Tea Time: China Fujian Classic Shui Xian Oolong Tea

Tonight's tea is an Oolong from Fujian, China.  It has a smokey smell and is very oxidized.

It tasted very toasted and smelled very much the same.  Lots of smoke flavor...  Almost like a smoking newspaper mixed with the hint of the perfume that composes a tie guan yin.  A touch of the bitterness of grapefruit.  Sounds like ingredients for a witches brew.  It is a very balanced tea, each component comes together very well.  Very good on a cold night.

Brewed at boiling and left to steep for about a minute.

Tea Time: Nepal Monsoon Black

Nepal Monsoon Black a very sweet almost coffee like smell.

 It has a taste of very dark chocolate and the smokiness of coffee.  The liquor is thick, but has only a medium richness and an aftertaste of bitter spinach and smoke.  It is hearty and filling but lacks the buttery smoothness of a laoshan black.  Good meal time tea.  Breakfast tea too.

Boiling Water for a minute.  Maybe 95°C for future brews.
An above average black.

Tea Time: Georgia Ilia's Factory Green Tea

Today I went hunting for some tea ware at the close by Salvation Army.   Unfortunately, all I found was this guy.

"Hay Gurrl Haaay!!"

Tonight's tea is a green tea from Georgia.  (the country not the state)
not much of a scent.
It is a very light green tea with a very mild grassy taste with a hint of spinach.  None of the sea like taste you sometimes get with green tea.

 

80°C for 60 seconds
brewed about 3 times.
It was an average tea.  a 2.5/5

Tea Time: Nepal White Peony

I just received some new tea from what-cha.com  I ordered a number of mystery teas which all came today.  Eleven different tea's in all.  This blog will probably house all my thoughts of tea.. and dance and maybe other things as well.  Something like a not so private journal.  It's sure been awhile.  Let's see how long I can keep it up.

The tea arrived with such a friendly, personalized note!

Alistair is such a cool name!

The many teas!

The first tea I am trying is the Nepal White Peony.

Upon first opening the package I find that the tea has much tea dust and a very fragrant smell like that of honey-tinged citrus mixed with freshly cut grass and hay: a very smooth smell.  

The tea is mostly broken leaf and stem.

Such a succinct label.

I steeped it for about minute each time, the first two times at 90°C and one final time at 100°C.

Messy table!

I almost forgot about those coasters.

Brewbrewbrewbrew

The liquor was thick and smelled much like it did when dry.  The same honey and citrus mixed with a summers day in the country.  The first two steepings completely lacked any astringent properties and went down like a Milk chocolate bar with orange bits that had been liquefied and its essence and flavor extracted.  The third steeping was the same only with some slightly bitter notes, it was like the dark chocolate version.

While I only steeped this tea 3 times, it seems to have the potential to be steeped at least twice more.  Perhaps next time I drink this tea I will update this post.

For future steepings I would either steep at 90°C longer, maybe 2 minutes, or maybe 30-60 seconds at boiling.  I think I prefer it with the bitter notes.
I would also try pairing this tea with chocolate or perhaps a croissant.

Rating:
4/5 Dark chocolate bars good with an extra .5 summers day for good measure

Highly Recommended. 

6.0 Thoughts From Friday Through Wednesday

These Past 5-6 days have been rather difficult.  I have had very little energy, and have not really felt like doing much of anything.

It started on Friday, when I was feeling incredibly tired and lethargic.  I had to force myself to come to class.  And even in class I couldn't really focus and I was out of it.  I don't even really remember what happened.

 I think we worked on balance and running.  I have noticed that my balance has improved greatly.  Especially when on my toes.  I had so much trouble with that during the first few weeks of class but now I find it quite simple.  It all came down to engaging my thighs.


With a helpful tip it has become effortless.  

I also noticed that my back has been becoming more flexible.  (Or maybe its my hamstrings)  either way I have come a long way, from barely touching my toes, to going several inches past them.

I'll be there some day...!

The Journal Prompt for Friday, was...(sorry, incoming paraphrasing) How has Dancing affected your life?

Well starting from a couple years ago it has been that part of my life that the everything else revolves around.  Most of my relationships revolve around my friends from dance.  The center of my week is Thursday night swing.  Beyond that, more focusing on this class specifically, I find myself dancing everywhere unconsciously.  Moving with more precision.  I try to be healthier and stretch when I can, I try not to injure myself for worry that I won't be able to dance.

I just want to be able to dance.  Forever.


The weekend continued my melancholy mood even up until my big dance on Sunday!

 

The dance went well and did improve my mood quite a bit.

Monday was a lot better and I felt good about going to class, It really is the best part of my day.
This week is working a lot on precision with the legs and jumping.  The precision exercises are ok, but the jumping exercise is/was incredibly fun.  It is something that I feel I do really well, and I enjoy doing tremendously.

The Journal Prompt was curious about how our learning style affected our learning.  I honestly don't really know.  I learn from every way.  Sometimes different things need different explanations.  I'm having a hard time separating my learning process especially in dance.  I will muse on this more later.

It is late.  Must sleep.
Corbett

5.0 First thoughts on Final Project

In class on Monday and today, we worked on several new exercises.

First was a study in balance.  It was a quick routine that focused on balancing on a single leg with the other limbs in various different positions.  I can't recall the persons name who created this method...

