Author: maldonm

Blog

Goal Setting with baby steps

maldonm

I have been working on and studying mindset coaching and goal setting. It’s one of the things that has helped me most through my cancer journey. I have been working with my students and sharing some of the things that have been so helpful. One of them is Jon Accuff’s best moments list or as he now called it his awesome moments list. 

It’s a list that you make of the best moments in your life. Looking at the past to help guide the future. A list that I continue to add to and it makes me smile daily. I started working with this and then added the past goals that I reached. Oftentimes I reached them without knowing I was reaching them. Looking back at my accomplishments. 

One of the things that came to mind was the last time I was in the “best shape of my life”. I didn’t start out with that goal in mind. I started walking to the bus stop that was 15 blocks away. Then I rode that bus to work and got off at the stop that was 2 blocks away. These two blocks were straight up and very steep. 

Since I was in high school I have ridden the bus to school. In high school I grew tired of waiting for the bus. I was never very good at getting the time table so I would just go out when it was time to go to school and maybe I’d catch it and maybe I’d miss it and wait for the next one. I saw my teacher walking across the Hawthorne bridge on my way to school. I started to think if he can walk to school, so can I. He had mentioned that he saw me waiting for the bus one day. I realized that he was walking at least 10-15 blocks further than where I got on the bus so I started walking. This started my love of walking as transportation. 

Back to not wanting to wait for the bus and starting to walk further. I am also cheap and didn’t want to pay for the short bus ride to transfer to the max at Lloyd Center, which was in the free zone. I realized that if I walked to Lloyd center and got on there and then got off at the edge of the free zone downtown I could ride for free and walk part of the way. Then one day I decided to walk the whole way. I built this up over months. Walking to the max gave me the courage and curiosity to walk further and eventually I walked the whole way to work from home. 

I was so proud of my walking the whole way I of course told all my co-workers. One co-worker said that must take a long time. I said 2 hours. She offered me her extra bike and said you could bike and it would be faster. 

This scared me a little. I had biked in the country at my mom’s, but never in the city and so I started out small. I biked to the Lloyd center and got on for the fee zone and then biked up that massive hill or rather walked my bike up it. It’s a crazy hill. In fact, here’s a video that made national news when someone tried to drive it down in the snow. 

Eventually I decided I could bike the whole way and from there grew a habit of biking everywhere. Folks would offer me lifts home and I would say no I want to ride my bike and decompress. I looked forward to it everyday. This is evidence that I can do this. 

When I started walking again after being undiagnosed with Secondary Adrenal Insufficiency I started with a timer on my phone for 2 and half minutes and my walker. I waked until the timer went off and then I turned around. I did this for a month until I bumped it to 5 minutes and then to 10 minutes the following month. 

I’m back to dancing now and some walking, but I’m going to start my timer again. I’ll start with 15 minutes and then turn around. Who knows, maybe I’ll start biking again. The other thing I have learned is to have a low, medium and high goal. My low goal is once around the block. The medium is a timer for 10 minutes and then turn around and the high is a timer for 15 minutes and then turn around. 

After examining my progress I realize that I have done this with most of my walking. During the pandemic I started walking to the high school track and walking once around and then back home. Then I started walking twice around. After that I started running on the corners of the track and walking on the straight away. Then I ran straight away and walked on the corners. When I was doing this I visualized and remembered Mahomaod Ali saying he hated training but loved running. I was training 3 times a week with my personal trainer on zoom and dancing several times a day. I would like to get back to some of the things while listening to my body and taking care of my SAI. Not being scared of it but also not ignoring or pushing it too much. I’ve tried that and it doesn’t work and usually lands me in bed for days or a week. Baby steps everyone. 

Something that seems not good enough can be the motivation that keeps you going for the next 1% level up. Even as I write this I think my goal might be too big. 

So my new goal is going to build slowly on purpose. 

Let me reframe it:

  • Low – walk around the block once a day
  • Medium – walk twice around the block once a day
  • High – walk three times around the block once a day

I can do this for one month before I level up.

What is your small goal that will help you reach your bigger dream?

