Seven-Colour Socks Pattern Translation

These are the socks I wrote about in June. I was looking forward to wearing these socks to keep my toes and ankles warm between dance workshops, but so far have forgotten to take them with me, probably because it has been so warm. I am thinking of developing a pattern without the stranded colourwork and with a shorter leg and fewer colour rings, as they would make lovely lounge socks for dancers (and anyone, really).

Meanwhile, here's the pattern, translated from Norwegian into English.  My additions and comments are included [in square brackets]. You will need to refer to the original pattern charts on the Ull.no website for the colourwork (click on the hyperlink with the pdf symbol under the heading 'Last ned gratis'). I've included a list of the original colours at the bottom of this post, although you can choose your own colour combinations.

Rainbow Socks
Design: Borghild Kolas

Rainbow socks with many colour variations.
Sizes: 6/8 - 10/12 years - adult/women's
Yarn: Embla Hifa 3, 100% pure new wool, approx 201m per 100g
Fjell Sokkegarn (Mountain Sock Yarn) 3, 80% wool/20% nylon, approx 167m per 100g
Yarn pack contains enough yarn for two pairs of socks. [Ull.no offers yarn packs for these socks.]
Suggested needles: 4mm dpns
[Tension: 10 x 10 cm
Fjell Sokkegarn 3    22 sts. x 29 rows on 3.5 – 4 mm needles
Embla Hifa 3        20 sts. x 27 rows stocking stitch on 3.5 mm needles/20 sts. x 23 rows stocking stitch on 4 mm needles]

Yarn colour and quantity:
[I've included the suggested quantities, but I think they refer to the yarn supplied in the pack. Although acrylic is lighter than wool, my pair of socks only weighs 103g in total. See below for a list of the original colour variations. I used acrylic DK in the following colours:

50g   Colour 1  Camel
100g Colour 2  Dark Red
100g Colour 3  Burgundy
50g   Colour 4  Claret
50g   Colour 5  Copper
50g   Colour 6  Old Gold
100g Colour 7  Dark Brown

With colour 1, Cast on 40 - 44 - 48 sts, (10 - 11 - 12 sts left on each needle) on 4mm needles. [I cast on 56 sts for my chunky legs, 14 per needle, although the main thing which will restrict the stretch is how tightly you carry the yarn between stitches for the colourwork.]
Work 8 - 9 - 9 rounds stockinette.
[Change to colour 2.] Continue in pattern on chart 1.
[The cross pattern is worked over rounds 3-5 of 7 rounds in stockinette.  There is one stitch of background colour between the crosses (which are 3 up, 3 across). The Cross pattern is interspersed with 4-4-5 rounds of background colour in purl/reverse stockinette.
So the pattern proceeds by adding the next colour to do the cross pattern with that colour as background and the crosses in the previous colour, and then 5 rounds purl with the background colour, then adding the next colour and repeating until you have used 6 colours.]

When the chart is complete, work 7-8-9 rounds with colour 7.

Heel
"Parish Decrease" (or knit your usual heel) [This is a square heel]:
The heel is worked in the same colour as the ribbing (= the colour you have on the needles). Work back and forth over 20 - 22 - 24 stitches (10 - 11 - 12 on each needle) [or in my case, 28 sts, 14 per needle.] with a pattern as follows:
1st row (RS): Slip 1 Knit 1 rpt
2nd row (WS): Slip the first stitch and purl rest of the stitches.
Repeat these 2 rows, approx. 4 - 4.5 - 5cm

