Trite Trivia: Cynicism and Other Stuff I'm Doing

You Are 40% Cynical

Generally you give people the benefit of the doubt. But there are exceptions.

You buy into many of the things that mainstream society believes, but you're not anybody's fool.

How Cynical Are You?

Work is Hard. Time for Blogthings!

Thought this might be something interesting while I was on the topic of cynicism with my dance partner yesterday. I'm surprised my quiz score is this low though - I guess the only thing I tend to criticise a lot is the Malaysian and Singaporean government, haha (and on occasion, sappy romance like Twilight *shudder*. Then again I should probably come out of the closet and say that I like certain kinds of romances.)

Most people think that being cynical is a bad thing, which at first I thought it's ridiculous because it's a neutral trait. But after looking up the dictionary definition, I guess the better word for it is healthy scepticism, or being part of the informed public. Sure, I sound really bitter sometimes whenever I crack jokes about politics and whatnot. But I still don't miss out on life even though I have strong views about political news.

With that out of the way, I'm on my term break from the Developing Artiste Programme! Gosh, my poor shins need rest from all the grand jetes its been doing. But I probably shouldn't let my body slack off too much either. I have to work on my lower abs to gain more spinal flexibility because my choreography demands a sitting up position from lying flat on the floor which I can't do because of a really arched lower back...and a protruding tailbone. Ouch.

I'm also finally spending more time with family in the evenings. Gosh, with my mom constantly torturing me posting pictures up of delicious home cooked meals on Facebook I just find myself missing family time more. Although I've pretty much adapted to eating cheap hawker food (and developing a stronger sense of taste between the different chicken rice I've tried) nothing makes me feel more at home with my mom's cooking.

Good times for now, and eventually I have to get back to rehearsing for the Wanna Dance Recital coming up on May 25th. It's crunch period for both university and dance, how...nice. I'll pull through though. I'm sure.

Trite Trivia: Support these Dancers' Mission!

What do you get when two friends decide to challenge each other into getting the best abs within 100 days?

SIXPACK SHOWDOWN!
*electric guitar strum*

Join Derrick and Eugene as they challenge each other into different cardio workouts and a serious diet in order to achieve the best sixpack they've got within 100 days. You'll definitely want to go "Like" their FB page as they share their journey through web entries along with fABulous nutrition facts like the numbers you get at the side of cereal boxes.

Previously, I did mention something about Mike Chang's training routine for increased core strength and I'm glad they're using it - as you can see it is indeed intense! If you missed that post, you can still get Mike Chang's Sixpack Shortcut program here. This challenge is a very interesting take as you're actually able to watch - publicly - how they're doing thus far. It's been 5 days now, so you'd definitely want to show some demand and ask how they're doing by commenting on their Facebook page.

They're also doing this in conjunction with Swingvitation 2013, so ladies, you would expect to see two (or more*) muscular men on the social dance floor during April this year.

I hope you guys can take your time to like their FB page, because they will reveal their "before" bodies if they hit 150 FB likes. That will definitely be quite a sight to catch, so what are you waiting for? Go show your support for them now!

*They've also set up two teams to train together and aggregate the best quantity and quality of abs. This  is going to be interesting.

Trite Trivia: Dancing Makes You Smarter!

Upon unleashing my curiousity on the google search bar, I managed to come across an article written by a member of Stanford's social dance club.

You can read the article here

For those who don't know, dementia is the loss of thinking, memorising, and attentive ability as a person ages, and Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia.

Social partner dancing requires you to think on your feet, and that's how one can continue to use their brains and reduce the risk of getting dementia. While the article argues that the follows benefit the most from social dancing, I must say that this doesn't mean the leads don't benefit as much as the follows. In fact, in my opinion, leads benefit more, because they have to be able to adapt into the follow's position and movement, and whatever move they had in mind may have to be changed suddenly to ensure that the follow can get into a different position that the lead wants. Follows can also "switch off" their brain while dancing, if they aren't willing to play to the music and just stick to the basics (which is a personal problem when I dance West Coast Swing.) Therefore, in order to reap the benefits of maintaining a healthy brain, experiment more!

