Chocolate Love: Day 3

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving! Sadly I had to work at night, but at least I had most of the day with my dad.

l didn't get to dance on Saturday because my dad was sick. At first I was just about to get up to get ready when he came home from his military show, and I didn't really care that he was home, but he was sick. I didn't want to be downstairs for an hour in case he needed something and I didn't want to disturb him with the music.

Luckily I was back in my regular department today, so that meant less hours and more time to dance. I almost didn't make it today, either. I was laying around in bed for a while before I fell asleep twice, and then I just laid around until 3:30. I finally convinced myself to get up because I had been looking forward to dancing again and the song was in my head all day.

So today I was really itching to learn something new. I didn't want to keep doing the same thing for an hour. I'd been doing the steps in my head just about everyday, so I didn't forget them. I started off reviewing what I already know, which is the best way to start a session.

After just a few run-throughs, I moved on. I started from the beginning up until the part I already know, up to about 0:30. I already knew the opening walk, but I'm still having some trouble with it. I sometimes lose my balance when I bring my knees up, and there are some times where I feel like I'm bringing them up too early or too late. I can't really explain it, but it just feels like I'm doing it wrong. I'm just going to have to keep practicing.

On the first half of the first verse, Tiffany's part, I had some trouble at first. I had to learn the arms first and then the legs because I kept getting confused. I kept messing up the hands in the very beginning. I kept turning my hands inward too early. Then the legs on the same movements were messing me up. I kept forgetting to turn my left leg in on the second hand movement. It took a bunch of tries but I'm getting it. I still don't feel 100% comfortable with it, but it'll come with practice.

I pretty much already had the second part of the verse, Jessica's part, when I started to focus on it. It leads into the part I learned last week, so I kept seeing the end of it, then the first part of the verse leads into it, so I kept seeing the beginning of it. However, seeing and doing are two different things. I felt very awkward doing all of those movements. My movements aren't very fluid, so it felt weird. Also there's not a lot of room in the basement, so I kept having to turn around and find the amount of space that worked. But one movement felt okay facing one way, but the next move wouldn't. So I would turn sideways and try facing that way, but the same thing would happen. The part where they take two steps backwards, but would still kind of move toward the side, is the part I am referring to. Facing one direction was good for backing up, but there wasn't enough room to move to the side comfortably. Turning sideways was good for moving to the side, but it wouldn't be good for backing up. I really can't wait to find a good open space, whether it be a studio, a park, or a spacious room in a friend's house.

That's about it for today. The second half of my session consisted of running through everything I know, from the beginning to the end of the first chorus. Tomorrow will consist of practicing it all again, if I don't get too distracted by the UKISS variety shows L is supposed to send me. We're going to try to go to the concert in January! I really hope it works out, because it'll be our first KPOP concert! Hopefully S can go too!

Chocolate Love: Day 2

(I did say I was done with trying to be creative with my titles)

I was off from work today so I got to dance some more. I decided to just spend today's session practicing what I learned yesterday. I definitely felt more comfortable and less awkward than I did yesterday. I mean, it is a bit awkward swinging your hips from side to side as you slowly walk backwards while making fists with your hands and moving them up and down next to your head.

 

I mean really

 

 

But like I said, I did feel better about it today. After about 20 minutes, though, I was starting to get messed up. I would move my hips the wrong way again and I would turn my fists the wrong way or get confused as to which way they were supposed to face. That does happen sometimes. I would be doing well for a while and then all of a sudden I'd start messing up. But after a few tries I was back to doing everything correctly.

 

I can't remember if this happened yesterday (or really how often it happened because I know it did happen), but I noticed myself losing my balance quite a bit. It mostly happened during various parts of the bridge. Ever since I stopped dancing at my studio when I was 16, I lose my balance easily. It really sucks when you're a dancer because dance relies on balance. I just try to ignore it most of the time, but it usually catches me off guard and then I end up embarrassingly stumbling. I really need to work on that.

 

Aside from mini mistakes and slight loss of equilibrium, I had fun dancing today. I really feel like I'm getting the bridge and the chorus, and I'm thinking that next time I dance I should be able to move on. It all depends. Maybe not next time since I don't think I can dance again until Saturday, and I'll want to make sure I'll still remember what I've done so far.

 

Because of the holidays, work is going to start getting crazy, so I may be dancing less, but I'll try to squeeze in more time!

I Call It Chocolate Love

I call, I call it Chocolate Love~
Yup, I'll be learning this dance next.


I've gotten so slack with this omg. I'm going to try harder to update more.

So it’s about high time I finally choose another dance to learn. I haven’t done anything since the Growl classes ended, but I’ve really been feeling like dancing lately. Funny how I was unsure if I really wanted to put Chocolate Love on my list, and now I'm really excited to try it. It did take a little while for me to like it. I didn't like the song or the dance very much when I first saw it, but several months ago I decided to give it another try. Again, I didn't really care for it, but I was liking the dance more, so I decided to just put it on the list. It’s now been in my head ever since I randomly selected it over the weekend. It has a slower, sexier feel to it, and I guess it’s better to start off with this one. Like I said, I haven’t done anything since September, so it probably wouldn’t be good to do something fast, difficult, and high energy. I think this is the perfect dance for me right now.