Continue the ‘parish decrease’ as follows: [to turn the heel]
RS: Slip 1 Knit 1 etc. the first of the two needles. Slip 1, K1, Slip 1 on the other needle (3 stitches), dec 1 stitch. [I thought I should have a wider heel, so did S1K1 twice on the second needle - 4 sts before decreasing using K2tog.]
Turn.
WS: Purl back and [then] 3 stitches from the next needle , dec 1 st . Turn. [For me, 4 sts on the second needle, P2tog decrease.]
Repeat this until you have decreased on both sides, when you have 4 stitches left on each needle (all knit). [The K2tog/P2tog decreases are worked 'across the gap', leaving a central heel section of 8 sts for the original pattern, 10 sts for my wider heel.]
Pick up stitches on both sides of the heel so that you again use four needles and knit around in stockinette.
Decrease in "curve" on the side (at each side of the ankle) so you have 10 - 11 - 12 sts on each needle (= total 40 - 44 - 48 sts), less if you want a narrower foot.
[This is where the original pattern assumes you know how to do all this. How many stitches you pick up depends on how many rows you did for the heel flap, plus a couple for the corners. I did 14 rows, so picked up 9 stitches on the first edge of the heel flap onto the same needle holding the heel stitches, knitted the instep stitches onto another 2 needles, picked up 9 sts on the other side of the heel flap and continued to work half the heel sts onto the last needle (Needle 4) so that the rounds started mid-sole. There were 16 sts on heel/sole needles and 14 on instep needles. I wanted to decrease to 12 sts on all needles and worked as follows:
N1 Knit until 3 sts remain, K2tog, K1
N2 K1, SSK, knit the rest on that needle
N3 Knit until 3 sts remain, K2tog, K1
N4 K1, SSK, knit the rest on that needle
Then knit a round without decreases.
Repeat this decrease row and plain round, until all needles have 12 sts.]

Change colour [to colour 2]
And knit 5-6-7 rounds stockinette.
Continue pattern from chart 2.
[Add colour 7 as background, 2 rounds in col 7, 1 round alternating sts of cols 7 and 2, 2 rounds col 7, 3 rounds with crosses pattern in col 2, 2 rounds col 7, 1 round alternating sts of cols 7 and 2, 2 rounds col 7.
Change to colour 4 and repeat the 7 round 'crosses' pattern, using colour 5 for the crosses.]

After completing the chart, continue the toe in colour 3
Work 4 - 6 - 8 rounds Stockinette or desired length (depending on how long you want feet).

Decrease for toes:
Round begins mid-sole of foot.
Needle 1: K until there are 3 sts left, knit 2 together, knit the last st
Needle 2: K1, SSK, knit the rest of the stitches on the needle
Needle 3: As needle 1.
Needle 4: As needle 2.
Knit a round without decreases.
Repeat these 2 rounds until you have approx. 8-10 stitches left.
Cut the thread and pull it through the stitches and sew/bind off. [I used a kitchener graft.]

Sew in all loose ends.
Knit second sock the same.

The original colour variations are as follows. The codes in brackets are the yarn types - Embla Hifa 3 are 4 figure codes starting with 6, the other codes refer to Fjell Sokkegarn:
Colours and quantities: 1/50g, 2/100g, 3/100g, 4/50g, 5/50g, 6/50g, 7/100g
Rainbow: Purple (Lilac) (6077), Purple (Mauve) (519), Cobalt Blue (518), Green (6024), Yellow (6069), Orange (6070), Red (505)
Mountain: Mottled light grey (6054), dark grey (130), medium grey (115), light grey (110), unbleached white (100),  Charcoal (6056), black (511)
Sun: Maize yellow (6002), cognac brown (525), dark red (513), Red (505), Orange (6070), Yellow (6069), Ochre (526)
Sea: Light blue (6081), Denim Blue (507), navy (506), turquoise (512), bleached white (504), Cobalt Blue (518), Cobalt blue/black (538)
Rose: Lilac pink (6044), Dark lilac pink (S524), deep pink (521), Purple (Mauve) (519), bleached white (504), grey-purple (523), Pinky-lilac (520)
Forest: ochre/black (536), light olive (529), olive/black (539), black (511), unbleached white (100), cognac brown (525), dark green (510)
Autumn: Purple-brown  (6099), Ochre (526), dark green (510),  light olive (529), dark brown (6010), dark terracotta (6503), cognac brown (525).

Belly Dance DVDs - What To Look For, What to Avoid

While riffling through my classes folder and updating my list of the classes, workshops etc that I've taken as part of my continuing professional development (CPD), I came across a handout I'd prepared for my classes five years ago (!) on belly dance DVDs. As I was reading through it, a promotional post advertising a set of belly dance DVDs popped up on the Facebook newsfeed.  What a coincidence!  But ... one glance at the advert told me it was time to update that handout via this blog!

Although not a substitute for classes with a good teacher, however occasionally, in order to correct any incipient bad habits, nevertheless DVDs and streamed video can play an important and useful role in the belly dance journey. Unless you have a bit of self-discipline and experience, it can be difficult to work through drills, combinations and choreography consistently without some sort of prompting, so DVDs and streamed video make good practice companions. You can learn new moves, broaden your knowledge and do as little or as much as you want - even 10 minutes a few times a week can make a difference. As a beginner, it can be difficult to know where to start ....

