My Blog

Yes… I took a replacement class at Axis. Decided to step out of the comfort zone and took the call.

I was a bit shaky today,,trying to maintain my composure, trying not to reveal my nervousness…Osm saw me..and said, are u ready? I said..ya.. a bit nervous. Are you doing new tracks?.. he asked..I said no.. I m trying something new.. I m trying out flashdance. (taking a risk)..very new to me.

Axis… the regulars who has done more jamming than I do. They who knows choreo inside out… I did screw up at my block 35 U see the trouble with me…first 1minute..man…. I guessed i panicked slightly. But I managed to picked it before the hip drag..and kept it rolling… until the next song.. Come Dare Me.. towards the end, when I encouraged the members to touch themselves..and the gal in purple reallllllllyyyyy touched herself… I told her “wow!! that is nice”.. I was distracted…cos she was so happy and she slide her hands down her front and rocked her hips. It was wild..and nice..well i over did by one rep.. watching her. Anyway jittery start…but better finish. Its good to c some members who has had difficulty, did finally understand the leap n flick. And one of them,struggling initially, ended doing it nicely, there is a show from him..he did his jazzy flick and feel. He got it during Flashdance. Glad the regulars were quite vocal during the jam 35 ..it did helped a lot… its reassuring. Eh…the butt pump and getting vocal during it? Hmm…. first time I hear it. Hmm…there was around more than 20 people in the class… I dont count, but the room is quite full from back to front, but there was enough space for them to dance. Not pack jammed..just nice, nice space to roam about. Space is a necessity for freedom of movement.

I have started from instructor side..hardly done many classes. Advantage is, its a start on instructorside, not memberside. Rarely do the members side mistake. However, set back, long period for learning choreos from the start is not easy..many members has done the dance .choreo umptheen times…or many years back. Jam 35 is one of them that I spent the most time, looking, watching , listening, analysing.. and breaking down. Easy to dance, but not easy to remember..
Yea..sometimes,even if we know the choreo inside out… we can lose it.. due to…hehe..nervousness?
Jam 35 Flashdance is not easy, its just a small hitch at the start. Learning it, making that I m 100% sure before teaching it was taxing… its time to move on and learn something new. If possible , try not to rely on the regulars for choreo correction… one must be prepared, before taking up the new choreo.

O the stage… I almost felt like I might break it and fall into it. The left part of the stage felt like its going to give way…feels like there is a hole… The instructor after me, she said she felt the same.

Next target is Deja Vu recovery..man, I feel for the lyrics… and the dance feel and moves are not easy (not very difficult) teaching it to the members are difficult.
Clean up act is necessity for some tracks… weaknesses identified. Cleaning up means, analysing again.
Next target,doing blocks …that takes longer time to muster. Which block?? I set a target already.
Next… getting ambitious? Jam 44… is this Sat.
Yeah!!! Gathering with Jam 40 GANG!!!

You think I’m up when I’m breaking down
I need to hide away and catch my breath
I pick my keys up and I’m headin’ out
Leave my phone and drive inside my van

Have enough of the same old time
My senses they need reviving
Giving up of just standing by
It’s time for a brand new feeling

Let’s all do something incredible
Make it happen when we come together
Just stay and hear - it’s so wonderful
Be Incredible!

Ohhhhh!

I’m gonna be there to the highest high
There’s such a place that holds me up and over my life
It’s so amazing what I’m feeling now
Thank you for it, bless this house

We all need comfort when times are hard
Come on and hide away
There’s no pretense here

Don’t need a thing, leave you credit-card
Put it all behind

Had enough of the same old vibe
All our senses they need revivin’
Giving up we’re on borrowed time
Make way for a brand new feelin’

Let’s all do something incredible
Make it happen when we come together
Just stay and hear - it’s so wonderful
Be Incredible!

Ohhhhh!