I've been watching the practice video nonstop for the past few days, and today I finally had the house to myself, so I started learning it. Instead of learning a new section of the dance each day, I’m going to learn a new section every week, (or at least try to) as if I was taking a class. So tomorrow and every day I get the chance I will be going over what I did until next Tuesday, and then I will learn the next part. I feel like this worked with the Growl class to help me remember (as well as having an excellent teacher; I really do better in an instructional setting), so I’m going to try it on my own.

I focused on the bridge into the chorus, from 0:33 to 1:05. The chorus was probably the first thing I picked up from watching it over and over, so it was really easy to do. The part where they take small steps backwards while bringing their hands up and down by their faces was a little confusing at first. I had started to try it the other day and I kept moving my hips in the wrong direction. But since I had the space to practice I was able to actually move backwards, so it was easier to do and my hips were moving in the right direction.

The second half of the bridge is really easy, just small steps from side to side while fan-opening and closing your hand over your head. The first part is a little trickier, just a lot of quick, sharp movements that can get your head spinning at first. It took a lot of repetition and watching that part on the video over and over until I got it. What works with difficult parts is to split the arms and feet. I first practiced all the hand and arm movements separate from the feet then vice versa. Of course at first when you put them all together you might get a bit tripped up, like I did, because now you have to remember two things at once, but you’ll find you’ll get it quickly. After the first try with the hands and feet together it was smooth sailing.

After practicing for almost an hour, I decided to run through Growl one time because I haven’t practiced it since the last day of class. Oh my gosh I forgot a lot more than I thought I did. I knew I’d have trouble with the second bridge and the part during the rap leading into the slower section, but I wound up messing up in just the first verse! That was embarrassing. I had to turn around and try it with my back to my laptop. I think I was distracted by anticipating messing up and wanting to watch the boys dance. I’m afraid to do all the other dances I know now >< I haven’t practiced in months!

I’m going to try to be better at updating. My accounts of the last two Growl classes at I Love Dance will be up soon.

Growl Day 2: Second Day of Class 9/13/13

Since right after the first class had ended I was extremely excited for the second class, and L felt the same way. That first class was her first dance class EVER, and she really had fun and enjoyed herself, which I was really happy to see.


(picture of studio from street)

The second night we learned the beginning up to where we started the first week, up to 0:36. This was the part I thought I would have trouble with (aside from the floor part, but I'll cover that in the next post). At first glance I thought the beginning would be hard to learn because of all the little movements. They were simple but fast, and it was sometimes hard to catch little things. But when everything was broken down in class, I saw it really wasn't hard at all and it was really fun. There was one part, from 0:29 to 0:33, where I was having some trouble. For some reason I kept messing up and it wouldn't click. I knew I would definitely have to practice this once I got home.

L and I left class in a lot of pain once again. I didn't practice until the following Wednesday. I finally got up and took a walk around the development for about 30 minutes then I came home to practice. I started out in the living room but my bouncing around knocked stuff over (whoops...sorry dad). So after I fixed everything I headed to the basement where I have a small piece of floor to work with. I danced for probably over an hour. I was having way too much fun.

While I was practicing I did notice a slight error we learned in class. During 0:29 to 0:31 after the little leg twist, the boys quickly cross their legs while raising up their left arm, then they step out with their right leg when they put their hand on their...crotches (that's right I said it). When I was practicing with the video, I remember thinking that I didn't remember doing the quick leg-ball-change-cross. When I got to the third class I realized why: we stepped out right away with the right leg instead of crossing first. Now, I'm such a perfectionist, so this slight difference really bothered me. On my own practice time I did the cross, but in class I wouldn't do it.

I was only able to practice that one day, because Thursday I woke up with a sore shoulder and a sore neck, and the sore turned into a strain when I moved the wrong way. I could barely move until later that afternoon, and I spent all night and the next day trying to keep the pain away. I couldn't believe I hurt myself that badly, and I was just hoping it wouldn't hurt in class and that I wouldn't strain it again.

Growl Day 1: First Day of Class 9/6/13

So I'm going to stop with the lame titles because I'm not creative, and I'll post screencaps from the video later because right now I don't feel like doing it (don't kill me).

 

The first night we learned the first bridge and right up to the end of the first chorus, from 0:37 to 1:03. The chorus is so much fun. The little floor part was a little tricky at first because I felt like I was just switching legs instead of swinging them around, but after a while I started to get it. Everything on the "eureurong" parts is really fun. I especially like the parts from 1:01 to 1:03. It took several run-throughs, but by the end of the hour I felt pretty good about knowing what we had learned.

Once class was over, though, L and I were in so much pain. My shoulders and thigh muscles hurt so bad, and they took days to heal. I'm really out of shape.