What To Look For
Firstly, you need to know what you want.

• An emphasis on dance or on fitness?
• Instruction and practice in the form of drills and combinations?
• To learn about a particular style or working with a prop?
• To learn a choreography?
• Watch performances for inspiration?
• Everything! (Or, I don't know what I want/I want it all and I want it now!)

What does it cover? On the better DVDs, it's obvious from the title, but still it's a good idea to check the level that it's aimed at, and whether it covers the sort of thing you want to do. There are lots of cheap DVDs (or even VCDs) on eBay which are essentially copies of other video instruction in the public domain.  They are easy to recognise, as they often have no box, stock photos on the label, and tag lines which contain everything ('learn to belly dance easy lose weight fitness workout sexy beginners to advanced ...'). You could hazard a couple of quid on one if you want, but it's probably best not to encourage this sort of thing.

Look for reviews and trailers. You can usually find trailers for DVDs on YouTube and it's a good idea to watch the trailers, and anything else that takes your fancy.  Yes, there is a lot of rubbish on YouTube, but there is also some great stuff, and it will help you to start to learn what's what. Depending on your computer set up at home and broadband speed, working with YouTube content could replace the need for a DVD for quite a while. Just remember the safe practice rules - don't get carried away or push yourself hard and keep a check on your posture and alignment. Only perfect practice makes perfect!

How long is it? Someone commented to me once that they did not like long DVDs, but I would not recommend short ones. Some of them just scratch the surface, so that you can go from the content being beyond you to behind you in a matter of weeks, without feeling like you’ve had value for money. The first belly dance video tape I bought was quite expensive, only 50-ish minutes long, and contained a lot of repeated content in different settings, leaving me feeling cheated. You don't have to watch or work with DVDs from start to finish.  Most are divided into chapters so you can pick and choose, stop and start, as you like.

Which region is it? I have to say that some of the best DVDs come from the USA. Look for titles by IAMED (expensive, but good), World Dance New York and Cheeky Girls Productions. You need to check that the format and region are compatible with your DVD player. In Europe, this is generally PAL format and Region 2, but many DVDs are now 'Region Free'.

Where to buy it? Having decided on a DVD, shop around. Check and compare prices on Amazon, eBay (you might be lucky and get it cheaply, second hand) and Aladdin's Cave, whom I can recommend, having bought from them a few times.  Also, chat to your teacher and classmates, who may recommend something, or even have DVDs to sell.

'So, what about that advert?', I hear you ask.
I followed the link to the website and found a few things which rang alarm bells straight away.

• The title 'BellyDancingCourse' has a trademark symbol. The rules for trademark in the USA are different to the UK, which is probably how a name formed from common words with the spaces removed can be trademarked. But a generic-sounding name with a trademark immediately triggers my cynical response circuits.
• The tag line on the video box set: 'Learn how to belly dance like a pro in 2 hours!' 2 hours to dance like a professional, oh, please! Further on, it states that all the basic moves are covered in 2 hours. I wonder if their idea of basic moves is the same as mine.
• 'Comprehensive course ... everything you need to know ... covers everything ... (in only 8 hours? Really?)
• '3 different teachers'. Okay, WHO?
• 5 different dance styles, including Turkish Didem? Didem is a famous Turkish dancer, and I suppose she could be said to have her own style, but it's not a distinct and recognised dance style.  And if you want to quibble, then Gothic and Tribal fusion could be counted as two styles.
• The video examples on the site are available elsewhere through YouTube.  The first (on Camels) is Nuala, a teacher from London, and I doubt very much if she gave her permission for this. The second (on head slides) is one of the ExpertVillage series.
• Along with 'borrowed' videos, the site pictures include several stock images, rather than, for example, stills from the videos, or pictures of the dancers/teachers involved.
• If you look for excerpts from this course on YouTube, you see that there are a lot of 'reviews' under different names, posted at roughly the same time, and the 'reviewers' often only have this video upload to their name.
• In the reviews, there is one from someone in London stating that they can't find a belly dancing class in their area. London is pretty much belly dance central in the UK with lots of teachers and classes, so I find that claim unbelievable!
• Who is Mariella Monroe? Apparently she has been dancing professionally for 18 years, but there is no website to advertise her dance business, whether for her Sacramento classes or herself as a performance artist. (lots of other teachers in Sacramento, though!). I would expect YouTube footage and a website, possibly also articles on belly dance magazine sites such as the Gilded Serpent, for such an apparently well-known, working dancer and dance writer, but all search results lead back to this 'belly dance course'. So, a strong web presence for this course is completely at odds with no web presence for the teacher/dancer.
• What a coincidence (ha!); the introductory blurb 'from the desk of Mariella Monroe' has today's date and the order page suggests that the offer of the bundle for $47 expires in a few day's time. This is just a marketing ploy in the hope that you'll rush into buying something without thinking it through properly.
• There are a number of Facebook pages relating to the course as well, generally full of spam and the same stock photos, but I found one of Sadie's promotional pics on there (and I bet she didn't give permission for that!). There are few comments, but some complain of non-receipt of the DVDs or denounce this as a scam, and there are no replies to counter the accusations.

