My second competition of 2020 is complete! We danced into the wee hours of the night at California Open (at least to me it was the wee hours). I left feeling tired and proud of my performance.
Continue readingTag: anxiety
A Review of WCDC 2020: All’s Well That Ends Well
My first competition of 2020 is officially complete! The Fred Astaire West Coast Dance Championships turned out to be a great way to start the season, though the final steps of the journey to this point were rough.
Continue readingCountdown to Embassy Ball 2018: 5 Days – Slow Down!
Getting ahead of myself is a huge problem for me. One new piece of information and my mind sees the dominoes start to fall. Suddenly, I’m worried about something that may or may not happen 10 dominoes down, assuming those are the 10 dominoes that are tapped to fall and no new dominoes or paths are added and…and…
Countdown to Embassy Ball 2018: 11 Days – Dealing with Stage Fright
Happy Sunday everyone! As promised per my Facebook livestream earlier today, I’m writing to you with a specific topic in mind that I hope will support at least one dancer out there. I want to talk about dealing with stage fright on the day of competition.
Countdown to Millennium: 17 Days – Do It Scared
Before I forget, I’m going to be speaking on a live local talk show based in Hawaii tomorrow, June 5, at 4pm PST / 7pm EST. The show will be recorded and posted on YouTube, etc. and you can bet your dance shoes, I’ll share it. But it would be sooo cool if as many of my followers as possible tuned in live! You can watch online at thinktechhawaii.com. I hope you can make it!
Ok, on to the blog post…
It’s just about two and a half weeks until my next competition.
What??
2018 will definitely go down as a crazy year, simply for how many competitions I’ve been able to enter (not to mention the publication of the Solo Practice Guide!). Then there was the addition of a new style…wow!
Countdown to The Royal Ball: 1 Week – Surrounded by Dementors
Wasn’t it just a couple weeks ago that I was finally admitting I don’t suck as a dancer? Well, the demons have exacted their revenge for being shelved. My private lessons this week may as well have been group classes with all of the dementors that joined me and Teacher (the demons hired dementors to find their escaped prisoner, get it?).
Admitting I Don’t Suck – A Dancer’s Quandary
It’s not easy to admit when you’re wrong, and even harder to admit when you were wrong about completely sucking as a dancer. It’s weird because it’s like you’re humbling and boosting yourself at the same time. “Ok ok, I was wrong. I am a good dancer.”
Countdown to Embassy: 8 Days – Challenging Myself
Amusing side note before I begin: I opened up a blank blog post to begin writing and then just stared at the screen for a few minutes while I thought about how I wanted to start. I started writing things out in my head instead of on the computer screen, but by the time I thought, “oh shoot, I should actually be writing this,” I forgot what I wrote.
That’s what happens when I try writing while I’m still drinking my first cup of tea in the morning.
Embassy Ball is next week!
Interview with Nicholas Barkley: Dancing with Demons
As follow-up to their joint interview in April, I had asked Elizabeth Thomson and Nicholas Barkley if they would be willing to do individual interviews and share more of how ballroom has impacted their lives. Liz shared her struggles with PTSD and how ballroom brought her back to life in May. Now, we get to hear from Nick!
Guest Post by Christiann Miranda – I Never Really Knew
This month, I invited another dancer to write her own story. We met through Instagram of all places. Her Instagram account (@girlinthe_vans) is mainly videos of her dancing at a gym. No fancy costumes or glamorous settings. Just her, the music, and dance. The story behind these videos is full of pain and loss. But always, there was dance, ready to act as a lifeline when she reached for it.
The Girl with the Tree Tattoo 