Tag: dancer

Our Bodies Are Meant to Move

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Did you see my social media post from a few days ago?  I finally got the green light from my physical therapist to dance full out in my lesson. No more marking or holding back! I was excited, relieved, and a little nervous. I was tired of having to hold back. I just wanted to dance!  But what if my knees didn’t do well? What if I regressed right back to the pain I was experiencing before starting PT?

Interestingly, I did feel like I took a step back this week, but not because of dancing. Quite the opposite.

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My First Reiki Experience

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As you probably know, I’ve been dealing with knee injuries for the past couple months. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine invited me to try a different kind of treatment: Reiki therapy. My friend Ritika Rose is a certified advanced Reiki practitioner, certified Life Coach, and a licensed Occupational Therapist (among other things, this girl has led a full life!). I had never had a Reiki session before. I typically default to Western medicine for treating illness and injury; that’s just what I grew up with. I also like to be open to new experiences, and what better way to try something new than with a trusted friend! Of course, if it’s something that contributes to my dance journey, I’ll share it here too. So read on to find out what my first Reiki session was like!

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Is Dance a Relatable Art Form? Part 2

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Welcome back, dancers!

Last time, I told you about a podcast I had listened to that really got the gears turning in the brain. I pondered the question, “why isn’t dance as relatable as other performance art forms like acting or singing?” I concluded that connection and shared experience were key. It’s easier for an audience to connect with actors and singers through a shared experience. Dance has a dualistic experience that happens externally and internally at the same time, and dancers don’t need an audience in order to feel fulfilled in their dancing. If a dancer isn’t able to bring the internal part of the experience out so the audience can connect to it, the audience won’t be able to connect and relate to the dance performance. As the panelists in the podcast episode discussed, this lack of relatability could be a major factor in how publicly successful dancers can be, compared to actors or singers.

So how can we make dance more relatable?

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Progress Not Perfection

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day dancers!

Anyone have any special St. Patty’s Day traditions (aside from drinking too much)? Traditional meals? Good old fashioned folk dancing? Please share in the comments!

My day was busy, which is why this blog post is coming a little late. It started with solo practice, of course.

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Adjusting to a New Reality

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I’m writing this from my couch with ice packs on my knees because I just got home from my dance lesson, and icing my knees is what I do now after lessons and workouts. I did the same last night after I went to my first Zumba class since overdoing it at the Zumbathon. It was annoying and a little depressing how much I held myself back and still came home with sore, achy knees.

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Feeling the Burn! Final Results

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You know those days when you have all these great plans to get a lot of productive work done, and then you get nothing done? That was me last weekend. It started off in good shape. I did a 6-hour group training/working session with my business coaches on Saturday. After that, I can’t even tell you where things went wrong. In any case, obviously, I did not get this blog post written, so we’re doing it now!

Last weekend also marked the first post-Burn weekend! Our last class and final fit test was on February 14. Before I go into my final results, please allow me to paint you a picture of the previous six weeks.

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Lingering Doubts

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I was at a dance lesson a little over a week ago, and Teacher was talking about some of the more intricate details of our open Waltz routine. These were the details that add another layer of quality and performance to the dance.

It had nothing to do with making steps fancier or more complicated. It was about activating the body in the right way at the right time to demonstrate control and awareness. Adding an extra little tick here or extending a stretch a second longer there would also demonstrate musicality and my ability to “play” within the confines of the choreography.

As he talked about one section, I thought of other sections where I knew I could go further, push deeper, or do more to create something that would make the audience go “wow.” This kind of talk excites me. It’s a deep dive into the art of the dance and gives me more opportunity to work my creative muscles.

At the same time though, as I pictured myself adding those intricate layers to my dancing, I felt a twang, like anxiety plucked one of my heartstrings.

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Feeling the Burn! Unexpected Benefits of Joining a Fitness Program

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As the clock tick-tocked its way to midnight on December 31, 2018, were you one of the millions who thought, “2019 is the year I will [get in shape/get healthy/eat better/exercise more/insert your own version here].” I was! Well, in a way.

I allowed myself to indulge in any and all treats put in front of me during the holidays, and the scale showed it. Not that I care that much about what the scale says. It’s a number that is only one variable in determining a person’s health, and is affected by so many things, you can’t put that much stock in it. That being said, the number on the scale kept creeping up. By the end of the year, I was up about 5 or 6 pounds. The thing that really pushed me to make a cliche health-related resolution though was the fact that I could feel the difference in my body. I didn’t like it.

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