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technique

Social dancing is an activity it's possible to enjoy at any level - absolute beginner to professional, dancers love to dance.  Most dancers take at least some lessons; it's very difficult, if not impossible, to become competent in all the varieties of ballroom dancing without training.  But I've observed, over the years, that there is a sub-group of dancers who don't quite respect the notion of technique.

This is kind of a touchy subject.   Dancers who haven't invested in training, but consider themselves competent, often resist learning proper technique, as if it might take something away from their enjoyment of dancing.  I'd like to suggest that understanding technique makes it possible to enjoy dancing even more - because technique creates grace.

Some ladies do whatever they like in terms of styling, regardless of whether they are impinging on others' dance space or whether they are holding a correct dance position.  Some gentlemen push their partners through random steps that may have no relationship to the music or to the style of dance that the music calls for.  Some dancers take no notice of the traffic on the dance floor, banging into other dancers or causing other couples to stop on a dime in order to avoid collisions.

Floorcraft is an enormous challenge without technique.  The very simplest thing, a tap on the shoulder - a signal the lady gives the gentleman to avoid a collision - is hardly a technique at all, but it requires the lady to dance in a correct closed position so that she can see what's happening behind her partner.  If the lady habitually dances with her head turned toward her partner, she is failing in some of her responsibility as a follower.  Likewise, if the leader habitually dances looking at his partner, his progress around the floor in a waltz/foxtrot/tango/quickstep/viennese waltz will be marked by the dance equivalent of brakelights as others try to avoid him.

Ballroom dancing requires a vocabulary of figures.  It is possible to dance socially without learning the figures; possible, but not likely to be successful.  The world of social ballroom dancing is one in which both leaders and followers are expected to dance with more than one partner.  It is not that couples are required to dance with others; it's just an expectation.  And so, the dancer is expected to be able to lead and/or follow the ballroom figures.  Dancers who have no idea what the figures are may find it very difficult to find partners, because you really can't just get out on the dance floor and do whatever.  A rumba is a rumba, and a foxtrot is a foxtrot, and they are different.

This is at the front of my mind as I'm going into the second of three group classes on Viennese Waltz.  Many of the students have clearly never had a structured class in Viennese Waltz before.  It's a demanding and difficult style, in which the technique is essential to successfully execute the continuous turns that typify the style.  Because of this, I am really pushing the technique, to the point that some of these dancers may wonder if they will ever get to actually do the dance!

Viennese Waltz is literally twice as fast as smooth or standard waltz.  Consequently, figures from smooth or standard waltz really won't work; the dancer has to do Viennese waltz figures.  Now, the Viennese figures may not be so very different in their geometries, but the foot positions, weight changes, rise and fall, alignments, and amounts of turn are not the same. 

The social dancer who wants to be truly competent must not disregard technique.  If an opportunity arises to focus on technique, rather than just getting a new combination of figures, adopt a willingness of mind and dig in.  There is no downside to spending ten, twenty, or thirty minutes of a class on technique.  Studying technique never made a dancer less enjoyable as a partner.  Failing to study technique, however, can ensure a sadly limited dance experience.

stepping it down

In the fitness world, you hear a lot about "stepping it up."  More reps, more weight, more minutes, more intervals.  But often, gains can be made by stepping it down.

Everybody doing a regular fitness routine will hit a plateau sooner or later if they don't change their approach.  The body, being almost infinitely adaptable, and being very intent on making things easy for itself, becomes very efficient once it becomes used to a certain activity level. 

Traditional aerobic exercise is particularly subject to plateau, at least when it comes to body adaptation/efficiency.  When a client is first undertaking an aerobic/cardio program, there's a more or less steep curve as the body gains strength and endurance.  Then, the gains level off and the client ceases to see major improvements.

Typically, a trainer would advise this client to choose a completely new cardio approach and start from the beginning.  If they've been doing treadmill or elliptical, change to bicycling.  If they've been biking, start swimming.  If they've been swimming, start kickboxing.  Each approach requires the body to recalibrate and again there will be an upward angle of effort as the body adapts.

