Easter among others
After the intense weekend last week, I got the flu and was really sick with high fever about one week but I also had an important final so it was a hard week with fever lowering pills to be able to study a few days at least.
Since that it has been Easter and I and my friend Roland went to my familie's hütte in the mountains. We had awesome weather with perfect blue sky and lots of sun, but it was also a bit cold with as low as -27 degrees Celsius yesterday morning. It was good to get some nice skiing and we did a peak traverse in Marsfjällen between Ainantjakke's two peaks, but we also had a day of nice alpine skiing in Kittelfjäll.
Now i study for a final in economics and work on a final project in the media coding class, in parallell with thinking of and loving dancing more then anything else... well, the ice figure dancing world championship was held in Gothenburg, Sweden now during Easter and it also kept my interest in front of the TV and they are so beatiful to watch. I love ice skating and ice figure dancing is way more interesting to watch then ice hockey - oops.... wonder how much people I stirred up now.
I also have to say that it was really revealing coming back to Luleå tonight. I rarely care that much about being home or somewhere else, and we have had such an awesome days in the mountains...but it felt really good being back here and get into some "routines" with training, planning and everyday things. I'm not sure why, but I haven't been stressed or very busy, so I kind of miss the busy things a litttle.... Today when
we went up "på fjället" with the snowmobile (skoter), we sat down in a sunny slope and just relaxed, but I can hardly be relaxed... after a few minutes I grabbed my Palm and started thinking about plans or something else to do... and after half an hour I had to take off and playing in the snow or doing something. I really like having things to do!
Since that it has been Easter and I and my friend Roland went to my familie's hütte in the mountains. We had awesome weather with perfect blue sky and lots of sun, but it was also a bit cold with as low as -27 degrees Celsius yesterday morning. It was good to get some nice skiing and we did a peak traverse in Marsfjällen between Ainantjakke's two peaks, but we also had a day of nice alpine skiing in Kittelfjäll.
Now i study for a final in economics and work on a final project in the media coding class, in parallell with thinking of and loving dancing more then anything else... well, the ice figure dancing world championship was held in Gothenburg, Sweden now during Easter and it also kept my interest in front of the TV and they are so beatiful to watch. I love ice skating and ice figure dancing is way more interesting to watch then ice hockey - oops.... wonder how much people I stirred up now.
I also have to say that it was really revealing coming back to Luleå tonight. I rarely care that much about being home or somewhere else, and we have had such an awesome days in the mountains...but it felt really good being back here and get into some "routines" with training, planning and everyday things. I'm not sure why, but I haven't been stressed or very busy, so I kind of miss the busy things a litttle.... Today when
we went up "på fjället" with the snowmobile (skoter), we sat down in a sunny slope and just relaxed, but I can hardly be relaxed... after a few minutes I grabbed my Palm and started thinking about plans or something else to do... and after half an hour I had to take off and playing in the snow or doing something. I really like having things to do!
dancing all weekend, and my plans are set for entire 2008 now
Yes, "as usual", have I been dancing most of the weekend. Some fun playing around at Stuk both Friday and Saturday night, but on top of that have I been training a new program w/ my dancepartner for some hours on Sat, and today did we also practice but we had club practice too, followed by some wt lifting and another 2h of social dancing at the school. Oh, by the way, I was skiing with a friend out on the ice in the Luleå archipelago too this Saturday. It was beautiful.
And, eventually, have I decided to move to Switzerland for doing my master thesis. I'm probably gonna start around beginning of August and finishing it at Christmas 2008. It's close to Bern and I definitely look forward to it, but there are a lot of things I sureley will miss here though... but I can't cling firmly on to old things all the time so that's why I will take the chance doing this! Another adventure, and I like adventures! And old friends and habit's doesn't have to stop being friends or being something negative just because I'm moving on...
Time for bed!
And, eventually, have I decided to move to Switzerland for doing my master thesis. I'm probably gonna start around beginning of August and finishing it at Christmas 2008. It's close to Bern and I definitely look forward to it, but there are a lot of things I sureley will miss here though... but I can't cling firmly on to old things all the time so that's why I will take the chance doing this! Another adventure, and I like adventures! And old friends and habit's doesn't have to stop being friends or being something negative just because I'm moving on...
Time for bed!
Confidence and performing - dance compared to other sports
Dancing falls into a very narrow field of sports, with the dependance of other people, but not as in a team with maybe 5, 11 or 25 other team mates... instead it's just one person, if you compete in Sweden. Everything YOU do, is reflected to your partner and the audience, and even if you have a good day, it can feel very bad because your dance partner is in a worse mood. But, also, the advantage is that it can feel acceptable good also when one person is dancing bad, just because the partner is dancing good and evens out the mistakes from the other one.
