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firefly124Went for my biweekly fibro massage this afternoon. Neck and legs were like cement. I have got to make time to do at least a little yoga each day before I end up flaring. Lyrica and massage can only do so much if I don't keep the damned muscles moving.
I've been getting antsy about dancing lately, so I'd hoped to ask while I was there if she thought 6 weeks would be enough time to catch up on the old routines & maybe learn one or two of the new so's to participate at Relay. (Six weeks would be the time from the final exam until Relay.)
Good news: the troupe is performing, and I'm welcome to participate. Bad news: I'm mostly wanted for the single song I LOATHE.
Shortly after 9/11/01, our troupe leader choreographed the song "God Bless the USA." Any time we performed it, she either announced herself or had the MC/DJ/whatever announce that our performance of Middle Eastern dance to this music is intended to signify a desire that East and West may soon "dance together in peace."
I get that that's what she's going for. I really do. But I've never been hugely comfortable with it, and the more distance I get (mostly thanks to school), the less I'm willing to go along.
Among other things, I just don't think it works. On some level, I think she realizes it doesn't work. Because, well, it's kind of like lengthy author notes explaining the setup of your fic: if you need to explain what's supposed to be going on, then you've done a poor job showing it.
I don't have a problem with doing bellydance to non-ME music. Do it all the time. I've been known to choreograph to heavy metal, for Gods' sakes, and am, in fact, working on one such choreo (mostly in my head, alas) now. The arts mix and match all the time, and so long as you're clear that you're not performing Traditional Middle Eastern Dance (tm), such mixing and matching doesn't bug me.
Doing it with this song does.
Hell, the song itself bugs me. This line about "the men who died who gave that right to me" gets my hackles up particularly. Because, um, no. Do our military men (and women!) defend our rights? Absolutely. Give them? Er, those rights are supposed to be inherent and inalienable, whether you take the "endowed by their Creator" bit literally or not. And that sort of reflects the overall tone of the song. I think I'd actually find it less jarring to choreograph the National Anthem than that bloody song, though that would have issues galore as well.
A more effective song choice might have been "Let There Be Peace on Earth" or something along those lines. A song that is actually advocating peace rather than the sort of flag-waving cheerleading of "God Bless the USA."
Does it get great crowd response? Yes, it does. How are people responding to it? I'm not too sure. Some, hopefully, are taking away the message that was intended. But that message is very muddled, I think, and probably far more are taking away a message that is all about us Americans (tm) being better and ... *flails* ... stuff that I can't even quite find the words for. And I don't think I can be comfortable being part of the delivery system for that message, no matter how much I'm missing dancing.
So, I'm guessing I won't be participating. Before nursing school, I was already thinking I needed to move on to another instructor. Probably Desmeen. So if I decide to get back to dancing this summer, that's probably what I should do. *sigh* Of course, it would be good if I could find the spine to have this conversation with my current/past/whatever instructor and point out my concerns and discomfort.
I've been getting antsy about dancing lately, so I'd hoped to ask while I was there if she thought 6 weeks would be enough time to catch up on the old routines & maybe learn one or two of the new so's to participate at Relay. (Six weeks would be the time from the final exam until Relay.)
Good news: the troupe is performing, and I'm welcome to participate. Bad news: I'm mostly wanted for the single song I LOATHE.
Shortly after 9/11/01, our troupe leader choreographed the song "God Bless the USA." Any time we performed it, she either announced herself or had the MC/DJ/whatever announce that our performance of Middle Eastern dance to this music is intended to signify a desire that East and West may soon "dance together in peace."
I get that that's what she's going for. I really do. But I've never been hugely comfortable with it, and the more distance I get (mostly thanks to school), the less I'm willing to go along.
Among other things, I just don't think it works. On some level, I think she realizes it doesn't work. Because, well, it's kind of like lengthy author notes explaining the setup of your fic: if you need to explain what's supposed to be going on, then you've done a poor job showing it.
I don't have a problem with doing bellydance to non-ME music. Do it all the time. I've been known to choreograph to heavy metal, for Gods' sakes, and am, in fact, working on one such choreo (mostly in my head, alas) now. The arts mix and match all the time, and so long as you're clear that you're not performing Traditional Middle Eastern Dance (tm), such mixing and matching doesn't bug me.
Doing it with this song does.
Hell, the song itself bugs me. This line about "the men who died who gave that right to me" gets my hackles up particularly. Because, um, no. Do our military men (and women!) defend our rights? Absolutely. Give them? Er, those rights are supposed to be inherent and inalienable, whether you take the "endowed by their Creator" bit literally or not. And that sort of reflects the overall tone of the song. I think I'd actually find it less jarring to choreograph the National Anthem than that bloody song, though that would have issues galore as well.
A more effective song choice might have been "Let There Be Peace on Earth" or something along those lines. A song that is actually advocating peace rather than the sort of flag-waving cheerleading of "God Bless the USA."
Does it get great crowd response? Yes, it does. How are people responding to it? I'm not too sure. Some, hopefully, are taking away the message that was intended. But that message is very muddled, I think, and probably far more are taking away a message that is all about us Americans (tm) being better and ... *flails* ... stuff that I can't even quite find the words for. And I don't think I can be comfortable being part of the delivery system for that message, no matter how much I'm missing dancing.
So, I'm guessing I won't be participating. Before nursing school, I was already thinking I needed to move on to another instructor. Probably Desmeen. So if I decide to get back to dancing this summer, that's probably what I should do. *sigh* Of course, it would be good if I could find the spine to have this conversation with my current/past/whatever instructor and point out my concerns and discomfort.
