Dancing to Bark in the Park!

Just half way through the month and it’s been a long one so far, my medication rattles most morning when I can drag my sorry bum from under the Duvet. It would help if I ate a more hearty breakfast!

Some times during this month I have had such a great time from having a dance on the beach, ice cream, flash mob, dance class and the Melonga on Sunday 16th June, I so look forward to these evenings in my social calendar.

Classes are a mixture for the past few weeks, cause of the nice weather there has been a marked lack of dancer’s coming to the practice evening, but I have been going religiously for the past month, and my Friday free practice and help out of Carola my dance tutor.

She is an inspiration a good mentor and has really showed me the joy of movement, dance and a willingness to push me and the other students on to perform our best, what more could I ask for?

I even have a dance partner Kim although she is not fully tango, she does ballroom as well, poor girl has to keep in mind of so many moves how she does this is beyond me.

I have been really just dipping my feet into different forms of dance, ballroom and all that it encompasses, which is vast much more than I give the contestants on Strictly come dancing.

Well its Sunday 16th and there are two things on the Bark in the park, for Obi which we went too, I was impressed by the sheer size of it, and the rain did threaten to make an appearance but maybe all the dogs barking drove the dark clouds away?

Who knows… so many dogs and owners even some of these leads, not sure if I agree with that, maybe it’s because I can’t let Obi of the lead, there’s a bit of envy there I think?

All in all the occasion was a very enjoyable and a little chaotic with the judging dog’s coming and going and getting tangled in there leads with other dogs that want to do the same thing sniff bums and do circles around each other.

On the lead up to Queen’s park, I think that Obi must have sniffed, peed and tried to dig up every tree, all that dog pee and not enough to sniff, by the time we got in the park, he was dribbling and drooling at the dogs on show.

I was only too glad to get a way, my arm was hurting from all the pulling and being pulled all over the place with one excited Tibby, the sun was really quite hot, and I did not bring a bowl for Obi in case he needed a drink of water but I found an old plastic beer glass, cleaned it out in the men’s toilet and gave him a drink from it, he lapped it up poor boy was suffering maybe a little too much heat, he is after all a winter dog with that thick coat of his.

Here I come crys Obi off he trots. On the beach there was more distraction, the bike ride from London to Brighton was in full swing thousands upon thousands of cyclists descended upon this seaside town/city. I like it when Brighton hold’s these shows, can’t wait for the next one, not sure what it is but no doubt, I will see all the portable loo’s and van’s arrived just in time.

Nose to nose with a baby Tibby only 5 months old, and ready for his first cut, I pointed them in the direction of Doggy fashion in Kemptown. Ola!

Health and movement.

You know the more I dance the more I have a deeper appreciation of music past and present, just this week, I've found a great album and re-discovered a old favourite singer of mine her music is just so tango well some of it. Not all music is suitable for a sensual dance like Tango, but just every now and the pen someone plays a track you remember from the past and.... Wham! That be great to tango to! Over the past couple of weeks I've been using an app called Tune-in radio at first it was just to listen to one of my live UFO shows and I started to tinker with the various radio stations and found a few tango stations in actual Argentina and Germany! Yeah Germany it's big there and my teacher is German so it makes seance. The first bolt out of the great and hard as nails Grace Jones's classic Walking in the Rain and I've seen that face before, so powerful is the image it leaves I can dance it all in my head, some of the other tracks of note pull up to the bumper and La Vie En Rose a wee bit long but worth an arch or two. One group I've heard of but never listened too is Massive Attack Mezzanine why am I only hearing them now? I find its great to play on the beach watching obi run around like a loonies, I can practice to it but I find I am no longer doing tango to it but something else! For the past week I've been practicing the 4-6-8 step and going into cross space to get the follower to do the arches and the kink is getting her to cross leg before going back to the 4-6 step, I think I've sussed it at last. I will practice a lot more tonight at the dance class, so I might go early the class has been a little on the thin side with all this nice weather I am not suprized, although I am not one for standing in line for a partner, I just hope there is a balanced crowed tonight. There is a flash mob on Saturday at the jubilee library in Brighton I like to dance but will turn up and hope for the best and also I will want to take photos as well so I might only do one flash mob and the next one which is in Churchill square I will photograph this one and we off to the bandstand for a Malonga yay. What a result I got a paint of second had leather souled shoes for £6.50 out of the Sussex Beacon the AIDS Charity shop, I'm so over the moon I'm going to try them out at tonight's dance class. That was a bad move, I stepped on the foot of Isabella my foot shot forward like a palaris missile, poor girl jumped up and down a million times, I wish the ground would open up and just swallow me. On a nice note I met up with Kim my best friend in the world who does practice with me poor girl I wore her socks out lol, we or she got me involved in Ballroom now so not only am I now doing Argentine Tango I am also doing Ballroom!