And then I was bad all week and didn't practice. But I had a lot to worry about! I took the NCLEX the following Wednesday and I had to make sure I was prepared. I also still needed to figure out where to practice, as my dad's house has some room but a lot of breakables. I did review it in my head constantly and reviewed the video several times. I know it's important to physically practice it, but I at least remembered what to do and when. I was also resting up my muscles for the next week.
Now let me take a minute to talk about the experience itself, because that was probably more exciting for me than the dance. L and I took the train into NYC and then hurried off to the studio. Luckily it's only a few streets and an avenue away from Penn Station, otherwise we probably wouldn't have been there. We get to the door and had to buzz in, then we walked up stairs, walked down a short hall to another set of stairs, then probably went up 2 or 3 more flights until we got to a door. We went inside and came to a small open area with a desk, couches, several doors to different studios, and another set of stairs. We signed in then went upstairs where there were many other studios and more couches, and waited outside of Studio 10. The whole area had a kind of loft appearance, and I really liked it a lot. Inside the studio there were big windows on the wall opposite side from the door. You could see inside them from the street, and I just thought that was so awesome. As we were dancing, I couldn't help but feel a small sense of pride and achievement. I was dancing in NYC. Okay, sure, it wasn't a prestigious ballet company. It was just a KPOP class purely for fun. But I was dancing in a studio in NYC, where many other dance companies practice. It's something I never thought I'd ever do, whatever the style of dance. I just thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the atmosphere, and enjoying the dance made it even better.
 

I Am Extremely Late

Wow September has flown by. I passed the NCLEX and I learned a new dance! So obviously I don't have my review yet for EXO's "Growl." I'm still trying to figure out what exactly to put in the reviews.

*Sigh* I keep saying I want to make this blog into something good, and I've been wanting to do it for a while, but I never update. That's not going to get me anywhere.

I had an amazing time at I Love Dance in NYC, and once I get a job (which should hopefully be soon) I hope to return to learn more dances. I definitely do well in a class setting with someone teaching me the moves. I remembered the moves from week to week and I still remember them. I am also in the process of locating local dance studios that will take adults. My friend is taking classes at her college, and I almost signed up until I found you have to be associated with the school in order to go :( I know of one other studio that one of my old teachers now teaches at. I don't think it's all that close, but they teach adult classes so I will keep them in mind. I definitely want to take jazz classes again, and I really want to try ballet again. I haven't done ballet since I was 6, but watching Dance Academy last year gave me a new, greater appreciation for it and I want to try my hand at it again. I may also try lyrical and hip hop. Lyrical looks very pretty, and I usually picture lyrical dances in my head when I listen to music. I also want to feel more comfortable dancing hip hop, and I've been gaining a new appreciation for it as well.

Since I don't want to make a really long post, I will write about each class in four separate posts.

New Dance Next Month?

So I *might* be learning EXO's "Growl" next month! I Love Dance is teaching it on Wednesdays at 7 and Fridays at 8 in September and I really want to go! I've talked to L and S about it, and they're both really into it. It's looking like Friday might be the day for us, but it all depends on their schedules. Of course I've got nothing going on ._. It sucks being jobless. But that's a whole other story!

The problem is if they can't go, then I can't go either. It's really not a good idea to walk around NYC at night, as much as I'd still want to go anyway. We'll just have to see how it goes. If everything works out, hopefully once we learn it we can get together and record it, and then I'll finally have a cover up! That'd be great!

I really hope everything works out, because I REEAALLLLYYYYYY want to learn this dance! It looks like it's a lot of fun! But I'll talk more about how much I love it in my next post (that was supposed to come before this one D: ) when I list the new dances I've added to my list. I'm really looking forward to this class, and if we have a good experience I hope to attend more of their classes again!

*I Love Dance has not paid me or anything to talk about them here. I just think that they've got something really awesome going on and I really hope to join them next month*

I'M BACK FROM HIATUS!...SORT OF

Yay I’m back!  Well, kinda.

Gah I’ve been meaning to post this for WEEKS and then when I finally sit down to do it my internet connection fails.  Like, what?  Really??

So, a looooooot has happened since my last post.  But of course, not a lot of dancing happened.  Let’s see, I was extremely busy with school, graduated college, my laptop crashed, I had issues with moving back home, my phone crashed, and I still have yet to take the NCLEX and find a job.  My laptop crashed just 4 days after graduation, and I was really upset because I couldn’t do much of anything.  I wanted to learn new dances, draw (references), and watch all those movies I bought over the past few years but had no time to watch (my dvd player never got hooked up -_-).  I did do some dance while using my phone, but it’s really boring doing the same 5 dances you know really well that you’ve been doing for several years now, and it’s lonely dancing by yourself all the time in a confined space.  I wanted to learn more, especially SNSD’s “I Got A Boy” that I had been watching and memorizing since January.  Sure I could have used my phone, but with a small and also cracked screen, it’s not easy to see, especially the little nuances and small details.  But luckily, I’m back now, I have a new laptop and phone, and I have a test date.  Still no job yet though :/  But that’s another story. 

So since this is a dance blog, I will now talk about dance.  Now that I’m back and don’t have school to worry about, I do hope to use some of my free time to dance.  Luckily my friends are still willing to learn dances with me.  I just need to find the space first :/  That’s always been the main issue.  We’ll just have to see what happens. 

 

Since my last post, I have added a looooot of dances to my list.  I’ve now got 60 (!), and that doesn’t include the songs that I want to choreograph myself/have someone choreograph for me.  I will list them and talk about them in another post because I feel like if I did it here this post would be too messy ><

I’ve also gained a new appreciation for hip hop.  I’ve always liked to watch it, but now I really want to learn so I can do it myself.  I also find myself doing more hip hop dances in my head to ballad-y songs as opposed to the ballet/lyrical/modern route I usually take.  I think it will really be interesting to see now how I choreograph/will want dances choreographed in the future.

