Happy Happy Fun Day

My headstand:
On the side you can see my wonderful headstand partner, Meredith. Thanks to my girl Caroline for taking this pic!


I have to start off my blog today saying 'Thank you' to my wonderful husband. It has a been a fun but long week. So last night Jesse told me he had some surprises waiting for me at home. I had no idea what they might be. I was really excited to find out he had gone to IKEA and gotten some new things for the apartment. Jesse can be incredibly domestic which is a side of him I really love and appreciate. I could not have been happier putting together our new furniture and additions to the different rooms of our apartment. I love him very much!! He always knows when to do the right things for me.

Today in voice we started with partner work on the wall doing the rub up and sweep down that we did yesterday in a flat lying down position. Next we turned around with our backs against the wall, our partner put their hands diagonally on our clavical and roll out with their hands while you hummed then let out some sound. Then we did similar things to the sternum, ribs, and pelvis (pelvis rolls up). The pelvis was a interesting point for me. When I finally let my partner take over and I gave up control of that part of my body, I felt the space in my front hip joints as my knees released out and away. Quite amazing and freeing!

Working in a circle individually we started to explore traverser and contourner motions. Next we explored rib expansion and deflation, first by letting all the air out then expanding and deflating the ribs without taking a breath, then the same thing after taking air in and not letting it out. This gave me more awareness and focus in the lower ribs on my back as well as the surrounding rib space. We moved into work with the straws this time also loosening our heads from our necks. This is a great exercise for vocalists. We worked on A Ü I O U in a scale. I like the exercise for warming up the voice. We sang it as if we were one of the seven dwarves. I was Sleepy... the yawning is a really good position to begin singing from, plus I'm always kind of sleepy! Finally we worked more on our African lullabye this time in cannon.

In movement we started with the Laban technique. We were walking around the room as if we were in a bubble but you always wanted to move the bubble forward through space while exploring your world inside the bubble. This was a neat exercise for me... something I have never done before and I found myself really creating this bubble world without forgetting about the space around me. It is easy to get lost in your own world. Next we explored only the left side of our world starting with eyes closed then slowly opening them (no bubble anymore): how do you enter the space? are you timid or confident? what enters the space first? We took this and sped it up, watching half the group the doing it ourselves. We did this with the left, right, and back. My left was jerky, lead by my hip, then jerking my head into it with my arm. My right was timid beginning with just the big toe then my arm lifts my leg in. My back started with elbows and buttocks but then snaked up to the crown of my head. This was interesting just to see how your body reacts to this. Not only does open the space but it lets out a lot of different emotions out of either side.

After some Yoga we did the bench roll through headstand again and then this time reversed it. Not as hard as it sounds though I had to keep reminding myself not to bridge over my partner but use her body as the middle axle of my see saw. Next with our partners we took this idea further and kept consistent contact with each other's backs. We are just rolling over each other trading places as the bench without stopping. Very cool. Then we took this even further and kept constant contact with backs and bellies but not having to do the rolls, just improvising and seeing what we could find. My partner was Caroline and both of us found the struggle between who was leading and who was following to be quite interesting. This is a great exercise when a group is trying to learn each other's bodies and finding how to listen to each other without speaking.