She's A Dancing Machine

I think it was over 6 months ago now that my Michael Jackson mad friend called me up and mentioned a Michael Jackson dance workshop going on in London in December.  Being someone who cannot do any freestyle dancing but enjoys a structured dance, and of course not to forget that I too am a huge MJ fan, I agreed to go.  We were supposed to go in December when the dancing day would have been 4 2 hour workshops and a 30min showcase set over a 12.5 hour day.  Pretty hardcore!  However we had to defer because of the December snow.  

So it got to the next workshop which was last Saturday.  The format of the day changed and was now just 3 2 hour dance classes, that was tiring enough!  Costumes were encouraged so for the Thriller workshop, I dressed in the below attire.

 I think that would have been a brilliant Thriller costumer had it not been for the brilliant white colour of the shirt and the perfect crease lines from when I took it out of the packet.  So we learned Thriller, the dance from the video.  It was brilliant and definitely my favourite workshop of the day.

Next up was History In the Mix.  Or something like that.  This is where we learned a Jackson 5 inspired dance to a medley of songs,  That was hard.  We then learned a few bits from Billie Jean, that was even harder.  We finished off that workshop with Beat It.  Having already 'performed' this before on a top of a hill during what I hope was a drunken night out, I already knew bits of it.  It was really easy to pick up and it was great to finish the workshop with something that I could actually do.  My costume for this workshop was black sparkly shoes, white socks, black leggings, a white tshirt and a gold sparkly jacket.  Unfortunately it was way too hot for the jacket (and the subsequent suit for the Smooth Criminal class) so I just pranced about in this..

The last class was Smooth Criminal, it was brilliant fun but again very difficult.  The SC music we were dancing to was a live recording so it had extra musical parts to it and because of this we created a whole piece of musical theatre.  There was a storyline and everything.  

This was a ridiculously difficult day but it was great fun and highly recommend to anyone who is a MJ fan and likes to dance.  

To finish off we spent the evening in Ping Pong which was a lovely Dim Sum restaurant.  I've never had that before, it was a day of firsts for me.

So Annie are you ok?  Are you ok Annie? 

Blood On The Dance Floor

Blood on the dance floor?? There was no dance floor!

Today I am supposed to be in London at the Angel Islington (is that a real place or just the Monopoly name? I only ever see 'Angel' on a map) completing a day long Michael Jackson themed dance class.  Unfortunately due to the adverse weather conditions I am doing no such thing.  In fact I am sat at home with cold toes listening to Let It Rain by East 17.  Poor choice of song perhaps.

The dance class was going to be epic.  4 workshops positioned throughout the day and then featuring a showcase at the end to pull together what we had learned.  I had even sorted out some pretty damn wonderful costumes for today including sequinned jackets, a Smooth Criminal-esque suit and appropriate 'zombie' attire.

Also I have been in 'practice(se)' mode for the past few weeks - I bought Dance Central for Kinect and have been using it regularly.  Note; I have gotten rather good at Jungle Boogie (5 gold stars on Hard! Boo yaa!).  Also I have been watching This Is It quite a lot to familiarise myself with his and his dancer's dancing styles.  I have worked this hard as I am was such a terrible dancer.

But never fear, we have rescheduled for March so I have a few months now to perfect my costumes and also my dance moves.  I am also looking forward to the Michael Jackson dance game to come out on the Kinect which I think will be in February so I can do some cramming before the day.  I don't want to look like an unprepared arse y'know.

The Pace Is Too Fast/You Just Won't Last

Wow what a week.  Exercise wise I did pretty well, I did Zumba on Monday night with my good friend Jessica Rabbit and then got up at 6am (!! Yeah I know, I was surprised too) on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for a 30 minute exercise DVD shred, sweat, whatever.

My new job seems to be going well, I'm building new relationships and slowly figuring out what my job actually involves and also finding my way around campus.  On Thursday I trundled all the way up to London for a business meeting.  I had some spare time before getting the train back so thought I'd find another university to visit, I went to London Met.  I just stood outside as security was so tight.  I learned a lot from that. 

I keep having amazing ideas for my blog and then forgetting them. 

The top 5 things I have learned this week:
1. Be like a Scout and Always Be Prepared
2. Don't just 'drop in' somewhere big, it won't be appreciated so make an appointment
3. Going up to London, even for only a few hours, will make the inside of your nose black
4. The 'General Public' are extremely selfish and unaware of their surroundings - when saying 'Excuse Me' 4 times, each time increasing the volume only for the lady blocking the aisle to still not move, does justify me opening the freezer door a few minutes later and therefore blocking up the aisle for when she tried to walk past me.
5. I am still a long way off from being able to 'shake it!' at Zumba class

Blog title today - Linkin Park - Points Of Authority.  I have rediscovered Linkin Park today.  I haven't heard any of their material post-Meteora so not sure what they are upto nowadays but I love 'old skool' Linkin Park.