In most individual sports, you can't blame anyone but yourself when you're performing and you're highly responsible for your own training and performances. In team sports, say soccer or ice hockey, it is such a big troop that it isn't just one person that makes the team winning or loosing.
But in dancing, being respectful but also strong and dancing well, in the same time as reflecting what your partner is doing - it's quite tricky.
Dancing with confidence, it takes time, for me at least it has. Being confirmed in different ways is SO important for one's confidence. The last time have I been told independantly from different people, a lot of positive things about my dancing but also being asked for dances in a way I wasn't before, and that totally makes me being a better dancer. I can dance more relaxed and I dare to test new things and fooling around with trust that it is still a valid try, nothing wrong with that. As a couple you're always judged as "the two", but if there is a feeling of individual differences there might arise some uncertainties. That's why it's so important for me, feeling that I'm accepted also as an individual from the bigger crowd of dancers I hang around with most of the time when I'm not dancing with "my" dance partner.
Muscle memory and moving your body - that isn't easy. Coordination and such a things have never been very important for cardio athletics but they (I) are still very strong in most muscle groups compared to their body weight. Maybe strong legs, highly trained abs and well used back, in combination with a good upper body when skiing for example... most athletics can still experience a slowness in the micro-movements that dancing tries to push your body into. I felt it even more obvious last year in Denver, how my dancing and "bouncing" was highly affected of my 5 hour bike ride the other day, or trying to do these body rolls involving all the sore muscles since the climbing practice....
I feel that I now, in combination with better muscle memory and wider dictionary of movements, have been stronger in my core and in better shape with my "smaller and quicker" muscles that handle these center-of-inertia movements of my body, that is supposed to happen in rythm to the music. I honestly think I wasn't strong enough before, to even be close to do the movements I'm doing now. And still - I have tons of things to work on and improve, but I at least see that everything can be learnt as long as you are ready to train and work hard for it.
Most very good shape athletics, like skiiers, bikers or runners, that doesn't feel "soft enough", that feel stiff like I 'did', are probably very good trained in their bigger muscle groups that are effective and awesome for the strong or endurance movements they are doing, but dancing and its quickness is something else. Or? What is your opinion?
Maybe there isn't a lot of people that has "converted" to dancing with such an extreme "other-side-background" like me?
I was doing some ballet exercises yesterday and some gymnastic complex weightlifting program... and it was awesome! I really has to practice it more.
Nothing more, klart slut, rena vargtjut.
In most individual sports, you can't blame anyone but yourself when you're performing and you're highly responsible for your own training and performances. In team sports, say soccer or ice hockey, it is such a big troop that it isn't just one person that makes the team winning or loosing.
But in dancing, being respectful but also strong and dancing well, in the same time as reflecting what your partner is doing - it's quite tricky.
Dancing with confidence, it takes time, for me at least it has. Being confirmed in different ways is SO important for one's confidence. The last time have I been told independantly from different people, a lot of positive things about my dancing but also being asked for dances in a way I wasn't before, and that totally makes me being a better dancer. I can dance more relaxed and I dare to test new things and fooling around with trust that it is still a valid try, nothing wrong with that. As a couple you're always judged as "the two", but if there is a feeling of individual differences there might arise some uncertainties. That's why it's so important for me, feeling that I'm accepted also as an individual from the bigger crowd of dancers I hang around with most of the time when I'm not dancing with "my" dance partner.
Muscle memory and moving your body - that isn't easy. Coordination and such a things have never been very important for cardio athletics but they (I) are still very strong in most muscle groups compared to their body weight. Maybe strong legs, highly trained abs and well used back, in combination with a good upper body when skiing for example... most athletics can still experience a slowness in the micro-movements that dancing tries to push your body into. I felt it even more obvious last year in Denver, how my dancing and "bouncing" was highly affected of my 5 hour bike ride the other day, or trying to do these body rolls involving all the sore muscles since the climbing practice....
I feel that I now, in combination with better muscle memory and wider dictionary of movements, have been stronger in my core and in better shape with my "smaller and quicker" muscles that handle these center-of-inertia movements of my body, that is supposed to happen in rythm to the music. I honestly think I wasn't strong enough before, to even be close to do the movements I'm doing now. And still - I have tons of things to work on and improve, but I at least see that everything can be learnt as long as you are ready to train and work hard for it.
Most very good shape athletics, like skiiers, bikers or runners, that doesn't feel "soft enough", that feel stiff like I 'did', are probably very good trained in their bigger muscle groups that are effective and awesome for the strong or endurance movements they are doing, but dancing and its quickness is something else. Or? What is your opinion?
Maybe there isn't a lot of people that has "converted" to dancing with such an extreme "other-side-background" like me?
I was doing some ballet exercises yesterday and some gymnastic complex weightlifting program... and it was awesome! I really has to practice it more.
