Thriller!

Last night I attended my final Michael Jackson dance class for the crowd-pleasing Thriller choreography. The 4-week course also covered Beat It, The Way You Make Me Feel, and Bad. The MJ class is another one of Century Ballroom's offerings (I took the Beyoncé Single Ladies class with them as well). I have to say that I love the idea of tribute-style dance classes. I only wish that Century Ballroom would limit the number of participants attending any one session. It's rather annoying to always be struggling to see the demos and to have to restrain arm movements lest a neighboring someone loses an eye. It's also rather fast learning too. Basically we are learning each choreography in one hour and a half sessions.
I am realizing some interesting things about my learning style/preferences as I take these kinds of courses. My dance background is really informal -so while I have devised or been a part of numerous choreographies in my younger years (and even as a teacher, actually -lol) I don't count the same way as formal dancers do. Learning steps for me has always been to the music. You know, "so let's do the running man until this lyric/beat/break and then into the jazz splits...". The moves were always cued with music. Learning these choreographies to counts of 8 and in different tempos is really foreign to me. I feel as though when it comes to body movements (sports as well as dance) I am much more holistic in the way I learn. I guess I am a "right brain" dancer. lol.
For kicks and giggles -here is a group of prison inmates in the Philippines doing Thriller:

Reflections on "Columbus Day"

Today is "Columbus Day" -an American federal holiday marking Christopher Columbus' arrival in the New World over 500 years ago. It is a strange commemoration in many ways as some Americans celebrate it as an anniversary of the European "discovery" of America and others lament it as the onset of a period of exploitation, slavery and outright genocide of the indigenous peoples (who of course, were not the "Indians" Columbus believed them to be). At the extreme right are people like Michael Berliner (of Ayn Rand Institute) who hails the event as a time when Western civilization brought "reason, science, self-reliance, individualism, ambition, and productive achievement” to a people who were based in “primitivism, mysticism, and collectivism”. In Venezuela, by contrast, the anniversary is called, Día de la Resistencia Indígena (Day of Indigenous Resistance) and is used to criticize European colonialism and celebrate native culture.
It's interesting to look at which groups have used the anniversary and for what causes. In past eras, Catholic-Americans and Italian-Americans have used Columbus Day to counter discrimination from supremist groups like the KKK -claiming that a Catholic/Italian man discovered America thereby legitimizing their citizenship rights. Hispanic groups call Columbus Day, Día de la Raza (Day of the (Hispanic) race) and mark the occasion as a time to celebrate Hispanic and Mestizo culture in the Americas.
I remember reading a fascinating book about Columbus in a History of Latin America course I took in my undergrad. The book is called, "The Conquest of America" and is written by Tzvetan Todorov. Some of the 16th century sources Todorov cites are just incredible. Columbus is so convinced that he has found the mainland (of the Orient) that he totally disregards the native inhabitants of Hispaniola (Cuba) when they try to tell him that they are actually on an island. Quoted from one of Columbus' journals:
"And since these are bestial men who believe that the whole world is an island and who do not know what the mainland is, and have neither letters nor long-standing memories, and since they take pleasure only in eating and being with their women, they said it was an island". At one point he apparently institutes a fine of ten thousand marravedis (Spanish currency) and a punishment of having the tongue cut off for anyone who contradicts him. A truly remarkable combination of arrogance and ignorance... Now, let's all go set off some fireworks in honour of this noble and heroic man.

Writing Courses at the Hugo House

Today I attended the first class of a 6-week course called, Pilfering Our Way Through the Great Personal Essays. The course is one of many writing courses offered at the Richard Hugo House, a Seattle literary arts center that supports writers of all ages and backgrounds. There were 9 women in my class this morning, with varied levels of writing experience. Some have been crafting personal essays and memoirs for years and others, like me, were there to try something relatively new.
I look forward to having this kind of opportunity -to take a course just for personal pleasure. I think I will enjoy investing myself in the hard work of developing my skills as a writer. It gives me the push I need to actually put pen to paper. I'm that person with a very long mental list of things I'd like to do and a very poor record of following through. I've decided that now is probably a very good time to pursue my interests (in earnest). Having a job isn't the only way to be productive after all.