There's another way that stepping it down enters into health and fitness, and that's when it comes to calories.  Controlling calories is an issue for pretty much everybody; Michael Phelps has to make sure he gets enough, and the rest of us have to make sure we don't get too many.

Diets lose out over lifestyle change, when it comes to long-term results. So if there is a weight-loss issue to contend with, thinking in terms of small changes that can accumulate results over time is not a bad way to go.

Example 1: given a starting point of a Yoplait Whip and a half a bagel for breakfast (at least it's breakfast, but it's mostly sugar) start stepping it down by switching to fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt.  Step that down to vanilla yogurt with real fruit (get frozen, keep it in the fridge).  Step that down to plain yogurt, and then to plain nonfat yogurt.  Then take a look at that bagel.  Could it be a slice of raisin bread with peanut butter or cream cheese?  Could that be stepped down to a slice of whole-wheat toast?  Look for ways to add fiber, fruits, vegetables, and protein, while keeping the total volume of food per meal approximately the same. 

Example 2: midmorning vanilla whole-milk latte.  Start stepping it down by switching to a regular latte with raw sugar.  Gradually reduce the sugar until you are drinking it unsweetened.  Then start stepping down the fat content in the milk. 

Example 3: pizza.  Now, I love pizza as much as the next girl.  Let's say you're ordering from Domino's - they make it really easy to add extra sauce (loaded with nutrition and negligible added calories).  Add multiple veggies with just one meat (all of the meats are heavily processed, full of fat and nitrates - not the best way to get your protein). If you are a pan-pizza lover, step it down to hand-tossed or thin.

We have an infinity of choices in how to move and how to eat.  This means that no single choice has to represent an enormous, challenging, frightening change.  Let the small changes build up until eventually, you are doing what you need to do to be fit and healthy.

clutter and stress

Some of the other blogs I read have had good entries recently on decluttering.  I've touched on that previously myself, mostly with reference to the ongoing book divestiture.  But I thought I'd give it a few words with a specific look at the stress effects of clutter.

Clutter means lost time.  You can't find what you need to get out the door on time, or you have to move things around in order to get a space clear for a task.  You spend as much time clearing a space to work as you do on the actual task.

Clutter means lost money.  You can't see what you have, so you buy something you think you need, only to find later on that you already had one (or more) of that item.  (Ever bought the same book twice?  I have ... until I made an inventory.)  Or you have so much stuff crammed into your closets and cabinets that the time it would take to find what you want is worth more than the cost of just buying a new version.

Clutter means lost concentration.  You have this collection of stuff, maybe assembled for a specific purpose, but at some point the volume of stuff makes the targeted goal seem so far away - or the work involved to achieve it so repellently tedious - that you abandon the purpose.  Or you have this collection of stuff and you can't keep straight anymore where you wanted to go with it.  Or you collected the stuff at some point in the past for a purpose that's no longer of interest to you, so the stuff is just sitting there, distracting you from purposes that *are* now of interest.

The biggest obstacle to decluttering - after sentiment (attaching emotional value to objects) - seems to be the sunk-cost fallacy, which briefly is the sense that having spent money for something, one is somehow obligated to keep it (gym membership, anyone?).  The reality is that once you have spent money, the money is gone.  Whether you use the purchased item 100 times or once - or never - is irrelevant.  The item doesn't somehow acquire greater value over time, and most don't even retain their value.  All you have to do to absorb this lesson is attend a few garage sales.

Obviously, there are exceptions.  But your great-grandmother's platinum and diamond wedding band is only worth the weight of the metal and the stone, to anyone but you.

There is always a moment of anxiety associated with getting rid of stuff.  But the difference between a clean, uncluttered space and a chaotic, over-stuffed space is the difference between a peaceful life and constant stress.

a nutritional confession

Hello, my name is Alexandra, and I eat like a twelve-year-old.

