Another competition is in the books for the Dancing Queens ladies! They all took the floor at the Atlanta Open in Episode 6, except for Gaëlle who was there only to spectate. There were some tense moments on and off the dance floor, highlighting the fact that our dance journeys are not all sunshine and rhinestones. While dancers may be considered athletes of the gods, we’re still human and we have bad days.
Continue readingTag: competitive dancer
Dancing Queens Episode 5 – The Sacrifices We Make for Ballroom
We have arrived at yet another competition in Episode 5 of Dancing Queens. This episode served us more tension and drama between the women as they prepare to take the floor once again. For me, the drama felt much more manufactured via the magic of editing than in previous episodes, but hey, the producers have to keep the audience engaged, right? Not everyone tunes in just to see the dancing.
Aside from the artificially inflated tension, Episode 5 also highlighted some of the realities unique to the adult pro-am ballroom student experience. We are already living full lives when we first enter a ballroom dance studio. We have full-time jobs, homes and families that require our time and energy. Yet the passion for dance cannot be denied, and when we reach the point of committing to a competitive dance journey, sacrifices have to be made. The question is, are they worth it?
Continue reading
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!
The Purpose of Dance
If you follow me on social media, you got a sneak peek of today’s blog post. Yesterday, I asked if my fellow dancers were planning on returning to their regularly scheduled dance life as soon as it was feasible, or if they felt like they were entering a different chapter of their dance story. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Pre-pandemic, my dance life was focused on competition. 2020 was set up to be my most ambitious competition season yet. Four and a half months later, I’m asking myself whether that focus is still true.
Continue readingNot Dancing Back Into Society
Before the pandemic, competition was my ballroom niche. I competed primarily in American Smooth and thrived on that competition dance floor. I loved that all of the pieces of dance came together for competition – the steps, the timing, the technique, the styling, the expression, etc. All of it played a significant role in the performance.
As I traveled along my dance journey, social dancing started to lose its appeal. Showcases had helped me fulfill that dream of performing on stage and successfully making that first big push past my fear and self-doubt, but even they didn’t quite satisfy my dance appetite as time passed. Competition fulfilled my passion for ballroom and my desire to continue to challenge myself and grow as a dancer.
Now, during the pandemic, I don’t have any of those outlets. I have a single 45-minute private lesson once a week on a patio.
And you know what?
Continue reading
The Girl with the Tree Tattoo 