I have a lot of ideas for this blog and my dance covers, and I really hope I’ll be able to put them forward.  One thing I really want to do is review the dances I’m learning.  When I pick a new one to learn, I will review it on here before I get started and blog my progress.  I’ve been wanting to do this for a while now, and I wanted to review the ones I’ve already learned, but I just haven’t gotten to it yet.  First there was no time, then I had no laptop.  I wanted to handwrite them, but you know how sometimes when you have to do something, no matter what it is, you just don’t want to do it?  That’s how I felt with the reviews.  But I think the no laptop thing helped with that.  Now that I have one, though, I should have them up soon!  I will be starting with SNSD’s “Gee,” which was my very first KPOP dance.

I Got A Boy Day 1: I Got A Boy Maybe?

So if you've read the About Odoriko page, you'd know that I chose my dances randomly by picking slips out of a cup. If I didn't do it this way I'd be flip flopping from dance to dance, learning only pieces or not learning anything at all. However, this time will be a little different. I've been watching I Got A Boy all weekend (well, dance versions/performances) and I've become obsessed. I can't believe I didn't like the dance when I first saw it. So I'm going to ignore the random selection method and jump right into this one, just like I did with Sexy, Free, and Single over the summer. I feel bad about continuing to neglect Ring Ding Dong, which was the last dance I chose, but I need to learn IGAB NOW! 

I wanted to dance over the weekend, but all I did was watch IGAB and Visual Dreams over and over and over again. So today when I came home I decided to do a little of this. However, I spent most of the time trying to figure out how to approach it. See, I'm not very good at hip hop. Apparently I did pretty well during the two years I took it at my dance studio, but learning Kpop boy group dances isn't entirely easy. Everything feels awkward and I'm too stiff. But SNSD's dances are great for me. They're closer to what I'm used to. Or at least the ones I've already learned are. But IGAB is a mix of that and hip hop, so I'm really nervous about this. Also it's really long, almost five minutes. That's a lot of dancing!

Now I really can't focus too much time on dancing this semester because school needs to be everything right now. I NEED to graduate in May. But this is where IGAB can come in. I decided to learn it in very small pieces. Ever since Run Devil Run I'd learn about a minute to a minute and a half at a time, learning the first verse and the first chorus, then the next day learning the next verse. But for IGAB, I plan on learning maybe 20 seconds at a time and focusing on that 20 seconds for the session. With the others, I would take 10-20 seconds to learn, but once I'd perfect them I'd move on. But this time I plan on focusing on these small pieces. It's going to take a long time, but I think it's what I need to do this time. If it works, awesome! Then I'll go back and relearn Lucifer with this method. If not, I'll figure something else out. 

So today I went up to 0:25. I was flip flopping between learning Sooyoung's and Yuri's parts to Seohyun's part. I always follow Seohyun when I do SNSD's dances, because when I tried to learn Gee I had a hard time learning it without following one specific girl, so I picked my Seobaby. But I know when I make my own covers I can't do that, so I tried to break that this time. It didn't work very well :/ So I just did both. Seo's part is much easier. I think I'm going to stick with learning her part like usual but I'll later modify everything when I make my covers. Stay tuned.

12/24/12 I Thought I Was Gonna Die, and Why I Need to Stop for a While

Merry Christmas Eve!

So now that I'm about halfway into break, I finally danced today! Mom and I have been so busy preparing for Christmas. We got out of school a week later than usual, and since I flew to Mom's I couldn't buy any gifts beforehand, so we were really pressed for time. I did do some of The Boys one night because I really wanted to dance the chorus. I did it in my room so I wouldn't bother Mom and Ken while they were sleeping, but also because the closet doors have mirrors! I can finally see what I'm doing!

But today I had a major setback. I was really excited to dance here because it's so open and there's a lot of space, and the floor is easy to move around on. However, things didn't go well. I did Mr. Taxi, Oh!, and Gee. At first things were great and I was having fun, but soon I was feeling awful. I don't know if I started too hard or I'm just so out of shape, or both, but I felt like I was going to drop dead. Okay, that may be an exaggeration, but I did feel horrible. After dancing Mr. Taxi and Oh!, I had to lay down for a few minutes to catch my breath. I probably shouldn't have gotten back up to dance Gee, of all dances, but I did anyway. I was fine while I was in the shower, but once I got out I started feeling bad again. My chest felt heavy and my jaw felt weird (that one I can't really explain, but it did. That's only happened one other time), so I just got dressed then laid down on my bed without doing my hair. I just had to lie down and rest my body. After about 10 minutes I was okay to get up and do my hair, and I felt fine the rest of the day, but I don't think I'm going to do any dance for a while. My health already isn't good. I've been having knee problems, and since I've been here I've been having random, minor chest pains. I'm being treated for my knees, but the chest pains are worrying me, so I want to talk to my doctor before doing anything strenuous. Hopefully everything will be fine.

11/4/12 - Busy Busy Busy

So, long time no dance. I've been very busy these past few weekends. I had a peds test to study for, volunteered a few hours at Steeplechase, volunteered at Adopt-a-Highway, and went to a baby shower. And now this weekend I won't have time either and probably won't for a while. I just finished up my community paper today and I'm very tired, so I just want to relax. Things are going to get crazy now until Christmas break, so I won't be posting until then.

