I had a birthday a week and a half ago! Birthdays are a time to reflect on my life over the past year, and this particular birthday, I found myself reflecting on the past decade. The last couple weeks, I have been reminded of some important lessons I’ve learned over the past 10 years, so while the literal paint dries (more on that later), I thought I would make the time to share.
Continue readingTag: authenticity
Come Alive
The Greatest Showman was one of those movies that shouldn’t have worked. A musical about P.T. Barnum, a man who gained notoriety by exploiting people for profit and marketing racism to the masses in the form of entertainment? That’s just not right.
And yet, the movie was a major success! I’m a huge fan myself, and I think a big part of that success had to do with the underlying message that had nothing to do with Mr. Barnum. It was an invitation that appealed to that desire within all of us: to show up as our true selves, to shed the dreary gray uniform of the daily grind, and as they sing, come alive.
I Never Would Have Moved to Maine Without Ballroom
Hello from a dripping wet, soggy Maine! The rain arrived Friday night and has kept us drenched since then. Good thing I got the lawns mowed earlier this week. #ThingsISayNow
The rain has made for a cozy, relaxing weekend, except when the dogs need to go out. Even then, it’s not too bad. They don’t care about getting wet and I have bright blue rain boots and a solid rain jacket, so who cares? I took it a step further yesterday afternoon while the power was out briefly and decided to have some fun (see below).
A fellow ballroom dancer shared with me that she’s appreciating how all of the intangible skills that have come out of her dance training, like increased self-confidence, ability to work through challenging dance moves, learning to win and lose gracefully at competitions, have translated well into “real” life. She saw the additional value gained out of all of those expensive private lessons. I responded that I agreed completely! Without those “side effects” of learning to ballroom dance, I never would have moved to Maine.
Continue readingDancing My Beautiful Truth (With a Dress to Match)
Happy Memorial Day weekend! Honestly, when I kept hearing commercials about Memorial Day sales this past week, I thought it was odd they were advertising so early. Then I realized this was the holiday weekend, not a week or two from now. Better to realize it now instead of logging into work on Monday and wondering why no one else is online!
I kicked off the weekend by hosting the Dance Your Truth workshop with RiTika Rose, which was eye-opening.
Continue readingDance Your Truth – A New Workshop About Dancers
Coming to you midweek to share details about the latest workshop in The Girl with the Tree Tattoo online series, Dance Your Truth!
This workshop is going to be different from other dance workshops because it isn’t about dance. It’s about you, the dancer.
Continue readingDancing Toward the Next Normal
Happy Mother’s Day! Before I jump in, I want to give a shout-out to all of the biological, adoptive, fur, dance and other moms who freely give their love and support to those they care about. 2020 has certainly been a challenging year, but you’ve stayed strong and we love you for it.
I’m coming up on two months since my company ordered everyone who could work from home to do so. Since I danced instead of saved before the pandemic hit, I’m extremely grateful there hasn’t been any disruption to my day job income. Not being one to count blessings twice though, I am building up the savings account during this pause. Speaking of this pause, there was some news this past week.
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