Nothing more, klart slut, rena vargtjut.
lots of things happening... long time nothing chosen
I haven't found the time and motivation to write in a while. It doesn't mean I haven't had things going on or thinking about, it's just been too much to do and I've been so tired and empty that I couldn't initiate any blogging.... but, here I am:
I and Lindvi have competed twice in the lindy hop and have got comments about things we will work on. After those competitions, we both have tried to separate our lives a bit again and doing other things than dancing... meaning more time on our own.
I went to the area with Swedens highest mountain, with the purpose of climbing it now in the winter (on skis), but the windy and cloudy cold weather stopped us. We had an awesome trip of 4 days winter camping though, and a lot of "back again" memories. We, meaning 6 guys from the university, sleeping in tents and doing a 70 miles round trip back country skiing.
So, more things on my own... means catching up socially with other people in- and outside school, but also meaning dancing "only" 15 h/week... lol! Anyways, we have made some other dancing things and now we are kind of back in the "good" mood of trainings again, with lots of variations and having fun every practice we do, not just "practice cuz it's competition this weekend". Last week we kept working on some acrobatic stuff and aerials, also when I am swishing through the air which was a lot of fun.
And this weekend has been quite busy for me. Social dancing Friday night in Skellefteå, a town 150k south. Saturday I was teaching a beginner/intermediate lindy hop intensive day, followed by a night of social dancing lindy to a live big band in Piteå, 60k south. Sunday I was on a dance & drama camp the entire day. Lots of conscous acts, theatre, rolls, and learning about status and how to switch between them. Followed by lindy hop practice and a short visit at the school's social dance night in the evening. puwwwh...
The status of school is controlled but not relaxed. I can find time having a coffee when needeed (yes, I've started to drink coffee). My classes are keeping me busy most of the days but I still have some time "off" when I'm catching up on my other completions from classes taken in the US that I have to "even out" by doing some labs and extra hand-ins, and I've started studying for a make-up exam in the stochastic signal class.
I've also had lots of offers for master thesis projects, but I have still not decided what and where to do it. I have offers from Bern in Switzerland, Berlin Düsseldorf Aachen and München in Germany but also Uppsala, Östersund, Stockholm and Luleå here in Sweden. I've had several interviews and declined some offers, but am still thinking about it. I really want to do it in a German spoken country though, but I have to get the details set....
It's a lot of things to being comfy about, if moving - meaning loosing an awesome dance partner, lots of good friends but also a thesis project at a company I really want to work at. Well, I use to "be brave" and find my own path in life and so am I probably doing also now...
I and Lindvi have competed twice in the lindy hop and have got comments about things we will work on. After those competitions, we both have tried to separate our lives a bit again and doing other things than dancing... meaning more time on our own.
I went to the area with Swedens highest mountain, with the purpose of climbing it now in the winter (on skis), but the windy and cloudy cold weather stopped us. We had an awesome trip of 4 days winter camping though, and a lot of "back again" memories. We, meaning 6 guys from the university, sleeping in tents and doing a 70 miles round trip back country skiing.
So, more things on my own... means catching up socially with other people in- and outside school, but also meaning dancing "only" 15 h/week... lol! Anyways, we have made some other dancing things and now we are kind of back in the "good" mood of trainings again, with lots of variations and having fun every practice we do, not just "practice cuz it's competition this weekend". Last week we kept working on some acrobatic stuff and aerials, also when I am swishing through the air which was a lot of fun.
And this weekend has been quite busy for me. Social dancing Friday night in Skellefteå, a town 150k south. Saturday I was teaching a beginner/intermediate lindy hop intensive day, followed by a night of social dancing lindy to a live big band in Piteå, 60k south. Sunday I was on a dance & drama camp the entire day. Lots of conscous acts, theatre, rolls, and learning about status and how to switch between them. Followed by lindy hop practice and a short visit at the school's social dance night in the evening. puwwwh...
The status of school is controlled but not relaxed. I can find time having a coffee when needeed (yes, I've started to drink coffee). My classes are keeping me busy most of the days but I still have some time "off" when I'm catching up on my other completions from classes taken in the US that I have to "even out" by doing some labs and extra hand-ins, and I've started studying for a make-up exam in the stochastic signal class.
I've also had lots of offers for master thesis projects, but I have still not decided what and where to do it. I have offers from Bern in Switzerland, Berlin Düsseldorf Aachen and München in Germany but also Uppsala, Östersund, Stockholm and Luleå here in Sweden. I've had several interviews and declined some offers, but am still thinking about it. I really want to do it in a German spoken country though, but I have to get the details set....
It's a lot of things to being comfy about, if moving - meaning loosing an awesome dance partner, lots of good friends but also a thesis project at a company I really want to work at. Well, I use to "be brave" and find my own path in life and so am I probably doing also now...