It's true. With all the years of reading on fitness and nutrition, with an above-average awareness of the health effects of good eating habits, with a really pretty extensive education, I still eat junk food.

What saves me is that I don't eat junk every day. I try to stick to a predictable, easily-planned meal schedule that I know keeps me on track, with total calories and the nutrition that keeps me healthy, vigorous, and a size 8. That foundation gives me the freedom to eat junk once in a while without wrecking my health or fitness.

Thursday's meals, for example: breakfast was plain nonfat yogurt with lowfat granola and cinnamon. Two cups of coffee with a little whole cream, diluted with hot water. Lunch was a roast turkey (NOT processed lunchmeat) and cheddar sandwich, an apple ... and a Pop-Tart. Then there was a piece of birthday cake, with a bit of ice cream. (See? I don't hide it.) Dinner: a few ounces of high-grade tuna; four little slices of sourdough "cocktail" bread, with goat cheese; maybe an ounce and a half of hummus, on celery sticks; and a couple of glasses of rose cava.

There was more than enough sugar in the day's menu, but with the fiber, protein, and healthy fat, plus my activity level, it's not so bad that it will derail me. It's important to be honest with yourself about what you're eating, but also to put it into context. There's not birthday cake at the office every day. It's usually only one glass of wine with dinner. Take those things away, and it's actually pretty healthy.

And that makes possible the days I have two slices of pizza for lunch. Rock on.

book reduction, ongoing

It's a bit lowering to take a collection of books to a reseller, only to find that they don't really want most of them.  In fact, my initial reaction was a bit huffy; why *wouldn't* they want my lovely books?

But close on the heels of that thought ... if *I* don't want them anymore, why should anyone else??

In the end, I am quite pleased with the dollars I received for approximately 12% of the books I had to divest.  The rest will be picked over and sorted for delivery to the local library's "friends" store or to Goodwill (which only takes fiction, these days).  A few may remain, lurking in a corner, in case I come across a reseller interested in that particular genre.

Books can't be viewed as investments.  Once a book is bought, the price paid becomes irrelevant.  I say this despite the high prices I have paid for a few very "collectible" items, and despite the thousands of dollars I have spent to date on my collection.  Those collectibles were important to me for reasons other than price, and I don't plan to ever sell them; and the collection as a whole gives me pleasure on a daily basis, which is a benefit without price.

Books, no matter how much I love them, are ultimately for education and entertainment.  Once they have ceased to educate or entertain me, I have to consider that they have served their purpose and earned their keep.  They are not required to provide me with payback in any other form.

I am constitutionally opposed to throwing books away in the trash, with a few notable exceptions.  Fortunately, books are almost infinitely recyclable - I have a few dating back to the early 1900s which are still perfectly readable, having passed through countless hands, and so the much younger books I plan to release to the world should remain of use - to someone - for plenty of years to come.

And I would just like to give a shout-out to Iliad Books in North Hollywood, which gave me a really fun flashback to my early bookhounding days.  They have just done a major expansion and the space is going to be great.  Check it out!

things that make me feel rich

Part of my yoga practice is mindful gratitude.  This means being conscious of the blessings of life and expressing appreciation for them.

There are a lot of things about my life that qualify as blessings, and here are just a few.

Mr. P, of course; our apartment, decorated and finished to our taste; my patio garden, drive-through for local hummingbirds and a source of green peace; our cats, lovey little fur balls; my car, which is homely but functional and gives me the freedom to fully experience Los Angeles; the local supermarkets, which are full of tempting deliciousness of every variety; my current employment; our climate; Bevmo; our good friends, who not only tolerate my entertainments but seem to enjoy them; my good health; my growing community of dancers; my growing confidence in my teaching skills and dance ability ... .

Like many others, I feel the stresses of our social and economic conflicts.  But strategies for dealing with stress are an essential part of good health and fitness.  It helps to consciously remind one's self of the things that go right, and the riches that we have, even in the midst of misfortune and deprivation. 

We can't always have everything we want.  It's important to appreciate what we have.