Modern and Lyrical Dancing

The other day I was looking at classes online and found that there was a Modern/Contemporary Class and a Lyrical Class. When I looked at youtube videos between the two I could not tell the difference. 

Lyrical Dancing:

          Modern Dancing:

Could you see a difference?

The difference, I found out, was lyrical dancing is more to the words of the songs and the lines in dancing are more defined. It much more like ballet in which the lines you create with your body are much more strict and precise. Modern dancing is more about just moving your body and doing what you feel in the song. The lines aren't as important which you can see in the second video when she is jumping around in the video. The second video does follow a little to the lyrics and that can happen but it's definitely more due to the fact that the source this came from is putting on a show. However her lines and his are not so defined and that really is the difference. It can be more of a complicated explanation than that, but it is the most simple way to tell the difference between the two.  

Dancing in the Kitchen Top Tunes

I feel like most people have their bands or songs they like to listen to when cooking whether it's making dinner, baking, or whatever the occasion is. For me it really depends on what I'm cooking and who I'm cooking it for. However, I have a top 10 for sings I listen to no matter what the occasion in kitchen is for me.

Here are my top 10 kitchen songs:

1. Take A Walk by Passion Pit

2. Me Against the Music by Britney Spears and Madonna

3. Every Day by Buddy Holly

4. Sea of Love by Cat Power

5. Carried Away by Passion Pit

6. You and I by Ingrid Michaelson

7. Same Love by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis ft. Mary Lambert

8. Shut Up by The Black Eyed Peas

9. If You Seek Amy by Britney Spears

10. More Adventurous by Rilo Kiley

I'm not the only one who dances in the kitchen!

Need to find this guy and marry him or just be his friend!

Strawberry Tartlets

Today, after class, I took a break from trying to catch up on all the postings I should have done way earlier so I wouldn't be blowing up all my class mates readers. I think they all are probably sleeping like normal people who don't procrastinate can! To my point though, I made some delicious strawberry

tartlets! They are very simple tarts to make. Just tart dough baked off, filled with pastry cream, topped with strawberries, and glazed with apricot jam! 

Here are the recipes I used for the Pastry Cream and Tart Dough:

Pastry Cream- http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pastry-cream-2/

Tart Dough- http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sweet-tart-pastry/

Helpful Hints:

After making the tart dough let it rest in the fridge to reduce shrink cage. Don't work with it if it's too hard, leave dough in room temp it will become easier to work with. After shaping tart shell let it rest again in fridge. Make pastry cream and cool before baking off tart shells. Fill warm shells with cold pastry cream or cold/room temp shells with warm pastry cream. This creates a better adhesive effect. When glazing with apricot jam warm on a double broiler in order to achieve a more smooth look. 

Brioche

Yesterday, to entertain myself and get my mind off the events of Saturday I decided to make brioche. If you don't know what Brioche is I'm terribly sorry because you've been missing out. My best description of brioche is very buttery bread that is just divine. I came home from a long clearing my mind walk I took around St. Johns earlier that morning. Then I decided to make some brioche dough. I have a secret recipe I can't share with you. However this RECIPE, has always done my freinds' quite well. I then put on some Ingrid Michaelson Spotify Radio and began to make the dough for my brioche.
The thing about brioche dough though is you fold in a ridiculous amount of butter. Which makes it taste great so thats fine! However! Since the dough is so fatty it takes a very long time to bulk ferment. So after making the dough I then let it bulk ferment on top of the oven not on any heat, but room temp with a warm towel covering it. This took about 8 hours for it to double in size. After wards I shaped the dough in my little brioche cups I have at my house. I usually weigh them at 2 oz before shaping, but each cup requires a different amount since it will double in size again after proofing. The shaping part can be tricky but this youtube video can be very helpful:

There are other methods to shape brioche, but this one is easy and I have found the most effective. After shaping they will need to proof till they double in size. Then you can bake them. MAKE SURE TO EGGWASH THEM! This adds color and they don't like as dull. You bake them on high heat at first usually around 425F then you can lower it to 350F. This is to get good color and making sure they bake all the way through. Baking doesn't take that long. The hardest things about making brioche are waiting for it to double in size the first time and shaping them. You end up with a delicious butery treat though! This is my brioche!