Everything about this shouts SCAM! despite reassurances of the 'Love it or Shove it!' money back guarantee and statements of the seller's experience and trustworthiness on the FAQs page (the DVD set is marketed and sold through ClickBank).

I thought I would search some of the belly dance social media to find out if anyone in the real belly dance world has bought it, used it, or even knows who Mariella Monroe is.  There were very few results, but I found the following:

• There were comments stating that dancers had had their picture used without approval.
• Apparently Mariella Monroe's 'popular dance studio' was and is completely unknown to other professional belly dancers in the same city.
• There was a belief that Mariella Monroe is a name made up for marketing, and so are all the YouTube reviewers and those endorsing the DVDs/course.

I wish I could justify splashing out on this, just to see if it arrives and what it contains.  If anyone reading this blog actually bought this, I would love to know whether my suspicions are justified or not. Please go ahead and comment.

Catching Up

After a hectic few months of getting so busy that the butterfly count and moth night passed me by, teaching (with an inspection, just to keep me on my toes), doing courses and exams, nursing a sick hen (who got better for a couple of weeks, then went downhill again and has just died), hosting a special guest for a couple of nights, and all the preparation and rehearsals for the Cardigan Belly Dance Festival, (more on the latter two in other posts), I feel like I've reached a break point.

Not that there is now any less to do.  I have a few costume and jewellery commissions, a stack of paperwork to deal with, next term's classes to advertise and plan, a mountain of cleaning and laundry to do. I've made in-roads into the 'To Do' list, but it is still growing faster than the 'Done' list. I really want to reverse that, because it is getting on my nerves. Still, the lack of appointments looming in the diary helps me to feel that I have time to tackle the jobs in the house and garden. Time to catch up a little on this blog, where I'm still failing in my resolution to reduce the number of posts in draft. Time to finish projects and perhaps start new ones. Time to breathe and try to catch up a bit.

A teaching friend and I planned to go to the beach during the school summer holidays, but I realised with a  shock that this weekend is the August Bank Holiday, and she starts back at school a week later. In the meantime, she's on holiday with her husband, after which she's taking her mother away for a few days. We had some very hot weather in June and July - I remember sitting in stuffy classrooms, emerging into hot and dazzling sunlight at lunch time, and even wore skirts and dresses, as a cool change from my usual yoga pants. I got utterly fed up with my long, straggly hair and had it cut into a short bob, which is so much easier to manage and I love so much, I wonder why I didn't do it earlier. I commented on how unseasonably cool it was in my single post in June. Lammas brought a change back to unsettled weather, with patches of sunshine interrupted by drizzle, rain showers, downpours, thunderstorms and hail. The forecast yesterday was for ground frost in some rural parts of Wales - a month early!

There are still plenty of swallows around, but they seem to be flying south and east already. I saw my first group of thrushes while driving through the Preselis on Sunday evening and could smell September in the air, in mid-August. As the days shorten, I'm hoping that Summer hasn't given up altogether and that we'll have some more good weather to enjoy before Autumn truly begins.

The Bling's The Thing

I'm terribly excited to have a performance group again, after a little lull. We were quite active a couple of years ago, and started to discuss troupe costumes.  Then most of the dancers disappeared from class due to pregnancy, illness, shift and other work changes, new love interests, etc.

