My Blog

New Website Woohoo!

micheller — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 03:49:38 GMT

Mom, look what I did! norulesdance.com (may not work for everyone right away) Tell me what you think!

New Video

micheller — Mon, 12 May 2008 04:00:27 GMT

Ch-ch-ch-check it out! My Club Spice Solo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3NnlfibOAQ

Class Starts Again

micheller — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 01:38:12 GMT

Hey everybody! I'm back from New York, and class starts back up on Wednesday. (2/23) It's also my best friend Libby's birthday! So come dance with us! This week is interior hip circles, exterior hip circles, and chest circles. Bellydance Drills and Fusion Stylization Wednesdays 7:30-8:30pm Cambrian Yoga Studio 1900 Camden Ave. Suite 201 (Inside the real estate building) San Jose, CA

Improvising

micheller — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 00:48:09 GMT

Up until recently I've been petrified of improvising a solo. I've always choreographed everything I've done. It wasn't until Crystal's last student show that I went for it. I was getting bored working on the same song and dance, and I decided a week before to ditch everything that I had worked on, change my song, and go with it. After that, I realized how refreshing improvising could be. At the Bean Scene show last week I improvised something a little more traditional, and was kinda bored with what I did. I was super nervous, and ended up being very repetitive. It could have been due to the fact that I chose traditional music, and I felt out of my comfort zone. So, I was talking to my fantastic boyfriend after that performance, and he gave me some good advice. My boyfriend happens to be the sexiest nerd around. He plays role-playing games, and suggested I try something that was inspired by a game called, Octane....or Octagon....Octavio.....I don't know. Anyway, his suggestion was to pick 5 moves that I definitely want to use, and keep them in mind when I'm dancing. Well tonight I'm dancing at Shiva Lounge, and I've decided to dance to the same song and try my super-tastic boyfriend's idea. Here are my five moves: Shoulder shimmies- I have very little going on in my upper body when I dance, so I want to work on that. Egyptian- Most of the music I usually dance to doesn't provoke this basic move, so it's a good time to throw it in. Arabic step with chest circles Pelvic twists Maya with pas du buerre Rock on!

Crystal's Student Show April '07

micheller — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:56:29 GMT

My solo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIayjSZAlbw

Friday's Performance

micheller — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 21:24:00 GMT

Lunatic Fringe - Mother Earth Raks Show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZVV5_t1Nlo

Way Harder Dude!

micheller — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 05:51:57 GMT

Good news: Yay! 7 students tonight. So exciting! I love meeting all these new ladies! Bad news: So... if I'm a good bellydancer, and I'm a professional teacher, I should be a natural bellydance teacher, right? Nope. Not that simple. I'm good at differentiating my second grade classroom. I deal with mixed abilities everyday. Some kids are on grade-level, some can't read, and some can read 5th grade books. I know how to target each one at their abilities, and yet still teach the second grade curriculum. That apparently doesn't translate well into a mixed levels bellydance class. I now have to reevaluate my idea of differentiated instruction for bellydance, or decide to teach a level one class. The second bummer is that I didn't finish my combo again tonight. I get too wrapped up in everyone feeling confident in their movement, leaving students behind, boring students, looking at posture, breathing, AAAAH! I just don't move on....My combos are so much fun!...but so far have only been seen by my cat. Things won't be perfect. Things can't be perfect. Insecurities are lame.

First Class, First Blog

micheller — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 04:21:34 GMT

This is the first time I have ever blogged in my life! WooHoo! Tonight was also the first time I ever taught my own bellydance class. Thanks to the support of my BFF Libby, her mom, and Paula....all went very well. No matter how much you plan though, things always tend to get off track. I wanted my music to play continuously, but one of the songs was all messed up, and then the CD player is wack, and it would skip songs.....yada, yada, yada. Now I have a reason to buy something new....A portable stereo! No more bad studio systems! Tonight was a mellow way to start the bellydancer-instructor chapter in my life. Looking forward to next Wednesday!