I’m gonna be there to the highest high
There’s such a place that holds me up and over my life
It’s so amazing what I’m feeling now
Thank you for it, bless this house

Wonderful, incredible
Wonderful, incredible
Wonderful, incredible
Wonderful, incredible

Can’t you feel, can’t you feel
Can’t you feel, can’t you feel
Can’t you feel, can’t you feel
Can’t you feel, can’t you feel

I’m gonna be there to the highest high
There’s such a place that holds me up and over my life
It’s so amazing what I’m feeling now
Thank you for it, bless this house

Oh yeah, Aah!
Incredible baby!
It’s wonderful, Incredible - Oh yeah!

Tuesday…. my own class.
A taste of having my own class. 19th February 2008, 530pm, a month after I started replacement. I m glad I had the 8days of break in between. I have not rested even during my trip to Japan. I started work the next day, after I flew back from Japan and has not stopped since. Maybe a few days in between. Today and tomorrow , Monday is my rest day. Indeed, a break is good.
Tuesday, how was it. Erm…I started with Jam 39, Canned Heat followed by Buttons, Hips dont lie, then, I proceeded to Jam 35 block 2. I could have done Jam 34, hiphop, but the majority are newcomers. 95% newbies… I opted for Dancehall, the easier version. The two regulars who enjoyed the first half decided to walk out during the Dancehall. whilst the rest stayed. That was the first class experience. Yes…I have these two regulars, since I started replacements at this club. I will make it back to them, and the newbies. With a little more cueing (have to be long winded….long winded..) the regulars liked something challenging, but newbies are struggling with Canned Heat..though I made a preview, and practised.
The next day, I swapped the class with Eric, to Leisure Mall.. ya..my clearance venue. I still remembered my anxiety (30th Nov 07)…when I was being assesed by Leonara. The class was at 635pm. My name was on the board.
I didnt expect many to turn up..as I see only a few people standing outside the room. As I got in…went up the stage. did a sound check , mic check.. I found the class was filled. I was indeed surprised.
SH told me that, usually the slot has lesser people…and of course there were no guys in the class until I came in. There were around 6 to7 guys.. 3 of them, malay guys were giggling over their lack of coordination, though I told them right right right..left left left..turn left..etc etc. Yea..she hasnt seen those fellas in the class before.

I realised that, my knees cant take much beating, there is one release which I only taught once..though I liked it very much. Its Jam de Podium. Once injured, twice shy. But in the future, I might teach it.
At the moment, of all releases, I find that Jam 35, block 1 which ends with Flash dance is the most difficult to cope. The timing, the reps, the breaks in between, its unlike many releases, the transition between each section of the song for each moves are less apparent, …when u listen to the songs, the songs seemed same from the start….. its repeat repeat and repeat.almost the same lyrics from top to end….. the holding patterns, its pretty challenging for someone who hardly done it. Finally, after some time to preaching to it..(its a lot of time..), I almost gotten 90% of the choreo. Practise more, .. now its the execution, the flava , the scripting..precues, cues…etc etc…..O.. so tough.. its the toughest I dealt with so far. Blocks are never easy to learn and teach.

It always feel good, when you hear some people clap after your class…not all.. some is gud enough.. haha. Now I m glad I find time to go back to my weights training…I needed that badly.. the CNY year binging..has given me chubby thighs, and butt.

Kay, Practise well. Yea..Leisure mall crowd are great..its a gud start for u.

Ah Valentines..nothing special, lunch with friend, gym gym gym. And dinner with family. Loh Sang, hearty laughs, and after that, met up with buddies for yum char after their 2 hours jam class.

I havent gotten enough sleep lately since 6th Feb, my flight to Yamagata. Flight was almost 9 hours, due to transit at Spore Changi, then to Osaka, and domestic flight to Yamagata. I couldnt sleep in the plane, too busy catching up with inflight movies, Elizabeth - the golden age and a rather thumbs down movie-Good luck Chuck..(appalling). So, it makes a night of no rest, and there after, whole day out, travelling and walking.

