87

87 days to go.

Continuing on a theme of posting an inspirational picture, I found this today:

There's so much life and colour in it - their legs are a blur, almost spirit-like, and it's interesting that there's not much detail on their faces. They're part of the whole, important but not important. Creating the dance but secondary to the dance itself. I even find the source fascinating - an Irish painter who's lived in Iceland for decades.

Aside from waxing lyrical, the true point of the post is a progress update but of course I wanted to make it less boring :)

Wednesday 15th Aug - calf stretches (sorely needed, literally) and arch exercises. Also scored 99% on a past paper. I do take that with a pinch of salt as of course I'm marking my own work, but I still believe I'll pass this comfortably.

Thursday 16th - Ran through three traditional sets - St Patrick's Day, Blackbird and Job of Journeywork - each time doing them over and over until I'd done them right all the way through. Job was a struggle as parts I could barely remember. I was taught Garden a few months ago but I haven't even thought about it since so that will need some serious revision. I then moved on to modern sets, and ran through the White Blankets and Fiddler Round the Fairy Tree - again until I'd done them right. Blankets was a mystery - there's a dead easy treble-toe-cut sequence that I could do with my eyes closed ordinarily, but it just was not happening. It was almost funny how I couldn't make myself do it! Eventually I got it straight in my head again but that could definitely do with some tidying, and I need to change the end combination as I've used it in another set and I can't have that kind of repetition.

Friday 17th - Swam again, this time 1,000m in about 50 minutes. I also did some stretches and some work with the resistance of the water, like jogging on the spot kicking my bum, making sure toes were pointed and that I was landing turned out. Very tiring - it'll take a while to get back up to full swimming fitness I think - I used to go three times a week but haven't been regularly for well over two years.

Saturday and Sunday - weekends are always difficult, and there's no class at the moment. I made a token gesture of revising music both days, and also made up two slip jig steps which I was very proud of as they're very different to the stuff I'd been thinking up recently, and much more like the kind of slip jig I want to dance. 

That's me up to date. Monday today, so ceili class with a bit of solo practice thrown in as and where I can.