexist and I would really like to see how it continues to keep Rama as a god-figure because he's not acting as much of a man the way Sam described it. I was starting to think that Rama was only revered as he was revered (this is to page 192 where I am right now) because he was a reincarnation of god which made people gravitate towards him. I mean, for the length of the book (again I haven't finished it yet so I have to see for myself), they don't give THAT much evidence as to his awesome hero characteristics. It seems that it's always like, "Rama was loved, Rama was respected, Rama was a great man, etc. etc." but they never really give many instances outside of flat description to qualify him as such a hero. Him not trusting Sita's fidelity (when, really, she was, extremely) and banishing her for 14 years and throwing her into the fire and into the earth seem like pretty strong counterexamples here. This could be a premature bias speaking. I really have to read the rest of it thoroughly to decide for myself...
I think I'm just kind of disappointed that the Ramayana didn't end like it did in A Little Princess. I LOVE that film.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Goodnight, sleepyheads
I won't lie, I was spacing out on Thursday.
I was keeping up a pretty good sleep schedule since we came back, and then of course organic chemistry lab kind of shuffled things around a bit. I never though I'd have to go back to my screwed up high school sleeping habits of waking up before 8 o'clock in the morning. Usually on the T & R's I wake up at a reasonable hour and just lounge around, relaxed in my room before class. This time, I had measured several experimental melting points and ate 5 bonds and 1 lone pair at the UC, all before class.
I wanted to be into it and listen, I really did. History and stories are what interest me, especially when translated into different mediums.
But all I could think of was how nice it would be just to lay down on the black floor for a bit and if an understanding community would be okay with that since I was in the back and it wouldn't be such a distraction an d what was that one character? an elephant? gassy? a mockery? and it would be easier if everybody knew everybody well or nobody knew nobody well, but people change after elementary school, and that chalk was really hard and faint or it was a crappy greenboard, and there isn't enough room in here and maybe if I keep moving I'll stay awake and man I can't believe I have class after this but these CAK CAK CAK's are helping me out.
My French class was cancelled--that woke me up, and then I went back home to sleep.
I was keeping up a pretty good sleep schedule since we came back, and then of course organic chemistry lab kind of shuffled things around a bit. I never though I'd have to go back to my screwed up high school sleeping habits of waking up before 8 o'clock in the morning. Usually on the T & R's I wake up at a reasonable hour and just lounge around, relaxed in my room before class. This time, I had measured several experimental melting points and ate 5 bonds and 1 lone pair at the UC, all before class.
I wanted to be into it and listen, I really did. History and stories are what interest me, especially when translated into different mediums.
But all I could think of was how nice it would be just to lay down on the black floor for a bit and if an understanding community would be okay with that since I was in the back and it wouldn't be such a distraction an d what was that one character? an elephant? gassy? a mockery? and it would be easier if everybody knew everybody well or nobody knew nobody well, but people change after elementary school, and that chalk was really hard and faint or it was a crappy greenboard, and there isn't enough room in here and maybe if I keep moving I'll stay awake and man I can't believe I have class after this but these CAK CAK CAK's are helping me out.
My French class was cancelled--that woke me up, and then I went back home to sleep.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Thighmaster
Not so much yoga... more pilates for the thighs.
It's a good thing I was wearing sweats. Jeans are like straight jackets for dancers, I would imagine. And my neck is just as inflexible. If I can do that side-to-side head/neck thing by the end of the semester, I will be satisfied. I will also be satisfied (or rather, surprised) if I don't get a charlie horse during class for the duration of the course. I was a little worried about that when Sravya was teaching how to keep the bottom of our feet away from the audience--I pointed my feet and I swear I was a smidge of an extension away from a seized up samapada. (Note: bananas.)
It felt good to break a sweat, to stretch out my fingers after sitting at a desk with hands curled around pages and pencils. I feel like when I'm in my small room or doing homework or whatever, my whole body is in a state of contraction, conservative. I like how dancing makes extensions, extends the body. It makes me so much more aware of myself and my surroundings in a way. I think it would be even more helpful to dance in front of a long mirror instead of inside a black box.
I'll admit I was a little hesitant about the prayers before dancing, but only after Sravya pointed it out. And then I thought, this is just another form of meditation of focusing the mind along with the body. Like it's telling your body to get ready to focus and to respect the art and movement. I wonder what the translation is?
It's a good thing I was wearing sweats. Jeans are like straight jackets for dancers, I would imagine. And my neck is just as inflexible. If I can do that side-to-side head/neck thing by the end of the semester, I will be satisfied. I will also be satisfied (or rather, surprised) if I don't get a charlie horse during class for the duration of the course. I was a little worried about that when Sravya was teaching how to keep the bottom of our feet away from the audience--I pointed my feet and I swear I was a smidge of an extension away from a seized up samapada. (Note: bananas.)
It felt good to break a sweat, to stretch out my fingers after sitting at a desk with hands curled around pages and pencils. I feel like when I'm in my small room or doing homework or whatever, my whole body is in a state of contraction, conservative. I like how dancing makes extensions, extends the body. It makes me so much more aware of myself and my surroundings in a way. I think it would be even more helpful to dance in front of a long mirror instead of inside a black box.
I'll admit I was a little hesitant about the prayers before dancing, but only after Sravya pointed it out. And then I thought, this is just another form of meditation of focusing the mind along with the body. Like it's telling your body to get ready to focus and to respect the art and movement. I wonder what the translation is?
Monday, January 21, 2008
Backdating
I wrote this I think... last Friday for the blog:
It was something like yoga.
Which makes sense, but it surprised me anyway. It was better than I thought it would be. It would be different if we had to do solo performance on the first day, but since all 30-something of us were making noises and acting like nippy hungry smacking birds, it wasn't so bad.
I just need to buy some sweats....
We're supposed to create our own goals and objectives for the course. I guess mine would fall under one of the last bullets that Francis mentioned: "getting out of your shell." Which I kind of already did just staying in the class because I never do dance or acting or anything like that (so I guess this will be kind of a running list thing). I think the hardest part will be fulfilling that "community" part of the class that Francis mentioned. I'm sure I'll GET something from each class, but I don't know how able I am to GIVE something to the class except my respect... and like, my embarrassment.
So in that sense the class can't totally be like yoga because yoga is more personal-spiritual. It's all internal concentration and you're not supposed to look at other people and stuff while you're doing it and that's why instructors suggest to close your eyes if you want to. (At least that was what my first yoga class was like.)
I need to read... and then go to Target.
It was something like yoga.
Which makes sense, but it surprised me anyway. It was better than I thought it would be. It would be different if we had to do solo performance on the first day, but since all 30-something of us were making noises and acting like nippy hungry smacking birds, it wasn't so bad.
I just need to buy some sweats....
We're supposed to create our own goals and objectives for the course. I guess mine would fall under one of the last bullets that Francis mentioned: "getting out of your shell." Which I kind of already did just staying in the class because I never do dance or acting or anything like that (so I guess this will be kind of a running list thing). I think the hardest part will be fulfilling that "community" part of the class that Francis mentioned. I'm sure I'll GET something from each class, but I don't know how able I am to GIVE something to the class except my respect... and like, my embarrassment.
So in that sense the class can't totally be like yoga because yoga is more personal-spiritual. It's all internal concentration and you're not supposed to look at other people and stuff while you're doing it and that's why instructors suggest to close your eyes if you want to. (At least that was what my first yoga class was like.)
I need to read... and then go to Target.
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