Chapter 2

Well, it’s been forever since I’ve posted anything – over a month! And I completely missed my one year anniversary of being in London, which was the 27th of May. So after a bit of a hiatus, it feels like I’m starting a new chapter here. Or a new season even, if we’re thinking in TV terms. And it’s best to start on a high note.

I’ve just come home from Salsa on Sunday (SOS) – my first time there in forever! And accompanying me were not one, but two of my favourite dancers – Dan, who is visiting from up north, and Amit, an old dance partner over here for work. Now that’s a good guy to girl ratio if you ask me! They are two of my favourite people to dance with and it was loads of fun, although I must admit I’m feeling a little physically feeble at the moment. My Achilles problems are flaring up again which meant I couldn’t dance as much as I would have liked, and I’ve lost a lot of condition. By which I mean I’ve lost muscle, lost weight and lost fitness! Must do something about that! More dancing and I’ve been dying to play some tennis lately. Once I get the Achilles sorted that is.

I would have taken photos except by the time I remembered we were all far too sweaty!

But speaking of pictures, here’s a smattering so you can get an idea of what I’ve been doing lately:

Knitting…

Look! Smarmy bastard Chris has had a makeover!

Guess I wasn’t the only one offended by the first ad.

King Lear at the Globe!

Costume party at Kat’s. Please guess who I am! And yes the jeroboam of champagne (I learned a new word!) next to me was mine, I won it and no I did not feel very well the next morning.

Banksy was here.

Dan testing the theory that Pringles burn with a blue flame. They do not. Mythbusters!

Dan on his motorbike – ooh er!

And now we must sleep! But I shall return!

Spanish Harlem Orchestra

The last time I saw these guys was nearly a year ago in New York. Tonight I saw them again at the Jazz Cafe in Camden. They were just as good as I remembered them!

These photos were all taken with my phone, which is handy when I don’t feel like carrying my camera. I’m quite impressed by the quality.

What I do

Life can be pretty stressful sometimes. I’ve been in the UK for ten months now, and I haven’t regretted my decision to move here for a minute. I feel like I’ve reclaimed a sense of control and ownership over my own life, although it certainly has its scary twists and turns sometimes.

In the “Me” section of this blog it says “I am a New Zealander living in London. I’m into knitting and salsa dancing, so there will be a lot of both here.” I think I’ve failed miserably on both counts, but especially the dancing. After I moved here I didn’t dance for nearly eight months, apart from the occasional social dance. I felt like I had other priorities and things I needed to be doing. I didn’t really enjoy myself on the rare occasions I did go out dancing.

Then at the start of this year I had just come back from New York and was feeling a little low. I went to Irene Miguel’s website and noticed that a new round of classes was just about to begin that day. So I took myself along.

I’m so glad I did. Irene takes a holistic approach to dance teaching, and describes her training system as being for the mind, body and soul. She also teaches New York mambo style which is something I have always been drawn to and loved doing when I was in New York (which I wanked on about here). Aaaanyway. I feel like I have found my guru. I tend to come out of her classes feeling absolutely euphoric. The Tuesday night Body Movement class is possibly my favourite. We never even put our shoes on in that class, there’s a lot of pilates/yoga floorwork, isolations, plies, tendus, arm stuff, etc etc. By the end we have worked pretty much every muscle in our bodies and it feels like I’ve just come out of a massage. And there is something about Irene’s attitude that is very inspirational.

Here is a video of Irene and her dance troupes performing:

So anyway, dear Readers, the reason I’m telling you all this now is that Irene just moved to new studios near Old Street, right next to the Hoxton hotel in fact (Steph – handy to you when you’re in town!). This is very good news for me as it’s now much closer to where I live. The new studios are still a work in progress but they’re going to be fab. I’m excited. I’ve just had a two-week break from dance while they moved in, and it’s good to be back. Dancing is one of the most important things in my life, although I never want it to take over my life again like it has in the past, I never want it out of my life either.

Well, that’s all getting rather deep! It’s all sort of part of the new life plan I’m formulating (or at least resurrecting). I’m hoping to post here a little bit more often as well. I always have plenty to talk about and plenty of interesting things going on in my life. So tune in this time tomorrow for the next exciting instalment.

Salsa in New York

I thought I would repost some stuff I posted to a salsa forum about my experiences in New York. So, click if you’re interested…

See me dance!

I thought I would post this up here. It’s a video of my first and last performance with the dance troupe, a week before I left Christchurch (I’m on the left!).