Stuff and things

Okay fine, I'll go back to taiko on Thursday already...but only because a girl that's been playing for 10 years is coming to check us out. Since I can play most songs and I don't know what we're going to demonstrate, it might be helpful for me to be there. And okay, I might also go to the beginner's class on Sunday, but only because it looks like there are some interesting candidates and I want to meet them. We need more dancers in the group and it looks like there are some possibilities. There is never a good time to do 400 jumping jacks and 1600 arm circles, but first thing in the morning is especially bad. Is meeting them worth it? I'm still weighing my options. The class significantly decreases after the first week or so. Wimps. ;)

I've decided I'm going to judge this year, even though I have a certain aversion to it. When I was captain on dance team in high school, I had to decide (with two others) who would make the cut for every dance that we did. A couple times, a girl or two didn't pass and they cried about it. I felt bad, even though we let them dance, anyway, because they promised to try harder. They were still bad, though. Ha. I think I would be a relatively strict taiko judge, but that is not entirely a bad thing. Once you make the group you are in for life if you so choose, so we shouldn't just take anyone.

We don't have room for many more people, anyway. I think if we take more, though, we should start establishing levels like "beginner, intermediate, advanced." It seems like all the other groups have that kind of system and a lot of beginners aren't even allowed to perform at all in the first two years or so. We don't have the resources for that and that's pretty harsh, anyway; however, just knowing a song should not automatically mean you should perform it. I'm still conflicted on whether people that try hard and always come to practice should perform more than people that are naturally talented but don't practice as much. My initial response is no, practice time shouldn't trump skill, but that's not really fair.

At the same time, when I first started dancing I practiced all the time and in high school and college I had to learn a new dance every other week, so I can now pick up on dances, timing, and movement almost effortlessly. Should I still practice as much as the people that haven't trained themselves to that point yet? I pretty much do, anyway, but I wouldn't say that it's necessarily fair, either. If it takes me one practice to learn something that takes someone else ten practices to learn, that holds me back. That's where levels would come in handy. I have a lot of patience, but I can only teach, critique, "re-learn" things and learn different parts for so long until I'm bursting at the seems for a new challenge. I'm sort of at a stalemate. It looks like I'm going to have to create my own challenges, which is why I should really make a song.

Well, at least I made good use of my taiko absence last night. I went to a trivia night at a local bar! Two of the categories involved listening to songs and naming the artist or band, so I wasn't totally clueless. We never came close to winning, but it was still fun. The rest of the week looks promising, too. Tonight is Theology at the Bottleworks, Friday is the hot air balloon glow, and Saturday is my grade school's carnival and possibly a movie!Yay!