I'm so proud of 'my' dancers, including a couple of ladies who have really only been dancing anything from a  few weeks to a  few months. Having done a beginner's choreography last term, this one to Nourhanne's Habibi Ya Eini is pretty cute (even if I say so myself) but not very easy. They are working so hard and they are up for the challenge, although nerves are starting to kick in as the show comes closer. It is part of the Imago ethos that performance is optional and open to all abilities. This is a hafla-style show, so it's a safe place to perform for the first time.

Preparing for a performance can be scary and for your first performance, a little bit terrifying. Apart from doubts about whether you can learn and rehearse the choreography in time for the performance, the other big question is, What Shall I Wear? This is always a tricky one for beginners and casual dancers, and especially problematic for anyone not under UK size 16 and/or with body issues such as scars, flabby bits you want to keep hidden, unusual proportions and feeling so self-conscious that you may want to dance with everyone else, but blend into the background so that no-one can see you, and would fight to be at the back. Oh yes, I have all those issues, except for the last two which I'm over now, unless I have to watch myself in a mirror or on video.

Another issue is cost. If you are slim (up to a UK size 14, max!) with perhaps only A-B cups, and happy to show some tummy then it's quite easy to get a cheap, basic, far-east import costume of georgette/chiffon circular skirt, belt and bra for under £40 excluding post and packing. There are some fun, colourful costume pieces, if you can fit them.  They are marketed as One Size (don't get me started ...). They are also marketed as 'professional' and although they can look good, you should expect to pay £250 to £450 for a truly 'professional' full costume. At Raqs Britannia a few years ago, I overheard a couple of other teachers discussing how they don't let their students perform until they are at least 'intermediate' (in their book, dancing for a couple of years, not the JWAAD intermediate standard) and only then if they are prepared to buy their own 'professional' costume in the troupe colours. Not that all dancers are intermediate (whatever that means!) after a couple of years, and all very well if it's for paid, professional bookings or stage shows, but overkill if we're talking the local festival or street carnival. There's more to dancing well and being professional than the costume. A beautiful costume will certainly help you to look and feel the part, but it's what you do and how you do it that really counts!

Then there is the question of how to approach costuming a troupe. If everyone wears the same thing, the troupe can look very smart and can also help the self-conscious to feel that they are blending in. On the other hand, if you don't feel the costume suits you, it can make you feel worse and you might not dance your best, either. I was in a troupe where the requirement was for all white and I felt like a belly dancing meringue, conspicuous and uncomfortable.

Most costume decisions are about style, colour and cost, so for troupe costumes, it's a matter of finding a combination that works for everyone.

Style should be appropriate for the type of dance and choreography.  Doing ATS in a sparkly galabeya looks and feels too strange; I know, because I have done it. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing, and next time I shall make sure I have a big skirt and choli in my costume case! However, you can think of  'style' in very broad terms, such as everyone in dresses/galabeyas, or in a skirt and top, or wearing one or two unifying pieces which are the same style, such as harem pants and a glitterdot tie top.

Colour can be a difficult call.  It's hard to find a single colour/shade which suits everyone and everyone has their favourites in which they feel happy. It wasn't until I was loading a couple of photos onto my website that I realised how much stage lighting can alter colour, so that it can become almost insignificant. I may have felt like a meringue in my white costume, but under stage lights it became changing pastel shades, light and ethereal.

I usually advise against black for stage costumes, because it's not necessarily as flattering as you'd think and you can disappear against a black backdrop or in dim lighting. It's often chosen by people who want to appear slimmer and not be noticeable against the backdrop but beware! Your audience may look at you more closely if you're difficult to see! That said, sometimes black is the only option.  I have seen a very effective use of various separates - skirt or pants with some sort of top plus a coin belt - all in black and silver. Still, the whole troupe need to be okay with the colour choice.  I tried on a black and silver cabaret dress and it made me feel as though I was going to dance at a funeral.

With a unifying style, a troupe could be in all different colours, or could select a contrasting or toning colour range. This has the advantage that dancers get a choice (e.g. pink or turquoise, or any shades of blue and green) and might be able to use pieces they already have, keeping costs to a minimum.

