Weekend Magnifico

Yet another wonderful weekend. Unlike most weekends, I did not run around trying to do everything. On Saturday, I attended my classes at Pineapple. Last weekend, I watched a jazz class by a woman named Maria and I absolutely loved her style. Her movements were very powerful and passionate and her choice of music was interesting and one that I had never listed to nor danced to so I was looking forward to attending her class this weekend. Attending new classes are exciting but like a child who is attending the first day of school it's also a bit nerve racking because you never know if you are going to "get it" or flow with the rest of the class. Maria's class was challenging and I had a great time. I look forward to taking more classes with her. I also took my regular technique class but decided to skip Ballet with Keith because I was extremely tired. After dance class, I came home and I CHILLED. There were a number of things that I wanted to do on Saturday afternoon but I decided that I would give my mind and body a break. I did end up going into the office for a few hours to catch up on stuff but it felt good to also relax and not be on a schedule.

On Sunday, I attended my usual Sunday jazz dance class with one of my favorite teachers Fluer and then later met up with my friend/colleague Ruth for a spa treatment. My last spa treatment was in Aruba in September 2006. I have been so exhausted recently that a few hours at the spa was exactly what I needed. So at 4pm we met at Illuminata in Mayfair. This was my first trip to Mayfair and like most neighborhoods in London, this one was simply amazing. The architecture of the buildings were beautiful and there were a number of antique furniture stores.I love antiques furniture so I found great pleasure in window shopping and marveling at the furniture which I hope to be able to afford sometime in the near future.

Ruth and I had a great time at the spa. We started off in the steam room for 20 minutes which was wonderful. I have not spent much time in steam rooms and especially not before a massage but the masseuse explained that steaming prepares the entire body for the massage. After hanging out in the stream room, I had an aromatherapy massage. It was exactly what I needed. I have not been that relaxed for months.

After our massage, with bright smiles on our face we had dinner at an English pub. We ordered a traditional English dish-- fish and chips and spent the time talking, laughing, sharing and relaxing.

Ah... what a wonderful weekend. God truly is good!

Double D Takes On London

After seeing Ballet Rakatan (see post below), I rushed home to my flat to meet my friend/soror/god sister/sssssiiiiittter (the latter reference is a private joke) Modupe Akinola fondly known to friends and family as "Dupes."

Left: Hanging out in Covent Gardens after my dance classes.

Dupes and I have known one another since we were in college. She attended Harvard University in Cambridge and I attended Wesleyan in Middletown. My memory does not recall the exact moment that we met. It's kind of weird because if you are black and high school in Manhattan and later attended college in the Northeast (CT, Boston, New Hampshire, etc), a member a fraternity and sorority or a member of ABC or Prep for Prep, then you "know of" or are "known by" a very small group of people. So we knew "of one another" for a few years. Our friendship began with a chance meeting at a club in Boston, we later joined the same church (shout out to the Union Baptist Church), gave our life to Christ (along with our other Peeps Crew made up of JAM, Frantz, Marene, Ellyn and Shani) and became fast friends and sisssttters.

Prior to her arrival in London, I had not seen Dupes since our reunion with the Peeps in Atlanta. So I was looking forward to catching up to her and silently praying that we did not work each others nerves.

She arrived on Saturday evening and we spent the night talking and catching up. On Sunday, I attended my dance classes while Modupe walked around Covent Gardens. We met up later, did some shopping and went to church at Ruach Ministries. I was really excited about sharing my church experience with her but unfortunately, there was a guest pastor and she did not have the chance to experience the phenomenal teaching of Pastor John Francis.

Throughout the week, work was pretty hectic so Dupes spent most of day sleeping, working and sightseeing. However, we did have the chance to have dinner at Busaba, one of my favorite Thai restaurants. We also attended an arts opening that my aunt invited us to which was pretty cool. At the end of the week, we went to my aunt's private club for a champagne mixing class. We didn't stay there too long because Dupes could not take the smoke and the people got on her nerves but I love that private club which is located in a beautiful brownstone and I was happy to have the opportunity to hang out with my aunt for a bit because I had not seen her for a few week. Dupes left on Saturday to spend the rest of the weekend with her family before returning to Boston.

All in all, we had a great week together. We hung out, prayed in the mornings, shared meals, danced to gospel music until the wee hours of the morning and had a good time. I count it a blessing that God has allowed so many of friends to visit me during my stay in London. It's yet another reminder that He is thinking about me and that's because He loved me!

Saturday, June 2 in Review

Soooooooo. . . as usual, I started the weekend utterly exhausted. I took a break on Friday evening and had drinks with two of my favorite colleagues-- Ruth and Yvette who have become good friends of mine. The last several weeks have been rough for the three of us so we decided to go out and chill a bit. We had a wonderful time talking, laughing and sharing. After drinks, I unfortunately had to come back to work and I ended up leaving around midnight. Drinks with the girls were a wonderful way to begin the weekend.

As much as I wanted to go to my usual dance classes bright and early on Saturday morning, I simply could not get out of bed so I slept in for a bit and took a 1pm ballet class with my favorite ballet teacher Keith. I love ballet because it totally relaxes me. It hurts like hell but it relaxes me and silences my mind which is normally running in several directions. Keith was a bit hard on me and I really was not in the mood but I know that it is a necessary evil. Anyway, since I was totally off of my dance schedule, I decided to try a different dance class-- jazz with Janet Doyle. I have taken so many forms of jazz classes out here that it's not even funny. Each teacher and class has a very different style yet the foundation was the same. Janet was very different than every teacher that I have experienced. She was incredibly positive and encouraging. Her corrections were gentle and she made you feel good about yourself. She had a very strong British accent and truthfully, I had NO clue what she was saying most of the time but thank God for the gift of sight because I was okay as long as I watched her movements very closely. Even though I was off my normal dance schedule, the classes that took on Saturday were wonderful.

Photo: Ballet Rakatan, a cuban dance company

No matter how many hours I work a week, I force myself to remember that I am in London and I cannot sleep through the weekend. So after dance class, I went to see "Ballet Rakatan" a Cuban dance company that had come to town. I had a little war going on within myself because I was incredibly exhausted but I was determined to fight through the exhaustion so that I could see this dance company. It was worth the sacrifice because Ballet Rakatan was AMAZING. They were EXTRAORDINARY. They were EXHILARATING. The Latin dances, the clear influence of African dance and the company's technical skills were simply incredible. The costumes were fascinating. Red. Yellow. Orange. Blue. Ruffles. Long skirts. Layers. Patterns. Pin strips. Some of the costumes were too tight and others were too short. The costumes combined with the dances electrified the experience. I have always admired salsa and flamenco from afar and dipped in and out a few classes but I left with the desire to get those two disciplines under my belt. If you have the chance to see Ballet Rakatan you should definitely seize the opportunity to see them.