Tag: dance blog

Performing for the Fun

Leave a comment

This piece is for all the dancers out there who love working hard on their dancing and are constantly pushing themselves to their limits and beyond. Some of you love the dance journey so much that you made dance your career. Others, like me, followed your passion aside of your career, but still took on the greater challenges that dance had to offer. Dance makes us come alive like nothing else, in between the sweat, tears, sore muscles, and literal blood.

Of course, all work and no play makes for a dull dancer, and dance at its core is joy and fun! We don’t always get to focus on that aspect when we are seriously training for a stage performance or a competition. Drilling choreography or technique for hours doesn’t scream fun and entertainment. All of that hard work feels worth it though, when you start to feel the changes in your dancing.

Continue reading →

Journal Your Whole Dance Journey (Limited Restock!)

Leave a comment

Popping in quickly to let you know that a VERY limited quantity of A Journal for the Whole Dance Journey is now available on my Ko-Fi shop and Amazon!

I first published this journal in 2019, which I’m shocked to realize was 5 years ago!? After creating The Solo Practice Guide for Ballroom Dancing to help dancers like myself keep up with their dance training in between lessons with teachers/partners, I created this journal to be a singular place to record and easily reference notes and reflections on any and all areas of the dance journey – lessons, coachings, practice, competitions, showcases, and even downtime when we’re on a break from dance.

I designed this 150-page journal to be flexible enough to fit nearly anyone’s note-taking style, but structured enough to keep notes organized and easily referenced at a later date. It includes features specifically requested by dancers, such as a way to index your notes so you can find them easily three months later, structured space to set goals and intentions, and open space to take notes however you best take notes.

If you’re looking for a new journal to keep in your dance bag, I invite you to check out the Journal for the Whole Dance Journey.

This limited restock also means that the Champion Dancer book bundle is available once more (Ko-Fi shop only). Order this bundle to get the Solo Practice Guide, Journal for the Whole Dance Journey and The Choreography Journal with free shipping.

Happy dancing!

Where There are People, There is Dance: An Interview with Michelle Montanez Fox

1 Comment
Photo provided by Michelle Fox

Dance enthusiasts, please welcome Michelle Montanez Fox to the blog! She is the Area Director of the Northern New England region for Fred Astaire Dance Studios (FADS) and the owner of the first FADS dance studio in Maine. Michelle started her ballroom career as a professional dancer and teacher at a FADS studio in Massachusetts and gradually worked her way up to studio manager, studio owner, and finally director of an entire region. Her passion for dance is matched by her passion for teaching adults and providing a truly positive and fulfilling experience for both her students and the teachers who work for her. 

I first reached out to Michelle when a post about the new FADS studio in Portland appeared in my Instagram feed back in September 2023. Maine has never had a franchised ballroom dance studio, so I was surprised to learn that one had recently opened! Even more interesting, the studio opened in September. Much of Maine’s population exits south for the winter, and so opening a new business in the fall could present extra challenges than if you opened around May when part-time residents and summer tourists are returning in droves. With curiosity, surprise and excitement over seeing that familiar logo here in Maine, I had to learn more.

Continue reading →

CanvasRebel Interview – Taking Risks

Leave a comment

Greetings dancers!

I recently did an interview with the online magazine CanvasRebel in which they asked me about taking risks and what resilience meant to me. I had previously interviewed with their sister magazine VoyageLA. The current chapter of my story looks significantly different, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to share my story as it’s evolved, as well as how my perspective has shifted on what it means to be a creative in today’s world.

Continue reading →

It’s Not Enough to Dance for Fun

4 Comments

I didn’t dance much in the first month of 2023. Modern dance class was on a break, and I missed a couple Saturday Zumba classes. It starts to affect my mood when I don’t get my dancing on. Throwing on a 90s hip hop station on Pandora and doing a little kitchen dancing helps, but it’s not the same as going into the studio. I start to miss the challenge of class, testing myself with different exercises and routines. Dancing for fun is great and always a good mood booster, but in the long term, I need more for my dance soul to feel fulfilled.

Continue reading →

When did arm styling become fun?

2 Comments

Dance is often referred to as an art/sport because of the athleticism required to produce beautiful and inspiring performances. Dance is a full-body workout; we all know and have experienced that. It’s also a mental and emotional workout as we try to remember all of the choreography and technique required to move our bodies in beautiful ways while also adding on style and expression that will connect us with our audience. I’m a little tired just thinking about it.

The sport half of dance always came easier to me. It was more black-and-white and scientific. Technique had rights and wrongs. I could muscle my way through the movement, which made me feel strong instead of vulnerable. When teachers started talking about arm styling and suggesting I do what feels right, I balked. What felt right to me was doing nothing with my arms, but that’s not what they were trying to get me to do. They wanted me to feel the right way to launch my arm over my head or out to the side in a way that looked graceful and effortless, or in the case of tango, strong and confident.

Continue reading →

The Merging of Practice Ballroom Dance and TGWTTT

2 Comments

They were basically the same place anyway.

Somewhere along my entrepreneurship journey, wrapped up in hustle culture, I got it in my head that I needed a separate place for each piece of The Girl with the Tree Tattoo brand – the blog, the shop, the email list – they all needed their own home. Once I moved to Maine, as I continued to bask in the natural beauty of my own home and felt no need or desire to go anywhere else, I started to wonder why did The Girl need to be so spread out?

Continue reading →

Everyone’s Doing the Best They Can

Leave a comment
Photo by Roussety Gregory on Pexels.com

I belong to a fitness accountability group and earlier this week, I posed a question. I wanted to know how the others in the group managed their workouts when Life got really crazy, like it has been for me this month. They seemed to be so much better at doing their workouts consistently and reaching their weekly fitness goals. I was sure I was slacking somewhere and I wanted the secret sauce. What was the magic ingredient that I was missing that made me less consistent and less successful?

Continue reading →