Photo Credit Kathryn Goddard, Capture This Moment Photography

Here's a shot of Imago Dancers performing a couple of years ago in Cardiff, in whatever we had or could lend each other of black and royal blue, with the dancer's choice of silver or gold, unified by our masks and white boas.

My first 'troupe' costume was a double layer skirt with a top which I'd used for a contemporary dance piece, years before. A couple of years later, I was due to dance in a show for Hossam and Serena Ramzy, when all the other dancers in the troupe backed out at less than a week's notice.  I had four days to select music, choreograph what would be my first solo, and put together a costume.

I made a panne velvet overdress and polysilk harem pants, and wore both a fringe belt and a coin belt.  It was comfortable, covered a multitude of sins and it's still something I wear for more casual events.

However, after a couple of haflas and other performances,  I wondered why I was still feeling much too self-conscious and realised that it was because I felt too plain. Yes, the textures were nice and I was wearing jewellery and a coin belt, but I felt like a sparrow amongst peacocks. Unless you are being seriously folkloric, it's possible that for a local hafla, there's no such thing as too much bling!

Many 'larger ladies' are told to avoid lycra and this may be true in a figure-hugging, day-to-day fashion sense. I believed it, and since many belly dance costumes use lycra, I wasn't sure what to do.  Then I found a galabeya by Hanan in my size and was encouraged to try it on.  As I came out of the changing area, the other ladies in the souk all went 'OOooooh!'. It clung to some bits of me and skimmed the rest, and the bead and sequin work around the neck with the sparkly lycra made me feel elegant and dripping with style. Also, it was very comfortable to move and dance in, and some leggings underneath would deal with my dislike of flashing my legs. (It's the black and gold galabeya I'm wearing in the troupe photo, above.)

Since then, I've become a fan of dance galabeyas, treating myself to a turquoise and gold Hanan sparkly when I saw one in my size, and made an exception to my own black and silver rules to bag a second-hand Assuit galabeya when one came up at a reasonable price on eBay. I'm now planning to make a few. How many galabeyas does a dancer need?

In the end, I am reluctant to dictate when it comes to costuming for casual dancers; it's the dancers' money, and they should have a choice, including borrowing costume or going with what they have.  However, I encourage the maximum use of sparkle. Whatever you wear, if you want to feel fabulous and sparkly instead of frumpy and self-conscious, then the bling's the thing!

How Are You?

So, how are you today?  We ask this by way of greeting, not really expecting the truth from the one we greet. Most of the time, we know this is just a social convention and answer 'Fine!' even when we aren't.  I was musing about this and added a 'check in with your body' note to a workshop plan, while the thought was fresh in my mind, when a Facebook post appeared which gave me food for thought.

It was a drawing of a knight in armour standing on a bald head, fighting off a flaming dragon. The message read 'Never own a disease. Reduce the amount of time you talk about being ill. Refuse to allow illness a place in your consciousness'.

Several friends had already seen it and commented their wholehearted agreement. Uh oh. I didn't agree.  I often find I'm irritated by the memes which my friends happily share, and frequently have to point out that something is a hoax or just a collection of ideas which people would like to be true and sound as though they should be, but for which there is no evidence. Do I ignore it, or comment, even though my dissenting voice could make me appear pedantic and negative? (Vote now!)

If you voted 'Comment' then either you know me, or you also find yourself disagreeing with social media memes, or both.  My comment was:

'I'm in two minds about this. I thoroughly agree that it doesn't do to think or talk about or focus on a disease, pain or a condition more than you need to, because you can start to wallow and feel sorry for yourself, which only makes things worse, not to mention boring the pants off friends or inciting others to wallow as well.
But for chronic conditions which are primarily self-managed, you have to 'own' your condition in order to 'own' your self care and management. Saying that you refuse to allow it a place in your consciousness is like saying you can ignore it or deny its existence. Furthermore, each person's experience of the same chronic condition can be individual and unique in the details, so in a way, it IS (e.g.) MY [experience of] severe osteoarthritis and I have to acknowledge it just enough to learn how to manage it and my life with it.  I give it roughly the same status as washing up - it is always there, needs to be done, I don't enjoy it, you can do things to minimise it and it's good once it's dealt with, however temporarily.
I've encountered some people who 'refuse' to be ill, coming into work with flu, dosed to the eyeballs with some remedy and mainlining coffee (as if that's any substitute for the sleep and water their body is demanding), doing a bad job which someone else has to deal with, correct and complete, spreading their germs around, and going home frankly unsafe to drive. We need to listen to our bodies and act on our physical needs. Denial can be dangerous.'

