The international adventures of a singing, dancing zombie queen.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Cheer Camp, Day 1

Wow!!!

Ok, so I am a sucker, and I am totally participating in Cheer Camp. The dances just look SO FUN; I can't help myself!!! I'm going to run out of clean work-out clothes. :p

I am totally grateful that I have been teaching 20 hrs/wk (and hence, working out 4-6hrs a day) for the past four weeks, because OMG: dance camp is HARD. Today I didn't do the warm up, nor Routine A, nor the technique class. However, I did do Routine B and C; both AWESOME girly jazz/hip hop/street jazz; the stuff I love and used to take from Alison but these were taught by Lizzy Richardson (she reminds me very much of Alison in a wonderful way). I also took FAST Hip Hop with Brandy (can't find video for ya... I'll keep looking), and learned the Camp Dance. So that was my four hours of BUSTIN' for today.
Tomorrow, more of the same, but also the warm up (at 8:30 ... I'd better get to sleep!) and some administrator classes.... I'd kinda like to take the technique classes, too: triple pirouettes into hitch kicks = NOM!!!


I watch my tough girls getting into the Spirit, and I wonder what would I have been like, if I had done this when I was young? (Well, I'd be a much better dancer, wah.) I'm pleased that I can at least take class with these college stars; but I'm getting my ass handed to me, frequently. This choroegraphy is amazing, and they teach SO FAST!! There are Britney Spears' choroegraphers and ... well; I digress too much for 1am.

I am really engaged by how this whole process is about team-building.
It reminds me of the really great weekend jesus camp I went to, which was all about feeling good and singing alternative-rock-styled songs about Jesus for hours on end. They'd use an overhead projector for the lyrics, so everyone could sing along. The first night was what I remember most: over two hours of singing (translates to chanting, if you have yogic experience) in a large group, that got everyone high on physical experience, physical expression, positivity and a unity of openness and security in single-mindedness.

I totally got teary-eyed a few times today; watching amazing performers teach and go all-out; watching groups, watching teams cheer for their team-mates and for the staff here -- just because that's the culture. (YAY! You got up and danced the twist with twenty other people, just to represent our team!!! Let's scream your name and cheer you on!!) The culture insists that you support each other, and you help one another to learn and grow. No BS. You're a team. And for those of us who have not had that kind of community in our upbringing, it's amazing.

I'm really glad to be experiencing it. I am enjoying my perspective, as the cheer-virgin that I am, and watching how my cheerleading team is observing 500 people's camaraderie and having (for the first time, for some?) a deep desire for that unity. I think that many of us have not ever experienced this kind of cultural/familial/communal acceptance and purpose, where one can feel safe enough to admit and commit to really throwing our hearts out there and being a *team*.

So many of us only feel free to take that risk of vulnerability when we're infatuated, but these young adults are leaders, creating their own family. It's really touching.
YAY CHEER CAMP!

Thursday, July 08, 2010

You know you're working too hard when....

I woke up hungry. Not just peckish, like normal, but STARVING. Mind you; I ate dinner last night at 11pm-midnight; and it was loads of salad with dressing and avocado and cashews and penne with marinara and near a quarter pound of hamburger, and Guittard Chocolate chips and two glasses of red wine. And I woke up at 9am STARVING. As I rushed off to work, I stopped at Peet's and got a large latte with two raw sugars (NOM), and a lemon-currant mini scone, and scarfed that down on my way in to teach yoga.
I started everyone sitting on the floor, and breathed deeply, and then had us all lean forward, letting our backs stretch out, and then to each side... and the room was SPINNING, like a sloshy boat. I drank more latte and slowed myself up to speed and was okay after I covered up that the room was tilting around me for five minutes.

I came home after the following hour of teaching Pilates & ate all the meaty pasta leftovers, covered in a big pile of mozzarella. I'm so glad the cheerleaders canceled on me, so that I can take a nap instead of practicing leaps and turns with them for an hour.

I leave at 6:30 to teach at least 2 hours of dance.....
(And this after Monday was a holiday.)

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

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Dance & Fitness Faculty member at San Francisco Peninsula Community Colleges, Director, Choreographer & Featured Dancer, Founder of the Living Dead Girlz, and Owner of the Steele Dance Company, which provides entertainment for festivals, corporate events, conventions and private events. Teaching private dance lessons and creating choreography since 1997, Steele graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a Double Major in Dance and Comparative Literature and completed her Master of Fine Arts in Dance and Choreography at Mills College. She has toured all the major cities in Germany and performed at the Cannes Film Festival as the featured dancer in TRIP -- Remix Your Experience, a multimedia exhibition of film, live music and art. Steele has also performed as a featured dancer for RJ Reynolds (CAMEL) promotional events. Steele currently manages the go-go dancers of "Poor Impulse Control," who perform frequently in San Francisco's industrial, alternative, and rock venues.

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