If you missed Little Books Part One, you can read it here. Today I want to talk about how writing can sometimes be, well, detrimental in a class.
Yes, detrimental.
I'll begin with another excerpt from Jerez last year...
April 19
Mercedes scolded me once again in class this morning, calling me back out onto the dance floor. Clearly I was to be dancing, not writing.
Yes, once again, Laura and her book has come up. It comes up a lot. No one else writes anything down in Jerez. They don't get me, I know, but I totally don't get them either!
"Es que ella siempre está escribiendo en esa libreta," Mercedes said to the class later as I was, but again, with pen in hand, frantically trying to write down which arm went where and with which foot. "No sé que escribe pero siempre está allí escribiendo."
She must think I'm the strangest student in the world. To her I must be all about paper and notes.
Especially after the paper raining incident...
You see later in the day during clase de castañuelas, where the book rarely comes out - as you can imagine writing with castanets on isn't the easiest thing in the world to do - Anyhow, we were warming up, and my clothes literally began raining paper. Sticky notes to be exact.
I noticed in the mirror that my chest looked funny so I pulled at my top to see what was going on when a sticky note fell from the bottom of my shirt and fluttered onto the floor in front of me. Naturally it caught Mercedes's eye. Nothing goes by unnoticed in her class.
"Y qué pasa con esto Laura?" she asked.
Oh my goodness.
"¡Por Díos! What is up with this chica and all of her papers and notes?" she must wonder.
So I then had to explain how I had stuck the note to myself earlier so as not to forget that I wanted to ask Maite something before class began (the best way to get to Portugal) I knew that if I didn't stick it to myself I would forget, and, as you can see I would have... Needless to say, the note served its purpose.
So, the thing is this. Writing helps me to learn. I love it. And it's a great tool. But...I think I got a little carried away with the whole thing last year in Jerez. Sometimes I became so obsessed with writing things down, with recording stuff, that I wasn't allowing myself to fully be there. I was getting in my own way of really being in class.
I won't stop writing, oh no, and I won't stop using it to help me with flamenco. But I'm thinking less of it when I'm in a class or workshop would be a good thing. Allowing my body to be fully present without the distraction of feeling a need to write everything down. Trusting myself a bit more. Trusting my body a bit more. And reflecting more after.
That is what I'm thinking.
You can still get in on the October trip to Spain. Let's go to Jerez and drive Mercedes crazy by taking lots of notes in class. Just kidding. Though I will be taking some little books for sure.
Ok, your turn. What do you think?