Having popped my head above the parapet, I clicked on the picture to see what comments had been added at source. It was very good to see that I wasn't the only one who thought the advice on the picture overly simplistic. Predictably, there were one or two who believe it is simply a matter of eating right, keeping fit, avoiding toxins, refusing to be ill, refusing to accept a diagnosis, refusing to die (okay, good luck with that!). Whilst the power of the mind shouldn't be underestimated, there were some who considered that illness was a result of negative thinking or that anyone who was ill only had themselves to blame.  They were gently shot down by some with first hand experience of (e.g.) a child fighting leukaemia, who was too young to have brought it on themselves and who stayed positive until the end. And someone who said that it must have been the toxic chemo drugs which killed them, not the disease, could not then answer why others who refuse chemo and believe deeply that they will be fine with alternative therapies and dietary changes don't manage to survive cancer.

Some time later, I went back to the post to see if there were any further comments. I expected some flak, but there was nothing.

Yes, it's often a case of mind over matter, but even if you do mind and it matters very much indeed, and you are feeling desperate for the pain and misery to stop, there are a couple of things to remember: Don't let your illness define who you are. Don't let it run your life. Try to stay positive and carry on as normal.

Sadly, there are times when this just doesn't work. My lovely friend S who has IIH was the one who originally told me not to 'own' my osteoarthritis pain. Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to be getting any better and may be admitted to hospital again this evening.  I positively wish I had a magic wand.  Then when I ask someone 'How are you?', with a wave of my wand, the reply 'Fine!' will be true (whether they want it to be, or not!).

The Rose Within a Rose, Within a Rose ... A Dance Journey

A few weeks ago, I was preparing for a teaching inspection, trying to finish a choreography for the class, get the notes written up to my satisfaction and review (and formally write up) my scheme of work and lesson plans.  I do plan my lessons, but having thought about and decided what I'm going to cover in a lesson, I seldom refer to a written plan as I teach. As I wrote them up, I had my usual tussle with the 'learning outcomes', those TSSBAT (at the end of the lesson, The Student Should Be Able To ....) objectives. There's an implication that an objective is an end point. It's the idea that you cover a topic and it is 'learnt'. Learning to dance is an ongoing process. Like all the arts, there is usually a gap between theory and practice; the knowledge of how something should be done, look, or even sound, and the physical achievement of it. While learning some background theory may be quick, the basic objective is to learn some moves and apply them in dance. Ya Leil means Oh Night. Fact. Remember it. What does Ya Leil mean? Oh Night. Correct. Learnt. Tick the box. That a dancer is still working to get her hips under control doesn't mean a lack of learning. Anyone who has a go rather than giving up is learning; the control will come, it's just not there yet. YET. It's a very important word.

I struggle to define realistic 'learning outcomes' for a mixed level group, as each dancer may be at a different point. I can change the language and expectations of the learning outcomes so that, for instance, all dancers should be able to tell me what a move is even if they can't do it, and that can be assessed. Sooner or later, though, a dancer needs to be able to demonstrate the moves, the transitions, flow, musicality, posture, gaze, expression - in other words, to dance!

For the lesson, hip 8s were a case in point.  We covered (in fact, revised) the four main symmetrical hip 8s - Standard (front to back) and Reverse (back to front) horizontal and Taksim (down-out-up) and Maya (up-out-down) vertical 8s. However, much as I would like to say that at the end of a lesson everyone will be able to do these 8s, it's not a realistic aim. I can't spend the whole lesson just on those 8s, everyone would get frustrated and/or bored. While some dancers may be more or less proficient, others may still be struggling to access muscles, control the movement and coordinate the transfer of weight.  Some may get the movement quickly, others will need to work on it for longer, and that's okay because everyone is different.  Then the process of refinement begins, practising until the movement is smooth, symmetrical and defined, with good isolation and musicality to match and reflect the music. This can take years, an idea which can be a little off-putting for someone wanting belly dance as a recreational and social activity, for an hour or so once a week.  However, it is the journey which is important here, not the destination.