10/20/12 - SNSD Weekend

I've been in such an SNSD mood this weekend. Today I did Gee, Oh!, Genie, Run Devil Run, and Mr. Taxi. I also danced to the Japanese versions of Gee, Run Devil Run and Mr. Taxi, since I learned Mr. Taxi with the Korean version. I just love their dances! They're so much fun and closer to the style of dance I'm used to. And the songs are great and fun.

School starts up again next week, so I won't have much time to dance for a while, but I will see what I can do. Sorry for a short post this time, not much new happened today. 

10/19/12 - Fall Break!

Yesterday was finally the start of FALL BREAK!!! I have so much time to dance!...and, work on my ethics paper…I did start it yesterday, though, and I FINISHED IT TODAY!!  Great day to dance!

So I’ve decided this week that I should really keep reviewing the stuff I’ve learned this year instead of just continuously learning new stuff without practicing the old stuff.  I know I’ll just wind up forgetting things if I don’t, which is already happening.  I mainly say this because I noticed I’m practicing Mr. Taxi frequently but not Don’t Don; Opera; Sexy, Free, and Single; and Lucifer (well, this one is a different story).  But of course I’m spending break at grandma’s, so I don’t have much privacy.  So I did what I do best: SNSD’s dances!  I did Gee, Oh!, Genie, Run Devil Run, and Mr. Taxi.  I did Mr. Taxi in Japanese and Korean for extra practice.  I did them all pretty well except for that one part in the first bridge in Genie that I keep messing up.  I really need to fix it.  Before I did Mr. Taxi I tried to run through Sexy, Free, and Single.  It went well for the most part until I got to the middle, and then I just embarrassed myself.  I feel bad because it went so well when I learned it, and I really wanted to learn it.  Next time I dance at home I’ll review it with the video.

10/7/12 - Mr. Taxi is Just Too Fun

Today is just a review day.  I did Oh! and Run Devil Run again for the fun of it, then reviewed Mr. Taxi.  I could not get enough of this dance today.  I went through it soooo many times.  It was always “Let’s do it one more time.”  “Let’s do it one more time to make it even.” I did pretty well with the slow part, which surprised me.  I thought I’d totally forget everything and just screw up, but I actually remembered it all, and it didn’t feel as awkward and weird as it did yesterday.  I also cleaned up the dance a bit, mainly just figuring out which feet to pivot on for the 180-degree turns, and that wasn’t bad.  The last time I ran through it I wanted to see how I would do without the video, so I pulled up iTunes, and I decided to play the Japanese version to really test me.  I did really well without the video and with a different language.  The Japanese threw me off a little bit in the beginning but I got used to it, and it went really well.  I’ll definitely continue to do this dance like I do the rest of SNSD’s dances.  I need to be like that with the Super Junior dances now.  I really need to practice Sexy, Free, and Single because I haven’t done it in a while and I want to make sure I remember how to do it.  I remember how much I wanted to learn that dance, and it would be really bad if I can’t do it, especially already.

Tomorrow I’ll be picking a new dance and I’ll reveal it on my next post!  Yay!  I love picking a new dance! I’m once again hoping for NU ABO and praying it’s not Warrior, MAMA, or Sherlock!  If it is Warrior I’m going to have to put it off until I have the space to do the drop-down-to-the-floor slide, I have a mat to do the drop-down-to-the-floor slide, and my joints and muscles are well enough to do the down-to-the-floor slide.  That dance is just an injury waiting to happen, and the way I’ve been injuring myself lately, it won’t take long to happen.

10/6/12 - Mr. Taxi Day 4: I Reached My Destination!

I FINALLY FINISHED MR. TAXI!!! Omg, it took long enough!

I started the day off doing Oh!, Gee, and Run Devil Run, because once again I was in an SNSD mood and I really wanted to do Oh!  After Run Devil Run I started on Mr. Taxi.

I went through what I knew so far, and I was surprised I remembered the new stuff I learned last week.  After that I went on to learn the rest of it.  I was got the last chorus before I finished the slower part.  A lot of it is still similar to the other 2 choruses, I remembered a little from the flash mob I was in last summer, and the little bit that was left was really easy, though I was messing up quite a bit.  I kept trying to do the moves from the first 2 choruses because that’s what I’ve been used to, especially on the “jeukshi jeukshi jeukshi” parts.  I think it’s funny because those were the only parts of the dance I knew when I first started and now I’m messing them up!  I’ll keep working on that tomorrow.  When I really studied the rest of the slower part, it suddenly looked a lot complicated.  I know I use this word a lot, but a lot of the moves were awkward, and there wasn’t a good part in the music to associate with some of the moves, so I was getting confused about when I was supposed to do what.  After a certain point though, it got easier, especially the stuff on the “I don’t wanna say goodbye”/ “Goodbye”/ “Goodbye”/ “Don’t wanna say goodbye-aiee-ah-aiee-ah” parts.  After running over it a few times I started to get the hang of it.

BUT I’M FINISHED!  OMG I’M FINISHED!  Not like Mr. Taxi was hard or a pain in the butt, but I was hoping to have had it finished by now, especially because it was going so well and it’s fun.  I really can’t wait to pick a new dance!  But I’m going to practice Mr. Taxi tomorrow.  I want time to watch the dance a bunch of times this week in between work, which thankfully there isn’t much going on this week.  My test is Monday then no test next week, which means no studying for a while!