Dancing In Movies

When I think of dancing in movies I think of scenes from movies like Chicago and Moulin Rouge. Other people think of movies like Step Up, You Got Served, and Bring it On. It's so disappointing. I will give in and say the first Step Up movie was decent, but what after feels like the sixth one I think every one is a little over it. Which isn't to say Channing Tatum can't dance; most girls have seen Magic Mike and know that statement would be no where near true, he definitely can. While street dancing is quite popular now especially with shows like America's Best Dance Crew, I wish dance routines in movies would live up to some of the same dance scenes and skill levels in movies like Moulin Rouge and Chicago. I know these are musicals and a little different, but why should musicals be held to higher standards when these people in these dance movies are supposed to be so good and passionate about what they do? This is really why you should really go out there and see these ballet shows, musicals, circus shows, and etc. Instead of letting these new "dance" movies decide what is the new thing in dancing.

My top 5 favorite dance movies and scenes and them are as follows:

1. Moulin Rouge - El Tango de Roxanne

2. Chicago - Cell Block Tango

3. Dirty Dancing- Time of My Life

4. Rocky Horror- Time Warp

5. Singing in the Rain- Moses Supposes

So You Think You Can Dance

If you have never watched the show, So You Think You Can Dance, I recommend that you start. If you don't like dancing or appreciate watching others dance then it's probably already obvious my blog is not for you. I love this show. I watch it every season and why I would like to pick all their routines as my top 5 favorites, these are my top 5 favorite dances from the TV show:

1. Travis and Heidi-Calling You by Celine Dion

2. Twitch and Kherington- Dreaming With a Broken Heart by John Mayer

                                                                      3. Randi and Evan- Koop Island Blues by Koop

4.Kathryn and Russel- I Can Transform You by Chris Brown

5. Ellen and Twitch- Outta Your Mind Lil Jon and LMFAO

Zumba in My Basement

So I have mentioned briefly that I have an area in my basement that I use as my own little dance studio. What I haven't mentioned is that every Monday for the last month, I teach a group of my friends Zumba in my lovely basement. Not because I'm certified, but just because it's a lot of fun. Plus I trade these 30 minute dance sessions for free drinks and free custom made dresses. It really works out for me. Usually, Zumba classes are an hour, but I haven't had the time to make that many routines up so we just do 30 minutes. These classes are merely just for fun and I have no intentions of ever becoming certified because I'd get nervous teaching one of those 50 people classes. I wanted to share my top 10 songs to Zumba in no specific order:

1. Wakka Wakka (This Time for Africa) by Shakira

2. Pound the Alarm by Nicki Minaj

3. Blow by Ke$ha

4. Quedate Mas by Super Reyes (Spanish Version of I want you back by the jackson 5)

5. T.H.E by Will.I.Am 

6. Move That Body by Nelly

7. Put It Down on Me by Jeremiah

8. Lonely Boy by The Black Keys

9. Thrift Shop by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

10. Drop It Low by Ester Dean

Dancing in Portland

     My schedule lately has been super hectic and as much I try to make it to dance class I find myself not having enough time; especially since the only modern/contemporary classes are on Tuesday and Thursday at 1 o'clock. Today was a dance class day, but I was helping my friend move in and wasn't able to go. However, since this blog is supposed to be partly about my love of dance and me going to this dance class that I've only been able to make once, I will talk about my some what embarrassing secret that I do find time to do; I go dancing with the same group of friends every Friday in Portland.

     This small addiction I have to going dancing once a week first started when I turned 21 this last September. Since then, I haven't missed a weekend of going out dancing whether I am in Portland or my hometown in Washington. The reason I like to go out dancing, or I guess "clubbing," is simply because I enjoy dancing with my friends and like every twenty one year old I enjoy drinking. I know clubs can be seen as places to grind up on some strangers, but that is not my cup of tea, and I don't find myself dancing with anyone, but my group of friends. I will admit there are some douche bag guys that can be found at these types of places and will try, but I have found if you say no very clearly they will go away. After, going out every weekend since I turned 21 I have developed a sense of places I like to go and places that I do not enjoy at all. I would like to share with you my top 3 recommendations for places to go dancing...

1. The Barrel Room - First I would like to fully admit that this place can get super crowded and super douchey real fast. HOWEVER this has been the place I have had the most fun at for a few reasons. It's located in downtown Portland. First off I find this place to be pretty versatile, especially, the age range of people you will find here. They have a restaurant, two bars, and an all request band inside the building. The band is very funny, knows a ridiculous amount of songs, and makes celebrating events there a lot of fun. They seem to draw in the older crowd and like I mentioned people celebrating birthdays, bridal parties, and etc. There is a small dance floor in front of the stage and they will let you steal the microphone as long as you aren't terrible. 