The learning journey is a common analogy used for many dance styles and arts in general. Good teachers who are committed to CPD are also on a journey, just (hopefully!) further up the road than their students. It's a journey which dancers should enjoy, so these lessons have to be as much about the students' experience of the lesson as what they get out of it; in some ways, more about what they want to learn than about what I want to teach. It needs a lightweight, stealthy approach to corrections and assessments. The learning objectives are just milestones, waymarkers on a route which can meander through drills and combinations, choreography and improvisation, different belly dance styles and props, rhythms and musical instruments, history and culture, fantasy and fact.

As I was dancing through the choreography and working on transitions, I had an image of dancing in a garden with many-petalled roses, all with beautiful scent and lovely colours. For each thing you learn about and every time you practise a move, a petal falls. As you learn and work, the petals drop away, and you discover another rose within the rose, with a different shade of petals and a slightly different rose scent.  You start to explore further and after a while, find yet another rose, with yet another colour and scent.  By now, you are dancing through a drift of roses, surrounded by lustrous petals and their scent fills the air.

Don't worry about the journey, just enjoy the rose petals.

Moving in Circles - Class Notes on Circular Moves

I've been thinking a lot about the core movements used in belly dance, a sort of 'nuts and bolts' or 'toolbox' approach to belly dance as a way of moving rather than a set of moves.  While preparing for some recent classes, I started pondering the permutations of circular movements and since then, I've used this in class.  This post provides some brief notes on circular moves as inspiration for some dance exploration.  Although these notes use belly dance as a reference, I could see this as an interesting contemporary dance exploration, too.

We looked at creating circles and arcs (e.g. half or part-circles) using different parts of the body, turning, and creating circular pathways.

Head Circle, as if you are drawing a large circle on the wall in front of you with your nose (remembering to keep the neck long).
Shoulders Vertically circling forwards and backwards, singly or alternating
Chest/upper body

• Shifting, 
• Tilting, 
• Vertical face on, 
• Vertical forward and back = upper body undulation standard (a backwards circle, forward, up, back, down) and reverse (a forward circle, back-up-forward-down, being careful not to let the shoulders sag forward and the chin lift then dip as you complete the forward-down movement, as it will look like you're throwing up!)
• Wide chest/upper body circle (remembering to vacuum pack your innards, strong core, tail down and back long as this involves leaning back. Gently does it, keep it small to start with.)

Hips

• Shifting, horizontal small, medium or large/dipping hip circles,
• Tilting,
• Vertical face on and vertical forward and back = lower body undulation standard and reverse
• Asymmetrical (one hip) horizontal or vertical forwards and backwards.

Hand and Wrist, Like floreos, scooping honey from a jar, plucking a flower, beckoning, pushing away
Arms Leading with the elbow backwards, or with stretched arms large circles forward and back or face on, inwards across the body or outwards, lower arm circles in across the body or out, either singly or both together
Legs Describing an arc on the floor with the toe before placing the foot down (as in the ballet rond de jambe). Slinky walk, or as part of a pivot half turn.

Explore circles in different planes of movement:

• horizontal - parallel to floor,
• vertical - face on,
• vertical - forward and back or side-on

Link circles or arcs and undulations, for example a backwards shoulder circle sending a wave down the outstretched arm to produce and arm ripple.

Parts of circles = arcs, e.g.horizontal hip circles made of a front and back arc beginning and ending in the side/hip slide position.  These can be used as transitions, with a weight shift from one foot to the other.

Explore single hip vertical arcs: a smooth series of short arcs, or write m, n, o, u, w with one hip, side on.

Circular movements with arms, turns, pathways are particularly useful when dancing with air props - veils, fan veils and Isis wings, as the movement allows air to be caught under the fabric, swirling as you turn. Explore floor patterns space and directions:

• Turns
• Turning a movement on the spot
• Circular pathways
• Circles within circles - moving around in a circle with added turns.

It's often useful in improvisation and choreography to set rules and limits to movement. The same movement repeated with different dynamics, such as size of movement, speed and changes in speed and direction, and between arcs and whole circles, can create interesting effects.

In class, we created a combination by adding a circular move suggested by each person around the circle. In your own practice, you could add or reorder the moves, pass the move around the body, change or repeat moves, think about transitions and flow, how to move smoothly from one move to the next.  This is primarily a study, but it would be possible to base an entire dance piece on circular movements.

Have fun! I'd love to see what you come up with.