Letting it get away/ Movement

Once again, I've let this blog get away from me. The reason I revisited it at all was because I had a good friend tell me how inspiring it was to see my fitness posts on Facebook. I've had others comment on my "food porn" posts as well.

With that being said, it seems this blog with take the position of a "training/food journal." I'm completely alright with this. It's good to be honest. Anyway, let's blog.

I recently performed with my Balinese gamelan troupe for the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival. It was my first time playing for a dance festival, as well as my first time actually attending a dance festival. It was very inspiring to see such different interpretations of movement, all of which were so fluid and seemingly effortless, and yet presented a subject that was beautiful and emotional. I thought back to the earliest days of music, when our paleolithic ancestors would hear the beat of the drum or a phrase of vocal chant and the most natural of reactions was to feel it in the body and accompany it with movement.

I've always wanted to learn about dance, but as a fat, inflexible child, my body didn't lend itself well to any sort of movement without embarrassment. Even in my college movement class, I didn't move very well. My body, like my child body, was just as fat and inflamed.

Having spent more than the last year focusing on strength training and eating well, I've unlocked potential for movement. My body moves freely over a wide range without pain. I'll even practice the dances that I learned from watching the Balinese dancers my troupe accompanies. With having this freedom, I feel like I'm satisfying a primal need and it's very gratifying.

Now I just wish I could go back to my college movement class and save myself some embarrassment.