On Monday it was a very new experience, and my balance and smoothness of the transitions were rather unimpressive.  Having your body try to figure out how it needs to hold itself to balance is such an interesting sensation.  It's hard to actively try to think your way through it, and its like watching from outside as your body constantly adjusts to make what you want happen.

Today it was a lot smoother.  Especially once I could focus on keeping my standing leg straight, a lot of things fell into place.   My body got used to it and by the final run through I did it fairly well.  I was proud.  Most if not all of the class was doing very well, and most were in my position on Monday.  Its really nice that we all seem to move forwards together.

Next we worked on a different way to run, this was sooo difficult for me.  We were changing the focus of our running from straight forward and directing it in two different directions at once.  I don't know if I am over thinking it (most likely)  or what but I struggled with this.  I was having trouble keeping my running from turning to leaping.  I put a lot of energy into my running and leaping, and when I need to keep it toned down, like when running in a group where I have by far the longest stride is difficult.  I also seem to struggle with keeping the direction constant.  I have an annoying tenancy to fly away from the group.   I still haven't quite got the hang of it.   Hopefully by Friday it works itself out.

Finally we had a very interesting new type of leap I think called a Stag Leap.  It was kind of strange for my legs to get the hang of it, but once  I did, It was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much fun.  It was like leaping through the air like a stag or an ibex or some gazelle like deer creature.  I love pretending to be an animal when dancing.  It adds so much sometimes.

I'm always so amazed when little bits of advice change everything and make everything click.  Its like you can physically feel yourself improving and you can track it.  It's tangible.

The journal prompt for today was for us to reflect on what we are planning to do for our final choreography.

I have thought quite a lot about this since the beginning of class and I already have a few songs chosen.  They are all completely different but it is so wonderful to dream of the different possibilities.

The first song I wanted to work with is Godsmack's Voodoo.

 The beat is just catchy and visceral and a little creepy.  The dance would be with 3 people, and the movements would be on the repetitive and robotic side of things.  I would really want to play with the relationships of the three dancers in space to each other as well as play with the transitioning between up and down.   I would probably cut the music off around the 2:40 mark.  I think that this would be really fun to come up with a choreography for.


Second I wanted to experiment with a Bjork song.
There are a few that have me interested.  I need to do more research.
The three are...
Possibly Maybe


So Broken


or a remixed version of Hyperballad


I would have a far easier time with the first two, but I really like the song Hyperballad.  These would all be solo's or maybe duets.  Duets would be pretty cool.

For the first song possibly maybe, the song changes quality midway through.  I love the contrast of sound and the texture of the dance would be completely different.  Almost like 2 or 3 dances in one.  I envision this dance to have a lot of arm movement with the arms leading a lot of the movement.  I think i would like to do a duet to this song if I was able to.

The second song, So Broken, has a very nice Spanish guitar sound.  With this song I would focus a lot on the legs with short expressive jumps paired with slinking yet precise circular steps.    (hard to explain what I am envisioning in my head)  This would be nice as a solo or a duet as well.  Leaning more towards a duet.

The last song Hyperballad I would want as a solo.  I'm having the hardest time envisioning movement for the parts of the song around the verses.    On the parts I can see, it would be a faster dance with sudden stops.  Lots of traveling across the space.  This song I would have to spend a lot of time on.

My final songs are from Bon Iver and Sigur Ros.

First Bon Iver's Perth



Lastly Sigur Ros' Glósóli


These last two are the least conceived ones in my head, being that they are the most recent ones on my mind.   I am not quite certain about the feel of either.  I think I would want a Trio for Glosoli and I don't even know for Perth.

I haven't even thought of the costumes yet.  Probably pretty minimalist for most of them.  I'll contemplate this more and write back again later.  

That's it for today.

Corbett

4.0 Journal Entry: Spinnings

This week in class we did a lot of spins and turns.  Spinning and turning is probably my second favourite part of dancing after jumping.

     We separated them into 2 categories, where we bring our mass in towards a center point to spin faster, and a second, where we throw our mass outwards to essentially shoot our bodies into a circular turn.

     The spinning inwards towards a center point is fun but incredibly disorienting.  I have always had a hard time spotting myself to keep myself from getting dizzy.  It just doesn't seem to work and i have a hard time keeping focus on a single point.

     Throwing my mass outwards (I love referring to myself as a mass.  Not really sure why) to fling myself into a circle is quite entertaining.  I feel like I'm floating or flying like wind, and it is by far the easiest one to control.  

I really need to practice my spotting more.  This skill will be sooo helpful in my dancing.  Especially in swing dancing where getting off my axis or being disoriented is rather bad for the flow of the dance.

     Looking through the past weeks, I am proud that my ability to balance has been improving.  I still have a looong way to go.  Especially standing on a single leg in first position while we go all horizontal with the other leg and extended arm.  I can't for the life of me seem to balance.  Holding on to something does not help at all.  I really need to work on that more and figure out the reason for its difficulty.

     My precision is also improving.  I am able to move with a greater sense of completeness with the intended motion.  I suppose its just because I am getting used to the various positions and exercises but it makes a noticeable impact that I am proud of.

I really want to focus on my balance this coming week.  Really buckle down and try to have more control.

Looking forward to the coming week,
Corbett