Classes, Past Classes

Maldon’s 3 Month Goal | Step Creation

maldonm

intro

My 3 month goal (90 day goal) to create dance steps. My adution goal is to create steps to one tune a week. I am going to use the Album Brightly or Darkly by Nathan Gourley & Laura Feddersen. I am going record some of my improvisaional session and then once I have a step that I can repeate on right and left side I will record a woodshed session with that step.

I will track my time and get a since of how much time it takes me to create these steps. And adjust my goal from there.

brightly or darkly

Classes, Past Classes

Fiddle, Harp & Feet Workshop #1

maldonm

intro

Fiddle, Harp & Feet Workshop #1

January 27, 6:30-8:30 pm

Maldon’s studio (2400 NE Alberta St. Upstairs! Look for sandwich boards to find back entrance)

$20 (payable at class, but please pre-register): cash, check or Venmo

Each workshop will have a different type of tune that we will focus on.  Our first session this month will focus on waltzes.  Elizabeth chose 2 waltzes common in harp repertoire, and Betsy chose 2 that are common for fiddles.  Maldon will teach 3 dances:  Set dance in waltz time, waltzing, and waltz clog (dancing percussively in waltz time). Recordings and sheet music are attached (NOTE: Elizabeth’s 2 waltzes are in one pdf) We won’t spend class time learning the tunes.  You can either learn the tunes beforehand, bring sheet music to read, or challenge yourself to learn them on the fly during class (if you want to work on that!).  We want our classes to be accessible to many levels of players, so if you can’t learn 4 waltzes, come anyway. We’ll be able to show you ways to participate musically anyway!

We would like to highlight how we all can combine the elements of music in our playing and dancing.  Fiddles usually play melodies, but can also play harmonies, backup and rhythm. Harps often do backup, but can also play melodies, harmonies and rhythm.  And dancers can combine both melody and backup playing into their dancing.  

We love the vision of learning and growing as a community of musicians, rather than in our own musical corners.  So much traditional music and dance over the years has been done all together, with people of varying abilities.  The more advanced players can often be so inspiring and nurturing to newer players, and also can learn from the newer players some of the things that might never have been taught to them.

We hope that many of you will want to come to all the classes that we do, but they can be taken one at a time, so it’s OK to miss some if you’re unable to do them all.   We will also have classes on February 24 and March 24, same time and same place, but different musical focus.

Please let any of us know if you have any questions.

Betsy, Elizabeth & Maldon

drink

Download Tune & sheet Music

Dance Steps

scarborough

Download Tune & sheet Music

jeunes

Download Tune & sheet Music

pastouriaux

Download Tune & sheet Music

partner

Partner – Waltzing

Step 1 2 3

Frame

Turn & hands

group

The Waltz Cotillon – Instructions

waltz clog

Waltz Clogs

Traditional Pattern

  • Basic or Timing step
  • trick
  • Basic or Timing step
  • trick
  • Basic or Timing step
  • trick
  • Trick
  • Ending

Down the Rabit hole – here is a playlist of several classes covering the waltz clog steps.

Beginners, Blog, Irish Sean-nós Dance

Week 1 | Step of the Week | Connemara Step

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This is the Connemara step. This version is the step version vs the hop version. Both versions are at the heart of Connemara sean-nós dancing and Connemara set dancing. It is a key component of the Connemara Set, island sets like Inis Oirr and Inis Meáin, and the Claddagh Set, which Seamus O Meoloid revived in Ráth Chairn, Meath.

Ráth Chairn, a village with a rich history, was founded in 1935 by 27 families from Connemara, with 11 more joining in 1937. These families brought with them vibrant traditions, including the Claudagh set. Known for its sean-nós dance heritage, Ráth Chairn was designated a Gaeltacht in 1967.

I had the privilege of attending a set dance workshop led by Seamus at the University of Limerick. Seamus was generous and an excellent teacher. If you get the chance to watch him dance, take a lesson, or chat with him, don’t miss it. His dancing style is delightful; he often starts with a smooth lead-in before transitioning to percussive dancing, almost as if testing the tune. He has a playful style reminiscent of the dancers from the late 1990s—a joyful, fun, and sometimes comic approach that I don’t see as often today. It’s the kind of dancing that makes you smile.

Below is a video that breaks down the step without music. We also offer practice videos with music to get you started on the Connemara step. Enjoy dancing!