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Posts Tagged ‘training’

  1. Preparing for Solo Charleston at ESDC

    June 15, 2011 by Jo

    What are you watching? What’s inspiring you?


    Adam, you are as fabulous as they come! Thank you for reminding me that pink is a great color on guys AND the skating is freaking awesome! Oh yeah, and….uh….Frida rocks my socks off. Need I say more?


    Janna, you are amazing – you and your energy.


    They have been awesome for such a long time.


    Oh. My. Goodness. What fabulous lines these boy have!! Gentlemen, if you have long limbs, these are the people to watch dance. Woo-wee!


    Hurley is a ball of sunshine, as always! I mean really, have you ever seen a more mega-watt smile on anyone other than a super model in a print ad? John, I have one word for you: ridiculous.


    Chance!!


    What a dance off! I saw it live and the place was going bonkers.

    GAAAHHH, I get an adrenaline rush just thinking about the competition coming up this weekend! Are you ready? I’m not :D

     

    Category Competition, Musings | Tags: ,,,,,, | 2 Comments

  2. How Long Has it Been? Pt. 2

    February 21, 2010 by Jo

    So how long had it been? I took those pictures on Superbowl Sunday and it had been 4 weeks and 1 day since I washed it last. Yup, you read that right, just a little over a month!

    “So Jo. Why would you share something like this with us?” you might be asking.

    Two reasons. The first, because I read an article on Beauty Brains called Can you train your hair to be less oily? and secondly, because enough people have asked me about my hair that I feel like I should come clean about my secret. :-)

    So here is the story behind it.

    During the summer of 2006, I dyed my hair a reddish-brown and every time I washed it, I literally saw my money going down the drain. I decided that if I didn’t wash my hair, I wouldn’t lose my color (brilliant, right?). So I stopped washing it. On top of it not only being a hot summer, I was taking dance classes, meaning I was sweating more than the average bum. Needless to say I was a greasy mess, but I put up with it so I could save my hair color. After slowly pushing the time in between washes, I am now able to go a month without washing my hair.

    I know that sounds gross, but here’s the thing. My hair looks less greasy than yours does after 4 days. I don’t mean that to come off as being mean, it’s just that you can’t tell that it had been a month when you look at me. Bonus: my hair is softer than it’s ever been.Un-bonus: that’s actually a problem (what girl complains about that?) when it comes to styling my hair. I don’t typically use product, so I rely on my natural pomade to keep my coiffure up and my victory rolls tight.

    So yeah, you can “train” your hair to be less greasy. I did and you can too. Think about it.

    Tips if you want them:

    • It takes time to train your hair. If you normally wash your hair every 3 days, push it to 4. Then push it to 5. Then push it to 6. Then push it to 7. Keep pushing!
      Accept the fact that your hair will be greasy. But hey, guess what? It’s just hair. You can still function as a member of society if you haven’t washed your hair.
      Figure out how to wear your hair so it’s less gnarly. Start wearing it up. Find a big headband. Use a scarf. Get inventive.
      Remember, people aren’t really looking at you that closely. You might have some shine, but people won’t think less of you as a person, and if they do, clip ‘em! Don’t worry about them, focus on the goal.
      It takes a while, but hang in there, it gets better.

    Cheers!

    Category Musings, Q&A | Tags: ,,, | 4 Comments

  3. Training Week

    May 18, 2009 by Jo

    It slowly feels like the Killer Dillers might really come together. Nathan Bugh from NY came out to train with the boys and it was really amazing to have him around.

    Since the end of January 2009, videos of cane work and tap steps have been emailed across continents to make sure everyone was learning “Fascinating Rhythm.” At the time Kevin and I were in Australia and we didn’t really have a rehearsal studio we had access to, so Kevin would go outside and practice at the bus stations when necessary. All three of them put their heart & soul and hands & feet into getting this number together and this weekend was the first weekend they’d finally all be together.

