Tag: ballroom

Ask the Girl Episode 8 – Following

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Ask the Girl is making a reappearance! Today’s episode is inspired by a reader who asked how you’re supposed to follow when you’re in practice hold and you don’t know what steps are coming up next.

Following in general when you don’t know what’s coming next is challenging, even more so when you are in a looser frame such as practice hold.

Without meaning to brag, I think I follow quite well! I still miss my fair share of leads at social dances, but I can confidently say if you can lead me, I can follow you. Here is what I focus on to help me follow my partner’s leads successfully.

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Debt vs. The Pursuit of Happiness

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After writing the Hermit Weekend post, I recalled a post I had written for the Uphill Factor about two years ago.  Eventually, that site will transform or disappear entirely, so I’ve been spending some time revisiting old posts. The particular one I recalled yesterday was written because I had been involved in a debate about debt and pursuing things that make you happy.

The debate was how much money, more specifically how much debt, is acceptable in the pursuit of a passion?  At what point do you stop being admirable for following your dreams against any and all odds and start being just foolish and irresponsible?

Two years later, my views haven’t changed much despite my constant questioning of myself and my need to take the occasional hermit weekend.

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Hermit Weekend

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Every so often I need a hermit weekend. That is, a weekend when I don’t leave the apartment except to walk the dogs. I need the quiet time to recharge and to gather and organize my thoughts. Between my day job, my writing, my dancing, my financial juggling and Life’s latest challenge, I have a lot on my mind! Sometimes it gets to be too much and that’s when I take a hermit weekend.

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A Review of CalOpen – Realigning with “Reality”

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It’s been six days since I danced at the California Open. The days following a competition can be challenging. What goes up must come down, as they say! The big emotions of an event like a ballroom competition (excitement, anxiety, joy, etc.) take a lot of energy, so I can feel drained and even depressed after the external stimuli are gone and the big emotions fade. I call it post-comp blues. I’ve dealt with this emotional rollercoaster after every competition, as well as some lesser events. Sometimes the ride is full of insane ups and downs; other times it is just a little bumpy.

So what about this time? I’ll call it a bumpy road.

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