9/29/12 - Mr. Taxi Day 3:

I finally have time to dance this weekend! I already finished my community paperwork on Thursday and I did most of my peds work yesterday.  All I had to do this morning was the pathophysiology.  I don’t have too much studying to do because my test isn’t until Wednesday and it’s open book, and I’m not incredibly worried about music, especially since my professor told us not to be.  Grandma is going out today so once I get some studying in I’ll take a dance break.

Okay, so first off, I finally went to the orthopedist** on Tuesday.  They took some x-rays, but everything must’ve been okay because they never said anything about them again.  The physician’s assistant came in and touched my knees in different spots to see what hurt and where.  He thinks it’s patellofemoral syndrome.  He gave me a few sheets explaining the syndrome and exercises for me to do to strengthen the surrounding areas.  I’ve only been doing one so far because I want to start off small and I’m afraid of really hurting my knees.  He also gave me a pain reliever that’s used for arthritis pain.  So far I think it’s been working, which is why I was so concerned that I woke up this morning with my left knee really hurting, different than usual.  It sort of started last night, and I really felt it in the middle of the night when I got up to use the bathroom, but I wasn’t too concerned until I got up this morning.  It hurt every time I took a step so I started walking with it bent.  I really don’t know what happened or where it came from since I’m now on pain medication *shrug*.  I was so upset at first because I knew I was finally going to have time to dance this weekend and now my knee is hurting.  But luckily it went away pretty quickly, so by 4 I was up and ready to dance!

I’ve been in an SNSD mood today, which is good because I’m working on an SNSD dance!  I was listening to them when I was finishing up my paperwork this morning.  I did Gee, Oh!, Genie, and Run Devil Run before I worked more on Mr. Taxi.  I decided to use learnkpopdance.com for them too, since I didn’t feel like bringing my laptop into the computer room to use my iTunes.  It was helpful though, because I was able to catch some things I’ve been messing up on, like a couple of turns in Genie, or haven’t been able to see in the video I had used to learn the dance, like in Run Devil Run (they had the video I used but it had been removed because of copyright stuff).  After Run Devil Run, I moved onto Mr. Taxi. 

Ooh boy, did it need a lot of work.  I mean, it was to be expected, since I hadn’t done it in two weeks now, but I had hoped that practicing pieces in the kitchen and in my head would have helped, but nope.  I haven’t even been able to do it in my head lately!  I watched it once then started practicing up to where I left off with, and for the most part I was able to get it again.  For some reason though, I kept having issues with the moves on all three “jeukshi jeukshi jeukshi” parts.  For the first two, I know what to do but I kept switching them around, which is what happened when I first started learning it.  And on the third “jeukshi jeukshi jeukshi”, which is my favorite part of the whole dance, I kept doing the wrong hips.  And it wasn’t like once or twice, it was almost every time I went through it!  AAHHH!  Finally, by the time I was ready to finish for the day, I was doing it right.

Once I worked all that out I was ready to continue! I went up to 2:37, which is right in the middle of the slower part.  I stopped there because the moves were slow and simple, but after that the song and moves pick up just a bit, and there are a lot of moves in there, so I figured let’s wait on that.  I also didn’t want to get too into it and have grandma come home while I was still going!  The dance break wasn’t too bad except for the very beginning.  The part on the “Ow!” really got me.  I was still confused by the arms, and then watching Hyoyeon’s legs really had my head spinning.  I finally got the arms, but I still don’t really know what my legs are supposed to be doing *shakes head* I’ll get it eventually! *determined face*  After that it’s really easy, just an arm swing backward, a kick ball change, then walking forward while turning the wheel, then some popping, and finally, you guessed it, stopping and posing!  This dance has too much of that, and Hyoyeon REALLY needs better dances.  Come on SM, I know she’s not the best singer in SNSD, but neither is Shindong in Super Junior, and he gets more screen time and better dances!  Give some screen time to Hyo!  And while you’re at it, give them some more lines.  Okay, rant over!

After that it’s still really easy.  The little turn while walking to the side messed me up at first, but then I realized I should really watch the next parts I’m about to learn to know what I’m supposed to be doing instead of just jumping into them right away.  Once I watched it I figured it out, and it was smooth sailing from there!  As much as I complain about all the posing, I really do like this dance a lot, and it’s really fun.  I really can’t wait to finish it!  I doubt I’ll have time tomorrow though, because I don’t think grandma is going out anywhere, so I won’t have any privacy, and I’m not sure about next weekend either, because I have a test next Monday, and I need to squeeze in time for me to meet with Chelsea about the SHINee contest.  Doubt I’ll win, but I still want to give it my all!

**To make this post even longer, I don't think I've mentioned the knee pain in previous posts, so I'll post here. My knees have been giving me trouble for a while. I hurt the right one last March and the left one in July, but I didn't do much to either of them. In September they were getting worse so I told my doctor and she referred me to an orthopedist. He first gave me medication that did more harm than good so at my next appointment he referred me for physical therapy. At first it seemed to be helping, but in the past few days they seemed really bad. I could barely get up and down stairs.

9/9/12 - Mr. Taxi Day 2: Back on Track

This morning I woke up with my back hurting slightly.  It’s not bad but I hope it doesn’t get worse.  I don’t really think there was anything to strenuous in what I learned yesterday, so I don’t know where this came from.

