I’m back to another rough patch in my dancing. I have spent two weekends including all day on the Fridays before sitting. My butt hurts. My strength is less than it was. I need to get back to practicing more. I can’t believe that just a few days of not practicing reduced my leg strength. I’m enjoying it more though since the courses because I’m not berating myself for mistakes.
I haven’t written about dance classes in awhile, so I suppose it is about time. I have a mock fete coming up for Tahitian dancing. A mock fete is a practice competition that is run just like a competition with sign-in, line-ups and judges. I still haven’t decided if I will be there. It’s the last Sunday of March, but it corresponds with my son’s spring break. It’s an all day thing that I’m not sure he will be able to stand. I’d rather spend the time with him, since I don’t often have him for spring break. His upcoming spring breaks will be taken up with a band trip and French class trip.
Dance classes aren’t going as well as I would like since I was sick for a week. The residuals of being sick lasted another week. I have lost quite a bit of strength. I’m really quite surprised.
Hula is still an hour a week, but Tahitian practice is two hours a week. I need to find 30 minutes a day–every day–to improve. It’s “every day” that is the problem. I know my weaknesses, but I just never work myself as hard as class.
I’m going through the “I’m not good enough” stage. I’m often frustrated because I have to work so hard to get just a little improvement. Some dancers pick up the moves faster. Perhaps they practice more. I’ve been at it for six months, and I wish I was a better dancer than where I’m at right now. I’m stronger. My body is leaner. But I’m still not in good enough shape to even last through 20 minutes of stamina training.
Since I get many Google searches on how to sew a pa’u skirt, I’m going to post a how-to based on what I learned. There are different methods, and one’s preference depends on the teacher.
First, you will want to get cotton muslin or similar material in weight. You should buy the standard width of 45″. If you buy larger, you will need to hem your skirt because the width is double. You will want 4-5 yards of material to make a very swingy skirt. For anyone above a size 16, I would recommend nearly 6 yards to get the same swing. You will also need to buy enough elastic to go around your hips 3 times. We use 3/4″ elastic. You should also buy 3 size 8 knitting needles.
Next measure yourself (or have someone do it for you) from hip bone to mid-calf. That is the length of your skirt. Fold the muslin to make the length. If you are using unbleached muslin, you will appreciate the extra material to prevent see-through. Although, you should make pantaloons or bloomers to wear underneath. The muslin should have finished edges, if not you need to allow for a hem and will probably want to finish off the rough edge inside so it doesn’t unravel when you wash it.
You will sew 6 straight lines across the double layer an inch apart if you’re using 3/4″ elastic. I marked my sewing machine with tape and then measure lines an inch apart as a guide to maintain straight lines. After you have sewn all the lines, make three strips of elastic long enough to go around your hips and subtract 5 inches. If you don’t subtract 5 inches, the skirt will not stay on.
Put the knitting needles through the elastic, leaving about an inch between the end and the hole. Now you feed all 3 knitting needles with the elastic attached through every other inch gap. The top inch space should be left flat, so if you look at the rows from top to bottom, you insert elastic in rows 2, 4 and 6. You will want to scrunch the material as you go. Be sure to either tie a knot in the end or put something on the end of the elastic so it can’t be pulled straight through. I found putting the elastic in worked best on a large table. You want to keep the elastic flat, so work slowly.
When you have gotten all the fabric on the elastic, pin it and then sew it down. You can finish edges as you wish. Skirts can be left partially open or fully sewn up the side. If you leave it partially open, you will want to hem the edges.
The top of a finished skirt looks like the picture below.
If you are familiar with making a pa’u skirt and have some additions or changes, please comment or email me.
I’m taking a short break from the Google meme. I will post the next installment on Monday. I’m still working on the story of how I got here to California. I have a few more years to cover before arriving. I had Tahitian dance class today. Much longer than usual because several of us stayed for solo practice. It ended up being an extra hour. We’re supposed to have a mock fete (sort of a practice competition) in February. I’m not sure if I will be able to make it yet because no date has been set. I’m already busy an entire weekend in February. Friday I received an email from the kumu about the school closing. I’ve been a bit bummed ever since, but it turns out that several people spoke to her, and the school will be staying open. We may have increased class fees. Fees are rather low. We will be having several fundraisers as well. Many have donated money. I did. The school is like a big family. The thought of having to find another school, learning their way of doing things and getting along was dreadful. This group is wonderful, and they have a way of teaching that makes you feel capable and confident. I love hula and Tahitian dancing. It has gotten me into the best shape of my life. I love the music and the beauty of the dance. I would really hate to lose contact with all the people I’ve met and lose my connection to the dances. I wish I could explain better why I love it, but I honestly don’t know the reason. It just feels right. It’s fun.
Well I did stick around long enough yesterday to dance in the second dance even though I felt terrible. My dancing wasn’t perfect, but it was the best I could do that day. I hope that I didn’t give it to anyone. I’m a little better now. While this is annoying to me, I read something today that really puts things into perspective.
