Boogie Down

As promised from my last post about my hip-hop class, I've been able to snag a video (low quality) of our practice. This is only half of the routine, and I should be able to post a better quality full-length video soon. It's really easy to pick out my buddy, Victor. He's the tall, bald, chinese guy in the video. The other guy is our teacher. And, I'm the one with the black top and jeans. For the first part, I'm on the right side of the little girl, and in the second half you can see me charging towards the camera.

So are we finally tearing up the dance floor? You tell me. In my opinion, we're loads better than when we first started a few months ago. And I'm very proud of this class, because we worked hard. In fact, our first performance is coming up this Saturday. So, we've been having practices at least three times a week for the last three weeks. It definitely reminds me of my choir days, when singing with that group felt more like a profession than an after school hobby. Now, with that much time dedicated to dance, where does that leave me in my training?

I have to say that my body has never felt so tired from me pushing it. With the onset of our practices, I had to eliminate most of my long runs. And in it's place, I've split my run into two short runs; one during lunch and a quick one after work. Thus, naturally leading to triple workouts on some days. It almost feels like a test on how bad I want to be able to finish the half-marathon. Well, considering that this particular race has a time limit, I want to make it to the finish line bad. I do not want to face the humiliation of crossing the finish line after the officials have opened the roads OR be picked up by a bus that clears out the slow people.

So right now, my focus and dedication is split, but I only have one goal: Avoid public humiliation. The result: I'm a dancing/racing machine!

DJ G-Funk* needs inspiration

I'm one of those runners that needs a constant soundtrack in the background to keep pace. And since it's such an integral part to my training, I'm very meticulous with new playlist creation. My whole process is somewhat akin to John Cusack in High Fidelity as he pores over mountains of vinyl records, creating the perfect mix for his girlfriend. A custom playlist is highly personal and allows glimpses to facets of personality.

Well, my running playlist is a far cry from being an accurate editorial of myself, but it serves it's purpose as a technical pace setter. I usually compensate for what kind of workout it's intended for: speed, distance, outdoor/indoor, or the actual race. There's just something about a well-picked, high energy song that can give me the extra boost to run that extra hill as fast as I can. It doesn't matter if I'm bone tired. The familiar back beat starts pumping and I start balling my fists. Then the lyrics will kick in and all of a sudden I'm Rocky Balboa, racing up the steps of Philadelphia.

Now, what kind of music facilitates that for me? Well, for the most part I prefer Hip Hop, Reggage, Rap, and embarassingly the occasional Pop. I know that last choice probably makes me "uncool" now, but sometimes you just have to leave Britney alone, folks. Don't hate. Anyway, today happens to be "New Playlist" day, but I seem to be lacking inspiration for new high energy songs. Do you lovely people have good suggestions?

And to give you a better idea, some of my best running songs were:
Janet Jackson - All Night, Don't Stop
Janet Jackson - Feedback
Lil' Mama ft. T. Pain and Chris Brown - Shawty Get Loose Remix
Christina Aguilera - Fighter
Madonna and Justin Timberlake - 4 minutes
Flo Rida ft. Timbaland - Elevator
Baby Cham & Akon ft. Alicia Keys - Ghetto Story Remix

*Note: I've acquired my fair share of nicknames in the past. My favorites are: "Porkchop", "Manapua Head", "Ninja", "Button", "Bone Bone", and "G-Funk". I thought DJ G-Funk sounded better than DJ Manapua Head.

I worked those apple bottom jeans.

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Just because I'm training, does not mean I'm going to jettison my social life. But it means I've had to be more creative when I hang with my friends, ie: less booze/greasy food, more cross training. So one of my best friends, Victor, and I enrolled in a fun beginning hip hop class to stretch out those leg muscles. Now, I don't claim to be a fantastic dancer. My formal dance training has been limited to Hula. But that at least prepared me to connect beats to movement. Apparently, alcohol-induced booty shaking doesn't qualify as true hip-hop training. Who would've thought?!

Our teacher's style does not incorporate, as he likes to put it: "skanky Britney Spears booty popping" . While I personally find that style wildly entertaining, I opted for his more sedate approach because I feel it adds more personality. His style is specifically "Urban Hip Hop", which is the same style as his friends, the Jabbawockeez (the amazing dancers in the video above). With the proper execution, I think it appears phenomenally clean and precise. But for novices like me, it looks like I have ants down my shirt. Luckily, Victor and I don't take it too seriously and we're in it to have fun; ultimately enticing our friend, Noel, to join us last night. Boy, was he in for a surprise...

Instead of our normal easy-going beginner class, our teacher brought his dancer friends; launching us into the intermediate realm. It was akin to leaping from the first stage to the last stage of Dance Dance Revolution (not that I've ever played). They twirled, leaped, and bounced like there was no tomorrow. And not to be outdone, Victor and I threw it down with everything we had. Now I'd like to tell you that this played out like a spectacular dance movie, with the underdog, us, winning the showdown. But, let's face it folks, Janet Jackson, I am not.

In the end though, we still danced better than we ever have before. My friends and I were beaming and giggling, despite the sweat. So naturally, that merited a well-deserved meal afterwards. To me, dance is an art form that benefits not only the audience, but the dancer himself/herself. And if I'm smiling at the end, that was a dance well danced.

Note: Check back in with Victor and me in a couple of months though, and we'll tear up the dance floor with those people, Step Up 2 style!! Accept defeat? NEVER!!!