Still dancing

Written 17 June 2016

Yesterday was Day 413 of my dancing challenge and I did Dance workout No. 148. So many things pull me away from my 3-times-a-week goal, that the frequency has dropped dramatically. But I refuse to give up. I love dancing, it makes me happy, and I’ll keep at it. With my new job, I come home about two hours later than when I was teaching. This not only means I have a lot less time in the evening to achieve everything, but I’m also a lot more tired, especially after the one-hour drive home in peak-hour traffic (which I find rather stressful).

The truth is, I’m still trying to find my equilibrium. I’d given myself three months to get my act together, but some things take longer than we think. I just need to be patient. The latest complication is the biting cold weather. When you’ve left home in the dark, worked a full day, and returned in the dark, cooked supper, spent some family time, ironed clothes and made lunch for the next day, all you want to do is have a hot shower and get to bed. My big time-guzzler is Facebook – I have to set my alarm in order to tear myself away from it. I recently decided to skip Facebook every now and then, even for two consecutive nights, because it cuts into the time that I could be doing something else.

Like I’ve said in so many other posts, dancing makes me incredibly happy – it’s just hard to get started, especially on a week night.  Or a cold night. The thing with exercise is, even if you’re freezing when you start, after you’ve warmed up, you don’t even feel the cold. For me, sticking to my dancing goal requires a lot of discipline, and sometimes I find it hard to prioritise dancing around my room when my body’s clamouring for sleep. 

Another complicating factor is any commitment between work and home that adds even an hour to my day – it just messes up my evening. Getting home after 7pm automatically means there’s no time to dance. Do that more than once a week, and the whole week feels wrong. I need routine in order to fulfil my Trudy agenda – which means scheduled sessions to dance, play my guitar, write and read. Four things that mean the world to me, and that make me feel balanced. When I haven’t done one of them for a long time, I can feel myself moving away from my essence. Not a nice feeling. 

But when I do dance, I feel like I like to feel – as free as a bird, and in tune with my essential self. I’ve always loved exercising to music.

For now, this is my workout playlist – called “Dance, Mama, Dance”. J The first seven tracks are from the soundtrack of the movie, ‘Chef’ – lovely, rhythmical salsa:

1.       Track 1 – Pete Rodriguez – I like it like that

2.       Track 7 – Roberto Roena -  Que Se Sepa

3.       Track 8 – Louie Ramirez – Ali Baba

4.       Track 9 – Gente de Zona – Homenaje Al Beny Castelllano

5.       Track 10 – Nickodemus & Quantic – Mi Swing Es Tropcal

6.       Track 15 – Perico Hernandez – Oye Como Va

7.       Track 16 – Perico Hernandez – La Quimbumba

8.       Donald Fagen – Florida Room

9.       Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On?

10.   Natalie Cole – Good to be back

11.   Jamie Cullum – What a difference a day made 

By the time I get to the end of song no. 7, I’ve done 30 minutes. On nights when I’m super-tired, I go from that track straight to Jamie Cullum, for my cool down. When I get through the full playlist, it’s a 52-minute workout.

Tonight’s not a dance night, but tomorrow is.

“I’m just a girl whose intentions are good,…….”