Category: The Student Perspective

A Holiday Sale without Marketing – Let’s See What Happens

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Long-time readers, you know the drill. It’s time for The Girl with the Tree Tattoo’s annual sale! Now through the end of 2025, get 15% off anything and everything in the Ko-Fi shop with code DANCE. We’re down to just the Solo Practice Guide available in print (and only a handful at that), but the Guide as well as the Dance Diaries short reads are available in digital format.

2025 has been a weird, disturbing year, and while I have many thoughts, I haven’t felt the need or desire to write them down for anyone other than myself. The world, particularly the online world, has become so noisy. The urge to quit modern society and live out my days in a hobbit hole in the woods is strong. So in alignment with that, we’re going minimalist with the holiday marketing.

If I’m being honest, I don’t think I’m ready to go full hermit mode and give up all that modern society has to offer. So while I’m still in a place with WiFi, and while I wait for my bread dough to rise, I thought I’d pop in here and at least say something about the holiday sale. 15% off with code DANCE. There, that ought to do it! 🙂

My dance journey has transformed into something quieter and gentler for my body, but that doesn’t mean I’m not cheering for those of you on more exciting or thrilling journeys! Your passion burns strong and you’re eager to prove yourself. You’re determined to walk out and own that dancefloor. The Solo Practice Guide is your trusty companion, supporting you as you learn to balance through those turns while holding your head up high. I can see you smiling as you realize you’re getting stronger. It’s amazing how much more you can enjoy the dance when you don’t need to think so much!

Whether you’re on a high octane jive of a journey, or more of a gentle waltz through the woods, I wish you a happy and healthy holiday season, full of your favorite dance music.

Holiday Sale 2024

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It’s that time of year again! All books and journals by The Girl with the Tree Tattoo are 15% off in my Ko-Fi shop with code DANCE. If you’re new to this blog and my works, please peruse the shop at your leisure. The books there were written to help you along your dance journey and grow confidence in yourself as a dancer. The ultimate goal is more joy in your dancing.

Fair warning – there is only ONE Whole Dance Journey journal left, which means there is also only ONE Champion Dancer book bundle available.

While you decide which book or journal to order, read on for some honest thoughts about this time of year.

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Performing for the Fun

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This piece is for all the dancers out there who love working hard on their dancing and are constantly pushing themselves to their limits and beyond. Some of you love the dance journey so much that you made dance your career. Others, like me, followed your passion aside of your career, but still took on the greater challenges that dance had to offer. Dance makes us come alive like nothing else, in between the sweat, tears, sore muscles, and literal blood.

Of course, all work and no play makes for a dull dancer, and dance at its core is joy and fun! We don’t always get to focus on that aspect when we are seriously training for a stage performance or a competition. Drilling choreography or technique for hours doesn’t scream fun and entertainment. All of that hard work feels worth it though, when you start to feel the changes in your dancing.

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Since We Last Spoke – Life and Dance Updates

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Photo by Budgeron Bach on Pexels.com

Hello dancers! I know it’s been awhile. While I’ve been living a full life in the physical world, to be honest, I’ve been more than happy to not be bothered with the digital world and its insatiable appetite for new content. However, I first connected with many of my readers and dance friends on this blog, so for those of you who want to know what I’ve been up to, keep reading! If you’re just coming across this website, this post will be far less relevant to you, but I invite you to keep reading anyway, if you like.

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Where There are People, There is Dance: An Interview with Michelle Montanez Fox

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Photo provided by Michelle Fox

Dance enthusiasts, please welcome Michelle Montanez Fox to the blog! She is the Area Director of the Northern New England region for Fred Astaire Dance Studios (FADS) and the owner of the first FADS dance studio in Maine. Michelle started her ballroom career as a professional dancer and teacher at a FADS studio in Massachusetts and gradually worked her way up to studio manager, studio owner, and finally director of an entire region. Her passion for dance is matched by her passion for teaching adults and providing a truly positive and fulfilling experience for both her students and the teachers who work for her. 

I first reached out to Michelle when a post about the new FADS studio in Portland appeared in my Instagram feed back in September 2023. Maine has never had a franchised ballroom dance studio, so I was surprised to learn that one had recently opened! Even more interesting, the studio opened in September. Much of Maine’s population exits south for the winter, and so opening a new business in the fall could present extra challenges than if you opened around May when part-time residents and summer tourists are returning in droves. With curiosity, surprise and excitement over seeing that familiar logo here in Maine, I had to learn more.

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All the Things You Learn From Dance, Aside from How to Dance

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I was overwhelmed during my first rehearsal for the ballet Coppelia, but as they progressed through the month of February, I realized that despite my minimal ballet experience, I brought a lot to the table as a dancer. My skills and experience from dancing styles like ballroom, salsa, swing and even Zumba, proved to be extremely valuable as I learned and rehearsed a ballet routine.

In the corporate world, they would be called transferable skills. In this case, I guess they would be transferable dance skills. I guarantee you have some of these skills as well, even if you’ve only been dancing a short time. So read on to be reminded of how many skills you’ve amassed as a dancer!

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Back in the Ballroom, Just in Time for the Holidays

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Well hello there, dancers! I know it’s been awhile since I’ve visited our home here. I hope our paths have crossed elsewhere and it hasn’t actually been that long. If you’ve missed me, I am on Instagram most frequently as of late. It’s easy to upload a quick reel of the sunset or the beautiful views around my home without feeling like I lose too much time actually experiencing said sunsets and views.

While I continue to write, the words don’t always turn into pieces that I wish to share with the world. They are more for my own musings, or story ideas still in their infancy. It’s been a long time since I attempted to grow an idea into something that would take up more than a blog post or two. I’m excited to say something bigger has planted its seed in my brain.

I also still dance – Zumba and ballet mainly these days, plus mini dance breaks in my office whenever a good song plays. Speaking of dance, did you see what I did last week??

Here is a hint.
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CanvasRebel Interview – Taking Risks

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Greetings dancers!

I recently did an interview with the online magazine CanvasRebel in which they asked me about taking risks and what resilience meant to me. I had previously interviewed with their sister magazine VoyageLA. The current chapter of my story looks significantly different, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to share my story as it’s evolved, as well as how my perspective has shifted on what it means to be a creative in today’s world.

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