I put Looney Tunes on this morning as background while I worked on today’s post. Sometimes I really miss the old classic Saturday morning cartoons. Looney Tunes were the best! Yes, incredibly violent, but also brilliant! What led me to Looney Tunes was noting the number of bruises I’m currently sporting on my legs: one on my left knee, one on my right shin, one on my left ankle, and two on my right ankle. I’m like a slapstick character, get it?
Tag: dance
Dancing for the Journey or the Destination? (Write31Days Day 9)
A dear friend who I hadn’t seen in a long time came to the studio tonight to watch me during my lesson. I met her through ballroom and for awhile, our ballroom journeys paralleled. We danced with the same teacher and even went to our first two competitions together. But things change and paths diverge, so I don’t see her as often anymore.
Article Repost – A Labor of Love: The Dancing Over 50 Project
While browsing dance blogs during my lunch hour, I came across a site called Stance on Dance. The founder recently completed a series of interviews of dancers up and down the West Coast, all of whom were over the age of 50. She is collaborating with a photographer and is calling the project Dancing Over 50.
I love the idea and I love the photos that she’s already shared on her site. To anyone who wonders if they are getting too old for dance or are too old to start, the answer is absolutely not!
Check it out!
Dancing Through Monday (Write31Days Day 5)
I feel like I should lighten the mood a bit for Monday. It’s easy to get wrapped up in everything I struggle with on my ballroom journey and forget my accomplishments!
So I went through some videos and forced myself to find things I liked about my dancing!
Studio Team Match, August 2015:
Here is my bronze waltz routine. I like the smoothness of my dancing here and the extension of my arms in the beginning and in the open sections of the routine.
I also debuted my silver routines at the team match! Here is my foxtrot; I’m proud of myself for making it through the routine and looking like I knew what I was doing, even though I was having the worst time remembering the steps!
Emerald Ball, April 2015:
This video is of my bronze tango routine, and is also on my Videos page. It’s one of my favorites because you can see the judges in the foreground debating about my tattoo. They didn’t agree about whether the silhouette on the tree was of Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire! I think I did a decent job at conveying the intense tango character too.
And just to round out the set, here is my Viennese waltz from Emerald. Despite a split second misread on Teacher’s lead at one point, I feel like my dancing was very solid and I love how our arm styling matches almost perfectly. I even smiled!
Happy Monday!
Don’t forget to check out other posts from the 31 Day Writing Challenge!
Express Yourself! In the Studio Vs. the Club (Write31Days Day 4)
It’s funny, I made a list of topics for this 31-day challenge, but have yet to actually follow that list. One post just leads me to another post. But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that things aren’t going as planned. When do they ever?
Last year, I started a series on my first blog, The Uphill Factor, titled “Express Yourself!” Teacher was starting to bring up the need for more emotional expression from me while I was dancing, and naturally, I wrote about my struggles:
Express Yourself!
Express Yourself! Part 2 – Tango Curses
Express Yourself! Part 3 – Butt and Boobs
Express Yourself! Part 4: No, Really, Express Yourself!
Dear DWTS Contestants: Welcome to Ballroom! (Write31Days Day 2)
After some exciting progress with my writing, from publishing my first eBook to getting another article published on Dance Advantage, I took a break on Monday night to watch Week 3 of Dancing with the Stars. It seemed like it was a challenging week for the various celebrities as they started to realize that the show was actually a competition and they actually needed to learn and dance ballroom if they were going to stay. And ballroom dancing is hard!
All of the demons started coming out, and I heard so many things that sounded so familiar! “I’ve been abandoned before, I’m scared, I’m not sexy, I can’t do this, why can’t I get this right?!” People were having trouble connecting with their pro partners and feeling uncomfortable with the close physical contact. Someone even brought up the blurry line that is the pro-am relationship (teacher or friend?). I couldn’t help myself; I had to write about it.
First, to all of the remaining Dancing with the Stars contestants, I would like to say welcome!
Allow Me to Introduce Myself (Write31Days Day 1)
Happy October! It’s Day 1 of the 31 Day Writing Challenge! For the next 31 days, I’ve committed to posting something every day about ballroom dance. Since my ballroom dance journey is the focus of this blog, my topic choice is obvious. My challenge to myself is to write something new every day. I don’t want to just rehash older posts about ballroom basics. I respect and appreciate my longer-term readers too much to produce nothing but reruns for a month. But I don’t want newer readers to feel lost, like they came into the middle of a movie. So my plan is to revisit some old topics with a new or different perspective, as well as break out some new ones. I will also include links to my previous posts to help any new readers get up to speed. For today, I thought I would just introduce myself to any new readers out there.
