A common result of getting bitten by the ballroom bug is diving headfirst into all things ballroom dance. In the beginning of my ballroom journey, I went to multiple group classes each week on top of my private lessons. I’d show up to my lesson an hour or two early just to spend more time in the studio and be in that dancing environment. I never missed a practice party.
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Find Your Confidence on the Dance Floor
I’m pleased to announce that registration for the free 5-day email challenge, Find Your Confidence on the Dance Floor, is officially open!
Duffy, the owner of Dance Dress Couture, and I were chatting before the holidays about coming back to the competition dance floor after being away so long. There’s so much to think about when you’re competing! Frame, head position, foot technique, choreography, connection to our partner, musicality, timing…and don’t forget to smile! It’s easy to get caught up trying to think about all of these aspects all at once – we forget that dance is supposed to be fun.
As we continue to navigate the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s important to be able to trust and believe in ourselves, so we can connect with our joy of dance. When we’re confident, we dance well and we dance happy!
So for this year’s free email challenge, The Girl with the Tree Tattoo and Dance Dress Couture are teaming up to focus on finding that confidence again, so we can thrive as our true selves on the dance floor in 2022 and have fun while doing it. 🙂
The details:
- The email challenge starts January 10 and will run through January 15.
- It’s 100% free to sign up.
- Each day, you’ll receive an email with a daily thought and prompt designed to help you build your confidence as a dancer.
- You’re welcome to reply to the email with your response or any questions/comments. Or if you want to keep your thoughts private but still want accountability, simply reply “done!”
If you want to participate in the challenge, but won’t have time January 10-15, no worries! You can still register and just go through the prompts when you do have time.
Hope you’ll join us!
Breathing Through My Arms
Happy Sunday, dancers!
As always happens, time seems to take off without me. I can’t believe there are only three weeks left in 2021! These last three weeks are going to be busy too. I’ll be covering the United Country Western Dance Council World Championships for FloDance over the next month. I reported on country western dance competitions pre-pandemic, and this coming January is the first pandemic-era UCWDC Worlds event. Just like the ballroom world, country dance was hit hard by Covid. So everyone is thrilled to finally be getting back onto the dance floor!
Be the Awkward Dancer
While ballroom dancing is my primary dance love, being in Maine without a dance partner has afforded me the opportunity to explore or revisit other styles of dance. In addition to a weekly Zumba class, I’ve been enjoying a weekly ballet class that is proving to be a challenge for my brain and body. When I saw the “adult and teen ballet” class on the calendar, I assumed it would be a class of beginner basics focusing on elements of ballet that would help anyone to improve posture and balance. The class went well beyond my expectations, to my surprise and then pleasure.
Continue readingSupport Rx Ballroom Dance on Giving Tuesday
Hi dancers!
Popping in real quick to share a post from a nonprofit I work with – Rx Ballroom Dance. I’ve shared information about the organization before. We provide FREE ballroom dance classes to people struggling with neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s. The effects of these classes on the participants have been incredible to witness. People are getting physically stronger, improving their balance, coordination and memory recall, AND they are happier!
Free to participants means we depend on grants and donations to keep the program running. So please consider making a donation today!
Learn more and donate:
https://rxballroomdance.com/its-giving-tuesday-double-your-donation-up-to-5000/
Choose Your Own Adventure
Do you remember those “choose your own adventure” books? I loved those books as a kid! I always wanted to read through every single option to see what would happen. The ending might be the same, but adventures are never about the destination. They’re about the journey.
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.
When the Doubts Roll In
The weather is getting colder here. Frost appears on the grass every morning now, with low temperatures hitting the 20s. I had to scrape ice off my windshield this morning before I left for Zumba. High temperatures are still hitting the low 50s, so I wouldn’t call it winter yet but I know the 20s will soon be the high rather than the low. Layers are my best friend as I await the arrival of my first real winter in years. I also ordered some wool socks.
What Do You Believe About Yourself As a Dancer?
A few weeks ago, I attended a workshop hosted by my mindset/personal development/creative/just generally awesome coach, during which we did an exercise that involved listing things you believed to be true about yourself. This wasn’t meant to be a self-roast or pity party; the goal was to identify positive things. The question then came up – is it really being honest to only list positive things and ignore the negative?
Dancing to Keep Warm and For Plain ‘Ol Fun
It’s officially Autumn here in Maine! Those warm Summer days are long gone, evidenced by the 63-degree temperature inside the house (I’m not turning on the heat until I can vacuum out at least the ends of the ducts). The trees are also changing, which is beautiful. Batches of trees turned this brilliant red early on along the main route that I drive for groceries, PT, etc. You have this large swath of summer-y green and then bam! a batch of red in the middle. So gorgeous. I understand why tourists flock to this area at this time of year.
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The Girl with the Tree Tattoo 