#ramblingruthie

[abnahaya]

SALATIGA PEACEFUL WAACK

So once upon a time, a well-known national waacker came to the small Salatiga city and taught waacking class, she encouraged the students to build their own waacking community. I didn’t experience this background story at the first place, but since Salatiga was a small city, everyone knew everyone. I heard about this new dance community they were trying to build. This happened almost a year after my falling-out with my friends, I had just finished my final exam and all, waiting to graduation day. I missed dancing and I had nothing to lose.

I knew two people from the first meeting, they were my old dancing pals, one of them was also a member of DOS (see previous post). It was pretty challenging for me because even though I wasn’t really bad at waacking, but I couldn’t do freestyle like, bruh, I was so bad at it fr. Our waacking sessions went for 2 to 3 hours every Tuesday afternoon, consisting of basic drilling, choreography (if anyone has one to share) and freestyle session. 

Because it’s a small group, we grew closer, like really close. I became the mum of the group, and we would hang out after practice, talking shits and dreaming about dance projects we would like to do together. Since some of us were considered pretty “senior” in Salatiga dance scene, we also taught smaller groups about the basics of waacking and performed in small showcases in town. 

One of the memorable moments was when Salatiga Movement, one of the dance team in town, invited Safina, a waacker from Jogja, a neighbouring city, to teach a short class. I went and danced with everyone, and truly it was a different feeling to be able to dance in a big team (although we weren’t exactly a team, but some of them were also part of SPW so, close enough), it brought back so much nostalgia on my part, and I enjoyed it very much. After class, we held a small 7-to-smoke, a dance battle, between us. It was my first (and probably last) battle, and I had to say, it didn’t go as bad as I thought it would, I did pretty well. The next day we shoot a short choreography with Safina, in the legendary dance spot in Salatiga.

Sadly, my time was short with this team, since I had to graduate soon. So before graduation, I pushed everyone to make the first independent project of the team, which would be my last. We didn’t have much time, but I was stubborn enough to keep on going. I remember, I picked the song because it was the only waacking-able song on my offline playlist, when I decided to create the choreography with the team. We got help from our friends to shoot and edit the video, did it on the newly built hall, and held a small farewell photo session afterwards. Every time I watch the video, it brings smile to my face because it was perfectly like how I imagine it would be, everyone was slaying and moreover, I could say that all the drillings we did for a year did pay off, our techniques was good and we synchronised well. I was so proud of this team —and I still am.

[abnahaya]

How It All Started

So for a bit of context, I was mentioned for a new challenge on Instagram called artist/performer challenge, in which basically I need to post 10 pictures of me every day for 10 days in a performance situation with no explanation to bring awareness to the arts. However, because my annoying self don’t wanna ruin the aesthetic of my instagram feeds, and I need to really start my writing habits again, instead of only posting the picture without context, I wanna post a whole ass story. The next 10 days will be my own journey in art.

Growing up in a conservative Javanese family, my grandfather held the traditional value of teaching arts to the children to train their “emotional brain” —which I actually appreciate, even though I know it’s a pain in the ass for some people- since he was a traditional dancer, all of his children were taught to dance. So my mum tried this on me and my brother, she enrolled me in traditional dancing course when I was super small, like 4 or 5 yo, then a violin course when I was 15. 

My parents, esp my mum, knew from the beginning that I inherited the art blood. I liked dancing, singing, acting, drawing, even when I didn’t really like playing the violin, my teacher was fond of me (not in a creepy way, ofc). I was quite an art prodigy. I have been getting on stage since young age too, my parents —who were quite often in charge of Christmas/Easter celebration in our church- always tried to make me perform, in every way: Balinese dancing, Javanese dancing, semi-ballet musical, theatre, singing, playing the violin, and even the picture above was from when I did a monologue.

The problem was that I had always been a big rebel. I didn’t like to be told what to do. I love going on stage and I know I’m good at it, but the more people push me to do it, the more I’d be hiding in the crowd. Unfortunately, my parents still have a hard time unlearning their old ways of “telling me what to do”, so we always end up fighting. Most of the time, our fights never has any closures, and just left hanging without any clear result of what each parties should and should not do. 

I also overestimated myself, I quitted playing violin, I stopped drawing, my band was breaking up, and I only act when I was really needed to. Without hardwork or training, raw talent will only be “talent”, and nothing more. I might have started as a 10 yo with a 15 yo talent, but as soon as I neglect my training, I became a 20 yo with the same 15 yo talent. It wasn’t good enough.

There are times when I regret my stubbornness, like, why???

But oh well, what’s done is done. I made my choice and no matter how poor that was, I ought to live up to it. I’m happy enough to be able to be aware of myself, the actions and consequences I had in the past, even my weak and strong points, also what I aspire to be in the future (haven’t figured this out quite yet tho). However, life never runs out of chances, I know I can —and I should- try to keep going at the things I love, including my passion for art, no matter how many times I gotta fall and restart all over again. I learn and manifest this in dancing —which I will be talking a lot on the next posts.

So, that is my semi-humble-brag story that underlies the whole challenge for the next 10 days. Write to you tomorrow and keep on doing you, boo!

[abnahaya]

Finished 2000+ glute workout in two months! 🍑 Ok but honestly, I always have a plump figure, it frustrated me a lot when I became "the biggest" among my friends, or even when I do the most workout, I still couldn't slim down. I hate it when people tell me "does your workout work?" or "you should take care of your body more" like I AM TRYING, BITCH! I realize I don't appreciate my body like I should. So as I'm trying to figure out my own pace, I start with the body parts I love the most, that I'm always proud of. I do a lot of glute workout an they show results easily (also because I want to be able to twerk like I used to), whenever I get frustrated and hate my body, I work on these. it helps a lot in building my mental confidence to keep on loving my body in my own way coz hey, it's all I've got! #ramblingruthie #bodypositive #100glutechallenge #100squatchallenge https://www.instagram.com/p/B3VnGBOAc-m/?igshid=6vr5f1b64gwy