Outside, there is a covered dance floor in the cold seasons and it's uncovered during summer. There are two bars on the dance floor as well. The music is usually your typical top 40 club songs, but make for a decent time. On Friday nights, there aren't as many people and usually there is more girls than boys. You typically find people who are just trying to have a good time on this night and will not try to dance on you or bother you. Saturday night is a different story and I don't recommend it so much on this night. The guy to girl ratio becomes 3:1 and it can be very ridiculous. This is why I really recommend Friday nights. Another plus to the Barrel Room is if you come in before 10 pm you don't pay a cover. This way you can watch the band until the dance floor gets going and not have to worry about paying the cover which is great for when you don't have extra money to spend, but want to have a good time. However, when you do have to pay the cover you only pay about $3-$5 if you are a female and unfortunately for males it ranges from $10-$20 to get into both places. I really enjoy there are two types of scenes going on so you have options to how you want to spend your night. Also, Redbull and Vodka is only 3 dollars typically which is the cheapest I've found them.

2. CC Slaughters- I'm sure if you live in Portland you know this is a gay bar/club located in Chinatown. For those of you that don't, well now you know. When you first walk in you see the bar and the drinks are a fair price and jello shots are only a dollar every time I've gone on Saturday. This is the perfect place to go if you are a female not trying to be bothered by guys at all. However, if you are a straight male, be warned they know, and they more often than not will not be friendly to you unless you came with friends that are gay as well. I say this because I have seen straight men come in and be asked to leave by just some of the men in there not the establishment itself. 

The music is very electronic and techno. The dance floor has tons of lights going off at all times and is located behind the bar. Every one is there to have a good time and are usually very friendly. There are mirrors all around the dance floor and more often than not you will find at least one person who is on something and is just getting down with themselves in front of one of the mirrors. It is definitely funny to watch, but everyone is used to it and just continues to have a good time. I really enjoy dancing here and the friendly people, but techno isn't necessarily my favorite music. However, I enjoy the people and not having to worry about being bothered by anyone. I also don't believe there is a cover because I have never had to pay one. You will get a really cool stamp on your arm though that  you should remember to wash off before going to work the next day. My favorite one being " King Limp Dick."

3. Holocene- So Holocene, is a well known club in SE Portland. This club can't be described as much more than the "hipster club." The people who work there aren't very polite and the people who go there are either very nice or also not very polite. It's also hard to get to the bar so like me and many yelp reviewers recommend, you may want to prefunk before hand. The price at the door depends on the night you go. They have all different types of nights to go from 90's night to Gaycation. It's best to check the website before going so you know what event you may be getting into. The music honestly really depends on the night. They have shows earlier in the night for people looking for live music and then they have djs after nine for the dancing night life people. The events are seperate and you have to pay for both even if it's the same night. Like most clubs it doesn't get going till atleast after 10:30. Holocene gets super full though and depending on the person that is either good or bad.
The drinks are a little spendy, but I have always found them very tasty. They have drink slushies and the kind depends on the night, but I have found all of them very good. The venue itself is more of a warehouse and is cozy and open. I really enjoy that Holocene has so many different kind of nights to go to because the people really vary in that way. You see the usual hipsters who come to most events but, than you get to see the people who really only came for that event. This place is one of my favorites and besides the gay club it is one of the less douchey places to go in Portland. The plus though is you will not be critized as a guy to go there and not be gay. I really recommend this place especially if you are looking for a certain type of music to dance to.

Silver Linings Playbook

This weekend I went to a memorial/celebration of life for a friend of mine who recently passed away. I have never gone to one of these for anyone who wasn't a family member in their 90's, so as you could imagine this was really eye opening and hard. I won't go into much detail about the situation or the celebration, but after it was over and my room mates and I came home I think we all just sat quitely in our rooms alone and tried process it all. To me this event was when it all became very real.
After, sitting in my room in silence and trying to just make sense of everything I was feeling for quite some time I decided to watch Silver Linings Playbook. No, it's not out of theaters yet or on DVD yet and thats all I will say about that. If you don't know what this movie is about you can watch the trailer, but I will give you a brief description. It's about two people who have bi polar disorder finding each other and leveling each other out. How they do this though, besides obviously besides falling in love, is Jennifer Lawrence's character gets Bradley Cooper's character to enter this dance competition with her. Through this dancing they each learn discipline and control of their emotions. Jennifer Lawrence's character, Tiffany, refers to her loving dance because "it's therapy plus it's fun." This is how I feel about dancing. It doesn't really matter to me if I'm good or bad at it, I just like doing it. It's a great way to express your emotions and just dance it out.
After the movie was over, I danced around my living room for about an hour to Shakira Radio on Spotify. I was eventually joined by my best friend and room mate, who right now is accompaning my dance space in our basement. I think this was exactly what we both needed. We didn't talk we just laughed at eachother and danced till we just couldn't anymore. This is why I love dancing. It just makes you feel good. It really is "therapy plus it's fun".

