“Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential.”

― Winston Churchill

So how exactly do we get into this improvising thing? What is it that you do? How many steps in advance do you know? Personally, I barely know a couple bars at most, and even then I’m not sure that those are what’s gonna come out. I toyed with the idea of exercising this away through attempting to memorize a four or eight bar sequence as I’m dancing it and then repeat it, either on the same or on the opposite leg, depending on where I land. Didn’t find it fun so I didn’t carry through, and also I had forgotten about it until now. My refusals of discipline aside, there is this scary idea of having to plan things ahead and probably while you’re dancing.

My day job is Software Quality Assurance, and there’s a thought I want to take from there. The first phase in Software Testing is what we call “Planning and Control”. Note the “Control” part – meaning, keeping track of how much the initial plan is not being fulfilled and adjusting both the activities we carry out and the plan itself. Cause things never go according to plan – not only in QA too, this is pretty much how anything in life goes.

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September always ends up being the messy month. Last year it was a real emotional roller coaster ending in my amicable split with Erin’s Fiddle, after 8 years that no one would ever believe. It was an incredible time that I wouldn’t trade for anything but, with so many creative people in the same hub, well… the creative differences had to get real at some point! Now I needed a break.

So I treated myself to a “gap year” – I kept dancing in the sessions, but I wasn’t teaching and I wasn’t dealing with noooo dancing school, troupe or anything of the sort. I traveled a bit, attended some workshops, met a bunch of new dancing friends from different places. Got myself a concertina for some reason. Neighbors ain’t complainin’ yet. Overall, I must say I enjoyed it! But now the gap year was about to end. (more…)