'BIRD OUTTA THE CAGE - Fall Frolics With Lindsey Stirling - Part 8
MY JOURNEY WITH LINDSEY STIRLING:
--THE MUSE IN THE MOON: A Thank You to My Muse & My Supporters
--BRAVE ENOUGH: To Fight in the Arena & Shatter Shackes
--TRANSCENDING INTO LIGHT - And Taking Flight
--LOST GIRLS - Rise Again. And Again. And Once More.
--BEHIND THE VEIL - Burying Things Underground
--BEYOND THE VEIL - Dancing with Shadows & Light
--MASTER OF TIDES, MISTRESS OF PLAY - How Lindsey Holds My Heart
Let us conclude this series with a sneak-peek at what my Stirling Muse has inspired in me this week. I wait every year for the leaves to turn in this spot near my house. Is it the most rapturous fall leaf shooting location I could find in these parts of the Ozarks? Heck no. But I can easily do this by myself without having to worry about if my super-duper awesome take of some amazing part in the music got ruined by people walking behind me. Without watching the footage after every take, I might never know until I went to edit it. Not efficient.
Since it's so close to my house, I can easily film in multiple costumes, and I have a convenient place to put the on-deck props--the trunk of my car. I can take breaks any time I need without having tear much of anything down.
I can pee at will.
This is really important in long video shoots. Best of all, I don't have to use up any of my energy driving. I can leave it all on the...well, this week, I left it all on the leaves.
These are screenshots from the video footage. Enjoy!
Day 1: 'Bird Outta the Cage!
Day 2: The Element of Fiyahhhh! With Earth.
I had to push pause after this second shoot to give my body a break. I'm actually still recovering from some complications to the third round of oral surgery, so the fatigue is strong with this one right now. Plus, dancing on an unstable surface is always rough on my knee and my hips, dancing on concrete or asphalt is rough on my back, so I chilled for a few days and let everybody relax.
As I was driving on Wednesday, I saw that the colors had exploded overnight and were doing that glorious pulsation thing. It wasn't quite the Minnesota Ring of Fire Pulse, but it was wondrous nevertheless. I had plans that day, plus my body wasn't quite ready to go again, so I couldn't jump back in. Instead, I made special supper for Mom and we pulled out our annual Deer Camp movie binge. This year we watched Lord of the Rings.
Then it stormed that night. I was terribly sad, hoping that the leaves wouldn't get knocked down just at the height of their vibrance.
They didn't. MUAhahahaha... So the next day I started prepping for Round 3. As I waited for the sun to be at better angle, I did some experiments and finally figured out the flooring issue.
After forty-five years of dancing barefoot, having to dance in shoes is a nightmare for me, because I can't feel the floor and grip with my toes. Plus, in order to have shoes that give the right traction for vigorous moves, the rubber of the soles tends to grip too much amidst spinning, which puts torque on my knee, so I hauled out my old Folklorico/Flamenco practice floor just to see. Well, it helped eliminate some of the dip in the pavement, and it meant I didn't have to wear shoes.
Unfortunately, that thing is so slippery it wasn't viable for most things. So on the third day, I brought out a carpet to see how that would go. Like Goldilocks, it was just right. Ahhhhhh...barefoot, outdoors, with just enough grip and slip. It was purrrrfect, because I've danced a lifetime on carpet. So the only issues left were the slants of the ground, the acorns and sticks occasionally pelting me as they fell, and of course, the wind.
But if you're not trying to execute a set choreography, you can let the air do what it does to the silk. Then it becomes another toy to play with. And ohhhh...I did. Afterwards, I ticked off a few more costumes from the Rack of Tassels & SCA Coats.
Day 3: Twirling, Whirling, Swirling
If you like these shots, there are many more on my Instagram.
So there it is. Copious outdoor footage to some of my favorite Lindsey Stirling songs that I usually dance to in mah kitchen.
Alas. After all that sitting during my surgery recovery, my hip and my neck are hacked off... again...le-siiiiigh... which means that my hands are going numb any time I try to do anything fine-tuned with them. Like intricate mousing. So as soon as we have that issue resolved once more, I will hopefully be able to dive into editing some of this footage. Woot!
Until then, you'll have to put on the Lindsey playlist, (7) look at the photos, and use your imagination.
Let us now bid my Muse the fondest of farewells (for now) with a song that has inspired years of kitchen dancing. Heck, I just broke into spontaneous spinning, gushing, and shimmies as I was making supper tonight. XXXOOO
CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE
--UP NEXT: WANDERING THROUGH WONDERLAND - Come Closer. (No. Closer.)
--OR: If you don't know about the Rack of Tassels & Coats that has been erected in my studio, I've been covering the work-in-progress of that ginormous project in the Danceyliciousness WIP folder on Ko-fi. The SCA tales that sparked that project are coming right up in our near future with the day I watched a trebuchet launch.
--OR: There are other dance, nature, and event photo galleries HERE.
--More of my dance muse tales can be found HERE.
--THE NAVIGATION TABLE OF CONTENTS
GROOVALICIOUS LINKS FOR YOUR INSPIRATIONAL PLEASURE
1) Lindsey Stirling
--The wiki
--"My Story" - As told by Lindsey, set to one of my favorite self-soothing, pick me up anthems: Anchor by Mindy Gledhill
3) Lindsey Stirling's new tour and album, Artemis
5) Atwood Magazine's interview with Lindsey Stirling
6) Lindsey's book, The Only Pirate in the Room - yarrrrrr!
7) My Spotify collection of Lindsey Stirling songs that make me dance and swoon. I admit, I'm a bit of a Lindsey purist, but there are a few collaborations that I adore. As we will soon see.