So today went a lot better.  I did remember pretty much everything and I did not want to stop, but I had to because I had to give my friend one of my old schoolbooks and then we hung out.  I went up to 2:12, which is through the second chorus.  Again, it was rather easy, and a lot of the beginning was posing.  Seohyun’s part on her line is giving me some trouble though, so I’m going to have to practice it a lot.  I also realized that on Yoona’s line in the chorus, the first line, I had the wrong arms.  The left is supposed to go front and the right is supposed to go back, and then the switch, but I was doing the opposite, so that’s why the rest of that part felt really awkward.  I’m glad I figured that out and fixed it.  Towards the end I started doing the arm thing that Sunny does on the third “Mr. Taxi Taxi Taxi.”  It’s rather fun so I’ll probably keep doing it even though Seohyun doesn’t.  I also started looking at the dance break more to prepare for next weekend.  It doesn’t seem bad, just the first move on the “Ow!” but I’ll figure it out when I get to it.  I’m hoping to finish it next weekend.  The slow part after the dance break doesn’t look bad either and I know most of the last chorus.

I ran through Sexy, Free, and Single once, without going on the floor of course.  That muscle is pretty much healed and I don’t want to reinjure it anytime soon.  I remembered most of it, which is not what I wanted, but I ran through the parts that I messed up again and I got them.  I should definitely keep practicing it every week since I only just learned it, and I should also keep practicing Don’t Don and Opera as well.  I hadn’t watched those enough to have had the dance in my head before I tried them, and I hadn’t practiced them much since I finished them, though I was still doing Opera into July.  They’re still shaky, so the only way they’ll get better is if I keep practicing.  I hope to have them down as well as Gee someday! Hopefully I’ll have time to run through all three even just once each day this weekend in between studying and paperwork.  We shall see~

9/8/12 - Mr. Taxi Day 1: Riding that Taxi to Nowhere

MR. TAXI TAXI TAXI SUTOU/JIGEUM JEUKSHI JEUKSHI JEUKSHI

Yup, SNSD’s Mr. Taxi is next!  I’ve been looking forward to this all week! I will be using this video to learn because it is easier to see than the regular dance version.

So for some reason I was having a lot of trouble.  I couldn’t get anything and fell into a funky mood.  I was upset because I was looking forward to learning it all week but I had trouble with everything.  What really bothered me about that was that the dance is so simple!  Not too simple like Mr. Simple and Opera, where it’s too easy it’s hard, but rather it was an easy simple!  I shouldn’t have had trouble with it!  Aahhhh!

Anyway, I went up to 1:10, which is up through the first chorus.  A lot of the beginning is just simple posing, but right before I was about to finish for the day I realized I was doing one of them wrong.  I had my weight on the wrong leg.  I hope I went over it enough the right way to remember it tomorrow.  We shall see.  I hope I have a more enjoyable session tomorrow.

9/3/12 - Sexy, Free, and Single Day 4: I REALLY Hurt My Leg but I Don't Care, Or Why You Shouldn't Dance When You're Injured

I was able to get in some dance time today and I FINISHED SEXY, FREE, AND SINGLE!!!  I’m so happy! I feel really good about it and it’s so much fun!  It didn’t take long at all to finish the ending.  I wanted to try Eunhyuk’s little solo today, but I thought it might be better if I learn it at my own pace.  I’ll still learn new dances along with it.  I think if I just watch it over and over and study what he’s doing before I try doing it I should be able to learn it better.  I’ll shoot for Saturday, and we’ll see how that goes.  I’ll wait until Saturday to pick the next dance as well and will reveal it in that post.  I’m hoping for NU ABO and praying it’s not MAMA, Warrior, or Sherlock!

But of course it’s not a good dance day without hurting myself, right?  The floor choreography is killing me!  My hip area was already bothering me a bit before I started, then on the last run through I really hurt it.  I managed to finish it out but I could barely walk after that, and I’m still having trouble.  Oh well, it’s all part of dancing.  I should be fine by the end of the week.

9/2/12 - Sexy, Free, and Single Day 3: Dancing at Night is Fun

Today I didn’t do too much dancing.  Grandma and I went to the mall at about 10:30ish and came back at about 2.  By the time I was done studying dinner was ready, and then I just chilled until grandma went to bed at 10.  I only danced for about 45 minutes.  Since it was late I didn’t want to do too much.

Tonight I went up to 2:58.  I had trouble after the first count of 8 (normally I don’t use counts when I learn things on my own but I really don’t know how to describe the move and it’s an obvious count of 8).  I absolutely hate a lot of arm movements without a lot of footwork.  It’s why Opera gave me so much trouble and why I still haven’t gotten Mr. Simple despite 2 attempts on 2 separate occasions, so I think that’s why I had trouble with this little part.  After doing it a few times I managed to get it.  Hopefully with more practice I can polish it.  Then the rest of what I did today I already kind of knew.   I’ve known the chorus just from watching the music video over and over again, and I worked on the ripple a little yesterday, which I already saw how easy it was.  I was really nervous about switching my feet on the first “Sexy, free, and single” because it looks complicated even though it’s so simple, but I managed to not trip myself like I thought I would.   It doesn’t feel as cool as I thought it would though.  Maybe it will with more practice and as I get more comfortable with it.