Trapeze

Since in the last blog I mentioned my family goes trapezing I thought I'd prove it.

The first video is myself. It is the first trick you learn when you take the class and it's called a "knee hang." So how this basically works is you learn tricks one at a time. You graduate to new ones and each time you visit if you completed the last trick you learn a new one. The thing is you have to complete the catch at the end to graduate to a new trick. So you practice the same trick the whole class and this rotates through a class of six to nine. If you can do the trick with proper form and timing by yourself and you hear the cow bell that means you have done it and can now do the "catch." This is me doing a knee hang catch...

This is my mom doing the second trick you learn. Honestly the name of it escapes me, but this is her catch!

Aerial Dancing

This last weekend, I went to Living Room Theaters, located in downtown Portland to see the new Cirque de Soleil:Worlds Away movie. I have been to a few Cirque de Soliel shows in my life and if you have never gone to one, I highly recommend you do. The tickets can be quite expensive, but I always find them to be worth it. However, you can always just go see this movie too and honestly, it kind of compares to the real thing. The movie itself is formed of different acts from the shows they have all over Vegas as well as ones they have taken on tour. My favorite scenes have always been the Aerial Dancing scenes. If you don't know what Aerial Dancing is, don't worry because the video will show it. There are many different kind's and unlike the video they commonly use silk sheets. One of my favorite things about Aerial Dancing is you can learn it! My family likes to take the trapeze classes at this place in Seattle called, Emerald City Trapeze Arts. They also offer Aerial Dancing and Acrobalance classes. The best part is they train all skill levels. So it's never too late to learn!

A few places you can take up classes like these in Portland:

http://www.divadenstudio.com/ (for women)
http://nightflightaerial.com/
http://www.awoldance.org/classes/

There are plenty more on google. Also, some aerial dancers have a private studio where they give lessons. These classes usually take beginners and some are drop in and some are actual 9 week programs and such. I plan on doing a few classes in Seattle when I go to visit next month. I have done Trapeze a few times which is also a blast, but I just love how beautiful aerial dancing looks.

Zumba

     Zumba, is a dance fitness class that combines Latin and International music in a work out system. It is honestly also some of the most fun I've ever had working out. I mentioned it in my first blog  and it is one of the reasons I got back into dancing.
     I first discovered Zumba when I was 18 and living in my hometown that is, Bremerton, WA. My mother signed up the family for a YMCA membership and started going to the Zumba class they offered. She immediately got very into it. She insisted that my sisters and I needed to go with her. We went to this class, and this is before it had gotten so popular, and at this time I was not into it. My sisters and I thought it was hilarious and couldn't understand why she liked it so much. We spent the class laughing at it and trying not to laugh at our mom for bringing us to it. I don't know why at the time I thought it was so ridiculous. I think I just looked around me, saw nothing but middle aged women, and was not having it. I genuinely remember thinking the teacher was an okay dancer and the music wasn't terrible, but for the life of me I could not get into it.
     Two years later and a lot of begging from my best friend she got me to go to a Zumba class at  24 hour fitness in the Pearl District. I don't know if it was the crowd which ranged from 18 to 50 this time or just the instructor her self, but this is when I really got into it. The instructor at the time, Jamie, which seems to be every ones favorite instructor there, is really awesome, full of energy, and makes the class a lot of fun. Her routines range from Hip Hop to Latin music and she is a genuinely great dancer. I say this because there are actually a ton of Zumba instructors who are the worst dancers I have ever seen. You come to find that each instructor has their own style just like dancers, but that isn't always the best thing. There is another instructor there named Julio, who is also just as fun, but at this time he only taught one class a week. I will be honest when I say any other instructor that subbed there or taught there was not nearly as fun and I didn't feel like I was getting a full workout. With this said if you every decide to try Zumba and the first time you hate it you should try another instructor, this can really make all the difference.
     During Christmas Break, I went again with my mom and sisters while I was visiting. The class at the Y now takes up the full basket ball court. The age range there was from 6 to 50. It was the third time I have gone with my mom after taking it it for a year in Portland. The instructors are different from the first time and they are super awesome as well. My sisters now enjoy it to and I think it's crazy how after just a few years we have totally changed our minds about it. When you first take the class you will feel super lost and a little left out. Alot of the routines are repeated so the people who have been going a while can pretty much do it from heart. Don't let this discourage you, you will eventually catch on and know it just like they do. The nice part is alot of moves and dances in Zumba are universally used so if you go to a different class you can catch on pretty easily. If you enjoy dancing and don't necessarily want to go to a dance class and enjoy working out, I definitely recommend it!
If you want to know more about or find a class in your area please refer to their website:
http://www.zumba.com/