Continue reading
Partnering in Ballroom and a Free eBook!
I have two fun and exciting announcements!
First!
An article of mine on partnering in ballroom was just published on danceadvantage.net! You can read it here: http://www.danceadvantage.net/partnering-in-ballroom/
Second!
I have published my first eBook! And I’m offering it for FREE! It’s a compilation of my How to Cope with Loss series. I wanted to make it available to anyone who might need or want it, without requiring a search through old blog posts. Go to the Other Resources page and click on the image to download it.
In other news, just a few more days until the 31 Day Writing Challenge! I made a list of topic ideas, but I only got up to 28. Hopefully inspiration will strike on those three remaining days. I’m curious to see if making myself write every single day for a month will cause me to burn out on blogging or reach a whole new level of creative flow. We’ll see! I’m going to do my very best to bring you quality posts each day in October, so hopefully you don’t burn out on my blog either!
31 Day Writing Challenge
The blog posts from the Write31Days Challenge have been compiled into my first Dance Diaries book, Learning Ballroom Dance. I’ve left some of the links active so you can get a preview of the information available in the book. Click here for more information on the Dance Diaries series!
As I slowly find my way down a new path on my ballroom journey, I’ve decided to put more effort into my journey as a writer. I learned about this 31 day writing challenge this morning and signed up! It’s simple enough – pick up a topic and write about it every day for the month of October.
Naturally, my chosen topic is ballroom dance!
Those that have been on this journey with me for awhile know that I typically post every 2 to 3 days. So I’ll have to kick it up a notch to make myself write EVERY day! I plan on updating this post with links to each day’s post, so you don’t have to scroll through my blog page to find ones you miss. Just come back here, or click on the category 31 Days.
And let me know in the comments if any other bloggers out there decide to take on the challenge too!
- Day 1: Allow Me to Introduce Myself
- Day 2: Dear DWTS Contestants: Welcome to Ballroom!
- Day 3: The Wonderful Awkwardness of Pro-Am
- Day 4: Express Yourself! In the Studio Vs. the Club
- Day 5: Dancing Through Monday
- Day 6: Dancing While Tattooed
- Day 7: So You Want to Try Ballroom?
- Day 8: Ballroom Group Classes Vs. Private Lessons
- Day 9: Dancing for the Journey or the Destination?
- Day 10: The Klutzy Ballroom Dancer
- Day 11: What to Expect on Your First Ballroom Lesson
- Day 12: Waltz Your Way Through Monday
- Day 13: Try Again Tomorrow
- Day 14: Pause
- Day 15: The Glitz and Glamour of Ballroom Competition
- Day 16: The Morning After – Post-Comp Blues
- Day 17: What to Expect in Group Class
- Day 18: Practice Parties and Social Dances
- Day 19: Ballroom Dance Party Etiquette
- Day 20: Tango Tuesday!
- Day 21: Balancing Ballroom and “Real Life”
- Day 22: How I Afford Ballroom, More or Less
- Day 23: Freaky Foxtrot Friday
- Day 24: The Healing Power of Dance
- Day 25: Ballroom Team Match and Being a Spectator
- Day 26: What Ballroom Can Do For You
- Day 27: To Teach or Not to Teach
- Day 28: Viennese Wednesday
- Day 29: Trust and Ballroom
- Day 30: Trust and Ballroom Part 2: Trusting Yourself
- Day 31: Writing About Ballroom for 31 Days: I Claim Top Student!
Life Isn’t Fair – Based on a True Story
I was prepared when the phone rang this time. Teacher asked how I was and I said “I’m not sure…because you’re calling…”
Teacher was calling to inform me of the surgery necessary to repair the fractures in his wrist. So much for a clean break.
Surgery meant a longer recovery time. So for the second time, a goal has been crossed out and the future shifted back into obscurity.
There will be no Best of the Best at Ohio Star Ball for this dancer.
I initially wrote this post right after Teacher called me that second time. But I wanted to hold off on sharing it until after my first post-surgery lesson with him. Because the title is 100% true – life isn’t fair. But it is still worth pursuing.
In the middle of processing the second dream lost, I couldn’t articulate why anyone should bother if it all could be taken away without cause. So I waited until I had some time to process and then reconnected with Teacher and started working toward new plans for my ballroom future. I thought getting back into the swing of things would help inspire the words I would need to encourage and motivate you despite the random smackdowns life would give you.
It didn’t.
I still feel like life is just totally unfair and I’m still struggling to keep myself motivated.
But screw it, here is what I wrote anyway.
The Girl with the Tree Tattoo 