There is finally a teacher here (Natya Dance troupe) that is convenient in location and time. However, I’ve been thinking it over, and I’m not sure I can justify it to myself. Since I’m quite possibly moving, I don’t know how worthwhile it is for me to start their classes for just the summer and then go onto another teacher. Also, although I know they can command it (Natya is quite renowned) justly, I’m not sure if I can justify $20/group class to myself.
If you’re interested, I’ll forward the info I got from them. The class starts on June 6th.
Unfortunately, we end on kind of a downer in terms of labs. They sit there most of the time, doing nothing. It’s a gamma radiation lab, where the Geiger counter does what it sounds like: counts.
I feel a little sad, but I also hate endings. With having an unsecure future, both immediate and long-term, it’s hard to feel good about the end. Teaching may not be my strongest interest, but I also enjoy it enough and I feel like I’m much better than before.
And the conclusion from my boss on my job? The department head still hasn’t made up his mind. We’re in Week #9 of class. Next week is the last week. The week after that is finals, and then is summer school. They have less than 3 weeks to figure this out.
Job prospects for in Chicago for the summer look dim still. I’ve been throwing my resume out to places, hoping for something, as well as keeping my eyes peeled for a job and talking to people. It doesn’t look good. I talked to a guy who works at the cat food store; he said his friend graduated top of her law class at the University of Chicago and can’t get hired, either. He’s optimistic that things will pick up very soon and very well, but I’m not so sure. I have my doubts of it being soon, in any case.
Because of this, I’ve been cutting back on most of my extra spending, which is a shame. I found some books I want to buy, Bharatanatyam classes are beginning in about a week, and I really want a new pair of zills. Obviously, there’s also the part I don’t want to deplete my savings if (and I believe there is a very strong chance) I don’t have a permanent job by the end of summer.
I decided wherever I end up during fall 2009, I’m going to make a very big effort to dance more. I want to do something professional soon (in a few years or so) with dance, and I’ve been thinking about what I need to do this summer.
I need to come up with some solid choreography. That will entail picking music, “mapping” it, and then dancing to it.
I think I should be able to play zills. I’m getting better just doing walking steps and learning a few new rhythms, but I really want to dance with it. I think it’s important to have a strong grasp of a few typical props. I feel like my veil is pretty decent, my cane is okay, but I know zills is bit lacking with me. This is going to involve learning the rhythms as well.
I definitely think my technique is stronger, significantly stronger, but I want to really add floorwork to it. I’m not a huge floorwork fan (I lose a lot of height if I’m kneeling), but again, I think floorwork can be dynamic and beautiful when used appropriately
Style is something that I’m always working on. I don’t want to be a cookie-cutter dancer, ie. I don’t want to be a lesser version of someone famous. I want people to see me and feel like they’re seeing someone original, not “Hey, she moves just like ____!” I’m not saying I want to do crazy fusions or be sloppy, but I definitely think you can take several of the top dancers in any style and they will be distinct.
I was regretful my veil class was canceled this summer, but I think the extra 3 hours will be good for me to start really executing things. Does anyone have any experience or advice in how they took themselves to the proverbial next level?
I’ve been meaning to review these for awhile. I had gone on a revamping of my workout wear a bit ago; everything is rather worn out, and I figure if I get 5 years wear out of some $16 yoga pants, I think I can afford to get a new pair or two. After searching high and low for cool looking yoga pants and other types of pants, I couldn’t find anything, so I settled for basic pants. I searched high and low for good basic black pants and I stumbled upon the Global Girlfriend yoga pants.
The Global Girlfriend pants I bought off the Hunger Site. Global Girlfriend is an organization that deals with fair trade goods; the working people get paid and are treated decently. If you have never heard of The Hunger Site or its affiliated sites (causes include literacy, breast cancer, animal welfare, and the rain forest), it’s the easiest way to donate money. All you do is click once a day on a button and according to all the literature I read on it (I was very skeptical), it is legitimate. The Hunger Site and its affiliates have really good wares, at a very reasonable prices; I usually use them for gifts when I can’t figure out what to get a person.
The pants are as good as any other pair I’ve owned. They’re a little higher waisted than I like (I’m also very short, so it may not be an issue for you), but I think they’ll shrink in the wash. They’re comfortable. What more could you ask for in a pair of pants?
And even though they’re called Global Girlfriend, my SO (male) can almost fit my pair and wants to buy a pair for himself.
I still haven’t heard anything in either direction on my TA job. I don’t want to hassle my boss, who has been a really fair and good person on this issue. It just sucks, because it is a holiday in the US, so I won’t see my boss until Tuesday.
In this economy, at least in the US, I’ve noticed that there is an almost death of the entry level job. I can see it in science, except maybe biology (I know very little biology and don’t know if the skills are advanced or something you pick up in lab easily). Physics jobs are demanding a lot of specific skills, where I’m honestly not sure where you would develop them, unless you were unfortunately laid off from another job.
I see it administrative positions, retail positions, and restaurant/cafe jobs, too. How does one catch a break? Seriously?
Back in 2006, I had searched really hard for a job. I don’t want to go over how many jobs I applied for. This market is definitely worse. I’m finding less in physics or science research, and what I am finding is very specialized. I have considered that I lost my pluck and am writing myself off before I give someone else the chance to. I don’t think that’s true, since I met a recent college graduate who has a degree in both electrical engineering and physics; he said there aren’t really any entry-level jobs in either field and what got him a job were connections.