Cranberry Pear Jammin'

Today, was dance class day. However, I was out of town. So I spent the night making jam and dancing around my friends parents kitchen. My best friend and I decided we were going to make Cranberry Pear jam because we needed a distraction and what is a better distraction than jam?

    The recipe we used for this originally makes 6 half pint jars. We doubled this recipe and then a little more and ended up filling 14 jars. This was my first time making jam and I'm sure a lot of you haven't experienced making your own jam as well, so today I will take you step by step in the jam making process.
    First however, I would like to point out that when making jam the ingredient Pectin is usually used in making jam, but it isn't present in this recipe. Pectin is found naturally in fruits you commonly cook down to make jam, such as apples and berries. It is used as thickening agent and gives jams and marmalade that "jelly like" texture.
   The first thing we did was we went out and bought fresh cranberries and pears. We washed and pealed 14 pears then cored and sliced them into small and medium dice. We kept the dice thicker because we wanted a chunkier jam. We then washed the cranberries, but chose to keep them whole. You can choose to do a rough chop or put them in the food processor, but cranberries do break down rather easily.
   We then added the pears, cranberries, cinnamon and sugar into the pot like and let it simmer over medium heat until the cranberries began to break down this took about 30 minutes for us. We also added a little lemon juice and a dash of salt to bring out the flavors. After the cranberries broke down we then reduced it to low medium heat and let it simmer covered for 2 hours like in the recipe. We stirred it occasionally to make sure the fruits all broke down evenly.
During the two hours of just waiting we had sanitized our half pint jars in hot boiling water and let them air dry and cool. It is also necessary to do the same thing with the lids of the jam. Then we carefully spooned our finished jam into the jars. When filling the jars with the product during canning you really need to make sure to avoid getting it on the lips of the cans otherwise they may not seal properly. I had never canned anything before in my life so I found this to be a very helpful tip because I would have been so annoyed if  I wasn't careful and then couldn't figure out why the jars weren't sealing properly. We filled each jar 3/4's of the way up and made sure the lip of the jars were clean and put the lids on the jars. After this we boiled the jars in hot water that reaches just below where the lid starts until the lid seals. You will know when the lid seals because it will dent in like the lids on jams at the grocery store.
This process can take a little bit longer than expected. At first my friend didn't think they were going to all seal then with a little patience they all eventually did. However, like I have mentioned before make sure to have a clean lip before you put the lids on. The finished project is super delicious and can last for quite a while. We made them for or friends and families and from what we heard the jam was amazing!

Fix You

     Yesterday, was a really hard day for me and an even harder day for one of my friends. This dance pretty much sums up how I feel. Not only is this dance one of my favorite routines on the show, So You Think You Can Dance, but it is also one of the most popular.

     This is what I love about dancing. You can really tell a lot about how someone is feeling through dance and no matter how sad or emotional it always still looks beautiful. Dance is also a great way to bring out the emotion in a song. The song "Fix You" by Coldplay I feel is the perfect song for this dance. Yes, I know, not a lot of people like Coldplay and I can understand why but the song does a really good job pairing with the dance.

      The choreographer of this dance, Travis, his mother is suffering from breast cancer and this dance conveys how he feels about it and it's extremely amazing to watch. My friend or mother isn't suffering from breast cancer, however, this dance seems really relatable to me for what I'm going to right now. This dance done by performers Robert and Allison on So You Think You Can Dance is exactly how I feel right now.