2 things:
1. Cardio!
2. Less inhibition.
Starting with the latter—Gaga today feels so much less inhibited than normal. I read the beginning of the paper Bret shared with me about the paradox of achieving the Batsheva aesthetic vs. finding freedom in Gaga, and it really resonated with me. I definitely recognize and am guilty of trying to replicate that in my own dancing. Not necessarily a bad thing, but definitely something to be conscious of. Like the last class, today's teacher also does not move with the recognizable Batsheva aesthetic, and I think the lack of this aesthetic makes it a lot easier for me to let go of it myself. There is a time and place where it can be useful, but it feels really freeing to let go a little and just focus on moving, not even dancing. Today, I could tune more into working my body and listening.
The adjustments with Gaga Online that Bret told me about earlier this week were really evident in class today. In the beginning, the teacher said it was okay to turn the video off so that we could just focus on what we see and feel around us. A bit different from the usual suggestion to turn the cameras on to connect with others. I also couldn’t really see others in their frames on my side bar. I started class with the intention of doing more individual research today, not paying too much attention at what Hillel was doing. Wow. Bret was right—this sure did amp up the cardio. From the beginning to end, I don’t think we stopped moving once. The class was all at a much quicker tempo than other ones I’ve taken, and it stayed like that throughout. There were a few moments when we slowed down, but only barely. My heartrate was really going. More cardio today and less muscles burning. But still, muscles burning.
Some “wow” moments:
1. Moving my arms from my shoulders, and then moving my arms from my shoulder blades. I thought I was moving them from far away, and then we started moving them from even farther!
2. Moving my shoulder blades around my softened chest. It really feels like a space I can move around, rather than before when it just felt like I was rotating or spoking.
3. Putting my hand on my lower back and softening my spine. It wasn’t difficult, but I didn’t realize I held so much of my torso in one piece until I remembered to soften. Then, it broke into so many pieces. And tightening my stomach made it impossible to bring waves to my spine. Obviously, because it’s on the other side of my back.
4. Walking on sand and feeling my foot move in many different parts.
5. Letting outside forces move me vs. moving my own body to paint with the textures I wanted. After just giving in to the outside forces, it’s hard to move my own body again! My brain kind of turns off, and I don’t need to think as hard when I let other forces move me.
6. You can make your flesh elastic, but you can’t flex your bones. Learning how to move with that information.
7. The difference between feeling thick flesh around my bones and letting my bones drop while keeping my skin in place was stark. A much more external feeling.
It was really amusing how much the class today pushed the cardio aspect compared to other Gaga classes I've taken. At one point, we started doing full on squats and high knees! It was almost starting to look like Jenna’s sculpt classes.
Something to work on next time: using the range of my legs more, making them work.