Tap Thursday

I am so annoyed that I had bail out and go home early last night instead of going to my final Wednesday evening Tap 1&2 classes. Basically, I was kept awake most of the night by a neighbour and was like the walking dead most of the day, just surviving a day at work on Lattes. But, I am also glad I listened to my body (and hollow dead eyes) and went home, had homemade Goan prawn & egg curry with rice, broccoli and kale, stretched, showered and rested so that I could drag myself into London today and go to my lunchtime level 2 class.

A colleague of mine was talking non-stop and I ended up being pushed for time, so I literally got to the college with about 5 minutes to spare and was puffing and panting and quite warm from power-walking and sunshine, with no time to stretch or really cool down. Then my teacher came out of the studio and said “it’s really hot in there”. Oh great!

Yes friends, it was like a sauna. Someone even called it ‘Bikram Tap’…

We did some co-ordination and pick-up exercises, which are always good to get your teeth into, got some posture correction and noticed the shift in weight placement which is always good, and then we spent the last 15 minutes on our Rag n’ Bone Man routine, which I’m loving. For some reason I can remember every step; usually I struggle to remember anything!

It is quite hard to do really even shuffles when you’ve been enjoying the swingbeat. On a positive note, I am no longer clawing my toes when I do pick-ups!

Next week is the last Thursday lunchtime class before Easter. Then we’re back the week of the 24th April. I haven’t booked onto Thursday lunchtime next term, even though I prefer it. It’s a bit of a squeeze to fit everything in during the lunch hour, so I’ll stick to Wednesday after the hols.

I also have the week of Easter Monday off work. Yay!

42nd Street Out Now!

The amazing 42nd Street is now on in the West End and I would love to see it! I’m sure I heard that Kate Ivory Jordan (whose Beginner’s Tap Workshop I did in Brighton) is in it.

Anyway, I caught a clip of the cast performing on BBC1’s The One Show recently, and I don’t know why, but the first bit really makes me laugh. Watch for yourself!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA0l0C1XsAE?list=PLTpHFHJdZbQDqz_moOZdcMm3lnaANeK1J?ecver=1&w=560&h=315]

Keep Calm and Carry On…Tapping

Yesterday afternoon, just before I left work to head for a coffee before Tap, I heard from a colleague that something bad was going down on Westminster Bridge. We checked out BBC News website and saw that something really bad had happened on the bridge and by the Houses of Parliament. I can see Big Ben from my desk, and looking out I realised there were lots of helicopters in the air. I was a bit concerned about heading down to Morley College…which is on Westminster Bridge Road…but not too close, and I went anyway. The walk down from the Elephant to Lambeth North was disconcerting because there were so many ambulance and police vehicle sirens as they tried to get through the traffic towards the incident site. There was a police cordon right outside the coffee shop I normally go to, and police were redirecting traffic, so I gave up trying to cross the road and just went into Morley College early and had a breather. The presence of so many visible police officers was reassuring, despite the alarming circumstances.

It had also been pretty chilly outside, so I was doubly glad to get indoors (as usual, the college was a bit too warm).

Both level 1 and level 2 classes were down on numbers unsurprisingly, but it was still a fun evening. We did some exercises with flaps, shunts, and cramp rolls, which really made my feet ache! We also did an exercise with a four-beat paddle with an extra heel in-between and then we changed it for an extra toe tap in-between (uh-oh). At first I was thrown as my natural inclination was to do the heel when I was supposed to be doing the toe tap, but then I realised it was all about where your weight is placed. This is a common theme in tap!

We seemed to have an issue with rhythm in the 2nd class. It was as though everyone kept speeding up and getting louder! ARGH

Anyway, it was great to perform the routines a few times all the way through. We have a week left to add a tiny bit more on, I believe!

I also went to level 2 at lunchtime today to get extra practice, SO glad that I trimmed my toenails last night…

I’m really glad that those of us who could, kept on tapping and didn’t let evil win.

I also want to ‘big-up’ the amazing emergency services.

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Move It 2017 

Had a great day today at the Move It exhibition over at Excel in London’s Docklands. I took an intermediate class with Tap Attack at 11am. It was a big class and you couldn’t see the teacher unless you were in the front row…which I was not. However, I managed to pick up most of it, but it was so hot in there, you wouldn’t believe!

Pussycat Dolls Kimberley Wyatt was on the main stage at 12.30pm performing solo and with the Well Fit Dance Crew, which was cool.

Decided to get a chair massage as my upper back has been aching a lot lately from working at a desk :(( and you could pay what you thought it was worth, anything between £10-20. It started off really good, but then took a nasty turn in which the lady had her knee in my back and I was convinced I was about to end up paralysed…I couldn’t even speak to tell her to stop!

Anyway, later on after browsing the numerous dance and Move Fit stands, I did a holistic mat-based class upstairs to stretch out and unwind.

 

4 Days to Go!

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The UK’s biggest dance event at ExCeL London. I’m going on Friday, but it’s on all weekend (10th-12th March 2017). Loads of classes have sold out, but I managed to get in on Tap Attack’s intermediate class and a holistic class in the MOVE FIT sister event. However, there are still lots of classes still available, plus loads of exhibition stands to browse…Can’t wait!

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Extra Extra

wp-1488472251097.jpgAt last night’s Rhythm Tap class my new friend Rachel and I decided to add Thursday lunchtime level 2 class to our repertoire. I was speaking to her at the beginning of level 2 and we were both saying how we were finding the size of class challenging. I keep finding myself at the back with not a lot of space, and quite often I can’t see our teacher’s feet (in person, or in the mirror) and then feel like I’m trying to play catch up having missed out some vital steps (Oh! I thought there were 2 toe taps!). All a bit stressful!

Anyway, instead of just dropping Wednesday in favour of Thursday as I had originally planned, having both been captivated by last week’s Fallout performance, we both thought an extra 45 minutes of tuition and practice would be most beneficial!

However, on arriving at the class at lunchtime today, a few people exclaimed that we were doing 2 hours 15 mins a week! There was also the whisper of “so you’re cheating?” i.e. we have had a head start on everyone else with the routine. I wouldn’t look at it like that. I was struggling to keep up on the routine last night.

It did feel a bit like a competition after that. Yikes.

However, nice to be back in a daytime class 🙂