I’m not above taking an admin job; I did that in 2006-2007 to pay the bills. It’s fine, honest work. However, I’m concerned I can’t even get that, with the demands that employers can make. With all the layoffs in the US, I genuinely believe that a fastfood joint could demand that the person making the fries is a PhD and would not only fill that job but also have it be fairly competitive.
Let’s hope that I can get something soon. With bills and three cats to provide for, I don’t really like having an unknown job future.
My boss told me that they should have a decision regarding if I’m allowed to TA for the summer. I was told the meeting began at 3:30.
I hate knowing that. I feel very anxious, even though I think I’ve more or less convinced myself that I need a job this summer. I talked with my boss today about this issue, since we did have two more or less graduated TAs last year work over the summer. It appears my employment is at the whim of the dean and whoever else is in charge.
In some areas, a lot, in some, not some much. I have managed to do the following this past week or two:
I switched over from a resume to a CV. I don’t know if it’ll make a huge difference in my life, but I figured that I may as well go for it. A CV is more specialized, from what I understand, and has more clear markings of what goes where.
I’ve looked and applied for some jobs, mainly for the summer. The physics job market is rough. It was bad when I looked 2-3 years ago with just a BA. I think it’s even worse in Boston than it was when I last looked. From what I understand, most universities (which is really the backbone of Boston) are suffering from the economic situation in this country. I wish I had double majored in biology; I’m not particularly interested in biology, but I would have a great chance of getting a job.
My boss cannot tell me if I’m hired to TA yet for the summer. It is not her fault; she is waiting to hear back from the dean. I hope she can tell me soon, so I can either stop searching for a summer job or get myself in high gear.
The problem with finding a summer job is I have to be somewhat picky. I want something that is flexible and part-time (because of my thesis), which seems to be hard to find.
I’m thinking about the long-term as well, and I think I maybe should do something other than physics. I had a good talk with one of my friends, who is picking his career path not only by what he likes but also by the prospect of getting a job. I talked with my chemistry professor the other night, too; he said that getting a job with a PhD in a pure science is getting increasingly difficult (he has a lot of family in other facets of science). Even though I have said things about not liking engineering, I’m thinking about that now. Why? There is more job opportunity, I think, in engineering and my professor said that a lot of times, jobs demand that you have a degree in engineering when you’re just doing what physicist or chemist is able to do. Although I don’t understand the logic of that (why a place would be so picky, if another person could fulfill the job duties), I can believe it. I know there have been jobs I had in the past that require a BA, when I think I could have been fine doing them fresh out of high school. When I think about my job future, what’s important to me is getting a job in research. I don’t care what my title technically is.
For personal reasons, I missed part of Day I of Hadia’s workshop but managed to catch some of it. Hadia, if you haven’t heard of her, is a Canadian dancer. Surprisingly, a lot of people have not heard of her (most of the people at the workshop confess they did not). I would say that she’s most famous for her teacher training. Her training, according to the people I know who have gone through parts of it, is about teaching instructors safe ways to dance.
Hadia was very nice to me, despite showing up for only half the first day. I arrived just in time to learn what really interested me in the first day: Khaleegi. Khaleegi is dance done by people in the Gulf parts of the Middle East. Below is a clip of what Khaleegi looks like.
Hadia went over some brief information on Khaleegi before going into steps and what they signify. I thought this was very useful, since I’ve only seen on Khaleegi performance and know very little about the dance. What I think was highly useful was Hadia emphasized safety and demonstrated how to something safely. For instance, Khaleegi is known for the swinging hair. It would be very easy to injure your neck doing it by using your neck. She instead pointed out if you put your shoulder into the move, instead of making it about using your neck, that it’s much safer and still throws your hair.
I was there for all of Day II, with almost a completely fresh set of people. We went through her warm up, which was rather goofy. Just all sorts of random movements that seemed to not make any sense. It turned out that everything in our warm up was a goofy, silly way to do the dancing she wanted us to do later on. I thought that was very clever and intelligent. She did a lot of quizzing throughout the raqs sharqi portion of the workshop, making sure we knew rhythms and why she chose the combos she used in the music. She also taught us how to move simpler, like using our arms to help with a turn. A lot of her moves were very simple. The tricky part was not doing what you’ve practiced for so long.
The Turkish Rom section was probably my favorite. I’m starting to really warm up to Turkish dancing period, so this was a special treat for me. Again, there was review of history and explanation of the moves. I thought it was a good overview of it.
Although I recommend taking a workshop with Hadia, I will say that she is very opinionated and is not shy about sharing them. She is also very silly; she randomly sang twice to us on the second day and likes making random sounds to show where we are the music. She also does seem to have very little regard for personal space. Hadia danced in your space, very close, when she was dancing around all of us to demonstrate a move.
However, I think she has a lot of offer and has very intelligent thoughts, such as questioning who are your teachers’ teachers. I also appreciate that she cares truly about people’s safety; she saw someone do a stretch she thought they were not warmed up enough for and stopped them. Hadia is very friendly (ate lunch and talked with us) and gladly answers questions.
Before I end this review, I must give a positive review of Pineapple Dance Studio. It is a beautiful studio, and Erika is a fabulous host. I don’t mind big workshops, but I admit there is something nicer about attending a 20-30 person workshop over a 60 person one. She had the best spread of food at a workshop I’ve attended; she had Middle Eastern food! I know workshops aren’t required to have food, but when you aren’t familiar with an area or trying to save money, it is certainly more than welcome.