I pulled a muscle in my hip yesterday the second time I went down on the floor for the floor choreography.  It didn’t hurt much after that but it was bothering me today.  Hopefully it’ll get better soon.  And today during the first “Sexy, free, and single”, on my second run through of the whole dance, I hurt my ankle.  I don’t know exactly what happened but suddenly I felt pain.  I finished up to where I went up to then did another run through one last time.  It didn’t really hurt until I got to that part again, so I think it’ll be alright.  We’ll see how it is tomorrow.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to finish it up, including Eunhyuk’s little solo.  It doesn’t seem too bad so we’ll try it.  Grandma is going out tomorrow so hopefully I can squeeze in some time between studying for my community and math tests.

9/1/12 - Sexy, Free, and Single Day 2: Thankful for the Long Weekend

So I took a break from studying to learn more of Sexy, Free, and Single.  I didn’t think I’d get to learn more today because I’m at my grandma’s house, so I just expected to review the other dances in my room.  But grandma went to church, so I was able to learn more!  I went up to 2:23, again still skipping over Eunhyuk’s little solo.  I didn’t want to do too much and overwhelm myself, so I just went up to the second chorus.  I felt that I knew most of it already just from watching the music video over and over again, so I didn’t have too much trouble with anything today.  The only things were the feet in Donghae’s part and the part right after that.  During Donghae’s part I kept picking up the wrong foot for the little hop.  It didn’t feel right picking up my right foot when I went to the right and picking up my left foot when I went to the left.  Doing it that way made it feel like my body was going back in the other direction instead of continuing in the same direction.  It took a few tries but by the time I was finished I got it.  Let’s see if I can keep doing it right.  Then the part right between that and “Uri time for romance” I had some trouble with.  It didn’t seem that difficult but the camera angles were awkward so I couldn’t see what they were doing very well.  It still feels very awkward when I do it.  Hopefully once I do it a lot it’ll click and feel a lot less awkward. 

I had a fun time dancing today and I hope I can find some private time to learn more tomorrow between the mall and studying.  I have a little over a minute left to learn!

8/26/12 - Gotta Get My Butt Into Gear

So school just started on Thursday, meaning limited dance time.  I decided I’d like to dance for 1-2 hours every Friday and Saturday, if possible.  Of course today is Sunday.  Yesterday I really needed to go food shopping, but before that I went to lunch with my roommate and her parents.  We left a little bit later than I thought we would, and service was very slow.  After shopping I was just exhausted, so I didn’t do any dancing.  I know, I’m lazy.

Today I decided to run through all the dances I’ve already done, except for Lucifer.  I really need to relearn it.  I used a tutorial but it probably wasn’t the best way to go.  I did Gee, Oh!, Genie, and Run Devil Run without the videos as usual, though I messed up Run Devil Run in a few spots.  I used the videos for Don’t Don and Opera just to refresh my memory.  I remembered a lot more of Don’t Don than I thought, which was pretty much the whole thing.  Opera, though, was a huge mess the first time.  I totally forgot the trio, which I kind of expected, and I messed up a lot.  But I went through it again and I did much better.  I hope to do these every weekend, even if I don’t do the others, so I can get them into my head.  After that I reviewed what I learned last month of Sexy, Free, and Single.  I remembered everything, which is good because I’ve been doing it in my head ever since I learned it.  I fixed Sungmin’s part.  I don’t know how I couldn’t get it and got so confused last time.  It’s so easy.  I’m glad it clicked so quickly.  After going over that a few times so I would remember it I learned the next 3 seconds, skipping over Eunhyuk’s little solo.  I’m saving that for last.

I really can’t wait for next weekend so I can learn more of it.  We have a 3-day weekend, so I’ll have more time to dance!  Hopefully I can squeeze it in between studying for my community health test!

I'M READY TO BINGO!!!!!, Or I Finally Decided to Do This, Plus Sexy, Free, and Single Day 1

Hey guys! Welcome to my first post! I came up with the idea to start a dance blog over the summer, but the only thing stopping me was a name. I am not very creative so I had a hard time coming up with something. So what I did was write my posts in Word so I could have a record of what I did and I could go back later and post them. My first posts will be all of those, starting with the one I wrote on 7/19/12:

I thought of this last week and I’m finally going to do it!

At this point I already have finished SNSD’s Gee, most of Super Junior’s Bonamana, SNSD’s Oh!, SNSD’s Genie, SNSD’s Run Devil Run, SHINee’s Lucifer, Super Junior’s Don’t Don, and Super Junior’s Opera, in that order.  On Tuesday 7/17 I started learning Super Junior’s Sexy Free and Single. 

I will be using this video to learn, courtesy of learnkpopdance. I went up to 1:35, which is through the first chorus up to the second verse. Let me just say how excited I am to be learning this dance right now. Actually, I can't. I can't put into words how I feel about this dance. It is just so amazing and crazy good. Anyway, I don't think I did too bad. The beginning has a lot of little movements and arm movements and not a lot of footwork, which I don't like, but I seem to have gotten it very well for the first day. I did, however, have trouble with the footwork on Sungmin's part. I don't know what happened, but I just could not get the moves on "Nae saram-a saram-a nal deo mid-eojwo/Nan deudieo" for some reason. It just did not click for me. Hopefully with more practice I'll get it. I cannot wait to finish this dance! 

Videos will come later when I have actual space to dance.