With so much noisy chaos in the world and with no other significant idea coming to my mind, I decided to focus on the quiet moments today.
Into the Quiet
Tag: Writing
It’s the Little Things
As we advance along our ballroom dance journey, the fixes, adjustments and tweaks we make to create higher quality movement become smaller and smaller. We learn what the steps are, how to do those steps, and then how to actually dance in between and through the steps. Each level builds on the one before it. This process can get frustrating though because every time you start to think you know what you’re doing, you find out you’ve barely scratched the surface.
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 readingWrite Your Dance (Something New This Way Comes!)
I adore the written word. Ever since I was a little girl, I have preferred to communicate through writing. I was a shy kid who grew into a socially anxious young adult, so it was difficult to just talk to people, particularly if they were strangers. Writing gave me the space and time to think about what I wanted to say, see it plainly in front of me, and then modify if it came out wrong without the pressure of someone standing in front of me waiting for me to speak.
As a more-or-less well-adjusted adult, I’ve developed stronger verbal communication skills, but I still love writing (obviously). Crafting the perfect sentence is an art form to me. I geek out over grammar and how a simple comma can completely change your message.
Next Steps in Dancing and Writing
My life is a mix of exciting new things and back to the old routine, so I thought I’d give you guys an overall update. Especially because the exciting new things include you!
Continue readingHappy Anniversary!
On January 22, 2018, I emailed the 108 people on the Solo Practice Guide mailing list about a special offer. I was ready to complete the Solo Practice Guide for Ballroom Dancing, but before I released it to the world, I wanted to test it. So I created a beta group and opened it to 10 people to help me review the Guide chapter by chapter. The result was awesomeness, and I’m so grateful to those 10 people for helping me make this dream a reality. Now that we’re reaching the one-year anniversary of that fateful day, I want to celebrate!
Dream a Little Dream of Me
If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll understand the title. I went searching for inspiration for this blog post in a glass of red wine and the Rat Pack station on Pandora. My pondering during “Dream a Little Dream of Me” was recorded for posterity.
A Love Letter to Ballroom
Even though I prefer to celebrate 50% Off Chocolate Day (February 15), when FloDance asked me to write another article for their website, in honor of Valentine’s Day, I decided to compose a love letter to ballroom.
Read it here, and happy Valentine’s Day!
If I stare at the screen long enough, the words will come.
And those were the words that came. I think I was only staring for about 15 minutes.
My creative juices are running dry a bit this weekend, but I still wanted to check in with you. We’re coming up on the end of January, and it’s hard to believe how much has been put into motion in just four weeks.
Slay All Day with Enthusiasm
Hello dancers!
I have been PRODUCTIVE the last two days and it’s feeling really good. First, I had a double lesson (meaning 1.5 hours instead of 45 minutes) on Friday after work. It wasn’t extra; Teacher had asked if we could reschedule our usual Wednesday lesson. I like having a double lesson once in awhile because sometimes 45 minutes is just not enough time. You start getting deep into something and just as you feel you’re making some real progress, time’s up!