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 b
ecause 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.
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.
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