On the 7th, took a bus from Yamagata station, stop no:1 to Zao Mountains. When reached the Zao Bus station, the chill was unbearable. The hotel van picked us up to Ohiro Ryokan, a rather simple, oldish ryokan. The idea of public bathing (ladies only) wasnt really what I enjoyed, but everyone is naked… we have outdoor "ofuro", staring to the skies, trees, snow maybe been stared at? Ofuro was terribly hot, 40 over degrees?? I had difficultly dipping myself in.

The next morning, adjourned to the ski rental shop and gotten a board n binds, before attempting the slopes. Gosh, snowboarding can be either thrilling or scary. Depends on how motivated one is. The previous incident got my relative saying that he is not going to board again. The Japanese guys on snowboards are very cute, and cool. Snowboarders were stylish clothes, and most of them grunch. The gals usually have their mascara, thick eyeliners, n lipgloss.pretty.. Lipstick is out of fashion on the snow for boarders.Basically, snowboarders are considered cool or nuinsance on the slopes. Boards of cool designs for the experienced boarders are parked at the front of the ski lifts, whereas, the rented ones are just normal. I m glad I gotten a BURTON board, though the design might not be cool, and the bindings are not matching, the ease of use of the board and binds are unmatchable.

Managed to get back my guts to strap on the board to my right leg and the other leg not strapped on. The trick is to go up the chair lift and when I reach the end of the chair lift station, I have to glide down with one foot on and one on the board,..thats where boarders fall . Trick is to Stand up straight, and 2nd (unstrapped)leg placed right next to the binds  and let the front leg and body position take control of the direction where one intends to glide.

2nd task, Zao mountains are quite sloppy, its steep, and lesser chance to stay on flatter slopes. I like the snow, falling is less painful, but I have less falls this time. Bcos I did only two days,and my knee doesnt allow me to overexert. I felt the pain after the first day on my previous injured knee.

Zao mountains are beautiful, there are two cable cars to go up to the top. First one is half way, the next one, connects to the top. The temperature was negative 11.4 degree to -12 degree, at 5pm (Japanese time), I dont want to wait till the night falls because my toes were freezing. (imagine her e in Malaysia 30degrees, its a drop of 40 degrees for me. Brr…bone chilling.By the time, I reached the foothill, I couldnt walk properly. Took me a while to warm my feet and it was rather numb and painful.

2nd day, of snowboarding. I managed to do "S", as in toeing and heeling. Which is the most important to me at the moment to achieve. Once more practise is done, I can snake down the slopes, I wish to try the steeper slopes.

Osaka-Shinsaibashi. Taking a train from JR Uehommachi Station to Kintestu Namba Station via the Kintestu line would cost Yen150. From there, one could easily assess Dotombori, Shinsaibashi. I was overwhelmed with the crowd, the fashion, the shops, food everything. As there are so many restaurants available, one would feel very confused over what to eat. But I managed to find the best ramen shop (AGAIN)..recommended by Kobe Walker Magazine. The walker magazine’s recommends good food and publishes the shop details . Most of the time, if u are able to see the page of the magazine been displayed around the cashier or notice board at a restaurants, or multiple photos of ppl taken during their visit to the restaurants, and the photos were signed by (i dont have a clue who)..chances are u wont go wrong. But it takes a very acute eye to find the shops, most of the shop entrance are quite small to be noticed. U need to look into the shop and look at the interiors, the diners and look out for the magazine page posted.

Japanese people loves to eat, its a passion to them to serve good food, freshest ingredients. One couldnt help but grow fat in Japan…or either that, too overwhelmed with the choice of food that you cant seemed to find "the"restaurant to go into..and u might end up walking for an hour or so, until, u decide to go back to the first few shops that you seen earlier.

I had that experience, and quite a number of times, I got the right restaurants ..too bz looking at the restaurants.. and ended up.. went to the restaurants and found that those were recommended by magazine. Here am I staring down my hot bowl of cha siu ramen with tongetsu broth, and nice handmade ramen on a cold cold night. Bon appetite. Whats for desserts then??