Getting ahead of myself is a huge problem for me. One new piece of information and my mind sees the dominoes start to fall. Suddenly, I’m worried about something that may or may not happen 10 dominoes down, assuming those are the 10 dominoes that are tapped to fall and no new dominoes or paths are added and…and…
Tag: embassy ball
Countdown to Embassy Ball 2018: 11 Days – Dealing with Stage Fright
Happy Sunday everyone! As promised per my Facebook livestream earlier today, I’m writing to you with a specific topic in mind that I hope will support at least one dancer out there. I want to talk about dealing with stage fright on the day of competition.
Countdown to Embassy Ball 2018: 19 Days – Steady as She Goes
The countdown has begun! Less than 3 weeks until my return to Embassy Ball and my chance to see how far I’ve come after last year’s disappointment. I waited until the day before the deadline to submit my entries. There was a struggle going on between most of me who wanted a second chance at that world championship title and a small but loud part of me who didn’t want to face a second disappointment.
I won out, and entries are in.
A Review of Embassy Ball: It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times
Once upon a time, there was a girl who wasn’t great at much. At least, that’s what she thought. She was decent at some things and pretty good at others. Above average at best. But never quite enough to stand out, reach the top, or be remembered. Then came ballroom.
Dancing brought the girl to life! She started competing and began taking home first and second places right away. People praised her for her beautiful dancing. Her fragile ego swelled and she felt pride. She worked hard to improve her dancing and continued to win. Then after being away from the competition circuit for over a year, the girl returned. Even though she had continued to work hard and improve her dancing, she could not maintain those high results. Each competition put her lower in the rankings. Her ego began to feel exposed and vulnerable. And confused. She was dancing better than ever and felt amazing while doing it! How could she be placing lower than before?
It is at this point in the story that we join the girl, as she and her ego sort out the new reality.
Countdown to Embassy: 2 Days – Mind Games
The day’s almost here! I compete at Embassy Ball and the World Championships on Thursday! While Thursday is my only performance day, some of Teacher’s other students will be competing at both Embassy AND USDC, a.k.a. Nationals, next week. Stress levels were getting a little high, and so Teacher and his pro partner arranged a pre-comp gift for all of us. They invited sports psychology consultant Mario Soto to come to the studio and do a group session.
Countdown to Embassy: 18 Days – The Little Things
Excuse my language, but shit, is it really less than 3 weeks until I compete at Embassy Ball? It wasn’t even that long ago that I danced at Desert Classic.
It’s still weird to be doing a third competition this year and even weirder that each one has been only 2 or 3 months apart. Weird in a good way though.
It’s got me thinking about what’s changed or what I’ve done differently this year for these three competitions to be possible. I’m one of those people who get stuck on the idea that I just need that one big key thing to happen and then everything will work out. But really, it ends up being a bunch of smaller things that add up.
Discipline Hacked (Sort of) Plus an Announcement
The funny thing is after I typed out the title of this post, I stared at my computer screen for a couple hours, in between browsing social media, and then decided to go to bed. That first sentence was finally written the next morning while I ate breakfast. I knew I was running late, but no one gets into the office until at least an hour after I do, so I decided not to rush and, at the same time, be productive while I drank my tea. It was English Breakfast. This final version wasn’t completed until that night, while I was drinking another cup of tea, an herbal blend.
I haven’t been dancing, and my body hates me for it.
I’m going through ballroom withdrawal. It’s been almost two weeks since my last lesson with Teacher. I did have a social dance lesson with Teacher’s friend almost a week ago. But since then, I’ve been travelling and all the non-routine activity makes it seem like ages since I last danced. My next lesson is hopefully this coming Friday, but I still need to confirm with Teacher.
The Girl with the Tree Tattoo 