If you get a chance go check out this post. I think that is one of the most poignant posts I’ve read.
Now, I think I will go take care of myself enough to get healthy so I can get back to being productive.
So I’m off to the ho’ike. I’m not better. Yesterday everything was stuffed in my head. Today it flows. Just what I need while dancing. I had a fever and chills yesterday. Fever isn’t gone, but I’m going anyway. Maybe I will perform, maybe I won’t. I don’t have much of voice, which isn’t good for the kahiko where we chant loudly (yell). By the time I get there, we will have four hours before we actually perform. Should be interesting to see how much kleenex I go through. As it turns out, no one I know will be there to see me. Sleep sounds good. I hardly slept all night because I couldn’t breathe. I slept lightly and woke up every 20 minutes or so. If I do dance, I hope I can keep my brain on track. Illness tends to make my mind wander. When my mind wanders, I forget the dance moves.
Can a former boyfriend really be happy that you have a new boyfriend? I wrote about the ex who seems to call right when I’m seeing someone else. I told him about Mr. O. He said he was happy for me. But is he really? Is that possible? I was never all that happy to hear about his girlfriends. So maybe this is a case of overthinking, but I still have to wonder. I won’t make myself crazy wondering. It was just on my mind this morning.
I’m looking at what I have going on this week. I’m less busy than last week. I have no family out here, so it looks like I will be spending Thanksgiving with my dog and cats. In past years, I have cooked a meal. I don’t eat turkey, so it’s usually chicken. My pets love the smells, but the cats are picky and don’t really eat baked chicken. Crazy cats. The hula/tahitian dance show is Sunday, which means I will be busy all day with that even though I dance for about 10 minutes total.
After a quiet night and catching up on sleep, I think I may be ready for this afternoon’s dress rehearsal. I have a couple of costume changes. When I write that, I can’t believe that I’m dancing and require costumes. Crazy. I would not have believed anyone who told me I would be doing this.
The novel is in waiting. No work got done on it yesterday, and today looks the same. My cats are feeling neglected because this week I’ve hardly been home. Pets really do love routines.
I haven’t wanted to think about the upcoming holidays, and so I’m behind in shopping. Typically, I have everyone taken care of. I hate shopping most of the tme, but this time of year it’s horrible. I’d rather have a root canal–anything except go to the mall. I still have one nephew and my grandmother to shop for. I also still need to get my hands on a PS3–without paying some jacked up price. It won’t be long before there will be enough of them on the market that paying 4 to 5 times the price isn’t necessary.
I’m on my way with NaNoWriMo. I have just over 1100 words that I wrote yesterday in a very short time. Yes, I’m behind. I should have 8,000 words by today if I spread out the word count evenly for the month. I suppose I will catch up though, but even if I don’t finish the 50,000 words by the end of the month at least I will have started. I have a terrible time starting. It’s that dreaded internal editor. That little voice that says “what makes you think you can write?” Just starting is huge for me.
I’m still preparing for the hula school’s ho’ike (show). It’s coming up soon. Yesterday we had our first two-hour Saturday practice for Tahitian. We will keep having those until the ho’ike. Usually an hour of hula is followed by an hour of Tahitian, but there isn’t enough time to really work on the routines in only an hour. This week we have a test in hula. How fun! Not really. I need the practice more than I need to take a test.
Not sure who reads this in the area, but the ho’ike is in Union City, CA on November 26 from 1 to 4 pm. It will be at Our Lady of Rosary, 703 C Street. It’s only $10. There are supposed to be snacks available for purchase, but I’d recommend having lunch before going only because I don’t expect it to be more than snacks. It’s a fundraiser for the school. I suspect that much of the school’s expenses come directly out the pockets of those who run it. A lot of expenses are covered by the dancers themselves, so this hobby can get fairly expensive. I spent $50 on fabric and the extras needed to make the hula costume. It looks like I will have to spend about another $30 for the Tahitian costume and accessories. The women who make the costumes volunteer their time.
Technorati: NaNoWriMo, hula, Tahitian dance
Well now hula is kicking my butt. We have a “recital” coming up November 26. It’s fundraiser: dinner and dancing. I have three routines to learn. I know most of them, but they aren’t perfect. I’m still sore from Sunday’s hula workshop. I’m hardly moving this morning.
Last night every time my cats woke me up I was singing the songs in my head. Fun. I needed the sleep. The cats kept me up for an hour because two of them decided to chase each other through the house fighting. They like to fight under the bed. All that hissing and yowling…I just know there are tufts of cat hair under there. I don’t know how they fit under the bed. I store boxes of sweaters under there. I suppose I should look under the bed to examine the damage, but I’m afraid to. They have been fighting under there for days.
So you can imagine me barely able to get on the floor shuffling the stuff under the bed so I can vacuum while swearing to the cats. Oh, those aren’t my cats in the photo. There’s no way I would be able to catch my cats fighting on film.