    Kevin and Juan had an advantage over Nathan in that they’ve spent the last year or so training together. They know each others’ timing, lines, and rhythm, whereas Nathan had his own unique rhythm and way that he did what he did. However, after a few days working together the boys synced up rather nicely. Friday night is the bi-monthly lindy hop dance in Pittsburgh and they revealed their number for the first time for our local crowd. Sharon and I performed “Puttin’ on the Ritz” in our new red costumes, wig, fascinator, and gloves and found out rather quickly that gloves make cartwheels a bit harder to manage :-). The boys weren’t terribly pleased with their run through, however it was exactly what they needed in order to continue their motivation to push.

    Luckily they got another opportunity to perform before we would head to The Big Apple. On Sunday night they performed at Lisa’s birthday bash and did an excellent job. Their hard work was visible and the changes they made to their routine really helped their flow.

    Needless to say, they trained their asses off and are as ready as they’ve ever been. It sounds like they’ll perform on Wednesday night at Dance Manhattan, so head on out to see them if you’re in NY.

    Category Dancers, Musings | Tags: ,,,,,,, | No Comments

  4. Preparing for ILHC

    August 19, 2008 by admin

    OMG OMG OMG! There is sooooooooooooo much to do!!!!

    Kev and I are trying to finish our Classic Routine and just started on our Showcase Routine. This is super stressful because we need to finish both, and polish them by this weekend, and I don’t know if we can get all the work done that we’d like to have done.

    We’ve been doing 2 hours on and 2 hours off at our dance studio. In the 2 hours off, Juan and Sharon are polishing their Classic and finishing their Showcase. OMG, there is so much going on in the house too. So so so…. in our “down time” we are still coming up with ideas so when we have the space, we can actually dance it.

    There is not enough time in the day to choreograph 2 routines, watch the Olympics, prepare material for classes, teach group classes, and privates. And spend time with your significant other. Oh my word.

    Well, that’s the rant for the day. More after ILHC. I am sure we are going to pull something together.

    Cheers.

    Category Competition, Dancers, Musings | Tags: ,,,,,,, | No Comments

  5. Day One – Sweden

    April 25, 2008 by admin

    Today was a very fulfilling day.

    Kev and I got to sleep in until 11am (and we went to bed early last night) and it was soooooooooo nice. We have cute little beds that are nice and warm and rather conducive to a good night sleep, might I add.
    I got up and showered and Kev got to his emails. After a bit, we realized that we were hungry, so we took ourselves to the restaurant we ate at last night and ordered the lunch special. Kev had a pizza (again) and then I ordered a Greek Salad, which I thought had meat on it. I was unpleasantly surprised to find that it was just like the salad they had at the “salad bar” thing, but with olives, feta cheese, and lots of onions. Now if you know me, you know that I don’t like uncooked onions at all. They taste bad and they make me smelly.

    I digress.

    Lunch was nice, but we still hankered for more. We headed down the street a little ways more and bought some goodies at the local grocery store before we had hustled back home to prepare for training.

    Jane drove us to the studio and her card didn’t work so we couldn’t get in. Kev and I danced around for about 45 minutes before someone showed up and let us in. We realized how out of shape we were after our 20 minutes cardio session, but we prevailed. And to top it off, we did a fast Charleston song to push ourselves even though we were tired. I am so glad we did that, but MAN and I out of shape.
    And then we worked on choreography. We have some good stuff, but we need to start stringing our ideas together.

    Jane came and grabbed us around 5:15pm so that we had some time at home before the dance. I read through emails while Kevin napped and then we showered quick-quick and got ready for dinner and dancing.

    The dinner was serve-yourself style and was nice and basic. Ooh, and there was a rhubarb cobbler for dessert. It was a tad tart, but still nice. Kevo and I danced a bunch, took some pictures and recorded some video of the evening, saw a performance, attended the teacher’s meeting, and headed home. We are getting up a little before 8am tomorrow, and we had classes to plan, so we figured it was best to head home early. And now it is almost 1am!

    I am going to shower and then head to bed.

    Goodnight!

    Category Events | Tags: ,,,, | No Comments