Dancing and Lullabies

Posted in From Jewel on February 24, 2009

            Ok, my feet are better... not better, but I'm used to them. Maybe I don't notice it anymore because my knees hurt so badly! I guess suddenly going from no dancing to 8 hour days was a bit much!  Typical of me, I always rush in and get obsessed and over do something!  Man, I can hardly walk tonight! I'm absolutely crippled, haha!  I hope they get better fast. It's just so much fun to learn, and the day just flies by. I keep thinking, ok, one more time. Ok, one more time. I really feel lucky to have such a good partner. He has spent his whole life learning to be great at this, and its really something to watch him dance- WITHOUT ME!  

         He seriously is sooooo much better without me clinging to him for dear life. But we have such a good time, we laugh ALL DAY LONG! It's more fun than I ever could have imagined. Plus, I just really love to learn and challenge myself. I never watched Dancing With the Stars until they sent me last season in the mail when I signed on to the show; and I can say, being in it is pretty cool so far. A chance to learn something from a world class teacher is a rare gift and learning really makes me feel alive. It really sharpens my senses and makes me feel at my best when I push myself. Learning is such an invigorating and humbling experience. I think I'm a learning junkie...it reminds me of all the other stuff I want to learn and all the books I have yet to read. (Oh, I've been reading Rilke's love poems- WOW!!!!)

        And I'm glad some of you remember Dmitry from 'So You Think You Can Dance,' he really is as nice a person on the inside as out. That's what makes being his partner such a privilege. Maybe if you guys would like, I will ask him to write you guys a blog about our time together.

       Today Ty and his partner stopped by at the end of our work out. His partner, Chelsea, danced with Dmitry and they looked SO good! Me and Ty still look like buffoons... but, what else can we do? That's why I'm rehearsing so hard, if I still suck at the end of it I will know its not because I didn't put the effort in.  Dmitry has a great work ethic. It's been fun to select songs and pick themes for our dances and how we want to dress... it's like a mini-production. He really puts a lot of thought and care into it.

One day we rehearsed in Dublin, a small town up the road from us. It was in an amazing old rock building, over 100 years old; with beautiful huge windows, it was lovely. We started learning the Quick Step, and its the opposite of the Cha Cha, all posture, nothing slinky. It's so hard to switch gears. I got to watch Ty work on his routine with Chelsea one day, so I'm including pictures of that too... and a pic of Chelsea, who is so cute. She's from Salt Lake City and is a super nice girl, very talented. She was raised well and very down to earth- not a diva!

        Oh, and Ty is kinda shy around cameras, as some of you noted. Not in person or around friends, he's actually quite hysterical and very entertaining and funny. But,  the 'cowboy code' is not to brag or draw too much attention to yourself, so 'turning on' in front of cameras has never been his thing. He is very authentic and that's what I love about him. He has certainly been giving his all to dancing and is trying very hard, and i hope his personality comes across, because he is so funny. He has a very dry sense of humor and this dancing is REALLY out of his element! His whole career has been about being tight and strong- and dancing takes being loose, it's quite a change!

     On a different note, the lullaby album cover is almost finished and soon it will go into production to be printed and everything. The sequence order is as follows:

        RAVEN                                              4:08                          
        ALL THE ANIMALS                               2:46                          
        SWEET DREAMS                                  4:17                  
        TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR           3:05                  
        CIRCLE SONG                                    3:47  
        THE COWBOS LAMENT                         4:00                  
        DAYDREAM LAND                                3:11  
        SOV GOTT (SLEEP WELL)                     4:44                  
        DREAMER                                          4:23    
        FOREVER AND A DAY                           3:16                          
        GLORIA                                             6:10                  
        SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW         4:26                  
        ANGEL STANDING BY                            2:46                          
        SIMPLE GIFTS                                     2:48                  
        BRAHMS LULLABY                                4:46  
       
     I'm excited about rare or forgotten verses I found (with Alan Bershaw's help!) to several of the standards like Twinkle,  and an intro to Somewhere Over the Rainbow written by the original writers I had never heard, and LOTS of verses to  Brahms lullaby. I also lengthened the arrangements of some songs I wrote, like Gloria (which was very short on my Christmas album) and SOV GOTT- the Swedish song. Oh, speaking of the Swedish song... I wrote this when I was 18... I had just learned about 12 words in Swedish, and decided to string them all together. It's about a dolphin and a wolf that fall in love and sing to each other at the shore line every night. They say they love each other and to sleep well... its the best i could do with the limited vocabulary I had, but there it is! 
     Oh, The Shape of You didn't make the album because its kind of a sad song. But, it will be on one soon, it's one of my favorite songs I have right now. This album isn't quite as bare as Pieces of You; it has more strings, but is still very organic and raw. No drums, just cello, violin, mandolin and my guitar... with an accordion here and there. I think it will make you all happy. One musician played all the strings and mandolin parts, Jonathan Yudkin. He's so talented and did a great job. My friend Jason Freese helped produce it with me and played piano on a few tracks.
     Anyway, talk to you all soon. Thanks for all  of your support. I enjoy reading your posts and am always fascinated by your writing.  My condolences for the lost kitty, losing a pet is so hard. It tears your heart out, but the love they give is irreplaceable, a true gift! xxj

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