I must also say that tap jamming is also a great dance to keep your brains thinking. Some rapid fire decision making scenarios in tap jams include coming up with what technique to implement to the music, what to do in case there's less or extra sounds, and how to save your face in case you trip midway through a flash step. So, the benefits aren't just limited to partner work.

Trite Trivia: TWCSRadio Tricks

While browsing around tweets on west coast swing, I came across a trick that may intrigue you guys. Do anyone of you want more music to practice with instead of hearing your same old playlist over and over again? Well, with TWCSradio.com, your problems are solved. All you need is just a laptop and a good wifi and you're all set.

But for those who depend on the iPad, iPhone, iPod, or Android, there are other methods to accessing the radio.

For iPod, iPhone & iPad:

1. Download SHOUTcast Radio - AOL Inc.
2. Go to the stations tab
3. Search for "TWCSradio" (all in one word)
4. Press play

For Android:

1. Download Winamp for Android
2. Go to the shoutcast tab
3. Search for "TWCSradio" 
4. Press play

And you're all set to hearing a different mix of songs on your mobile now! While you're at it, you can also play around with the search tool and see if there are salsa or latin stations as well. It can help salseros and salseras find new music too.

Trite Trivia: Dance Progress 1

Couple of techniques I keep doing wrong:

1. Taking big steps. Waaaay too big. Social dances aren't supposed to have a lot of room, unlike solo dances like tap. So I have the tendency to step out more than I should. I should focus on taking small steps within a small slot that I'm allowed to dance in. Maybe entering a simulation of walking a small corridor might help lol.

2. In west coast swing, I either slide my foot, or take them off the ground too much. I have to practice moving elegantly. Someone I met from socials was nice enough to point out that I need to walk the basic moves for sugar push and left side/underarm pass in front of a mirror and determine which movement makes me look the most elegant, and aim to walk that way all the time by practice.

3. I still have the tendency to break the frame with moves that require a back to back and having my arms raised. This causes me to feel inconsistent with different guys, I'll feel too soft then too hard, with one guy I'll feel too relaxed or soft, and then another I'll feel too tense or noisy. I should inquire more into this with my dance instructors.

4. In salsa, its really easy for me to go off beat and step the shines step instead of partnerwork steps. Especially if I went too slow for some difficult combo, I'll fall back in tempo and then step the footwork wrong.

Alright, next entry I'm going to blog about socials again.

What the Audience Doesn't Know

Exactly what it says on the tin. I wish I could illustrate the stage better though. It's not that obvious when I look at it again.

Trite Trivia: Play the Piano?

Oh hey look at that! I found a video that shows you how that Love Story + Viva la Vida song is played. You know, the one that was danced by Benji Schwimmer and Torri Smith? Figuring the song out can keep me occupied while I recover from my cold.

Trite Trivia - I GOT IN! But...

Does anybody recall that I mentioned about salsa auditions for SISF some time ago? Well, I got the part! Woo hoo!

But the problem is...the fees are expensive and my mom isn't liking the Terms & Conditions :X I just hope something can be sorted out soon. I don't want to miss the experience.

Trite Trivia - Guest blogging

I have appeared elsewhere (like a ninja) on the internet. I decided to guest blog at plaintalkforwomen.com and here's my post. Hopefully I can tempt more people to join the dark side- I mean, join the fun and excitement of dancing some spicy salsa with a hot hunk. (Gentlemen, I'm sorry. My hormones are spiking out of control so you'll have to excuse my language.)

ps: In that blogpost, there's supposed to be a link to a salsa starter kit. If for some reason whatsoever the link doesn't work for you, I've also placed the widget here so it's easier for all to see.

Surely I can't be the only one...

Just one of the crazy things I do in the office while pretending to work. Sure, my creativity is suppressed because I'm that "useless" intern, but my dancing feet can't be stopped. Muahahahahahahaha (and I'm pretty sure many others with day jobs are guilty as charged)