Catch and Return

Since I'll be away for the second half of July, Jeff and Dino are letting me make up the Tuesday "Skills" classes that I miss during Catch and Return on Thursdays.

I got home pretty late last night from Israeli Folk Dancing, and as usual, it took me a while to unwind, and so, of course I got to bed at an absurd hour. That left me exhausted today. I had hoped to sneak in a nap before heading to Streb, but no such luck, and so I did not have very high hopes for tonight's class.
I started the evening warming up with swings and working on my turn-around and roll-ups. The roll-ups have gotten better, but the turn-around still needs a little work:

After those, I put on a belt, and started working on my mod, since I really wanted to get over my fear of commitment to that trick. After three relatively successful attempts, I thought it might be better not to jinx it, and decided to move on to the cutaway. Dino laughed at that idea and called me a "witch". Hey, I've been called worse, and by Dino too, for that matter.

And maybe I am a witch, who knows, but my superstition panned out. Check this out:

Yes, folks, a uprise mod round trip!! I did not even think it would get caught tonight, though Jeff did catch one before the round trip, and though I threw it across to him another few times,but surprisingly enough, not only did I catch it but returned to the bar and then to the board (with a lot of assistance from Manny!)

As I told Dino after it was over, trying the front-end uprise as well as all the other bar tricks in the skills class really upped my game when throwing tricks across. I think it was because I've been fiddling with the front-end uprise that I was finally able to figure out the uprise mod.

It was great flying again under the instruction of the power three, Jeff, Dino and Manny. I haven't had a class with all three of them teaching for several weeks, and it was nice knowing that no matter who was on lines, in the catch trap or on the board, that you were surrounded by a high degree of expertise, and could always turn to the instructor nearest to you and ask for advice.

Jeff did double duty, filming my swings at the beginning of class, and Emma captured the mod round trip. Thank you!

After class, Dino, Emma, Lex, Emanuelle (sp?) and I headed to Julian's for a party. Not only does he have a static bar suspended, but he has an entire upright (Rigged by Arlie!) with fabric and corde lisse attached in addition to the static bar. It was great fun to play on, and I gave Emanuelle an impromptu mini-static lesson, but I think all of us would like to do a catcher's course, as Emanuelle, Lex and Julian were practicing their locks, and taking my weight quite nicely! Thanks for letting me play, Julian, and I am very jealous of your setup!

All in all, a great evening. I also decided that I prefer Oscar Wilde to ee cummings or Kafka, and if that makes me bourjoise, it's okay.
Sorry for rambling, it takes forever for those videos to upload to youTube.

And, just for fun, who can identify these feet?